The AIDA Model Explained: What Is It & How to Use It?

This is an in-depth guide to the AIDA Model.

In this guide you’re going to find out:

So, let’s get right into it.

What Is the AIDA Model?

The AIDA model is one of the class models (known as the hierarchy of effects models or hierarchical models), which include a series of steps or stages consumers go through when making purchase decisions.

The model was originally used to help explain how ads and marketing communications engage prospects and how customers discern between brands to make an ultimate buying decision.

The AIDA model then describes the number of tasks required to move a customer from the awareness stage to the action that leads to a conversion.

What Does AIDA Stand for?

AIDA stands for Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action, which describes the customer journey throughout the sales process. It is a marketing model that traces a customer’s journey from the initial contact to when they finally purchase.

AIDA is one of the most classic marketing models. It analyzes and measures the customer’s journey from ignorance to purchase.

It has existed since the late 19th century and belongs to the ‘hierarchy of effects model,‘ also known as the ‘hierarchical models,’ which implies that consumers move through a series of steps when making a purchasing decision.

Hierarchical models have dominated the advertising and marketing industry. But, the AIDA model is widely used.

This model is built on the assumption that every buyer experiences cognitive (thinking processes) and affective (feelings or emotional steps) processes, which eventually culminate in a behavioral outcome: the actual purchase.

However, over the years, it has undergone different changes and modifications.

In some variants, Attention is replaced with Awareness and Desire with Decision.

What Is the Purpose of the AIDA Model?

The main purpose of the AIDA marketing model is to help identify the main stages that the consumer goes through during the buying process of a product or service.

This is also called a purchase funnel or sales funnel, where buyers go through each stage to make the final purchase.

Why Is AIDA Important?

The AIDA model shows how to lead people through a logical process that hooks them, gets them interested, makes them want it, and then prompts actions to close the deal.

Following these steps in order is one of the best ways to convince someone to buy a product, buy a service, or take any other action.

Who Created the AIDA Model?

The AIDA model was developed in 1898 by E. St. Elmo Lewis in an attempt to explain how personal selling works.

In one of his advertising publications, Lewis suggested three principles to which an advertisement should adhere for it to be considered a successful advertisement:

Here’s how E. St. Elmo Lewis explained these principles:

The mission of an advertisement is to attract a reader so that he will look at the advertisement and start to read it; then to interest him, so that he will continue to read it; then to convince him, so that when he has read it he will believe it. If an advertisement contains these three qualities of success, it is a successful advertisement.

However, AIDA’s use wasn’t solely confined to advertising.

Originally developed for structuring sales negotiations, Lewis’ formula was soon applied in all areas of marketing.

Even today, AIDA is one of the best-known models of advertising research.

The AIDA Model Stages

The AIDA marketing model has four stages: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. These four stages show how to funnel consumers towards a purchase.

In simple words, it helps them to know the product, like it, and finally purchase it.

Here’s how each stage of the AIDA model works:

1. Attention – Attract the consumer’s attention to your product or service.
2. Interest – Increase consumer interest in your product or service
3. Desire – Make the consumer want your product or service.
4. Action – Initiate an action for the consumer to buy your product or service.

Let’s look at each stage in more detail.

Stage #1: Attention

The attention stage is the first phase of the buyer’s journey.

What Is Attention in AIDA?

Attention is the process of making potential customers aware of your business and the service or product you offer.

During the attention stage, prospective consumers often have already identified a problem, are trying to understand it, and are looking for possible solutions to solve it.

This is where your business should come.

In the attention stage, your main goal should be to attract the potential consumer’s attention to your products or services that can help them solve their problems.

Which Marketing Strategies Can Be Attributed to the Attention Stage?

To the attention stage can be attributed these marketing strategies:

Stage #2: Interest

Once a lead has converted from the attention phase, they enter the interest stage.

What Is Interest in AIDA?

Interest is the process when a potential customer has already noticed your product or service, but interest in its benefits is still needed to generate sufficient interest to encourage the buyer to start researching it further.

In the interest phase, he’s trying to learn more about the company, its products or services, and any other helpful information about it.

At this point, your main goal is to increase consumer interest levels in your product or service.

You can do this by creating a consistent brand voice and message that your target audience can relate to and sharing it through various marketing channels.

Which Marketing Strategies Can Be Attributed to the Interest Stage?

