What is the AIDA model?
Marketing is filled with acronyms, including the AIDA model. AIDA stands for attention, interest, desire, and action, describing the customer journey throughout the sales process. This acronym describes a marketing funnel outlining the four steps a customer goes through from first noticing an item to making a purchase. AIDA stands for:  Attention: you must cast a wide net at the top of the funnel to attract the customers attention. This can either create brand awareness or draw attention to your product or service. Interest: with attention captured, you narrow the funnel. Businesses must generate interest in the product or services benefits, encouraging the buyer to learn more. Desire: create an emotional connection with the buyer to help them transition from interest to actively wanting the product. Action: spark the buyer to take action, whether its making a purchase, contacting your business, or signing up for a mailing list. The term was first coined in 1898 by E. St. Elmo Lewis, an American businessman looking for a way to optimize sales interactions. The AIDA model has shown sticking power since then, refined and developed to stay relevant with modern marketing tactics. How to use AIDA marketing effectively  The AIDA model works best when its viewed as a checklist to run through. Heres what to keep in mind at each step. Step 1: Attract attention. Capturing attention can be achieved in many different ways, whether its through targeted advertising, provocative imagery, striking graphics on a billboard, or a viral YouTube video. Step 2: Generate interest. Now that youve attracted attention, hold the viewers interest in this second step of the journey. Think about things like your content strategy, providing more detailed information on your social media profiles, product brochures, or website. Highlight which qualities make your product stand out from the rest, using interesting illustrations, automated alerts, and attention-holding subheadings. Step 3: Make it a must-have. Steps two and three go hand in hand. As your buyers learn more about the products, they should become enticed. Ideally, your product or service is strong enough on its own to make a viewer want to own it. Appeal to your buyers emotions by showing how the product would fit into their lives. Interact personally with your audience using tools like online chats, Twitter responses, and in-person launch events. Step 4: Call to action. Finally, make it clear how and why the customer should take action with a targeted CTA. Include a clear message across your social media platforms, advertisements, and website. For online shops, the AIDA model culminates in the shopping cart process. Make it as quick and painless as possible with clear incentives to buy, such as limited time deals and free shipping. Rethinking the AIDA marketing model  One of the reasons for AIDAs enduring popularity is its simplicity; its easy to grasp and implement. However, this same simplicity also draws criticism, particularly regarding its linear nature. With more ways to reach out to customers than ever, AIDA may not adequately consider different points of sale and the difference between online and in-person shopping habits. Some experts tack an S to the end of AIDA to signify satisfaction while others include an R for retention, both noting that the product or service has to satisfy the customer to generate future sales. A few additional variations of the original AIDA funnel have arisen to fill in these gaps, including:  REAN (Reach, Engage, Activate, and Nurture)  AIDCAS (Action, Interest, Desire, Confidence, Action, Satisfaction)  DAGMAR (Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results)  At the same time, buyer psychology hasnt changed enough to discount the AIDA model entirely. Ecommerce businesses must attract interest before they can seal the deal with action, which is why this type of marketing funnel is still well worth considering. Whether you use the AIDA funnel as the foundation of your marketing strategy or simply keep it in mind when writing social media content, its a helpful way to take charge and guide your customers through their journey. We can help  GoCardless helps you automate payment collection, cutting down on the amount of admin your team needs to deal with when chasing invoices. Find out how GoCardless can help you with ad hoc payments or recurring payments.