Customer journey map: an effective tool for increasing loyalty and sales

Автор статті

Микита Гузеря, маркетинг-менеджер VAU Agency

A Customer Journey Map is a visualization of the path that your customer takes from the first contact with the brand to making a purchase and beyond. It helps you understand how customers interact with your business, identify problem areas, and find opportunities to improve their experience.

CONCLUSION

A customer journey map is a cool tool that allows you to see the process of interaction with your brand through the eyes of a customer. Build a map, constantly work on improving it, and then your brand will be doomed to customer love!

STEP 6: MEASURING THE RESULTS AND ADAPTING THE MAP

Track the metrics of each stage: the number of webinar registrations, the conversion rate from webinar to course purchase, and the level of post-training satisfaction (NPS).

This will help you constantly improve your customer journey map and increase the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.

STEP 5: PROCESS OPTIMIZATION

Personalized email campaigns for those who attended the webinar but did not make a purchase.
Remarketing on social media to remind people about the course and emphasize its benefits.
Additional materials on the webinar that can convince participants of the value of the course.

STEP 4: IDENTIFY PROBLEM AREAS AND OPPORTUNITIES

An example of a pain point is low conversion at the decision-making stage. For example, customers may register for a free webinar but not purchase a course afterwards.

This may indicate the need for additional incentives, such as a limited-time discount or bonus materials for those who register immediately after the webinar.

STEP 3: MAPPING THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY

Stage 1: Recognizing the need

Point of contact: Meta/Google ads.
Customer actions: Looks at the course announcement on social media.
Emotions: Interest, but also uncertainty about the need for the course.

Stage 2: Researching options

Point of contact: Landing page.
Customer actions: Reads the course description, teachers, and program.
Emotions: Expectation to gain new knowledge, but also a desire to make sure the quality of the of the course.

Stage 3: Making a decision

Point of contact: Free webinar and email newsletter.
Customer actions: Attends the webinar, reads the newsletter with additional information.
Emotions: Confidence in the right course choice, readiness to buy.

Stage 4: Purchase

Point of contact: Sales platform or checkout page.
Customer actions: Makes a purchase of the course.
Emotions: Satisfaction with the decision and anticipation of the start of the training.

Stage 5: Training and after-sales support

Point of contact: Online training platform, customer support.
Customer actions: Takes lessons, interacts with teachers, asks questions.
Emotions: Satisfaction from gaining new knowledge, desire to share experience.

Stage 6: After-sales support and recommendations

Contact point: Email newsletter, social media.
Customer actions: Receives additional materials, responds to course satisfaction surveys, leaves feedback, recommends the course to friends.
Emotions: Brand loyalty, desire to purchase additional courses or services.

STEP 2: IDENTIFY POINTS OF CONTACT

Meta/Google advertising: potential customers can first learn about your course through targeted ads on Facebook or Instagram and Google.
Landing page: here the client receives detailed information about the course, program, teachers, and testimonials.
Social media: customers can follow updates and get information about free webinars or workshops.
Free webinar: as one of the stages where customers can get to know your approach to learning and get additional value.
Email newsletter: subscribers receive a series of emails with useful content, course details, and calls to action.
Online learning platform: the place where customers learn after purchasing a course.

STEP 1: DEFINE THE TARGET AUDIENCE

SMM beginners: those who want to learn a new profession.
Small and medium-sized businesses: business owners who want to manage their social media on their own.
Marketers: professionals who want to expand their knowledge and improve their skills.

STEP 6: MEASURE RESULTS AND ADAPT THE MAP

Regularly review the customer journey map and analyze how changes affect business performance. Important metrics include:
Conversion rate: the number of customers who went all the way and made a purchase.
Loyalty level: repeat purchases and recommendations of your brand. And this is how a customer journey map for the online SMM courses niche could look like:

STEP 5: OPTIMIZE AND AUTOMATE PROCESSES

Based on the customer journey map, you can optimize existing processes and implement new tools to improve the customer experience:

Automated email campaigns at the decision-making stage or after the purchase will help keep customers informed about important updates and promotions.
Integrate a CRM system to more accurately track interaction with each customer and personalize communications.

STEP 4: IDENTIFY PROBLEM AREAS AND OPPORTUNITIES

By analyzing the customer journey map, you can identify problem areas where customers may experience difficulties or frustration. This could be:

Long page loads on the website, which scares away potential customers.
Insufficient customer support after the purchase, which reduces loyalty.

In addition to problem areas, pay attention to opportunities to improve the customer experience. For example, the introduction of online chat can significantly speed up answers to questions and improve customer interaction.

STEP 3: CREATE A CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP

Now that you know who your customers are and where they interact with the brand, you can create a customer journey map. This process includes the following steps:

Identify the key stages of the customer journey: for example, brand research, comparison with competitors, decision making, purchase, follow-up support.
Analyze customer behavior at each stage: what questions do they have, what emotions do they experience, what motivates them to move on.
Depict all contact points on a map: show how the customer moves from one point to another and what influences this process.

You can do this with Canva, mind maps, or a sign.

STEP 2: IDENTIFY THE POINTS OF CONTACT

Touchpoints are all the places where a customer interacts with your brand. They can be both online and offline:

Online touchpoints: website, social media, email newsletters, online chats.
Offline touchpoints: physical stores, call centers, events and exhibitions.

STEP 1: UNDERSTAND YOUR CUSTOMER

The first step to creating an effective customer journey map is to understand your target audience. To do this, you need to collect information about:

Who your customers are: their age, gender, interests, social status.
Their needs and pains: what problems they want to solve with your product or service.
Channels of interaction: how they find your brand and what communication channels they use.