The definition of customer journey translates to customer path and consists of a document that describes the consumer's journey from the interest in a product or service to the purchase of it.
Usually, the journey proceeds through stages on a map, allowing the company to analyze all the strengths and weaknesses of each individual touch-point (the point at which the company and customer come into contact).
Thanks to the customer journey process, the company is able to identify the most suitable tools for achieving an improvement in consumer experience during the purchasing process and use of the product.
What characterizes the customer journey is the interaction between consumer and company, starting from the need to purchase that particular product/service.
The Phases of the Customer Journey
The stages that a customer journey goes through are numerous and are divided into:
- Awareness: in this phase, the consumer is aware that they can find a solution to their problem or an answer to their need in a product;
- Familiarity: the product becomes "familiar", recognizable among the wide range of products offered;
- Consideration: it is the phase where the consumer searches for information on the features of a product and its price, and then chooses among the different brands available on the market;
- Purchase: when the company manages to turn interest in a product into a purchase;
- Loyalty: in practice, it's about building customer loyalty, so as to ensure that they will return to purchase the product again and also generate interest in all related products.
Being able to meet all the needs of customers is very important for any company. Success can be achieved by offering innovative products in a way that stimulates their purchase.
Customer Journey Map: How to Create a Customer Journey Map
The customer journey map, allows you to analyze all consumer data from analytics, enabling you to visualize the entire path that a user has taken up to their conversion.
There are several formats for drawing the customer journey map, namely:
- Videos;
- PPT;
- Excel;
- Word.
Important! The map must be drawn clearly and precisely to guide the customer towards the purchase step.
The tools used to draw an accurate map include:
- Google Analytics;
- Facebook Insights;
- A/B Testing;
- Hotjar.
The customer journey map is created to allow the company to monitor all consumer behaviors to understand their needs and how to satisfy them.
The elements of the customer journey map
A precise mapping of the customer journey enables understanding of the obstacles users face on their path to purchase, through key elements such as:
- Market research: interviews, online surveys, data collection;
- List of online and offline touchpoints: understanding how the user feels, what needs and fears they have, what their preferences and desires are;
- Product positioning compared to competitors: the features that the product must have to appear original and effective in the eyes of consumers;
- Having a group of users try the journey: to analyze the results, so as to understand which obstacles they encounter along their way and how to remove them;
- Create mockups and apply them in the sales funnel;
- Test and optimize the new customer journey.
Attention! When starting a journey mapping operation, it is important to understand who to address, the so-called target, to deeply know our typical customer (buyer persona) and know how to be among the first results of their searches.
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