Customer Journey Map : Everything You Need to Know
The traditional consumer journey has evolved dramatically over the years, with eCommerce fundamentally changing the way consumers purchase products.
While we have often heard the phrase that “consumer is king”, it’s truer now more than ever. With brands competing to win larger customer shares, consumers can make a choice from thousands of brands for similar products.
Defining customer needs, problems, and interactions with your company may seem overwhelming and at times, unnecessary. However, understanding every customer’s experience at each stage of the customer journey is crucial for turning business insights into long-term improvement strategies.
Creating a customer journey map can help you and your company visualize how customers feel at all brand touchpoints so you can avoid potential issues ahead of time, increase customer retention, and discover key information to make the best decisions for your business.
How has the consumer journey changed?
Today, citizens across the UK and parts of Europe have access to an average of nine connected devices. In the US, this figure is even higher at around ten. With a world of content at our fingertips, the customer journey has evolved and expanded significantly bringing new channels, pathways and advertising opportunities into the mix.
New channels
The consumer journey begins with the awareness stage, so you need to make it easy for people to find your brand’s products.
Traditionally, consumers first became aware of a product from advertisements or PR presented through television, radio, newspapers and magazines. Then they could buy it in-store after consulting with friends, family or store clerks.
With the rise of the internet, the way consumers hear about, research and buy products has changed completely. There are many more channels to discover and research products, including search engines, social media and review sites to name just a few. There are more ways to purchase products online too.
Digital path to purchase
The modern consumer journey is less linear than the traditional consumer journey of the pre-digital age. Customers are now much more likely to discover new brands during the research or consideration stage of their journey.
For example, someone who considers buying an Apple iPhone may discover a whole host of alternatives while researching on Google, Amazon or a tech blog.
In the past, consumers would usually narrow down their options at this stage of the journey, but now there are many more digital paths to purchase that influence conversion.
Another unique feature of the digital consumer journey is that communications now go both ways. With just a couple of clicks, consumers can find the answer to any question about your industry, brand, or products. They can also read or share reviews, ratings and FAQs on websites, social media or marketplace listings.
Different stages of the Consumer Journey
Shoppers are more proactive than ever before and this has influenced each step of the digital consumer journey:
– Awareness
At this early stage, consumers have a need, but they may not even realize it yet. They are not actively looking for a product, but are still receptive to advertisements.
Studies show that most consumers choose brands that they know or like. That’s why building your brand’s awareness among consumers continues to be such an important eCommerce trend in 2021.
You can use videos, blogs, FAQs, social media content, and OTT ads to capture consumers’ attention at this stage in the journey. You can also use tracking pixels, newsletter sign ups and social media to stay front of mind with them until they are ready to convert.
In the traditional customer journey, this where billboards and large scale above-the-line advertising campaigns would have been the strategy.
– Consideration
At this point in the journey, consumers know they need a product or solution and the vast majority of them turn to the internet to do their research.
According to an recent survey, around 69% of shoppers do product research on Google, while 61% use Amazon. Another survey suggests that 43% of shoppers use social media as well.
At this point, you need to let people know how your product can help using case studies, testimonials, reviews, product comparisons, demos and fine-tuned product listings. Consider the digital shelf as your virtual store front – it needs to show off your product in all its glory!
– Conversion
Conversion is one of the most challenging stages in the modern customer journey, with shopping cart abandonment rate at an eye watering 69.8%.
You need to ensure you make the digital path to purchase as smooth and seamless as possible to avoid losing customers at this late stage.
Think about the different payment options you provide, the layout and copy of your checkout page, and how easy you make it for customers to sail through the process.
Many digital shoppers are more comfortable buying products on marketplaces such as Amazon than a direct to consumer store. By providing the option for consumers to purchase where-ever they like, a Where to Buy solution can help boost brands’ success as the conversion stage in the customer journey.
– Advocacy
In the digital consumer journey, engagement continues after shoppers have made a purchase.
In the advocacy stage, shoppers may share their experience of your product by posting user generated content online. This can include reviews, ratings, product questions, pictures, and more. If you’ve provided a first-class journey, you will see the pay off as your happy customers will help you to convert more buyers.
Research shows that post-purchase consumers are receptive to ads for complementary products too. Depending on what you’re selling, you could dramatically increase the customer lifetime value of your buyers.
The benefits of mapping the Customer Journey
As the consumer journey becomes increasingly complicated, the importance of mapping it out increases. It is a convenient way to communicate the complex digital interactions that take place. Here are the positive outcomes that come from doing this.
More conversions and higher retention rates
Breaking down the customer journey step by step allows you to make sure that every element of your marketing campaigns contribute to your ultimate goals and eCommerce KPIs.
With an overarching view of the customer journey, it’s easier to spot what needs improvement. You can also use your analytics tools to identify where consumers bounce or churn. Then, you can make adjustments which should lead to better customer experience and more success for your brand.
You can share the map throughout your company
All companies want to provide a great customer experience. But the larger a brand becomes, the more difficult it is to craft coherent messages and experiences across all touchpoints.
However, customer journey maps help keep everyone on the same page. Sharing them beyond the marketing team with customer service agents, sales teams, in-store reps and new hires will create cohesion across all touchpoints
These maps can help build a customer-focused culture throughout a company. You can even go as far as mapping post-purchase support strategies.
A better ROI on marketing spend
With in-depth insights into the consumer journey, marketers can carefully implement a logical sequence of messages. They can also improve their targeting and personalization for each persona too.
This is likely to attract more relevant clicks and improve conversion rates, resulting in a better return on your advertising and eCommerce marketing investments.
Being familiar with the consumer journey allows companies to identify which touchpoints are most important and where there are problems that may prevent conversion. It helps you to make informed decisions, which boost performance while also improving marketing ROI.
On top of this, monitoring the Customer Journey has been shown to improve overall business performance. After all, you can’t optimize what you don’t know!
