In the Part 1 of this blog, we outlined key elements, provided data, and some recommendations as we defined what is a customer journey, its importance, and some key elements to start. Now we going to go through the development stages to help you visualize and hopefully create your own strategies. As we define each stage, we will incorporate business strategies and the customer’s viewpoint.
The following process includes seven stages as identified in the chart. We will go through each stage individually.
Awareness
- Customer: The customer recognizes they have a problem and sets out to find solutions. They conduct keyword searches to gather information and find solutions for their needs or problems.
- Business: This first stage is before a consumer even knows who you are, but you know what your ideal customer (avatar) needs. This is when you must show up in their searches via digital ads and effective keyword usage.
Exploration
- Customer: After they become aware of their need, the consumer usually goes through an exploratory phase. Here, they are starting to do some research into you and your competitors. They may follow you on social media or sign up for your emails. But remember, they are most likely doing the same with your competitors.
- Business: Become the resource they need by providing educational content in this exploratory stage of their journey. This is where the relationship begins and how the individual discovers they need for the product or service you provide. Providing educational content, you become recognized as an industry expert which builds credibility.
Evaluation
- Customer: During this stage the prospect is more seriously evaluating their options, potentially getting a quote from, or wanting a demo of your product or service. They may start to narrow down their options based on any number of touchpoints they’ve had with you so far.
- Business: Are you providing them with value and giving them peace of mind about the type of business you are? Are you remaining front-of-mind by maintaining communication via follow up emails? These are the things that create trust between you and a potential customer. Do you have an automated email system?
Conversion
- Customer: The prospect has now decided from what they’ve experienced and researched, that you are the company they’ll choose. Congrats!
- Business: Have you made sure the process to buy from you is as frictionless as possible? This stage should focus on ensuring your sales deck is clear and features ease of transaction.
Onboarding
- Customer: They are excited to get started and will look for material to get going.
- Business: The stage after conversion is often overlooked but it is so important to the customer experience, we think it needs to be its own stage! Remember, this is the first interaction with what is now a ‘client’ and in the customer journey where you really need to ‘WOW’ them, so they don’t have buyers’ remorse and easily move into the next stage. An exceptional onboarding (or first-time) experience can mean the difference between a long-term successful relationship with a customer or a quick churn.
Retention
- Customer: they seek to have a quality customer experience, feel as if they still matter after the purchase, and know they have a support system when using your product or services.
- Business: Great customer service will improve customer retentionand increase repeat business. Repeat customers are valuable because they spend 67% more than new customers. Adding perks for existing customers is always a great strategy such as discounts, coupons, and other rewards. Do you have additional services to offer?
Advocacy
- Customer: Love talking about a great experience or quality product.
- Business: Consumers tend to trust their peers more than what a business advertises about itself, therefore you need to turn each customer into a raving fan. In this stage, solicit testimonials, encourage loyal customers to tell their friends and family, and think about how you could offer incentives such as a referral bonus or affiliate commissions. Create tools such as an online review portal and develop resources for them to use as they spread the word about you over social media to reach even more potential customers!
Implementing Your Customer Journey Strategies
Earlier we said the 86% of the sales cycle happens digitally – so stating it bluntly – that is where you NEED to be. Most people would think their
website is the starting point but looking at the bigger picture, it is only one navigation pin in the full customer journey map and not the starting point. The real questions are, 1. How do you get prospects to the website in the awareness stage? And 2. From the business perspective what does the awareness stage look like and how is it implemented?
Here’s the short answers – Landing pages and Digital Ads, and we will breakdown both strategies.
Some people cringe at the thought of landing pages because it conjures up memories of the old high pressure ‘buy now or you will forever miss out’ format. They were solely grounded in a sales formula.
What we are proposing is a different format. According to HubSpot and numerous other marketing resources, marketers rank lead generation as a business’s number one challenge, and half or more of their budget is allocated to lead generation.
And most marketers find that outbound tactics don’t provide a higher number of quality leads.
So, what do you do?
Combine Content Marketing, Lead Magnets, and Digital Ads
Let’s talk strategies and here’s the data. Remember we mentioned earlier in the awareness stage of the customer journey to share educational content resources. That is content marketing. You would share that educational content in a lead magnet format collecting visitor information.
Content Marketing is 62% more cost-effective and generates 3x more leads than outbound marketing. By putting your educational resources (content marketing) into a lead magnet format you able to increase lead generation in a very effective strategy to move prospects through your customer journey.
Now you still need to advertise it. 64% of all advertising is digital and rising. The caveat is, in addition to the ad costs there are also development and ad management fees which are a huge hit on your marketing budget. How can you increase content marketing distribution and reduce digital ad cost?
We have a solution
One of the benefits of sharing educational content is the impact you have on the community you serve. You are having Social Impact. Social Impact programs can be rewarded with $10K in free digital ads. You can be the education hub for your industry and recognized as a company doing good.
What does that mean for your bottom line? The average business spends about $534 per month on ads. In this scenario you only have the one-time fee the initial development and the ongoing ad management. The ad spend is eliminated saving $534 but you have $10,000 per month to use. You are probably wondering how in the world is this possible but is simply rethinking how you can be of service to the community.
A Social Impact Program that provides the power to leverage knowledge. Visit the site and schedule a chat to ask questions and get the full details.
Watch SI information video HERE.
#10KFREEMONEY #GOOGLEADGRANTLADY #PHILANTREPRENEURFOUNDATION #DIGITIALADS
