The topic of creating and then curating an excellent customer journey has been coming up a lot recently when talking with clients and members. How can we encourage audiences to do and go where we want them to go without being super 'selly' or boring them to tears with repeated 'buy me' messages?
A customer journey is simply the road every person travels when they decide to purchase or engage with a business. They will go from not knowing a business at all, but with a need or desire, to being all in and ready to book, buy, order a service or a product.
However this journey can feel tricky to navigate with lots of unknowns or muddles along the way. Sometimes the journey is long, when potential customers don't want to or simply can't make a quick decision. Sometimes, our ideal customers like what we do and are delighted by our offerings but simply never feel compelled enough to jump in.
So let's jump in to see what we can do to make this journey a little bit more predictable or something that we feel we can control a little better to improve how often someone travels from not knowing your business to being utterly delighted to part with their money.
Start by being super clear about what your 'value' is to a customer. What are you really selling? What solution or delight do you sell and what does that add to a person's life? For example, you sell soap. It's nice, hand made & natural. Great as that is, think about what value this adds. It's the ideal gift solution because it comes in a bag or on a special soap tray. It's wholly chemical free and eases dry skin, it's the perfect self care treat that will soothe a customer to sleep. Understand what is special about your product or service and the 'feeling' you are trying to achieve when you've sold to them. Is this less anxiety, peace of mind, delight, excitement or confidence?
Know your ideal customer like a best friend. After all you can't take a person on a journey without knowing them first right? This means, thinking of your ideal customer (it can help to model them on an existing customer who adores what you do and returns often) and about what they love, hate and don't care about. Understand their wider life too - do they like animals, cake, walking or Netflix? Which social platform is their preferred option and who are their favourite celebs? Do they have a set of values e.g. sustainability, handmade first, veganism, giving back etc? Once you have this foundation nailed, it's much easier to imagine what customer journey will inspire, answer their concerns or engage their interest.
Understand the fundamental first motivator in your ideal customer. This might be a problem. It could be severe like they need counselling or a coach to help them with something. It might be acute. They need to buy an urgent present for a friend. It might be niggling, like they know that getting a new website or photographer is needed but they're nervous about how to choose. They may simply have a desire to treat themselves, a loved one or enjoy some relaxation or leisure time. They will have ideals around that imagined moment and may dream about it. All this information is essential to your journey building. Get inside their head!
Making your ideal customer aware is now the next step. This may well be your use of key words and language on your website (for Google to understand) or your socials for potential customers to find. For a micro business, leveraging the powers of existing happy customers is a brilliant way to create awareness for those who don't know you yet. How are you gaining reviews and sharing them? Are you sharing your customers often as they collect, experience or buy? Do you create little case studies about how you helped or what they experienced with you? Can you encourage existing customers to refer or recommend your business (maybe for a little incentive?). When planning this stage, think about how you're matching your value with their problem or desire. This is the 'meet cute' you're looking for.
Understand the realistic length of your journey. Let's be real about how quickly you think your ideal customer will decide. Are you asking them to marry you on the first date? If your jounrey is quite long, you need to consider ways to keep a potential customer happily on your journey until they're motivated or ready enough to buy. Options inlcude inviting them to join an email list that will continue to add value, delight or offer ideas for weeks or months. Perhaps there's a free version of your service that they can try before they buy? It might be that you ensure your content has lots of variety and intrigue to keep them watching and experiencing all over socials? Can you invite them to message you and get to know you better? Ensure too, that your website answers ALL their questions and creates no barriers to diving in.
In a world of crazy, you need to become trusted and form enough of a relationship for a customer to decide to buy. This means you need to hold their hand and lead the way along your journey. What use is fun or insightful content if they don't know where to go next? This means 'calls to action' throughout your journey. Not necessarily 'buy now' but:
'join our VIP email list'
'look at the results for this client'
'this is how we make...'
'did you know...?'
'here's a checklist'
'read my blog with a solution'
'message me for details'
'check out our website for information'
'this week, I'm offering...'
'I'll be at this event...come and say hello'
'we work with these people, do you know them?'
'here's our quiz to help you understand...'
'we're hosting a networking morning'
Remember that your journey is about building a positive relationship. This means you have to show up regularly and be present. You need to be trustworthy and authentic. You need to be 'seen' so that a customer can get to know you and never rush to 'marry me'. Remember that the world is crazy busy so folks need a remeinder about what to do next. Encourage often and recognise the time it might take to make a decision. You've got this and we're here to help in the Forum.
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