Customers don’t just buy from businesses anymore—they engage with them. From the moment customers first contacts you, to the final point of purchase, they go move a series of steps through your sales process and towards a purchase.
These steps along the path lead to the conversions that are the starting points for the long-term relationship. This is the core of any successful business.
But how do you know what your customers experience? And what can you do to improve that experience in a way that builds trust and loyalty?
Each stage of your marketing and sales process is an interaction. They shape how users experience your product, service, and brand. Using a journey map puts you in complete control of that experience and gives you insight into the ways you can enhance it for your customers mapping.
Mapping the Customer’s Journey
Marketers understand that the initial point of contact is only the first step in a long road to conversion. You need to have a visualized framework of what you customers experience as they make their way through that journey in order to understand what works.
A journey map gives you insight into the emotions and thoughts of your customers, and helps to maximize the experience you provide. It gives you a comprehensive view of the entire sales process from their perspective.
The journey map is a full representation of your sales funnel. It highlights the series of steps in attracting, engaging, and converting prospects into customers mapping.
Steps Along the Journey
In marketing your product or service, your business makes a promise to customers. The sales process is the way in which you fulfill that promise. It’s your opportunity to show the value you can provide in addressing their unique pain points.
Businesses often have a team of representatives that create the entire customer experience around your brand. This includes sales, customer service, and financial reps, who each have their own specialized expertise and contributes to the entire operation.
Team members must be aware of all the elements in the sales process. Using a journey map provides a valuable asset that can be used across your organization to work together in building a successful business.
Benefits of Using a Journey Map
A detailed journey map allows you to connect all members of your team in the effort to optimize the sales funnel. It helps you develop future offers and the ways in which you fulfill the promises of your brand.
It’s easy to view customers as data points. But those responsible for collecting and reporting the analytics of a business need to look beyond the numbers. A journey map puts the human experience back into the equation.
By outlining the points along the journey of your customers mapping, you create develop an understanding of the areas that need to improve.
The simplest solutions are usually the most powerful. The beauty of this approach is that it can be done with simple tools such as a whiteboard and some post-it notes.
Taking the time to put together a journey map for your business will revolutionize how it engages with and converts new customers.
Over time, you’ll transform the ways in which you bring your product or service to the world, and build a customer base that can rely on you to deliver on your promise.
Have you ever thought about journey mapping before? If not, how do you think it can revolutionize the way you do business online?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
