Why is the Customer Journey Important?

Anyone who owns a business knows that it has to be based around the customer in order to ensure increased leads and sales. However, this is often easier said than done. You might think that you know your customers, but do you really? One of the ways in which you can get to know your customers, and their goals, better is by creating and analysing the results of a customer journey map. But what is it, exactly? Let’s take a closer look at what it is and what they can do to benefit you and your business:

What is a customer journey map?

Understanding your customer and their wants and needs sets the groundwork for every other aspect of your website and its content. It paves the way for more meaningful and interactive experiences that will help to set your business apart from the crowd. It also provides a tangible framework for customer experience initiatives and improvements. 

A well-rounded, perfectly-designed customer journey map will provide you with a better understanding of the customer base and what they want to get out visiting your site. In order to do this, you must understand their emotions, pain points and actions. But why should you be doing all of this in the first place? Here’s why a customer journey map is important:

The importance of the customer journey: what do they do?

Now that you understand what a customer journey map is, let’s delve deeper into what it can do for you and why it’s so important when it comes to your company’s presence and performance online. There are multiple benefits to be had by putting a bit more focus on your customer journey. From improve customer experience to driving excellent results when it comes to sales and conversions, here’s why you should put more emphasis into finding more out about the customer journey:

They better the customer experience

If you’re aware of the journey your customer is taking, then you’ll have a better understanding as to what they want to see and what they aren’t so bothered about. As such, you can tailor everything, from website pages and blog posts to the products you’re selling and the service you provide. 

Not only will this help to draw in more people, but it will also help by way of customer retention. In addition to showing that you’re meeting their requirements, as a customer, you’re also showing them that you care about the way you’re perceived and also the way in which the customer is cared for. Place emphasis on customer service and everything else will fall into place, and knowing your customers’ journey will help with that.

They allow customers to achieve their goals more easily

By catering to the needs of the customer through analysing a customer journey map, you’re ensuring that they’ll achieve their goals in a more simple and straightforward way. By making it as easy as possible, you’re making it more likely that the customer will make a purchase. 

If someone is trying to find a product that you sell that sits under a wealth of different parent and child pages, they are going to give up their search, opting for a competitor where the product can be found more easily. If you’re experiencing a high bounce rate along with your high website traffic levels, then you know that something has gone wrong somewhere along the journey. 

You know that your SEO is up to scratch, but what’s created a mishap along the way? – a lack of simplicity in finding what they’re looking for. Make sure their goals are achieved more easily by analysing your customer journey map. 

They provide your company with valuable content

By gaining knowledge based on the customer journey map you’ve analysed, you’ll be in a better position to provide your marketing team with everything they need in order to create valuable content. By putting out content that is rich in accurate and relevant information, you’re not only drawing in more traffic by way of SEO, but you’ll also be placed higher up in the search engine results pages (SERPs). 

This is because Google is constantly on the lookout for content that supports other aspects of your website. Once it sees a high-quality piece of content that has been written by a human and is full of expert, relevant knowledge, your site will be placed in a higher favour. In addition, if you’ve analysed your customer journey map, you’ll be able to cater to the needs of your target audience, thus resulting in an even higher level of page views and, therefore, leads and sales. 

They better position your company to drive great results

We’ve already touched on this several times, but there are many ways in which a company can benefit from knowing the journey of their customers. In summary you can create relevant, high-quality content, you can make life more simple for the customer by streamlining your experience, you can improve the customer service and, as a result of all of that, you’re increasing leads and, therefore, conversions and sales. 

It enables omni-channel marketing

We wrote an article about omnichannel marketing that describes what it is and why it’s beneficial to you as a company. Seeing as there is so much to gain and nothing to lose by taking an omni-channel marketing approach, it’s no wonder why people are using the customer journey map to their advantage in order to execute omni-channel marketing seamlessly. This is mainly because a comprehensive customer journey will touch on, almost, every channel, including, but not limited to, the following:

• Email
• Social media
• Paid site visits
• Organic site visits

5 tips for creating a customer journey map

There are a number of things you can do to create a worthwhile customer journey map that will do nothing but benefit you and your marketing campaign. Given that they play an important role in reaching your target audience, generating leads and ensuring conversion rates are high, there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking the customer journey seriously. So how do you work out the journey of your customer? Here are a few tips to help you:

1. Keep the end goal in mind – who are you mapping the journey for and why are you doing it?
2. Whilst capturing the whole customer journey, make sure you highlight the essential moments – you need to understand the journey through the eyes of the customer
3. Account for logic and emotions – a common step to leave out, but an important aspect of the customer journey all the same
4. Make the map actionable – empower people to influence the journey
5. Ensure the map is measurable – outline the potential impact of every improvement as you go along

Kunmo is pleased to offer a wide range of different digital marketing services that will help to propel your business into the spotlight. Whether you’re looking to increase leads and sales or wish to drive organic traffic to your site, we will be able to help. From content writing and website design to SEO and PPC services that are both state-of-the-art and effective, we are your one-stop-shop for all things digital marketing. For further information, get in touch with a member of our friendly, professional team today – we’re always happy to hear from you.