Here are some of the marketing strategies that can be attributed to the interest stage:

Stage #3: Desire

The desire (in some cases, it might be called decision) is the third stage of the sales funnel.

What Is Desire in AIDA?

Desire is when the consumer is already interested in your product or service, and you’re trying to make them desire it, moving their mindset from “I like it” to “I want it.”

This phase aims to help the customer to decide whether to buy your product or service.

In this stage, the potential customers reach the point where they are persuaded to commit.

This is where they decide that they really want to be your customer.

Not only have you caught their attention and got them interested in your brand, but they’re also considering purchasing.

At this point, your main goal should be to persuade a potential customer to want to own your product.

In some best-case scenarios, an advertisement alone can create the desire to purchase.

However, in most cases, they will need to get more information about your product. They’ll be looking for how well your offer fits within their budget, their current business model, and the outcomes they can expect.

This is also where they look for customer reviews and testimonials and look for affirmation for the decision they are about to make.

Which Marketing Strategies Can Be Attributed to the Desire Stage?

The desire (decision) stage can be attributed to these marketing strategies:

Stage #4: Action

Action is the final of the buying process.

What Is Action in AIDA?

Action is the process when the prospect decides to take the action necessary to become a customer. The purchasing process should finally take place at this stage.

This phase usually occurs naturally if your prospects have been carried through the first three stages (Attention, Interest, and Desire) and responded to it appropriately.

After properly nurturing the prospect, they should be ready to take action and buy your product or service.

It’s now time for the desire to translate into a purchase.

This is where you close the deal – and you want that to be a simple, straightforward process.

Which Marketing Strategies Can Be Attributed to the Action Stage?

AIDA Model in Marketing

The AIDA formula guides marketers on how to reach and connect with their prospects, engage them, activate the activities a potential customer is required to take, and finally, nurture a customer into making a purchase.

This model is universal.

You can apply it to different businesses, including service-based ventures, in various industries.

This model can be used by:

How to Effectively Use the AIDA Model in Marketing?

AIDA marketing model can be used for all digital marketing and offline advertising materials.

These include web pages, emails, paid advertisements, direct mail pieces, and even radio and TV ads.

The AIDA model works best when it’s viewed as a checklist to run through.

Here’s how to effectively use the AIDA formula in your marketing campaigns:

1. Attract attention. Make your potential consumer become aware of your brand or specific product.
2. Generate interest. Engage consumers with your product by generating interest in its benefits, sufficient interest to encourage the buyer to start researching further.
3. Make them desire it. After the consumer is interested in the product or service, then the goal is to make consumers desire it, moving their mindset from “I like it” to “I want it.”
4. Initiate action. The main goal here is to initiate action and encourage the consumer to purchase the product or service.

When used correctly, the AIDA model can yield tremendous results in marketing campaigns to:

This video explains very well how the AIDA formula can be used in any of the marketing campaigns:

AIDA Model Pros & Cons

What Are the Advantages of the AIDA Model?

One of the main advantages of the AIDA model is that it helps create a customer journey map.

By tracking each phase of the buying journey, you’ll be able to see which parts deliver strong returns and properly transition your potential consumers into the next phase.

This also tells you which parts tend to fail.

And by understanding which parts of the buying journey are broken, you can prioritize and devote most of your resources to things that are likely to fix and eliminate the complicated areas.

What Are the Drawbacks of the AIDA Model?

One of the main drawbacks of the AIDA model is that the purchase decision process is not considered anymore after it ends.

Usually, all post-purchase effects, such as satisfaction, dissatisfaction, customer ratings, and recommendations, remain unaffected.

Normally, after a customer makes an initial purchase, it opens the door for a long-term business-consumer relationship. Meanwhile, the AIDA model doesn’t count this step.

Another criticism is that AIDA is a step-by-step model with sequential individual stages.

However, in practice, the sales process isn’t always linear, and some steps can be completed as one.

For example, attention and interest.

An ad can grab a buyer’s attention and arouse their interest simultaneously.

In addition, the AIDA model has been around for over 120 years.

And some of the steps are not suitable for the modern sales world.

That’s why more approaches have been developed based on the AIDA formula.

These new approaches have extended the basic AIDA model by including additional phases into account.

Other AIDA Model Variants

In the years, many alternative AIDA models have evolved. Many attempts have been made to be more precise or include other components of the consumer’s path to purchase.

Some variants added a post-purchase stage to encourage customer retention. Others added new steps to accommodate new interactive and digital media, such as social media.

