Customer journeys are getting increasingly complex with a growing number of digital channels and evolving expectations. According to ‘Business Wire’, there are close to 22-25 touchpoints between a brand and the consumer. A classic path to conversion now includes Social Media, Content Marketing, OTT platforms and Display which is served across all possible digital channels such as Mobile, Desktop, Tablet and Connected TV. Wow!
98% of consumers use more than one device within the course of a given day. But it is alarming that less than 30% of companies track their customers’ channel preferences. This leads to a fragmented online experience that is frustrating to the customer and costly for businesses. In a recent consumer study by SMARTASSISTANT, 71% said they switched to a competitor because it was easier to find and choose the right product.
You can drive successful outcomes by carefully examining and mapping the journey at every step of the way—from the first interaction right through the entire customer lifecycle. Every digital consumer footprint holds the key to the success of a campaign.
It is all about tapping the entire consumer journey right from the awareness and consideration phase to the action phase.
The most successful journey maps come from a strong understanding of the consumer’s buying cycle, backed by a combination of quantitative data including web analytics, search terms, timelines, touchpoints and qualitative data for analyzing a customer’s motivations, needs, fears and wants.
Also, mapping a customer journey doesn’t end when they hit the ‘buy’ button. It also considers how the customer feels post-purchase about the business. For example, have you put in place a process to pacify dissatisfied customers?
Lastly, it is important to identify and optimize touchpoints which are more influential than others for the business. You can increase revenue, boost brand recall and improve customer retention by making simple changes. It can be as simple as removing redundant steps from the user experience, or as detailed as deploying AI and analyzing historical sales data to upsell to your current customers.
An ideal digital strategy should include a combination of an ‘always-on’ brand awareness campaign with an integrated user retention model on the website. This can be layered with targeted product-specific campaigns leading to specific outcomes. For example, it could be lead generation campaigns or a footfall attribution campaign amongst others.
Source: BAI – Jan 2018 – Evolving the digital customer journey in 2019 and beyond
