Path to Purchase: Discovery, Research & Decision Triggers

Thanks for taking a few minutes to walk us through your recent purchase! We want to understand how you found and decided on it — there are no wrong answers. Your responses are completely confidential and anonymized. About 5-6 minutes.

Thinking back to before you bought it, how did you first hear about or start considering (Replace with your product category, e.g., 'a robot vacuum')?

• An online ad
• Social media post or influencer
• Search engine results
• Friend or family recommendation
• In-store display or shelf
• Review site or comparison article
• I already knew I wanted this type of product

Rank these sources by how much each one influenced your final decision, from most to least influential.

1. Customer reviews
2. Brand's own website
3. Retailer's website
4. Friends or family
5. Social media
6. Professional or expert reviews
7. In-store staff

In the 30 days before you purchased, how many separate times did you look into or research this product?

• Once only
• 2-3 times
• 4-6 times
• More than 6 times
• I'm not sure

By the time you first visited (Replace with your brand)'s website or store, how much had you already decided which product you'd buy?

How important was each of the following in your decision to buy?

Did you seriously consider any other brands or products before buying (Replace with your brand)?

• Yes, one alternative
• Yes, multiple alternatives
• No, I only considered this one
• Can't remember

What, if anything, almost stopped you from completing the purchase?

• Price or cost concerns
• Shipping time or cost
• Needed more information
• Wanted to compare more options
• Technical issues at checkout
• Couldn't find it in stock

Reconstruct the respondent's actual purchase journey in chronological order: what triggered the search, which specific touchpoint or moment made them lean toward this product, and what happened right before they clicked buy or walked to checkout. If they mentioned something that almost stopped them, probe exactly what changed their mind and how close they came to abandoning; if nothing almost stopped them, probe whether the decision felt effortless or whether they're just underreporting friction.

Looking back, how confident are you that you made the right choice?

Roughly how many days passed between when you first started researching and when you completed the purchase?

Which age range do you fall into?

• 18-24
• 25-34
• 35-44
• 45-54
• 55-64
• 65+
• Prefer not to say

How do you describe your gender?

• Woman
• Man
• Non-binary
• Prefer to self-describe
• Prefer not to say

That's everything — thank you for the detail! Your responses help us understand which touchpoints actually drive purchases and where people almost drop off along the way.