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Customer Journey Discovery Phase: Stages of Customer Journey

May 31, 2022

As a business, it’s important to measure success in the customer journey discovery phase in order to ensure you’re on track. This blog post will show you how to do just that. I’ll share with you my own experience of measuring success in customer journey discovery phase as well as some tips from experts.

Customer journey discovery phase Explained

The first step in designing a great customer experience is understanding your customer’s journey.

This process is called customer journey discovery, and it involves mapping out every step your customer takes on their way to becoming a satisfied customer.The customer journey discovery phase is all about understanding your customer’s needs and pain points.

To do this, you’ll need to talk to your customers and observe their behavior. Once you have a good understanding of the customer journey, you can start designing a customer experience that will address the needs and customer pain points.

What are Customer Journey Maps?

Customer journey maps are a great way to get a high-level overview of the customer experience. They can take many forms, such as infographics, illustrations, or diagrams.

A customer journey map is a helpful tool that illustrates all of the places and touchpoints where customers come into contact with your brand. Customer journey maps help you examine your brand, product, and processes from the customer’s perspective so that you can visualize the customer’s journey through the sales funnel.

In this blog post, we’ll detail the steps for you to create a complete and effective customer lifecycle journey, and explain how you can use it to your advantage.

The Perfect Customer Journey Roadmap

Ultimately, the ultimate goal of creating a customer’s journey map is to know your prospect or client inside out.

As you create your customer journey map, consider what actions they will take at each stage to progress to the next. Additionally, think about what may motivate or discourage them from advancing to the following stage. Be sure to anticipate any questions they may have, as well as any obstacles that could stand in their way. By taking all of these factors into account, you can create a customer journey roadmap that will set your business up for success.

Here are the sessential customer journey stages:

The First Stage of the Customer Journey- Awareness

At the Awareness stage, your prospect is aware they have an issue or problem and begins researching possible solutions. This is your chance to make a good first (and lasting) impression! By offering helpful information, you can establish trust with your potential client and make yourself a resource.

The awareness stage of the customer journey is the first time a prospect becomes aware of your brand.

This is why brand awareness is an important first step in a buyer’s journey towards making a purchase.

What is a marketing funnel?

If you want to be successful in marketing, it’s important to provide value and build rapport with your prospective customers. All of the other stages of the customer lifecycle are secondary to this, as if you’re not providing value in the first stage, then you won’t be able to get any of the other stages right.

How can your customers buy anything from you if they can’t even find you?

90% of participants in a research study indicated that influencing a buyer early on in their buying journey was important to them.

81% of consumers do their research before making a purchase.

During the awareness stage, your job as a marketer is to show customers that you understand their pain points. You can do this by providing them with resources to help them better understand their issues. This will build rapport and trust with your customers, which is essential for the early stages of the sales funnel.

If you want to succeed, you need to focus on each step of the customer funnel. Remember that customers are what make a business, so give them the best user experience you can.

The most important factor for any successful business is to understand and cater to the wants and needs of their customers. By understanding the customer journeys, you can better guide them to become loyal fans.

67% of buyers now complete 67% of the buying process online.

Many companies don’t pay enough attention to the customer experience, which is a big mistake – especially for digital marketing agencies.

The experience your customers have with your company should never be ignored, especially for companies that sell products or services that fall into the category of the impulsive buy.

The customer experience is integral to developing a successful marketing campaign. By understanding the purchasing journey, you can better target your messaging and increase your conversions.

Targeted content is proven to produce 20% more opportunities for sales reps.

What is the customer journey and why is it important when developing a marketing strategy?

The customer journey is a visual representation of the steps that customers take from their first awareness of a brand to becoming loyal customers.

The stages of the customer lifecycle are:

The Customer Journey usually begins with the customer becoming aware of a need or problem they have. They then begin to consider various solutions for this problem. Once they have decided which solution is best for them, they purchase that product. After using that product, they enter the retention phase, where they continue using it and may become an advocate for it, telling others about it.

Providing relevant and valuable information to your prospects and customers at every stage of the sales has a positive impact on sales.

Once you have a full picture of who your customers are, you can better cater to their needs. This, in return, will increase their satisfaction and brand loyalty, which, of course, leads to more sales.

Before we jump into what kind of marketing you should be doing for your clients, let’s take a moment to review what the typical customer lifecycle looks like.

As a marketing professional, it’s crucial to understand each phase of the customer lifecycle. By doing so, you can better target your messaging and increase your chances of converting a lead.

76% of B2B customers prefer to only receive content that is relevant to their purchase.

customer journey discovery phase (Source)

Content to Deliver in the Awareness Stage

The awareness stage of the buyer’s journey is all about educating your prospects and positioning yourself as an industry authority. To do this, you can create a variety of educational and informative pieces of content to build trust with your target audience. These can include white papers and case studies, as well as videos and infographics. By sharing these valuable resources, you’ll establish yourself as a trustworthy source and an expert in your industry, which will ultimately help you make more sales.

Your customer is searching for answers during this stage and you can provide them easily by providing them with information in digestible formats that they can easily find.

The second stage of the customer journey- evaluation and consideration.

The Consideration stage is where you and your customer have done some preliminary research and are aware of some of the available options.

They have narrowed their choices down, but are still going to look for more relevant information to help finalize their decision.

This is the phase where your customer is comparing your offering to your competitors.

