Understanding Your Customer’s Journey
In today's competitive business landscape, understanding your customer's journey is not just an option; it’s a necessity.
Understanding one’s path to purchase can enable you to tailor your strategies to meet the evolving needs and expectations of your customers.
What is a Customer Journey?
A customer journey refers to the entire end-to-end experience a consumer undergoes, from the moment they become aware of your brand to the point of making a purchase and beyond.
This process is comprised of three major steps: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision, but can also include: Post-Purchase and Re-Evaluation
1. Awareness Stage:
The first stage of a customer's journey is awareness.
At this point, the consumer has run into some kind of an issue and is trying to identify and understand their challenges or needs.
As this is the earliest stage, businesses that successfully influence during this point, have the advantage.
“One of the easiest ways to beat out the competition is by recognizing and engaging with potential consumers when they have problems.” - Andrews Wharton
Businesses often employ content marketing strategies to establish themselves as thought leaders and build brand recognition. By creating informative and engaging content, businesses can attract potential customers and drive them to seek more information, such as:
Blog posts
Social media updates
Videos
2. Consideration Stage:
After awareness, consumers make way to consider a resolution.
Think about when you get an invitation to a wedding and you realize you don’t have a dress or tux to wear to the summer nuptials. You pull out your phone and do a quick google search for a comfortable, flattering dress (or other fancy outfit) within a reasonable price range.
This is the consideration phase in which you’ll research possible solutions or options available in the market.
Multiple factors are in play during this phase as consumers compare price, quality, and timing. This is when it’s critical that you differentiate yourself from competitors.
Personalizing your outreach efforts to consumers in this phase can really pay off as they are actively looking into product descriptions, testimonials, and more to make an informed decision.
AWI has Web Intent Data to help with reaching leads in this crucial stage!
3. Decision Stage:
During the decision stage, customers narrow down their options and make the final purchase decision.
Aligning your messaging to what factors influence your customer’s decision-making process, will help convert leads into real customers.
Essential in this stage are:
Clear and compelling product descriptions
Easy-to-understand pricing and packaging options
Seamless purchasing experience
Working closely with your UX/UI team is an important piece to this puzzle to ensure a seamless purchasing experience.
Remember, special offers or incentives can also help push customers to choose your brand over competitors during this final stage as well.
4. Post-Purchase Stage:
You got the lead to convert. Yay! Now, let’s analyze why.
Many businesses overlook the importance of the post-purchase stage, but it is in fact a valuable opportunity to foster customer loyalty and advocacy.
“Consequently, the journey up until the point of purchase has received most attention… The post purchase experience shapes the opinion of the customer for every following decision in a given product category, and can provide several touchpoints to influence consequent consumer decisions.”
-Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Engaging with customers after their purchase can solidify their positive experience and encourage them to become brand ambassadors. Having ‘raging fans’ can help drive brand awareness and build trust amongst your desired demographic.
Once a purchase is made, sending personalized follow-up emails or conducting satisfaction surveys are effective methods to gauge customer satisfaction and gather feedback. Prompt and reliable customer support also plays a crucial role in ensuring customer loyalty and long-term success.
5. Re-evaluation and Advocacy Stage:
After each purchase, customers enter a stage of re-evaluation, where they assess their decision and determine whether to re-purchase or explore alternative options.
“Companies that had successfully won back a customer followed a similar pattern. They identified the reasons for the initial dissolution, applied the right cost-benefit analysis, conducted an honest conversation with the customer, and accommodated their specific requirements.” Harvard Business Review
Wondering how to implement data in your retention strategy? AWI’s Web Intent Data allows you to pinpoint when a customer strays.
Your Customer Acquisition Strategy Needs Data
AWI is the intent partner for your next successful marketing campaign. With data-driven project requirements, AWI is the proven data provider with a long-standing reputation for solving your toughest marketing challenges.
Let’s work together to achieve your goals.
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