Customer journey map, conversion steps
Today, the experience of buying or even contacting a consumer with a company has changed. It is no longer simply a matter of going to the shop and buying the product. When a lead arrives at the moment of conversion, he already has access to a whole range of crucial information. Let's take a look at the stages of the customer journey and how to exploit a customer journey map.
Customer journey map: overview
Definition of customer journey map
The customer journey map is a kind of representation of all the steps the consumer takes in the course of his decision-making process that will potentially lead him to conversion. It is a tool that allows you to be visually aware of the different touch points from when the need arises to the after-sales experience.
How to draw a customer journey map
Identify the phases
The 5 phases from the customer's point of view:
Awareness
This phase includes satisfying the need, prioritising criteria and finding generic information about a product.
To satisfy your prospect 's needs you will need to:
- identify their problem or motivation to buy
- provide them with information on the product or service corresponding to their needs
Consideration
This is also referred to as offer evaluation. The prospect goes to the shop to try it out, or does further research on the Internet to compare offers and competition on different criteria:
- product features
- ancillary services (guarantees, delivery, etc.)
- price
- customer experience (through opinions or past experiences with certain brands)
This is the time when the brand should highlight all its strengths. Feel free to use 'drive to store' and/or 'click and collect' techniques to connect with your customers, with a 'phygital' approach, and show them your experience.
Most of the time, this research is done on the Internet, before visiting the shop. It is therefore important to adopt an adapted SEO strategy to benefit from good natural referencing on search engines. The ergonomics of the site and its construction are also essential.
Purchase
This is then the purchase, collection in the shop, or ordering on the Internet and receiving the good.
Even if the sale is concluded, there remain elements of customer experience that should not be overlooked:
- physical reception
- limited wait at the checkout
- speed of delivery
- in-store availability
- customer service, etc.
The next steps depend on this experience.
Loyalty
It is about doing everything possible to ensure customer satisfaction and future purchases.
Processing after-sales service requests , technical support, customised promotional offers, is necessary to make the customer want to return, without harassing them, in a subtle and targeted manner.
This is the ideal time to conduct a satisfaction survey, e.g. to collect customer feedback.
© Myfeelback.com
Ambassador
A satisfied customer recommends a product, service or brand to those around him.
But beware of dissatisfied customers!
© Oracle
This diagram considers the important steps after the act of purchase, alongside loyalty and recommendation:
- the discovery of the product or service
- its use
- its maintenance
The phases from the company's point of view
Parallel to the different stages the customer is going through, the company strategy can be summarised in these points:
- Awareness: the company makes sure it is present on the market, to stand out in searches conducted by the potential customer (search engines, word of mouth, etc.);
- Qualification: it detects its potential customers, their profiles;
- Prospecting/Acquisition: initiates contact, using various means (e-mail, telephone prospecting, etc.);
- Loyalty: aims at long-term customer satisfaction, so that customers can make further purchases and become their ambassadors;
- Reconquest: does everything possible to attract the customer again, e.g. through promotional campaigns.
Define yourself
We cannot repeat this enough but you have to know your buyer persona. Try to understand who he is: how old is he? what are his interests, when he buys a product does he do a lot of research online or does he go directly to the shop?
Who is your buyer persona?
You have to get in tune with him through an empathy map and understand what he feels, wants and thinks.
What are your touch points?
Take each phase and try to define how you intend to connect with the consumer.
For example the awareness phase: how will you try to be in front of him when he feels the need for a product like yours? a good SEO positioning to be among the first on Google when he searches, Facebook page? there is no single winning strategy!
Don't go in blind! KPI!!!!
Measure each phase! it will allow you to tailor your strategy to the right point. Each phase has a set of key indicators that will show you your strengths and weaknesses.
For example:
- Net promoter score: this index measures satisfaction to a certain extent but is mainly used to see who will talk about you, for better or worse. It is a scale from one to ten that you can put at the bottom of an article, email after a service and so on.
To interpret the results you have to consider the grades from 0 to 6 as negative and subtract them from the final score (potentially people who will bring you negative publicity).
7 and 8 are neutral scores that will not affect the index, these are people who are overall satisfied but who will not commit themselves as ambassadors.
9 and 10 are the enthusiasts, those so pleased with you that they will tell everyone about your product.
- Customer satisfaction: Measures overall satisfaction. There are a thousand ways to measure it, and in this respect you can also be creative and leave a good consumer appeal. For example, buttons with smiley faces (😀😐😔) next to your customer service counters.
Or there are companies that use chatbot calls to rate different criteria from 1 to 10... in short, you have a whole host of possibilities!
- Retention rate: OK they bought once...but will they come back? Keep in mind that retaining a customer is more profitable than acquiring a new one. Why did they make a one-off purchase?
they saw an offer and are therefore not interested in your usual price? the product was not good enough or your customer service is not up to scratch?
- Bounce rate: here we move on to the beginning of their journey. When they are on your site, how do they behave? They look at the landing page and leave... Why? Maybe your site doesn't put the call to action in the right places or you don't offer what the consumer expected to find.
- Sentiment analysis: how does the consumer react to your communication strategy? too formal? too much irony?
- Retention rate: OK they bought once...but will they come back? Keep in mind that retaining a customer is more profitable than acquiring a new one. Why did they make a one-off purchase?
- Customer satisfaction: Measures overall satisfaction. There are a thousand ways to measure it, and in this respect you can also be creative and leave a good consumer appeal. For example, buttons with smiley faces (😀😐😔) next to your customer service counters.
Worry about Customer Relationship
Fear not: you don't have to do everything by the book. With Crm software you will be able to track your customers to the best of your ability. Look for solutions integrated with sales and marketing tools to keep an eye on the entire customer journey. For example, you could try solutions such as Infinity CRM, Zurmo or Pipedrive.
Don't miss a step on the customer journey map
Try to keep an eye on all steps of the consumer conversion process. Don't leave anything to chance and offer content designed for them. Above all, remember that at the moment of purchase it is not over, it is only the beginning!
Article translated from Italian