If you think the customer journey is simple, think again. The touchpoints, channels and your customer are complex, and only 17% of brands understand them how it all comes together. There are, however, ways of getting to grips with the customer journey. By doing so, you can maximise both profit and customer satisfaction.

Make the most out of data

Analysing data is key to understanding how the customer interacts with your brand. This allows you to identify which touch points aren’t working and need to be optimised. The only way of doing so is tracking your customer. The key areas to look at include how the customer:

  • Researches your product
  • Finds and interacts with your brand online and offline
  • Purchases your product
  • Talks about your brand before and after the purchase

Create a customer journey map

The numbers need to be translated into a visual interpretation looking at your brand from the customer’s perspective. While mapping the journey, you must create five components. These include:

  • Personas – This is where you create a fictional character who embodies your customer. You need to include their goals, needs, influencers, expectations and frustrations.
  • Timeline – This is the part where you map out how long it takes them to make a purchase.
  • Emotion – Here you can outline what frustrates or makes the customer happy, especially with regards to your brand.
  • Touchpoints – Touchpoints are basically areas where customers interact with your brand.
  • Channels – This is where interaction takes place, whether on your site or social network.

Know that your customers are real people

It’s easy to think that the customer only exists online. This, however, is a misguided notion. Customers interact with brands in real life too. Some may research a product using a variety of mediums including your site, search engines, blogs and social, and decide to purchase it in store.

Don’t neglect the after purchase experience

We’re prone to forgetting about the customer after they purchase. We, however, don’t realise there is still opportunity in nurturing the relationship. This can win you a lot of loyalty, which can result in repeat purchases or positive reviews and referrals.

Understanding the customer journey will never be easy. It does call for a lot of data analysis and journey mapping. However, the end result is more success for your company in the form of loyalty, increased revenue and engagement.