In general terms, customer journey refers to the steps and actions that a user takes when interacting with a brand. This statement can be applied to every stage of the interactive process, from before a sale is made to when a transaction is completed. As any social media marketing agency can attest, the work that goes into this is extensive. It is essential when developing a digital marketing strategy to such a degree that business is sustained moving forward. This is where customer journey map development comes into the picture. Here is what businesses should know about this endeavor.
When developing a customer journey map, the first point to consider is user actions. In other words, what will a user do when they first interact with your brand? Let’s say that an individual lands on your company website. When they arrive on the homepage, they may be compelled to visit internal pages to learn more about the products and services you provide. These present opportunities to deliver information and content to the user, motivating them to click onto other pages. This is just one of the many attributes to keep in mind when creating an illustration of the ideal user storyline.
Next, consider user motivations. They may carry out actions, as detailed earlier, but more than anything else, it’s essential to know why they do this. Even if a user visits a company website, it’s not guaranteed that they will complete a transaction. In fact, they may visit that same site multiple times, collecting more information, before eventually making the investment. This speaks to the importance of educated purchases, so each website visit should be included in the customer journey map. Even if transactions aren’t immediate, even the most modest website traffic can make a difference. Know a user’s motivations when crafting the outline of a customer journey.
Retention is among the most important points toward creating a better customer journey map, too. The goal of any company is for a customer to make a purchase; this doesn’t necessarily mean that they will do business in the future. This is where retention comes into play, supporting the user in question so that they’ll be more likely to work with a specific company again. This can be done by implementing such services as email blast marketing, reaching previous customers directly, or homing in on previous buying behaviors and building a strategy based on this information. The more communicative a business is with its customers, the better the former’s retention rate becomes.
Through successful customer journeys, users can become advocates as well. It can’t be stressed enough just how important advocacy is, especially for small businesses with minimal resources. To better illustrate this point, imagine that a patron frequents a restaurant on Long Island. They may enjoy the service and food to such a degree that they spread the word. To this end, they may speak to friends and family, share their thoughts on social media, or become involved in New York-focused groups, just to name a few possibilities. This is advocacy at play, and it plays a crucial role in growing one’s audience.
Customer pain points will be integral to how your customer journey map is designed, too. A customer pain point is an impediment or challenge that a user faces in the marketplace throughout the aforementioned customer journey. A pain point can be rooted in one’s education, such as a lack of information about a product or service. It may also be related to finances, whether in regard to how affordable a product is, how valuable it is for the price it’s listed at, or what have you. Pain points may also be attributed to the online checkout process, especially if the platform either doesn’t function as it should or proves needlessly complicated. Mapping out these pain points will make for a more robust customer journey map.
These are just a few things to know about developing the best customer journey map for your business. While it may go without saying, yours may be entirely different from that of another business owner, so don’t make the mistake of assuming that a certain plan will apply across the board. You’ll require a plan tailor-made to you, so if you’d like to learn more, consider speaking to a reputable Long Island advertising agency. They’ll provide a roadmap that bolsters your brand and, more importantly, improves your business in the long term.
About fishbat: fishbat is a full-service New York social media agency that takes a holistic business approach to their clients’ digital marketing programs. The fishbat team understands the importance of business principles just as well as the nuances of the latest digital technologies. fishbat offers every digital marketing service available from digital marketing research and planning to brand development to website and asset creation through social media management and search engine optimization programs – all custom calibrated for both B2B and B2C businesses.
