3 advertising strategies to turn consumer consideration into conversion

Where does a consumer's consideration become a conversion? Identifying this critical point across the consumer buying journey can be a challenge for advertisers of all sizes.

That’s why we’re offering an upcoming webinar with actionable insights into how you can engage with today’s shoppers—and how Microsoft Advertising solutions can help.

In a highly competitive advertising marketplace, small and mid-size businesses can struggle to get noticed—and without brand recognition, it's hard to drive lower-funnel goals like capturing new leads and increasing product sales. Many have realized that an omnichannel strategy is an effective way to connect and engage with their consumers, driving growth across the entire consumer journey.

By advertising across multiple ad formats and devices, advertisers can reach audiences at the upper-funnel awareness and consideration phases and nudge them towards the lower funnel for making conversions like product purchases.

But which advertising approaches are most effective? Get an exclusive preview below of the proven strategies we'll be sharing in our webinar, based on actionable insights gathered from new research commissioned by Microsoft Advertising¹ assessing consumer behavior across the shopping journey.

3 steps to connect with consumers from awareness to purchase

1. Engage earlier in the customer journey

The shopping journey has shifted from a simple transaction into a curated experience, with consumers spending more time in the consideration phase. We found that people consult an average of 5.5 online resources when making a product decision. So engaging consumers early can deepen their consideration of your offerings, thereby driving better results.

2. Target consumers across their digital day

Our research also identified that most shoppers reply on multiple touchpoints before converting to a purchase. Advertisers should target different shopping mindsets throughout the day whether customers are browsing, working, or playing games during casual time. Our insights showed three shopper types for advertisers to focus on: entertainment, task-oriented, and price-conscious.

3. Win the Gen Z mid-funnel opportunity

If you haven’t already, put Gen Z on your advertising radar. Why? Because this generation uniquely spends more time in the consideration phase than other demographics, and their spending power is growing. It’s an ideal opportunity to influence their decisions since 43% of Gen Z rely on recommendations—from reviews, influencers, or friends—to narrow down options, versus 32% and 31% among millennials and Gen X.

Move your audience forward faster with Microsoft Advertising 

Microsoft's ecosystem—spanning work apps, search, news, entertainment, and gaming—allows businesses of all sizes to reach consumers as they shift between mindsets throughout their digital lives. 

Businesses can take advantage of Microsoft Advertising's unique consumer touchpoints by leveraging Performance Max (PMax). This comprehensive omnichannel solution helps advertisers build audience awareness and drive results across multiple ad formats with automation.

Our data shows that PMax advertisers in the U.S. experienced:²

• 3.4x increase in conversion rates 

• 1.7x increase in return on ad spend (ROAS) 

Audience ads are another powerful solution that allows you to leverage Microsoft's unique first-party data. You can reach high-intent audiences with beautiful, personalized ads across various ad placements and multiple touchpoints on Microsoft and our partners’ properties, including MSN, Outlook, Edge, Microsoft casual games, and premium streaming platforms. 

Microsoft users primarily discover brands through search engines, making up 57% of total users. The Microsoft Network reaches 786 million searchers, this reach allows ads to be seen by a broad and engaged audience.³

Register for our upcoming webinar

To learn more, join us for our expert-led webinar on June 3, 2025, where we'll reveal exclusive insights from our consumer behavior research as well as the solutions to help you reach your most valuable customers. 

And if you’re new to Microsoft Advertising, take advantage of a free consultation with our team of experts to help you set up an account, or get started for free today.