Do you feel like your marketing efforts aren't entirely yielding the results you expect? Sometimes it's a good idea to "go back to the basics" — and in marketing terms, this often means refocusing on the overall consumer journey and the process of nurturing leads down the sales funnel. It can be easy to take these things for granted, but giving them the attention they deserve is well worth it!
Whether you operate a small business or oversee a sizeable enterprise-level company, the customer journey should play a vital role in your sales and marketing decisions. Successful organizations are always looking for ways to optimize customer experience — and to do this, customer needs, concerns, and expectations must be clearly understood. Indeed, customer journey benchmarks should significantly impact how you develop and refine your omnichannel marketing.
It's important to note that each customer's journey will differ slightly from another's. Therefore, it should be your aim to map a typical customer journey (in terms of how the progression from one stage to the next looks and which touchpoints are involved) and then personalize it to the greatest extent possible. One of the best ways to accomplish this goal is to create customer personas.
As an example, imagine that you're operating a car dealership. You have one customer persona you call "Speedy Sam." This persona reflects the younger consumers you're targeting. They are interested in flashy sports models and are likely to interact with your company on social media platforms rather than over the phone. On the other hand, you also have "Soccer Mom Sally," who represents a middle-aged demographic more interested in safety than speed and more likely to call or visit your dealership in person during their initial research.
You'd market to each group very differently from the other — and because of those customer personas, you'd have more clarity about developing your message and tactics for each customer segment.
It's also key to communicate wisely in each stage. For example, a prospect who's just learned about your brand probably doesn't need a detailed breakdown of your flagship product's features vs. that of a competitor. Match the content to the customer's current needs, interests, and pain points. In addition, choose the proper channels to communicate and gently "nudge" the customer further down the sales funnel.
Here again, personalization is key — and a helpful tool you can use at this point in the game is a robust customer relationship management (CRM) system. Your CRM can help you to track each customer's progress through their journey and then deliver personalized lead-nurturing material to them at the right time. For example, one study found that personalized emails improve click-through rates by 14% and conversion rates by 10%.
Going "back to the basics" in your marketing strategy may provide your company with a significant boost in ROI. By mapping out your typical buyer's journey, developing appropriate customer personas, and using tools like a robust CRM to nurture leads, you're all but certain to see exceptional results from your efforts.
Of course, if these marketing activities don't fall under the umbrella of your business's core competencies, help is readily available. Our team of experts at McClatchy has a deep understanding of the consumer journey and the experience to help you reach and connect with the right audience at the right time.