Do you know the path that your clients travel from when they meet you until they choose you? Do you know all the moments and points of interaction they have with your brand? When we talk about sales, there are different stages that you must identify within the purchase process of your customers, better known as Customer Journey , to provide a better brand experience 🙌
Believe it or not all companies have a Customer Journey, but only some have it well mapped. Many times this path can be so short for the client that it only takes a couple of minutes or so long that it requires months to close the sale, it all depends on the type of product or service you offer.
Providing a good experience has become one of the most important pillars for loyalty , due to the high competitiveness and constant innovation of the market, but what is a Customer Journey? And how can it help you better understand your users? Let’s see 🤓
What is the Customer Journey?
It is said that 70% of the Customer Journey has been completed long before customers arrive at your virtual store . How so ?! We live in the digital age and consumers have at hand all the information they need about the products or services they are looking for.
This allows them to make comparisons between brands and make much smarter decisions , which gives greater relevance to the shopping experience and any added value that brands offer as a differentiator against the competition.
The Customer Journey can be defined as all those stages that our clients go through from the moment they are aware of their need until they acquire our product or service. This model allows us to know your problems and needs in addition to measuring the quality of your shopping experience to keep them with your brand 🔒
How does the customer journey work?
The customer Journey consists of identifying the stages that customers go through when making a purchase or a valuable action for our brand , so being clear about this process will help you understand them and detect opportunities for improvement 🔍
Knowing which events or actions are the most significant within your Customer Journey will also allow you to establish content and strategies that better connect with your customers and positively impact their experience with the ideal message at the right time.
What are the stages of the customer journey?
We can divide the Customer Journey into 5 stages, one for each situation in which potential customers find themselves , both at the level of predisposition and interest. The first 3 phases lead to the buy action and the last 2 to the recommendation, after the sale is completed.
Discovery
At this stage, consumers recognize in themselves a need that they do not know how to satisfy, they feel frustrated and begin to do some research in search of solutions. Here the most important thing is to evaluate the channels that are most relevant to your customers, generate valuable content in them and get your brand to remain present in their mind 🧠
Consideration
Customers want to make the purchase but need to evaluate different options to make a final decision. To achieve this, they will once again carry out a much more specific investigation including specific brands, this with the aim of finding more detailed descriptions and knowing the attributes of their products or services.
All the information that allows them to make a comparison with the competition will be very useful, so having elements that differentiate you from other brands can directly influence the purchase decision of your target audience 🎯
Also having a Marketing Automation strategy can increase your results considerably, since it allows you to identify the actions that customers take in your business and send automatic communications in order to recover abandoned carts and boost your sales 🛒
Purchase
Here customers have already made their decision. This process should be as easy and fast as possible , provide as much information as possible and clarify delivery times if necessary. A plus? Establish return policies.
Including a customer service channel to resolve any inconvenience during the purchase process will also help you convey confidence and security to your consumers at this decisive moment 😉
Retention
Not everything ends with the purchase, the idea is to turn the new client into an ambassador of your brand . You can thank them for their purchase with a personalized email, offer them discount coupons, send them a newsletter with valuable content and exclusive promotions.
Recommendation
Measuring the quality of your customers’ experience and knowing if they were satisfied with your product or service is essential at this stage . Tools like the NPS can help you carry out surveys through banners Popups or Email Marketing campaigns to find out the opinion of your consumers 💬
If their experience was satisfactory, it is very likely that they will buy from you again and recommend you to other users. Remember that social networks and word of mouth are two of the most influential channels in the market , so good management of your post-sale process can have a very positive impact on your brand recognition.
As you will have noticed, Accompanying your clients at each stage within the Customer Journey will allow them to receive the information they need at the right time. However, having a strategy of Marketing Automation can facilitate this process and help you integrate all your channels to create automatic action flows that boost your results 📈
Were you aware of the steps your customers take to purchase your products or services? We encourage you to discover them and propose a marketing strategy for each one. Remember that with emBlue you can stay present at the key points of your customers’ Customer Journey and achieve your company’s objectives faster.
Are you ready to implement a Customer Journey strategy in your business?