When a business’ only goal is to rank at the top of search engine results, with no consideration for the actual person doing the searching and why they’re searching for it, you get content that is visible but unfortunately, useless. This means instead of being able to strategically guide these leads from curiosity to loyalty with value-driven content, they end up bouncing instead.
Statistically, 59% of marketers agree that high-quality content will play a major role in SEO performance. The question is, how do you do it?
Keywords and rankings will play a big role in SEO efforts – but that alone isn’t enough. What’s missing is actually the most important piece of the SEO puzzle: the customer. If you shift gears a bit and take a different approach with the See, Think, Do, Care (STDC) framework, you can create customer-centric content that is more relevant to your target audience.
Understanding the See, Think, Do & Care Framework
The See, Do, Think, Care (STDC) framework is the brainchild of Avinash Kaushik. Most marketers employ the Attention-Interest-Desire-Action (AIDA) framework and the conventional consumer purchasing cycle of awareness, consideration, purchase, and brand loyalty. And while both work well enough, these are taken from the business’ perspective.
STDC urges marketers to take a more customer-oriented approach. With STDC, you’re putting yourself in the consumer’s shoes to understand exactly what they need.
- See: The largest audience segment that includes those who might be aware or interested in your brand, product or service. The goal at this stage is generate as much awareness and visibility for your brand.
- Think: Customers that fall in this segment is composed of those who are actively considering your product or service but aren’t ready to complete a purchase. At this point, the goal is to help nurture interest.
- Do: This group is ready to take action. Marketing efforts at this stage are focused on creating a seamless customer experience so it easily facilitates conversion.
- Care: These are customers who have already made a purchase from you, giving you the chance to build loyalty and turn them into repeat customers.
Each STDC stage represents a specific moment in the purchasing process, where the consumer has different needs and motives. Following this framework, you’re now able to identify consumers’ present demands and create a marketing strategy or communication channel that caters to those.
How to Create SE-Optimized Content According to the See, Think, Do & Care Framework
Content plays a major role in every stage of the conversion process – from helping attract consumers to keeping them engaged, to retaining them, and finally turning them into brand ambassadors.
Creating content that explicitly meets every stage’s demands and behaviors enhances user experience, boosts SEO strategy, increases organic traffic, and improves rankings.
1. The “See” Stage
The See stage focuses on building awareness and attracting potential customers. But while they’ve shown interest in your product or service, it is important to note that, at this stage, the customer is not actively looking to make a purchase. The customer intent here is to learn more about the product and your goal is to be visible to your desired audience so you can inform and move them to the next stage – which you can do through SEO strategies.
Keyword Research
- Objective: Start by identifying high-traffic keywords that attract a broader audience. These keywords can be general topics related to your specific industry.
- Approach: Use tools to find the most commonly searched and popular keywords that the target audience might be Googling. If you choose a country and use Serpstat Keyword Trends, you will get the most-searched Google terms at the city level in real time.
Content Types
According to SEOProfy Founder and CEO Victor Karpenko:
“While SEO strategies may seem similar, they rely on different types of content. Different content strategies will also have unique content pillars – some will focus on just text, others will take a more holistic approach and incorporate different forms of media. Ultimately, what type of content you will use will depend on how well you understand your customer’s journey, so you can present the right content for each stage and meet your customer’s needs at every stage.”
At this stage, these types of content work best:
- Blog Posts: Write informative and engaging articles and blogs covering a wide range of relevant and trending topics in your industry. Don’t forget to incorporate those keywords.
- Social Media Posts: Create engaging content that catches the eye and attracts a broad audience.
- Infographics: Present visually appealing infographics that explain difficult information easily through tables and pictures. Ensure that they are shareable.
SEO Best Practices
- On-page SEO Techniques: Optimize your content with high-traffic keywords. Ensure proper keyword usage in H1, H2, and H3 headings.
- Meta Descriptions: Write compelling meta descriptions with targeted keywords that urge customers to click.
- Title Tags: Create engaging and keyword-rich title tags to represent content and attract clicks accurately.
- Long-Tail Keywords: Instead of targeting just “fitness apps,” use long-tail words like “best fitness apps in 2024” or “best fitness apps free”.
2. The “Think” Stage
Your goal at this stage is to convince customers to make an informed decision (in your favor). Content pieces like product reviews, case studies, and comparison guides will help.
Content Types
The “Think” stage is especially helpful for B2B businesses.
Gianluca Ferrugia, the managing director of DesignRush, who runs a platform that connects businesses with the right agencies is a great example.
“We run a platform that is quite niche. If we intend to align our content with the business’ broader objective, we have to be very intentional about the content that we create to make sure that it remains relevant to different audiences, but still contributes to our overarching business goals.”