This is the time where your prospect is researching your business. They’re looking for pricing information, reviews, and competitor comparisons. By providing them with helpful information, you can show that you are the right business for them.

As your customers enter the stage of evaluation and consideration, it’s important to reflect on your positioning in the market. Make sure you are taking steps to differentiate yourself from competitors so that when customers are comparing options, they remember you as the best solution for their needs.

Most shoppers will spend 16+ hours researching a product before they make a purchase. This allows them to find the best possible product for their needs.

Some good questions you can ask:

As you evaluate and consider your options, keep these questions in mind to help you make the best decision for your needs.

When buyers are in this stage of their buyer’s journey, they may reach out to you by filling out a form, calling you, or engaging with you on social media channels.

If a prospect hangs up on you, do NOT leave him or her hanging on.

Want to learn more about content marketing? Check out our related article here!

By selecting you as their answer, they can alleviate their current situation and avoid any further pain or aggravation.

As potential customers move into the evaluation phase, they will want to learn more about your pricing structure. It is important to provide clear, concise information so that customers can make an informed choice.

Many buyers need to confer with others before making a purchase.

Your job when talking to a prospect is to prove that you care and that you are the best option for them

The third stage of the customer journey- decision stage.

This is the final stage of the customer’s journey, where a customer is ready to make a final decision and make a purchase.

By now, the buyer has researched their options thoroughly and is well-informed on which service will best meet his or her needs.

Reviews are a crucial part of the customer journey.

97% of onsumers say that online reviews affect their buying decisions.

Customers increasingly rely on peer recommendations, so not having any could be detrimental to your business.

At this point in their journey, buyers are evaluating their options. Case studies are an effective way of showcasing your previous work and proving to potential customers that your product does what it says it will do. By including social proof in the form of customer testimonials, you can reassure them that you are a trustworthy and reliable choice.

Customer testimonials are a great way to show off your awesome company. You can feature them on your homepage, in your social media bios, and anywhere else where your prospects will be.

Content to Deliver in this Stage of decision: Customer Reviews

If you’re still on the fence about whether or not our product is right for you, take a look at some of our customer reviews. Or, check out one of our case studies to see how our product has helped others in a similar situation as yours.

If you want to see the product in action for yourself, schedule a free trial or live demo. And, if you have any questions along the way, we offer consultations to help put your mind at ease. Plus, we have a coupon for 20% off your first purchase!

Customer Journey Stage 4: Retention

The fourth and final stage of your sales funnel is customer retention.

If you’ve managed to get customers to this point, then you must be doing something right. But, it’s far from over.

This stage in the customer journey is incredibly important. Why?

4 key email sequences your e-commerce company needs

It’s much cheaper and easier (and less risky) to retain existing customers than it is to find new ones.

Once you’ve gotten a prospect’s business, you should work hard to keep it. Building up that initial level of trust in your sales process can be extremely difficult, so once you’ve got it, you should work just as hard to keep that relationship strong.

During this stage, you should be checking in with your clients to see how they’re enjoying the product that they purchased. You should also acknowledge their loyalty.

Content to Deliver in the Retention Stage: Surveys Testimonial Requests

In the retention phase, it’s important to keep existing customers happy and engaged. You can do this by sending out a survey to survey them on how they are using your product and what they think about it. You could also ask happy customers for testimonial that you can use for marketing. Lastly, you can follow up after a customer has used your service to see if they were satisfied and if they have any questions or comments.

Customer Journey Stage 5: Advocacy

This is the final stage of the customer journey, where your customers turn into brand advocates.

Your customers are your biggest advocates. They talk you up, they recommend you to others, and they spread the word about your company. So, how do you get your customers to that point?

If you want to build a loyal client base, you need to provide value to your prospects and customers at all stages of the buyer’s journey. You also need to be attentive to their needs and show them the utmost respect. And, of course, you need to have a great product that fulfills its promises to them.

One of the best things you can do to encourage customers to advocate for your brand is to ask them to do so. You might be surprised by the results.

When you love a product, service or a company, you can’t help but tell everyone about it! It’s just natural.

When a customer has a positive interaction with your company, product, or service, they will want to share it with their friends. You can encourage them to do this by telling them that you appreciate referrals and that you’d love for them to tell their friends and family members. Some of the most powerful companies in the world today are built upon strong word of mouth and customer recommendations.

How using customer journey mapping can improve the user experience

Customers expect seamless interactions with brands from the beginning. Understanding how customers interact with brands at each touchpoint will help you meet their needs and improve the efficiency of your business.

“Customer-centric businesses are 60% more profitable that those that are not focused on the customer.” – Deloitte and Touche

Consider each stage of purchasing a product to map the journey. Write down the emotions and actions that customers take at each stage.

Rate the emotions at each touchpoint. Is it positive?

Start to connect the dots and find out where your customer is not satisfied. This will enable you to identify and make the most of the opportunities to improve the customer experience.

Use customer satisfaction data to get more precise results

When you create your customer journey template, make sure to include customer satisfaction scores. This information validates any assumptions or gaps you make when mapping.

Your customer may rate a CSAT score 3 at the point of purchase, and then give a score 8 after they have purchased. Your point of purchase needs to be addressed immediately.

To find the most critical pain points, look at multiple customer satisfaction scores. Start making improvements to the touchpoint that is not well-received by customers.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are a few different ways to measure success in the customer journey discovery phase. By using these methods, you can ensure that you’re on track and making progress towards your goals.

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