AIDA Model Explained With Examples
AIDA Model Explained With Examples
How to Sell with AIDA Model
The AIDA model is an acronym for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.
If you’re trying to convince a potential customer to do something, you must first capture their attention, then intrigue them, and finally, make them want to act by solving their problem.
When it comes to getting someone to take action, we’ve all heard the old saying, “people don’t buy products; they buy solutions.”
That’s why the most successful businesses leverage the AIDA formula to persuade new visitors to take action and purchase their product or service.
And with over 75% of all internet users shopping online—the AIDA model is a proven tactic that all online, good marketers should be using.
The AIDA Model can be used to structure your content in a way that increases the likelihood of a reader taking action, such as visiting a page or completing a sale.
AIDA Model Introduction
Aida model’s four stages describe how people interact with your brand and content.
During these four stages, your valuable content should ideally attract attention to your brand, generate interest in your product or service, stimulate a desire for it, and spur action to try or buy it.
The basic AIDA model is one of the longest serving hierarchical models, having been in use for more than a century.(Wikipedia)
Many marketers use the AIDA model to predict consumer behavior and understand where people fall in the buying cycle.
It helps companies design content to match the specific needs of each stage of the buying cycle.
How to Apply the AIDA Model to Your Marketing Model?
With the AIDA model in mind, you can structure your website to guide your visitors to the next stages of your sales funnel and then optimize each step for your specific audience.
In theory, as your audience progresses through the stages, they’ll develop certain feelings or emotions about your product or service, which will compel them to take a specific action model.
STAGE 1 – Attract Attention
The first stage of the recipient’s reaction to the marketing message is drawing attention to the offer.
A compelling message is to appear in the minds of the recipients in a way that is beneficial to them. This way, as many of them as possible, will get interested in the product.
Getting consumers’ attention these days is simple thanks to new communication channels, and at the same time, difficult when we consider the huge information noise.
Fortunately, we have numerous tools at our disposal, such as different forms of marketing models, social media, or popular applications that give a chance for viral distribution of valuable content.
Questions to ask:
- Have you done your research about your target market and crafted your marketing model to address those problems, concerns, and interests?
- How can you get your prospective client’s attention?
- What’s intriguing, distinctive, shocking, unique about what you want to include in your advertising?
- How can you unusually present your product or service?
- Would this kind of presentation attract your attention?
Example – Creating Attention
- The company and the prospect’s name are all variables that guide you through personalizing your marketing efforts. The geographical location guides you as well.
- Use words that convey urgency like ‘now’, ‘important’, or ‘brand new.’
- You can offer a free product or service.
- Ask quick questions that pique curiosity.
- Use vibrant, colorful colors and design to get attention\
In this stage, the consumer should ask: “What is it?”
STAGE 2 – Interest
After your audience has found your product or service, they should learn more about it. The first thing consumers will look for is how it can benefit them.
In the Interest Stage, you’re trying to get the target audience to become emotionally invested in what you’re selling.
In this stage, the goal is to get them to think, “I like it.” This is where your content has to make a good first impression.
Your job is to make the people interested enough to read your copy and then continue reading until the end. You need to hook your audience to be intrigued and curious about your brand.
This is the stage where you need to take care of your audience because they are starting to trust you.
Brands can get noticed by consumers in many ways. A brand can get noticed by consumers by making exciting and compelling ads, personalizing those ads using insight from your data, or having a strong social media presence.
Questions to ask:
- Are your product descriptions, etc., attractive enough to attract interest?
- How are consumers holding their interest? How is this different from other advertising in your industry or other types of advertising that you might see?
- Is using humor, provocative imagery, or personalization strategies better to convey your message than clear, concise, easy-to-use websites to display information about products or services?
- How do you plan to apply these tactics to your marketing model?
Example – Generating Interest
- Use compelling stories to demonstrate the “why” behind your solution.
- Don’t tell long stories. Present only what is most important and what interests the recipient the most.
- In your message, answer three age-old questions from a prospective customer: “So what?”, “What do I care?”, “What do I get out of it?”
- List all the most essential qualities of what you advertise and then turn it into a customer benefit.
STAGE 3 – Desire
The first two steps of the AIDA model establish the knowledge and the like. The goal of the Desire Stage is to change “I like it” to “I want it.”
You want to increase your conversions, but it’s not enough just to generate interest.
A strong marketing model strategy that aims at generating interest should include the creation of a strong emotional connection. A keen liking for how a brand presents itself may be highly appreciated but may not necessarily convert to sales.
Interest and Desire can be achieved simultaneously, so it is crucial to convey to the audience why they need it immediately after interest is generated.
Questions to ask:
- Does your website’s overall impression make prospective customers want to buy the offered products or services?
- How to nurture the Desire to know more about what your product or service offers? How can that product fit a need the consumer has?
- How to invite a consumer to wonder how they have survived for so long without your service?
Example – Securing Desire
Ways to create Desire:
- Use ‘One time only’ or ‘last chance’ offers to generate more interest.
- Offer discounts or sales
- Present your product or service as a solution to a specific problem or an answer to a common problem.
- Make the prospect feel special (“you will join special customers”)
- Create a sense of urgency with countdown timers
- You can achieve this through a limited amount of time (“promotion lasts only until …”), a limited number of items (“only 100 items at the promotional price”), or a limited area (“we are only here”).
The goal of this stage is to change “I like it” to “I want it.”
