As can be seen, it is undeniable that the success of a business depends primarily on customers, so understanding customers’ needs and winning their hearts over becomes an essential goal of every business. For this reason, every company is willing to invest big bucks just to understand their customers well in order to satisfy their needs and expectations. With the rise of social media and citizen journalism, management is able to have greater access to customer-initiated touch points that help companies deepen their knowledge customers’ preferences and desires.  Companies are able to use these technologies to have more interaction with customers, e.g. via Facebook and Twitter.  These channels can help companies refine their existing products, or introduce new products that fill the missing gap in the market based on customers’ feedback. 
Similarly, in order to stage a successful marketing campaign, it is essential for companies to understand consumers and the process involved in their decision making in order to influence their purchase. By recognising each stage of the consumer decision making process companies can apply targeted communication tools to guide the customers from product awareness to customer loyalty. As can be seen, at the need recognition stage, companies can use mass media outlets, such as messaging, to raise customer awareness of companies’ offerings. At the information search stage, companies can provide as much information about their offerings as possible on their websites so that this information is easily accessible to customers who wish to seek further information before deciding on a purchase. At the evaluation of alternatives stage, companies can provide opportunities for customers to differentiate their products from their competitors by using on-site strategies such as sample stations and in-store placements. At the purchase decision stage, companies can adopt strategies such as discounts, cash back offers, vouchers etc to further create influences on the final decision at the point of purchase. At the post-purchase behaviour stage, companies could gather feedback from consumers on their offerings via customer helpline, companies’ websites, etc. As a retention measure loyalty programs can also be established. Therefore, companies should keep themselves abreast with the latest technological and market trends so that they can utilise effective marketing tools that maximise consumer responsiveness to and awareness of companies’ offerings, as well as customer retention rates.