Do you keep track of your customers’ customer journey?
Identifying the journey your potential customers take between the time they get to know you until they decide to buy is critical because, with these insights, you can optimize your marketing investments and even improve your customers’ preferred tools.
If you don’t know what the customer journey is, you are in the right place!
In this in-depth discussion we will address:
- define what is meant by customer journey and explain what it is,
- unveil the business benefits of tracking it,
- specify what the customer journey map is,
- identify what the stages of the customer journey are.
The definition of customer journey
Let’s start with the definition of customer journey.
The literal translation of these two words is “customer journey.”
Starting with the translation, we can say that customer journey means the journey that the customer takes from the first contact with your company (whether it is on the website, through a Google Ads, with the placement of your site or on social networks) until the moment they actually become a customer.
All contact points that the potential customer has had with the company are considered.
Every single interaction with social pages, every single website visit or newsletter sign-up, just everything.
The customer journey can be considered as a real relationship between customers and the company.
Going on, we will see what are all the advantages of the company in exactly tracking the customer journey.
Customer journey: what are the business benefits
By identifying your customers’ customer journey, you can unearth the most effective touch points and those that need to be improved in order to increase conversion and improve sales results.
But it doesn’t end there, a really essential benefit is being able to statistically predict the next step the customer will take (based on where they are in the customer journey).
Identifying the entire journey is a bit like predicting the future of customers within your company.
If you can predict what the next step will be, you can be in the right place at the right time by offering them the right solutions to their problems or the right products for their needs.
This also increases customer consideration and trust (perhaps accelerating the sales pipeline).
In this regard, Aberdeen Group’s report gives just a few figures, which we quote below, regarding the annual growth of companies that have tracked the customer journey:
- sales from referrals increased 5 times,
- sales paths 18 times faster than the previous year,
- ROI improved by 54%,
- +56% increase in sales through upselling and cross-selling.
In order to pinpoint exactly the customer’s path to purchase, it is necessary to draw a map showing all contact points with the company; this is called a customer journey map.
Customer journey map: what it is and how it is considered
The customer journey map is the drawn mapping of the entire customer purchase journey.
It can be considered a true illustration that allows, even visually, to identify all the touch points (the points of contact) of the customer and find out how to anticipate their moves.
In the customer journey map you also identify all the platforms that customers interact with, which sites they used to learn about our brand, which social networks they use, which pages of your site they visit, and which product sheets they visit the most.
This will also help you become aware of which tools to invest your marketing budget in.
Click visit counts and all the other marketing insights that platforms make available can be cross-referenced and mapped through any CRM (customer relationship management) tool.
Customer journey mapping works best in both B2B and B2C markets.
Let’s find out what the stages of a typical customer’s purchase journey are so that we have some real-world examples of what data to track.
The stages of the customer journey
The marketplace, thanks to online, is evolving very quickly and the customer journey with it.
New contacts, new platforms and new ideas for meeting potential customers are created every day.
This is why we recommend mapping the customer buying journey periodically to recheck and update any touch points.
In the B2C market, it is easy for the first touch point with the company to occur online, until the offline purchase path is concluded.
One way in which the customer journey can be tracked is through a model called AIDA.
AIDA stands for the four stages of the customer journey:
- Awareness.
At this stage, the customer begins his or her journey toward loyalty with the company.
The potential customer realizes that he or she has a problem to solve or a need to satisfy and begins to seek solutions by meeting with the company.
At this stage, the company must focus on finding ways to get the potential customer’s attention; if it succeeds in this goal, the customer journey is continued. - Interest.
Through its content, the company should have succeeded in capturing the attention of the customer, who begins to show interest in the products and services offered.
They consult product sheets, look for reviews, and inquire.
The business goal at this stage is to make itself better known and demonstrate to the customer that he can find his solution.
Warning. Tell only the truth otherwise all your work will become useless.
To succeed in keeping the customer’s interest, it is necessary to make an analysis of the company’s strengths and weaknesses and to know on which fronts to focus interest. - Desire.
After devoting his attention and interest to a particular brand, the customer moves on to the desire-to-buy stage.
He is thinking about buying but is still unsure. Often customers at this stage find themselves trying to figure out which product is best suited for their needs and make some price considerations.
At this stage, the company must ask how to help him choose, to clarify his ideas.
Some interesting suggestions for continuing the customer journey could be to offer a free limited trial or a free consultation or helpful guide to learn about the products. - Action.
The last stage is the action stage, in which the customer journey ends with the purchase of the product or service.
At this stage, the company must ask itself what to do to make the purchase as easy as possible, such as setting up a payment method in a few clicks or making a service center available.
At this stage, the company must ask itself what to do to make the purchase as easy as possible, such as setting up a payment method in just a few clicks or making a service center available.
The customer journey officially ends with the customer’s purchase, but this does not mean that the company’s efforts should end here.
To further optimize sales results, it is also important to engage on the retention of customers who have already purchased and to continue to make sales with follow-up purchases.