What Is AISAS? Five Stages, AIDMA Differences, and a Planning Example
Shusaku Yosa
AISAS stands for Attention, Interest, Search, Action, and Share. It is a planning model for examining how people notice an offering, look for information, act, and share experiences. It can help connect advertising, search, websites, and social media around the questions customers need answered.
AISAS is not a rule that every customer passes through five steps in sequence. Use it to find missing information and define observable actions, rather than infer a person’s feelings from a page view. The example below concerns a fictional food subscription service, not a proven campaign result.
How does AISAS differ from AIDMA?
Dentsu’s discussion of AISAS describes its introduction in 2004 and examines a development that separates engagement with information from product purchasing. This supports using the model flexibly rather than imposing a single linear path.
Model | Elements | Practical use and limitation |
|---|---|---|
AIDMA | Attention, Interest, Desire, Memory, Action | Consider interest, desire, and memory without assuming analytics reveal those mental states |
AISAS | Attention, Interest, Search, Action, Share | Examine information seeking and sharing; some purchases involve neither |
Other models, including 5A | Distinct terminology and relationship perspectives | Preserve their definitions rather than treating Advocate as identical to Share |
See the AIDMA guide for its definitions and limits. Neither model is universally superior. Someone may buy immediately, return to search after seeing a shared post, or participate in a business decision involving several people. These are not the same journey.
Turn each stage into a question, information, and an observation
Stage | Fictional food-subscription example | Observation and caution |
|---|---|---|
Attention | Show what is delivered and the intended use in a post or video | Impressions, reach, or views do not prove awareness |
Interest | Explain portions, preparation, storage, and eligibility | Detail-page views or saves do not establish purchase intent |
Search | Provide prices, delivery areas, cancellation terms, and comparison information | Search queries and entry pages do not reveal every search by an individual |
Action | Show total charges, dates, renewal conditions, and the completion step | Separate button clicks, form actions, and successful orders |
Share | Offer optional feedback, sharing, and support routes | Sharing can be negative; any revenue effect needs separate evaluation |
Distinguish the observed fact “viewed an explanation” from the interpretation “became interested.” Use the 4Cs questions to identify needs and burdens and persona research to distinguish users, approvers, and other decision participants. Treat the fictional example as a planning hypothesis until supported by actual evidence.
Connect the stages through four practical decisions
- Select one decision situation. Initial purchase, renewal, and referral have different questions and should not be mixed into one undefined funnel.
- Check the required information at each contact. Keep product conditions, total prices, and cancellation terms consistent between ads and landing pages.
- Define the next action and its measurement. Separate a CTA click, form interaction, and successful submission, including reload and duplicate handling.
- Assign owners and review dates for prices, conditions, assets, links, and FAQs, so changes reach every relevant contact.
Search is broader than SEO, and Share is broader than social media. Asking a colleague, calling a supplier, or circulating a business document may serve the same information-seeking and sharing functions. Do not narrow the customer’s actual decision to only the activity your tools can see.
Use social media planning and video marketing to design those channels, and the CTA guide to clarify the next action. First repair a missing explanation or broken transition in an existing contact rather than adding every possible channel at once.
Worked example: percentage points and relative change
These figures are fictional. With the same defined denominator of 10,000 visits, 200 purchases yield a 2% conversion rate and 300 purchases yield 3%. In practice, specify whether “visits” means sessions or users, and whether the outcome counts orders or sessions containing a purchase. This illustration compares the same definitions.
Comparison | Calculation | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
Absolute conversion-rate difference | 3% − 2% = 1 percentage point | Avoid the ambiguous claim “up 1%” |
Purchase-count difference | 300 − 200 = 100 | A difference at the same fictional visit count |
Relative conversion-rate increase | (3% − 2%) ÷ 2% = 50% | Change relative to the original rate |
Advertising savings or profitability | Not calculable from these figures alone | Requires spend, attribution, margin, returns, and other relevant costs |
This does not show that AISAS reduces ad costs by 10%, or that a particular change caused the difference. Audience mix, seasonality, price, and delivery conditions may change. GA4’s attribution documentation describes allocating credit; allocated credit is not unconditional proof of an independent causal effect.
Review sharing conditions and measurement limits
Let people choose whether to provide a review or share an experience. Check publication permission, personal information, and rights in images or other material. For Japan, advertiser involvement can bring a representation within the Consumer Affairs Agency’s stealth-marketing rules. Make advertising identifiable where required; not every unsolicited comment is an advertisement, so consider the actual relationship and conditions.
- Describe customer questions and observable actions, not just stage labels.
- Keep prices and eligibility consistent across channels.
- Separate clicks, completion, cancellations, and duplicates.
- Review the substance of sharing as well as its count.
- Allow for unobserved contacts and multiple decision-makers.
Use AISAS to make decisions easier and information more coherent. Improving a nominal stage-to-stage rate is useful only when customers can complete an appropriate action under the conditions you promised.
Connect the next decisions
For related decisions, see the 4Cs worksheet, social media operations and measurement, video planning and evaluation.
Xtrategy provides company, contact, and deal records alongside project planning and monthly budget-versus-actual management. Review the Xtrategy feature list to decide whether those management functions fit your team’s workflow.