Nevertheless, all variants include a stimulus that elicits a response through the cognitive-affective-behavioral process.

Below are some of the AIDA model variants:

The Hierarchy of Effects Model

The hierarchy of effects model, created by Lavidge and Steiner, is made up of a hierarchical sequence of different advertising effects and breaks the purchasing decision-making process into a total of six stages:

The DAGMAR Formula

Based on the AIDA model, the American advertising researcher Russell H. Colley published the so-called DAGMAR formula in 1961. The acronym stands for Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results.

According to DAGMAR, each purchase prospect goes through four steps:

These steps are also known as ACCA advertising formula. Developed for the measurement of advertising effectiveness it maps the states of mind that a consumer passes through.

The AIDAS Model

The AIDAS model adopts the four phases of the AIDA model and extends it with an extra phase – satisfaction.

This means that the model doesn’t stop once the purchase has been made.

After the purchase has been made, it continues so the company knows whether the customer is happy with their purchase or not.

The AIDAS model stands for:

The AISDALSLove Model

AISDALSLove is another hierarchy of effects model in advertising adapted from AIDA’s model. This concept of AISDALSLove model was introduced by Bambang Sukma Wijaya and it stands for:

According to Wijaya’s advertising model, the search phase considers the fact that consumers are now more critically opposed to advertising promises. The internet provides consumers with a comprehensive research tool where they can review facts and compare offers.

The like/dislike phase takes the consumer’s experience into account after they have made their purchase.

Share is an independent stage that happens after the purchase. Because of the recent development of information technology, consumers have the power to perform radical actions that may impact a product’s brand image.

In addition, the AISDALSLove model assumes that advertising measures can also lead to long-term effects, which in turn lead to positive (love) or negative (hate) feelings towards products, brands, or companies. An aspect that takes center stage in the love/hate phase.

How Has AIDA Expanded?

Most current consumer path-to-purchase models, are actually expanded AIDA models, refining extra steps which we can now more properly identify and measure through digital media opportunities.

These models try to create a new and more modern module, but they are still bundled into the same old AIDA module.

Examples of the AIDA Model

AIDA Model for Coca Cola

The Coca-Cola company has been using the AIDA model for years.

Let’s take a look at how they implement the AIDA model in their marketing campaigns:

AIDA Model for Apple

Here’s how Apple used the AIDA model when they introduced their very first iPhone:

AIDA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What Does AIDA Stand for?

AIDA stands for attention, interest, desire, and action, and it describes the customer journey throughout the sales process.

This acronym describes a marketing funnel outlining a customer’s four steps, from first noticing an item to making a purchase.

Is AIDA Still Relevant Today?

YES, AIDA is still relevant today. Because AIDA looks at the buying process not from the communications angle but from the consumer’s point of view. And the consumers haven’t changed much. Their buying process has evolved, but the process itself has not.

Which Companies Use the Aida Model?

The AIDA marketing model has been famously used by companies such as Coca-Cola, Nike, and Apple. These companies have strong, attention-grabbing commercial advertisements in all forms of media (print, TV, social, etc.) that create a desire for their product. Their AIDA strategy has proven to work on a global scale. However, this model can be easily adapted by any other business—no matter how big it is.

References:

• AIDA (marketing)
• AIDA – Oxford Reference
• Lewis, E. St Elmo. “Side talks about advertising.” The Western Druggist 21.2 (1899): p. 65-66.
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• “Catch-Line and Argument” The Book-Keeper, Vol. 15, February 1903, p. 124.
• Egan, J., Marketing Communications, London, Thomson Learning, p. 42-43
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• Lavidge RJ, Steiner GA. A Model for Predictive Measurements of Advertising Effectiveness. Journal of Marketing. 1961;25(6):59-62. doi:10.1177/002224296102500611
• McGuire, William J. “An information-processing model of advertising effectiveness.” Behavioral and management science in marketing 15 (1978): 156-80.
• Thomas E. Barry & Daniel J. Howard (1990) A Review and Critique of the Hierarchy of Effects in Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, 9:2, 121-135, DOI: 10.1080/02650487.1990.11107138
• Wijaya, Bambang Sukma (2012). “The Development of Hierarchy of Effects Model in Advertising“, International Research Journal of Business Studies, 5 (1), April–July 2012, p. 73-85
• Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising by Solomom Dutka. Publisher: NTC Business Books; 2 Sub edition (April 1, 1995)