The customer journey is important, but just how much of creating that journey have you put your focus on?

Understanding your customers’ pain points and then addressing them will create a seamless customer experience. Not only will this translate to more sales, but also brand loyalty. The customer journey is defined as certain steps or interactions that a customer has with your business as you nurture them to complete a sale or become a loyal customer.

There are 5 stages of a customer’s buying journey:

  1. Awareness – A prospect finds out about your company via a website, social medial, search engine, testimonial, word-of-mouth, etc. You’re basically casting a wide net in the beginning to attract customers and enhance their awareness of you.
  2. Evaluate – At this stage, prospects will investigate your brand and do their research on what you offer and what makes you different from competitors. They’ll read reviews, FAQ and more.
  3. Acquisition – Although it seems like the goal, this step is still considered the beginning of a customer’s journey. After the sale, you still want to have them interact with your brand. This includes liking social media posts or making repeat purchases.
  4. Retention – This is where ROI happens because this transforms them into a loyal customer and brand ambassador. You’ll want to provide them with things like coupons, discounts, etc to keep them as customers.
  5. Advocacy – This entails having those customers advocate for your brand by recommending you to their friends and family.

How To Create  A Customer Journey Map

To help you create a customer journey map, you’ll want to answer the following questions:

*Who are your customers?

*Are your company’s roles, processes and responsibilities clearly defined?

*How does your company define its goals or success?

Once you answer those questions, you can begin to work backward to define the steps that a customer would actually take to go through your company’s sales funnel. Once you have a better understanding of the journey, you’ll be able to address any pain points along the way. This will improve the overall customer experience they have with your brand and make the funnel easier to navigate.