Discover the intricate path an audience takes to becoming a customer by understanding the customer journey.
IE 394: Mapping What is a Customer Journey
What is a Customer Journey?
A customer journey is the interactions that your audience has with your business.
It begins with the awareness of your brand through the interactions of the content that you create and ends with purchase loyalty where they recommend your product or service to others.
Customer Journey Stages
Know (Awareness)
The first stage is going to be the know, where they have awareness of who you are, of your brand and your business, and what it is that you offer.
The way in which you’re going to let them know who you are and what it is that you offer, is by creating content that is going to solve their problems.
When you’re doing the keyword research and creating content, you’re making sure that across the board you are having the same brand message so that they can see you offer a transformation for them.
Like (Consideration)
The next stage is going to be the like phase where they’re having consideration of whether or not you’re the right fit for them.
This is someone who may have found you on Pinterest and instead of quickly repinning or coming to your site once, now they continually come back to you.
We talk about the like factor a lot of times when we talk about the fact that they have opted into your email list and now they are starting to engage with you and continually read your content and come to you in order to solve their problem because they’re trying to determine whether or not you are the one that is going to be able to solve their problem with the product or service that you offer.
Trust (Decision/Customer)
The third stage is the trust stage where they are making a decision to become a customer.
This is where you’re putting your products in front of them and they are giving you money in order to get their problem solved with your product or service that you offer.
This can often be a hard stage for a lot of business owners because they don’t like the idea of sales.
It’s really important that you hone in on in on the fact that if you don’t offer that product or service to them, they’re never going to get their problem solved.
Regardless of how many other people out there are talking about the same topic, the way in which you talk about it, the way in which you solve it for them is going to be different than everyone else.
Loyalty
The fourth stage It’s going to be the loyalty stage where now they’re not only purchasing one of your products, but now they’re purchasing more plus they are recommending you to other people within their friends, their family, their social circles.
That loyalty factor is where referrals will come from, and where you will find a new audience because you have satisfied, happy customers that want to continually come back to you.
Customer Journey Interactions
The next piece that we really need to understand about the customer journey are the interactions.
Where are they engaging with your content and finding out about you?
Website
The first place is going to be your website, which is why we talk about keyword research, and making sure that you’re answering the problems that you’re audience has and creating content where it is SEO optimized, regardless of what algorithms come down, you are continuing to make sure that you are answering the problems that they have with the content that you’re creating on your website.
You also make sure that your website is easy to navigate so that if they see that you answer one of their problems, they can then get over to another article that is linked or easily find your products and services that you offer by making sure that you have your website set up so that it is easy to navigate.
You want them to get onto your email list so you continually engage with them.
Podcast
Another place of interaction could potentially be a podcast.
talk a lot about this with my clients because a podcast speeds up that know, like, trust factor because you’re in their ears, they recognize your voice, they know the way in which you teach.
It is a different bond that you have with them when you have a podcast.
YouTube
Now, for some people, a podcast may not be a right fit.
Instead, you may want to utilize YouTube.
YouTube is a great way to, again, use keywords, and be able to get in front of them when someone is Googling something, and also get in front of them, so they really feel like they know you.
With the video that you’re creating, they’ll see your mannerisms, the way you talk with your hands, or the way that you roll your eyes when you talk about certain topics.
You are speeding up that no like trust factor.
Social Media
Another interaction place is social media.
Now social media, we know, has changed over the years.
It’s not about driving traffic necessarily to your website.
Instead, the purpose of social media is to continually stay front of mind by having them interact and engage with you by asking questions and answering them.
The next place that you’re going to interact with them, and to me, this is the holy grail of where you need to be, is in their email.
You have to be growing your email list, and in order to do this, we’ve talked about the fact that you have to offer an opt in where you give them something in exchange for their email, whether it is a guide, a checklist, a planner, something that is going to be valuable to them and is going to give them a transformation that is small and then will show the next steps for them could potentially be to become that customer.
Now, via email, you are continually getting in front of them, reminding them, driving traffic to your site, but also gaining their trust.
Master Class
A master class is where you’re showing your level of expertise.
You’re creating a workshop or master class where they are going to spend 30 minutes with you and they are going to learn something from you and have a transformation.
A master class is a great way to to actually get people to a point where they’re ready to buy, because they see that you can answer the problem that they have.
Purchasing a Product or Service
The last place that you’re going to have an interaction with them is when they purchase a product or service because they are then within your world and can now see that you not only answer their problem and fix it and give them that transformation through your. paid product or service, but now they are wanting to share that with others because of it.
And the way in which you interact with someone that has purchased a product or service is going to be a little bit different than someone that is simply on your email list.
You are making sure that they have access to answer questions, as well as customer support for anything that may potentially come up with that product or service.
Now, ideally, you want to make sure that within your products, notice I said products and not product, with this, you want to make sure that you have multiple products so that you can offer them something else to continue to solve their problems.
This is going to help you with your customer and making sure that the journey is accessible to them.
Why is it important to understand the customer journey?
It’s important to understand because then you can offer multiple products to them that continually help them along their journey.
A customer journey might look like them buying an ebook and the next step up may be a video course and then the next step up from that might be a membership where they’re continually getting contact with you via just content.
The next step from that might be a group program like a mastermind where they are getting in smaller groups with you and getting more attention.
And then another step from that could potentially be one on one services where you are working solely with them.
You have an array of products that they are able to take advantage of.
And it’s important for you to understand where they are coming in.
Not everyone will come in and go straight down your sales funnel where you offer them an ebook and then go to a course and then go to a membership and then go to a group program.
Some will come in and jump in that funnel at the group program and they’ll then decide whether or not they need to pick up some of the other products that you offer.
But it’s important to understand the customer journey so that you can create content that catches them where they are.
Now, for some of you, you may be thinking, well, I have customers that are coming to me that are at the very beginning stages and very middle stages and maybe towards the end, that’s why it’s important to understand the customer journey.
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