To that end, instead of focusing on top-of-the-funnel content, DesignRush invests a lot in producing articles that will address specific industry pain points and challenges. These include:
- Detailed Guides: In-depth guides covering topics relevant to your industry provide practical advice to help consumers understand your offerings and how your goods can solve their problems.
- Whitepapers: Thoroughly researched whitepapers with case studies and expert analysis. This will showcase your industry knowledge and help establish your authority.
- Comparison Guides and Articles: Comparison articles show different products and services in your industry and help distinguish your offerings. Compare features and pricing to help customers make the right choice.
On-Page SEO
- Internal Linking: Use internal linking to content-related pieces on your website. This is beneficial as it helps consumers navigate your content easily, distributes page authority, and enhances SEO.
- Structured Data: Implement structured data (schema markup) to help search engines better understand your website’s content. This will positively affect search engine listings with rich snippets and increase click-through rates.
Technical SEO
- Site Speed: Optimize your website’s loading speed for a smoother user experience.
- Mobile Friendliness: Ensure that the site is mobile-friendly. Many customers use mobile devices more frequently to search instead of laptops or desktops.
3. The “Do” Stage
This third stage of the framework is about converting potential consumers into paying customers. At this stage, all customers need is a small nudge in the right direction. Do this by making the final steps as easy as possible, optimizing your website content for conversion, providing clear calls to action, and offering discounts or promotions.
Let’s take the retail brand Tumble as an example.
“In an effort to drive conversions, Tumble will focus on optimizing the shopping experience on their site and even offer incentives that will help convince customers to complete the purchase. We use retargeting ads as a way to remind visitors of products that they previously viewed but didn’t purchase, and make sure it’s accompanied by an exclusive incentive that helps convince them to click on our CTA”
Tumble Co-Founder Zach Dannet
Conversion-Focused Content
- Case Studies: Detailed case studies can showcase how your products and services have helped customers solve their problems.
- Product Demos: Adding videos or product demos let potential customers see the product in action.
- Testimonials: Customer reviews and testimonials of satisfied customers are really impactful. Including detailed reviews, star ratings, and customer photos can build trust for your product or service.
CTAs and Conversion Metrics
- Crafting Catchy CTAs: Create CTAs that are attention-grabbing, clear, and specific, and position them where they are prominent and required.
- Monitoring Conversion Metrics: Some key metrics to monitor or track are conversion rate, bounce rate, average session duration, and cart abandonment rate. Analyze these metrics and optimize the strategies effectively.
SE-Optimized Landing Page
Create a value-driven landing page for each product/service you offer. This will help the audience in the Do stage better understand the specific product they are looking for. Optimize it with target keywords. A benefit-oriented landing page with detailed product specifications can both inform and convert customers.
4. The “Care” Stage
This is the fourth and final stage, focusing on retaining customers and converting them into loyal consumers. The main goal here is to build long-term relationships and maximize lifetime value, which can be done by focusing on delivering exceptional customer service, developing loyalty programs, and engaging with customers to build a strong and positive relationship.
Content for Retention
- Email Newsletters: Curate email newsletters that contain valuable content, updates, launch details, discount coupons, and updates. They are designed to keep customers informed and engaged, helping your business stay top of mind.
- Exclusive Offers: Loyalty programs that reward repeat customers incentivize continued engagement and consistent purchases.
- Community Building: Sharing user-generated content and success stories puts the spotlight on how users use your product or service, helping establish a clear connection between what you do and their lives.
Personalization
Customized Recommendations: Using data from previous interactions, you can now present offers or recommendations via email or on your website based on their unique preferences and needs. For example, based on buying behavior, you can present content that is more tailored to their preferences.
Feedback and Reviews
Encourage Feedback and Monitor Reviews: Encourage consumers to leave feedback and fill out survey forms. Use this data for continuous improvement. Monitor and respond to online reviews on platforms like Google, Yelp, and social media.
Tip on Integrating the Framework into Your Content Strategy
It can be tricky to follow a specific model when starting to build and post your content regularly. However, there is one powerful way to do that: building a content calendar.
With the help of a well-crafted and well-audited content calendar, you can easily stay on track. It’ll also help you stay on track with the different content pieces you create, and where they fit into the framework.
To help you get started, Here’s our free content calendar template designed specifically for the See, Think, Do, & Care Framework. Use Serpstat to track your progress and refine your strategy with real-time data.
Final Thoughts
If you are looking for ways to increase your conversion rate and update your SEO strategy to a more efficient one, align with the See, Think, Do, Care framework.
This framework lets you tailor your content and SEO strategy to the customer’s needs at every stage and increase the conversion rate.