STAGE 4 – Action Model
The last step of the AIDA model is to get the consumer to initiate the action. The final stage is the behavioral stage, and the goal is to get them to decide, “I’m getting it.”
Your ad should end with a call to action (CTA) – a statement designed to get an immediate response from the consumer.
You can do it in a number of ways. The most popular call-to-action is a click, but it can also be a phone call, or a tweet, or a visit to your website.
At this point in the sales process, you could use a sense of urgency and get the consumer to decide right away.
It is essential to create customer-specific campaigns that will give the buyer that “last little nudge” to buy.
One thing you can do is offer early-bird discounts, free trials, one-on-one offers, and/or referral programs.
Questions to ask:
- How to ensure that the idea to take action, that thought in the consumer’s head that “I would benefit from buying this product,” – gets fulfilled?
- How can you convey that there is a pressing need to act upon the idea?
- Are there cleverly placed call-to-action elements that successfully persuade users to take action?
- How to present the purpose of the message in the form of a short slogan?
Example – Enabling Action
- Use a clear call-to-action (CTA) button
- Test CTAs slogans, and use the A/B technique to increase your chances to convert prospects.
- Use short slogans, clear and specific (“try it today,” “buy now,” “yes, I want access to the newsletter,” “check out our free trial”)
- “Before and After” style is an effective example of growing Desire while building trust.
- Use limited-time offers (LTOs)to increase opportunities to make sales. LTOs allow you to offer limited-time discounts or deals to encourage consumers to take action right now. (e.g., “Free Shipping”)
The goal of this stage is to change “I want it” to “I’m getting it.”
AIDA after tuning, i.e. AIDAL, AIDAS and AIDAR: marketing model goes further
Let’s look at the development of the classic AIDA with additional stages.
The history of the classic form of AIDA goes back to 1925. It has been a long time, so it is not surprising that several additional, extensive variations of this technique have been created over the course of almost a century.
Currently, we distinguish between the following models: AIDAL, AIDAS, AIDAR, and AIDAE. What’s underneath them? You can read about it below.
AIDA + L, for loyalty
According to this approach, the sale does not end with a one-off transaction but instead focuses on its regularity and repeatability. And this is where the loyalty mentioned above comes in handy, which makes prospects come back and make more purchases.
How to take care of it?
There are many possibilities, and some of the most popular include, for example, loyalty and partner programs that reward consumers for shopping.
Another way is proper communication – focused on taking care of relationships and high-quality products and services.
AIDA + S, like satisfaction
This variant is very similar to the loyalty described above.
In this, however, more attention is paid to the level of shopper satisfaction with the purchases already made.
In order to ensure satisfaction, it is necessary to ensure that his feelings at every stage of contact with the brand are positive – both in terms of pre-, during, and post-purchase service.
AIDA + R, like retention and AIDA + E, like engagement
Other, also similar to the variants already described, are those relating to the retention and involvement of customers.
After all, they both rely on customers to become loyal recipients and brand ambassadors.
Consumers who buy products or services themselves and willingly promote them among their friends or entire communities are precious.
Drawbacks of the AIDA Model
Many years ago, the AIDA model was the standard of success in sales, and it was considered to be a model that should be applied in every sales process. Today there is agreement that this model alone is no longer sufficient to make sales.
Pure linear approach.
AIDA Model assumes that all sales happen in a purely linear way. However, this is rarely the case in reality.
Someone might have an interest or Desire for a solution before being aware of it and taking action to find it, so he experiences the Desire and Action before the Attention and Interest.
Other Factors
In addition to its limitations, targeting and, for example, considerations of the socio-demographic background are also not included.
Also, AIDA doesn’t take into account the different points at which sales take place.
The marketing strategy for a customer visiting an online shop will be quite different from that for a customer looking for information at a dealership or buying a new car.
Lack of complexity
You need to be aware of the fact that AIDA is too simplistic to describe the stages of a complex buying process, particularly for decisions that are more involved or nuanced.
Nowadays, consumers have a lot of different ways they can research, compare products, etc.
AIDA MODEL IN ADVERTISING
CASE STUDY COCA-COLA USING AIDA MODEL
ATTENTION
They have caught the attention of the audience with their posters. They had run a zero original campaign consisting of posters on billboards and bus stations.
The posters were black in color, and the question was in red. That campaign had attracted many people before they knew anything about the product.
INTEREST
After catching their attention, it’s essential to make them feel interested in your product, and the coca-cola team has done that very well.
In that campaign, they incorporated the word “ZERO” with it, and here people started noticing that word and were curious to know what was represented here.
DESIRE
As they can develop the Desire among people regarding the product, they also focus on its lack of sugar. It tastes the same as any other beverage. This way, they have stimulated the audience to try, like how it is different.
ACTION
Now, this is the stage where you gain or lose the customer. The customer has fallen into the funnel and is ready to take action because they have designed the stage as per the AIDA model.
Conclusion
Despite its shortcomings and limitations, the AIDA model provides a solid foundation for guiding customers through the buyer’s journey and encouraging them to act.
It owes it to its versatility, which is used in changing market conditions.
Regardless of the criticism it collects, the AIDA model is still holding up well.
And if you apply it to your marketing model, you’ll use a proven formula that can consistently engage, persuade, and transform your audience into customers.
Analyze more Aida principle advertising examples for a better understanding of the process.
