The Customer Journey is the key to any successful business. It’s the reason why we buy products, services and ideas from other people. It’s also the reason why we keep coming back to a business.
A customer journey is defined as “the series of events that occur between the moment a customer discovers your product or service and when they become a repeat customer”. The journey is made up of several stages and each stage is critical in determining whether a customer will return to buy again or not.
Each stage in the customer journey is different for every individual customer. This is because there are many factors that determine which stage a customer will be at in their journey. These include:
• How the customer found you – online or offline
• What they were looking for
• What they wanted
• What they bought
• How they bought it
• What happened next
• What they thought about it
• What they said about it
• What they did next
• How they felt
• What they did next (if anything)
• How they felt
These factors can vary from person to person and from company to company. They can also change depending on what stage the customer is at in their journey.
So how do you know if your customer has reached the end of their journey? Well this is where things get a bit more complicated. It depends on the stage your customer is at in their journey, but generally if they have purchased something from you then they are probably in the buying stage of their journey. If they have not bought anything from you yet then they are probably in the research stage of their journey.
If you want to know what stage your customer is at then the best way to do this is by analysing the data you already have. For example, you can find out what stage your customer was at by analysing the keywords they used to find you. If they searched for’socks’ then you can assume they are probably in the research phase of their journey. If they searched for’socks’ then you can assume that they are probably in the buying phase of their journey.
So to summarise, here are some tips for making sure your customers reach the end of their journey:
• Make sure you have a good website
• Make sure you are listed on the major search engines
• Make sure you’re visible on social media
• Make sure you’ve got good content
• Make sure you give great customer service
• Make sure you respond to negative reviews
• Make sure you offer great products
• Make sure you don’t make it difficult for customers to find you
• Make sure you use analytics to understand where your customers are at in their journey
• Make sure you provide excellent customer support
