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What does the online discovery journey of a new user/customer or user look like? You’ll usually find the answer to this question in any Digital-Marketing-101, but for those of us who find ourselves fully immersed in the world of online strategy, it’s always important keep yourself in the shoes of the end-user.
The online experience (for most people) looks something like this:
Land on website > Browse content > Share and/or make an actionable decision > The end.
Well, sort of. The journey from discovery to purchase is far more complex, and often happens over an extended period of time. The magic, however, lies in mapping much more than that; it’s in how you map the path to customer loyalty and sustainable, repeat business, and ultimately customer/user advocacy.
This is called the Complete Customer Journey.
Huh?
The Complete Customer Journey is a robust way of viewing all of a single user’s engagement. Marketing automation and lead gen experts who understand the Complete Customer Journey can drastically grow awareness, new customers and retention, customer lifetime value (or CLV), and sales.
But what does it all mean?
In simple terms, the Complete Customer Journey is all about the service you’d like to provide to your client, and how the client would like to receive it. Whether you’re a freelancer, consultant, Account Manager or some other individual responsible for the delivery of client happiness (via a service or product), then it would be wise to know what this looks like from your end.
Because, in the end, the customer/client perspective (of how this is executed) determines whether or not they remain loyal to your brand – or go elsewhere.
Why is this important?
A 2014 report by McKinsey & Company found that, when taking the complete customer journey into consideration, companies focused on maximizing satisfaction have the potential to increase customer satisfaction by as much as 20 per cent.
When mapping the customer experience, the following elements should be taken into account:
Awareness of your product or service > Purchasing your product or service > Advocacy/Renewal of your product or service.
Each element will probably have one or a number of corresponding touchpoint that influence how successful the experience is for the client – from visiting your website or trying to access your company via phone, to face-to-face interactions, word of mouth recommendations or communication via email. If you’re responsible for the clients’ satisfaction, then it’s imperative to know the quality of the experience the client has at each of these touchpoints.
Companies must thus be flexible and align their various touch points to better match the preferences of each individual customer.
And a satisfied customer is tantamount to a competitive edge.
To infinity…and beyond
As we go further into the mobile revolution, clients/users will also expect engagement and usability to match. Businesses (online and offline) need to place the mobile UX at the heart of the complete customer journey, while harnessing optimized customer support and fulfilment to create a satisfying experience throughout.
In a blog entry entitled, The Digital Transformation of the Customer Experience, Wall Street Journal contributor Irving Wladawsky-Berger, cites a 2014 study on Digital Transformation by Altimeter – a research and advisory firm that makes a few important observations on how digital is transforming the customer experience.
Of note, the report states: To truly deliver a 360-degree customer experience, businesses must integrate the data in marketing and CRM systems to connect the dots between touchpoint, business units, and customer expectations.
Wladawsky-Berger continues on to say: “Given all the technology customers now have access to, they will deal with the business in whatever way they prefer, rather than what’s most convenient for the business. Companies must thus be flexible and align their various touch points to better match the preferences of each individual customer.”
The Altimeter report concludes: In its own way, digital transformation is making businesses more human. As such, digital transformation is not a destination. Instead, it’s a journey that continually seeks out how to use technology in ways that improve customer experiences and relationships. Digital transformation also represents an effort that introduces new models for business and, equally, creates a way of staying in business as customers become increasingly digital.
Sources:
http://blog.irvingwb.com/blog/2014/05/the-digital-transformation-of-the-customer-experience.html
http://altimetergroupdigitaltransformation.com/img/dt-report.pdf
About the author: John Morton is the Co-Founder and Digital Strategy Lead at Data Made Human – a digital marketing agency specializing in eCommerce strategy and lead generation.
What else have you found your clients engaging with? Do you find there is a particular moment where conversion or advocacy happens? How do you capitalize on that? Let us know! Share your findings in the comment section below.