July 22, 2022
A customer’s experience with your brand can make or break sales and determine the success of your small business. You need to understand how a customer comes to know you, like you, trust you, and buy from you. By identifying the journey of your customers, you become aware of their needs and expectations and can take action to improve their experience. Furthermore, knowing how a customer interacts with your brand across various channels allows you to design a better experience for future consumers. Keep reading to learn more about the customer journey stages and how to apply this knowledge to your creative and non-creative content.
What is a Customer Journey?
A customer journey is the process a customer goes through when interacting with a company or brand. It can include every touchpoint, from awareness to purchase to post-purchase. Understanding the customer journey gives you insight into what your customers want and need and where you can improve their experience. You can also identify where you’re losing customers and make changes to prevent that. Ultimately, taking the time to understand the customer journey can help create a more seamless and enjoyable experience for your customers, generating more sales for your small business.
The 4 Customer Journey Stages
There are four customer journey stages: awareness, consideration, conversion, and loyalty.
Awareness is how customers come to find your brand. Consumers are searching for a solution to their problems and encountering multiple brands. You need to ensure you are one of the businesses they find through brand awareness strategies.
Consideration is the stage where customers research their options. Your business has to convince them to keep your name on the roster.
Conversionprompts customers to take action. This could be encouraging them to make a purchase, book a service, subscribe to an email list, and more, depending on your goals.
Loyaltyis a sign of success. If you made it to this phase, you scored a conversion. Congrats! A loyal customer is a happy customer and is likely to return and make another purchase.
Customer Journey Examples to Move Customers through the Stages
Now you know the customer journey stages, but how do you get people to move from awareness to consideration to conversion to loyalty? Here are some customer journey examples to implement into your small business marketing strategy.
Awareness: customers find your brand
- TikTok “For You Page”
- Influencer Content
- Word of Mouth
- Google Search (SEO)
- Paid Ads
- Blog / Content
- Billboards
- Radio
Consideration: customers research their options
- Website Visit(s)
- Social Follow
- YouTube Video
- Newsletter Signup
- Display Ads
Conversion: customers take action
- Free Trial
- Sales / Promotions
- Free Consultation
- Free Service
- Retargeting Ads
Loyalty: customers crave an enriched experience
- Email Specials (Birthday)
- Customer Surveys (“How did we do?”)
- First-Access to Drops
- 20% Off Your Next Purchase
Using and Improving the Customer Journey for Your Brand
Now you understand what a customer journey is and the customer journey stages. Next, consider each stage and ask yourself what you’re doing well and how you can improve to capture more customers and move them through their journey faster. That might look like creating more awareness-based content on your socials and blog. It might be investing in paid ads and retargeting ads to move customers from consideration to conversion. Or it might be developing a loyalty program to keep customers happy and coming back for more! By using and improving the customer journey, you’ll generate more interest and sales for your small business.
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