Understanding what your customer feels or expects from your brand is fundamental for your company to be able to offer them something personalized and that makes sense according to each stage of the customer journey.
According to Accenture , 75% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company that knows their name, their purchase history, and/or recommends items based on their purchase history.
Most managers often ask themselves this question: "How can we get our customers to do exactly what we want them to do?" Well, if you also found yourself agreeing with this question, I must say that this questioning is approached from the wrong perspective.
What managers should ask themselves is: "How can I help my clients achieve their goals with my product/service, while simultaneously achieving my own business objectives?" Approaching this perspective is the right starting point for building the most effective customer journey possible.
Because in order to create an effective customer journey, it's essential to see things from your customer's perspective and take the same steps they do, to deeply understand their challenges.
In this article, we'll discuss the 4 stages of the customer journey's buying process, and how you can create improvements at your customer touchpoints to deliver an even better experience!
What is the customer journey?
The customer journey is a visual tool for understanding the steps your customer goes through to achieve a goal with your product or service.
Mapping this journey helps companies put themselves in the customer's shoes and see the business from their point of view.
Furthermore, this tool helps companies gain insights into customer pain points, how to improve the experience, and define what customers need to achieve this goal.
Another essential factor is transforming the customer journey map into something practical, simple, and visual. In other words, you can set aside details that are exceptions at first and focus on the clearest patterns of behavior to act on them efficiently.
It's also important to remember that the customer journey shouldn't be confused with internal company processes. The correct perspective for mapping the journey isn't about what you aspire to be/do, but rather what the company is like.
The focus of the activity is to understand the steps the client takes with your company, and not how your employee should act or behave in this situation.
For example, imagine that during the customer visit to the store, there's a step in the journey called "serving the customer with enthusiasm." This isn't wrong, but the focus is on the employee, not the customer. The correct approach is to map the customer's feelings during the store visit, not the internal processes.
Check out our webinar on the Customer Journey.
Why map the customer journey?
Journey mapping helps you and your team put yourselves in the customer's shoes and understand how you position yourself in relation to your customer, from their point of view. After mapping the journey, you will be able to identify:
- Valuable insights into the touchpoints you have with your customer, and the ability to identify those that require more attention;
- Possible gaps in your current operation;
- How and where does your customer interact with your brand?
- Variations in the sentiment curve (expectation vs. reality);
- Opportunities and pain points.
This allows you to improve your customer experience and identify the most and least difficult steps they face when using your product or service.
I understand the consumer decision-making process
Today, more than ever, people form impressions about brands from touchpoints such as advertisements, news, conversations with family and friends, or experiences with products/services.
These impressions, accumulated over time, become crucial because they shape the customer's perception; that is, each interaction the consumer has with your company will be interpreted in different ways, until the brand is actually perceived and chosen by them as the best option on the market.
Each of these interactions makes up what we call the purchase decision process , and they are relevant to the work of the marketing team, which ends up keeping many companies focused on finding the best time to offer their product/service.
The 4 stages of the customer journey decision:
The four stages of the customer journey can be divided into two types: pre-sales and post-sales phases. Learn more about each of them:
#1 Learning and discovery
In this first stage of the journey, your potential customer is very likely not yet aware of what problem they hope to solve with your product/service, so it's unlikely they'll be searching for solutions at this point.
On the other hand, he may have some clue as to what he needs or may have come to feel a particular need that motivates him to seek information.
Let's take the example of a department store specializing in kitchenware.
In the discovery phase, it's not the ideal time to talk about your brand or product, but rather to educate your potential customer about the benefits and advantages your product line offers. At this stage, it's time to showcase your brand's value proposition and how you can help this potential customer make the best decision.
#2 Decision Consideration
In the consideration stage, your potential client already knows they have a problem, and their focus is on understanding that problem in its entirety and finding ways to solve it.
With that in mind, you're likely eager to talk about your product, but your potential customer isn't yet at the buying stage; they're focused on how it will solve their problem.
The best thing to do at this stage is to address the various questions he may have at this point. In other words, the focus of your actions remains education, but you should make more in-depth materials accessible to him, with more technical content and complete explanations.
#3 Purchase decision
Your potential client has already come a long way, learned a lot from the materials you provided, and has certainly already formed an opinion of your company.
Note that up to this stage: your brand is being recognized in the market, your business has gained authority, and your audience is engaged.
So now is the time to reveal the details of your product or service and make it clear to your target audience why your solution is best for them.
#4 Loyalty
Your potential client chose your company and closed the sale. Mission accomplished, right? Not yet.
If your brand has remained attentive and present throughout the entire customer journey, the biggest mistake you could make is simply disappearing after the purchase. This attitude not only breeds distrust but also wastes all the relationship work built previously.
When customers become loyal, they can turn into great advocates and promoters of your brand – a fundamental strategy for any company that wants to remain competitive for many years.
Conclusion
The way your customers interact with your company is not a linear process, no matter how much you want it to be.
Getting people from point A to point B without "jumping ship" or missing a step isn't always easy when it comes to the customer journey, but taking the time to understand as much as possible about your customers' goals can go a long way in keeping them happy.
Interested in mapping and improving your customer experience? Meet Harmo – the first and only platform that integrates online reputation management with NPS®, CES, and CSAT surveys.
📌IMPORTANT REMINDER!
Check out our super complete and up-to-date article , "Customer Journey: What is it and how to map yours?" We answer all the main questions from our audience and it's packed with rich complementary materials for you to download for free! 😀🤘