How products are discovered and chosen in the age of social media.

Hello, this is Iguchi.

As a sole proprietor, I spend my days forming and testing hypotheses while exploring web marketing and sales promotion methods that can be practiced even with a small budget.

In this note, I focus on marketing terms that we have all heard of but are often used in surprisingly vague ways. Based on my own research and real-life experiences, I have summarized them in the simplest language possible.

I hope that even those who are not comfortable with technical jargon will find this helpful and think, 'I see, that's what that means.'

By the way, have you ever heard the term 'DECAX'? When I first saw it, I thought, 'Deca... what is that?' haha. But when I looked it up, I realized, 'Oh, this describes how things are bought in today's era.'



Finding a cafe on social media, taking photos, and posting them

—this sequence is actually DECAX itself. In other words, marketing hints are hidden in the actions we casually take on social media every day. In this article, I will explain the 'DECAX' framework proposed by Dentsu in an easy-to-understand way, incorporating familiar examples. By the time you finish reading this article,

'how to get your business discovered and how to expand it'



should be clearly organized in your mind.

What does DECAX mean?

DECAX is a framework that illustrates the customer behavior process in web marketing. While there have been famous frameworks like 'AIDMA' and 'AISAS' in the past, DECAX is a new concept proposed by Dentsu, specifically tailored to the era of social media prevalence and information overload. Each letter has the following meaning:

• Discovery: Learning about products or services through social media, etc.

• Engage: Becoming interested and deeply involved.

• Check: Verifying reliability.

• Action: Purchasing or using the product or service.

• eXperience: Sharing the experience after purchase.

I see, it's a behavior process specialized for the social media era! I felt that the emphasis on the final 'eXperience' is very modern.

Let's visualize DECAX with a familiar example.

This might still be a bit hard to grasp. So, I've come up with a familiar example. For instance, imagine when we are looking for a new cafe.

1. Discovery: You find a post on Instagram featuring delicious-looking coffee or a stylish cafe interior. You think, 'Oh, I'm interested in this cafe!'
   

2. Engage (Relationship):
   You follow the cafe's account, look at their other posts, and search hashtags to check what other customers are saying. You become increasingly drawn to that cafe.

3. Check (Verification):
   You look at ratings on Google Maps or read reviews on Tabelog to confirm, "Is it really delicious?" or "Is the atmosphere really like it is in the photos?" Asking a friend, "Have you ever been to this cafe?" might also fall under this.

4. Action (Purchase):
   You decide, "Okay, let's go!" and actually visit the cafe to order a coffee.

5. eXperience (Experience/Sharing):
   It was delicious when you drank it! The interior was lovely too! So, you take a photo of that excitement to post on Instagram or tell your friends, "This cafe was the best!" This "sharing" leads to new Discovery.

What do you think?

When you think about it this way, you can see how it links very closely to the actions we take unconsciously every day.

Sole proprietors and freelancers utilizing DECAX

Now, let's think specifically about how we, as sole proprietors, can utilize this.

Let's consider a web writer as an example.

1. Discovery (Discovery):
   Posting articles on blogs or social media (like X) and sharing daily updates fall under this.
   Being searched for with the keyword "web writer" or having posts spread through someone's retweet allows clients and readers to know you exist.

2. Engage (Relationship):
   They follow your X account or read your blog articles. Sometimes they might even send questions via DM or leave comments. You deepen the relationship by actively replying and sharing useful information.

3. Check (Verification):
   They check your blog's portfolio page or look at your interactions with clients on X to confirm your reliability, thinking, "I can feel safe entrusting this person." Feedback from previous clients, such as "Mr./Ms. XX's articles are always wonderful!", falls under this.

4. Action (Purchase):
   Thinking, "I want to request article writing from this person!", they contact you via an inquiry form or consult with you about work via DM.

5. eXperience (Experience/Sharing):
   They are satisfied with the written article and say, "Thank you for the wonderful article! Please work with me again!" or introduce you to other clients. This might lead to new Discovery.

Thinking about it this way, what we sole proprietors and freelancers do in our daily sales activities and information dissemination fits into each process of DECAX.

Summary: Insights from learning

After researching DECAX, the biggest insight was "Sharing the experience (eXperience) leads to the next discovery (Discovery)".

In other words, it is extremely important in this day and age not just to have customers buy from you, but to increase their satisfaction afterward and have them spread the word.

We sole proprietors and freelancers tend to get caught up in the work right in front of us, but by adopting the DECAX perspective, couldn't we grow our businesses more strategically?

For example,

• How can I get more Discovery?
  (Content posted on social media, SEO measures, etc.)

• What kind of ingenuity is needed to increase Engage?
  (Communication with customers, sharing attractive information)

• What should I prepare to get them to Check?
  (Publishing achievements, customer testimonials, etc.)

• How can we lower the hurdles for taking action?
  (Ease of inquiry, pricing plans)

• How can we maximize the experience?
  (Providing service that exceeds expectations, after-sales support)

It seems we can break these down into concrete action plans.

I, too, intend to keep DECAX in mind as I review my daily information dissemination and how I interact with clients.

Why don't you try applying this to your own business as well?

Thank you very much for reading until the end.

I would be happy if this article led to a small realization or provided a hint for your ideas, like 'I see, so that's what it was!'

Following me would be a great encouragement.
I will follow you back as well ^^