Understanding and crafting a customer journey is essential for any business looking to grow. Their journey is representative of the steps that they will take, from the first point of contact they have with your business, all the way to making a purchase. Each stage offers your business an opportunity to nurture, engage, and convert your customers. Without a strategic customer journey, your customers may not be primed to convert at the end. This could be due to several things, including no trust built, you don’t resonate with them, or they felt too rushed. This is why a strategy is important. To help you on your journey to growing your business and crafting a great customer journey, here are some of the key elements of the customer journey that you need to know.
1. Awareness
The first part of the journey is capturing the attention of your target audience. This is where they will learn about your brand and what you have to offer. This could be social media, Google, word of mouth, or any other form of marketing. Customers are not ready to buy here. They tend to gather information at this stage, so it is important that you have a strong presence and offer valuable content that speaks to their pain points. Content could be in the form of videos, guides, or blogs.
2. Consideration
Once customers are aware of your business, they enter the consideration stage. This is when they evaluate your offerings and compare them with your competitors. The goal for your business at this point is to engage and nurture your leads. You can provide more personalized content that addresses their concerns and shows them the benefits of choosing your business.
Email marketing is an excellent way to help move leads from awareness into consideration. This allows you to engage with them directly, tailoring campaigns to their preferences.
3. Decision
The decision stage is where customers are just about ready to make a purchase. They have gone through and evaluated their options, and they need to choose a solution. It is critical at this point that your business makes the buying process as easy and as seamless as possible. Make sure pricing is clear and easy to understand. Product details are available, and you have strong call-to-actions (CTAs). Social proof and customer testimonials at this stage can help to reassure them that they are making the right choice.
It can be helpful at this point to add a sense of urgency within promotional campaigns, for example, by offering a limited-time discount on a product. You can do this strategically with an email timer, which has been proven to work on thousands of campaigns. This prompts customers to make their decisions sooner, rather than later.
These are the main phases to attract and convert your customers. You would then need to create a strategy around the retention stage to help you build loyalty and the advocacy stage to help you turn customers into brand ambassadors.
The customer journey will break or make sales. Follow these key steps to help you.
