Easily accessible information on the internet and multiple product choices available in markets these days have empowered you as a consumer to engage in broad research before taking a final purchase decision. There is no uncertainty about the fact that consumers’ purchasing power today has augmented noticeably than it was about a decade ago. But, consumers don’t spend on any product just randomly.
A consumer today is quite smart and keen for more and more information on a particular product or services. Unless and until the consumer has researched sufficiently on the product, he / she will not proceed to any purchase activity. This moment of phase when consumers get into the online search mode is what in general referred to as the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT).
Zero Moment of Truth is, thus, that stage in the buying process of consumers during which a consumer decides what product or service to buy and how. With everything going online, the consumers today are not left untouched by this revolution. Modern day consumer prefers ordering products online as it provides them ease and comfort. The consumer today conducts a research about a product, collate information about it and then order online. About 70 percent of consumers make purchase decision before going to the store, according to a study. This implies that approximately 50 percent of consumers search online before making a purchase.
Hence, alone TV advertisements by marketers are not sufficient to compel and provoke modern consumers to buy a product because the consumers tend to search about a newly introduced products and read reviews about them prior making the buying decision. This change in the buying process has led marketers to alter their traditional models of marketing and enter into the new era of information and web.
ZMOT, is the new age mental model of marketing. This concept or strategy has been evolved owing to the ever expanding number of consumers shifting to the online world for their buying decisions. Consumers depend on their computers, laptops, tabs or now smart phone for engaging themselves in the product buying activity. There is a drastic shift from the physical world to virtual or digital world in which consumers are living every day.
Consumer turn to all sorts of sources to research about a particular product. Online marketers can persuade the decision making process of consumers by developing online marketing strategies. These strategies may be termed as ZMOTing. Thus, ZMOT can truly be considered as a new mental model.