When trying to conquer sales and achieve business success, you can’t just think from the perspective of a seller. You have to see from the buyer’s side of things, too. How else can you tell if the actions you take will be effective in driving tangible sales? The process of stepping into the shoes of the buyer is also known as understanding the customer journey. There are multiple touchpoints along the buying process in which the customer and the company interact. By mapping out the customer journey for your business, you will be able to fine-tune the process and make it easier for buyers, increasing sales and positive experiences.
What Does a Customer Journey Look Like?
The journey usually begins with someone in need of some product or service. They start to research where they can get it, whether that be by searching the web or asking friends. They start to narrow down their options and then choose a business. Maybe they need to contact this business to find out if it’s right for them, what the cost is, or how long the process will take. Or maybe they visit a business’s website and look at reviews and product information. Then there is the purchase stage, where the person becomes a customer. They check out of their cart, or pay at the register, or send a check. It then comes time for them to receive the product – either immediately or after some shipping time. Finally, the customer gets to use their product and/or benefit from the service. If they like it, maybe they’ll recommend it to a friend. If they don’t, maybe they’ll leave negative reviews online. Then the process begins again.A customer journey includes the steps it takes for a person to go from a browser to a buyer or the process of engaging with the company for any reason. It can be broken down into pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase. There are important steps that happen during and in between the three phases.
How Businesses Can Benefit From Mapping it Out
This all seems pretty common sense, so why would we even need to designate time to think about this?
The customer journey determines sales. If your business’s customer journey is a rocky uphill climb, people might be more inclined to turn around and say “it’s not worth it,” or “that was a terrible experience, I will never do it again.” You don’t want words like that floating around. News travels quickly these days, and a few bad reviews can ruin a brand’s reputation. To avoid negativity, you need to map out the buying process and maybe even test it out yourself.
Navigating the Map
To improve customer experience, find out if your customer journey is smooth or rocky. To do this, consider your customer’s goals, expectations, thoughts, and feelings (both positive and negative). Keep in mind that these may be different for each person, depending on their attitude, situation, and the product they are looking for. This means it is a non-linear process, and you have to be there to help those that encounter difficult terrain. For example, financial status can determine the ease of a customer journey. Also, people with relevant prior knowledge may have an easier path, while those with little experience may have lots of questions. Understand your buyer personas to tailor to the buyers’ experiences.
Next, identify touchpoints and work on facilitating steps which need improvement. Touchpoints – or the times at which interactions take place – can include communication about the product, customer concerns, email reminders and confirmations, and loyalty program offers. Make sure your customer service team is aware of the critical communication points. If you determine that one of these instances is more complicated than others, have your team focus on it. Moments like these are “pain points” and should be identified so they can be improved upon. In other words, fix negative experiences customers may encounter so they have a good experience with your business. This can include aspects like ease of access, website usage, and recovery of mobile site pages. You should consider using tracking technologies to discover more about how far along the journey people are getting and which aspects of your efforts tend to be most successful.
Don’t forget to highlight moments of fruition along your customer journey. Give yourself credit for things you do well, and try to increase satisfaction. Continue to advocate for your brand to benefit from an extended journey.
To Be a Seller, Be a Friend
By taking on the role of the buyer, you can improve as a seller. This is like any other relationship; if you want to make your friend feel better and like you more, you try to see things from their point of view and accommodate words and behaviors from there. Make sure you are satisfying both the customer’s and the business’s goals. Understanding your business’s customer journey may not be as straight-forward as you think. So take time to figure it out and take action to smooth out the process. A near-perfect customer experience is vital in this competitive market.
Want to learn more about how to improve your customer journey? Get in touch with us at 860-218-9130 or reverbdigital.com.
