The online marketing world is replacing the traditional marketing world. The way customers find out about new products starts from their smartphone they hold in their hand. This is entirely different when we think about how customers found information on companies and products in the past. Although the way customers find information is changing, the process of how businesses connect their message to their customers has not gone through quite a drastic change.
Time is what separates traditional marketing tactics from digital marketing tactics, and if the company message if not compelling, then your company may have to face a lot of damage control to stabilize the customer satisfaction to ease the minds of new customers. The main objective of customer segments is to understand how to reach the customer effectively at each stage of the buyer’s journey. A company must ease a customer by providing them knowledge, break customer down into various groups, and offer the right product to each group.
Companies also must ensure that their message is converting. Are the customers finding information through the search engine or are customers finding the company through social media advertising? These will be key performance indicators that allow a company to enhance the overall message and direct the right customers to the right location to increase sales and encourage repeat buyers. Loyalty begins to form as customers continue to do business with the same company, and other time the satisfaction of what a company offer will be spread through the most important people that matter to the business; The customers.
Six Processes of the Buyer’s Journey
1: Need Recognition/Problem Identification
In this step of the buying journey, a company may not have much information of the customers who their business serves. Brand awareness advertising through social media based on broad topics that relate to your company is a good way to begin to develop the demographics of your audience. At this state, a company should have information on a website that can be found through the search engine.
As the brand following increases, a company will begin to understand what the concerns of their customers are. A business owner may start to notice a lot of engagement on some projects, but not much on others. This information will allow business owners to understand the concerns of their audience and begin to develop solutions to extract more information out of their following. Some great ways to uncover a deeper understanding of the customers that follow a business is to develop a survey or a poll. The main objective is to ask questions to your customers to understand what their needs are.
2: Intent and Research/Information Search
Once a company has demographics of their customer base, they will be able to relate their message to the needs of their customers. Customer information will also allow a company to begin researching statistics of their customer demographic to develop customer personas for their brand. Each persona should represent the type of customer that shares the same interests to each product they offer.
By connecting a customer to a product, a company will be able to identify emotional factors that connects the needs of the customer to the customers want. Products start to become important and valuable when a company can connect customers want to fulfill the customers need.
3: Consumer Variables
It is important to note that not all of your customers will fit into the same segments. To help diversify the reach of advertising to a target audience, a company will need to break down each type of need their customers want to resolve. These type of customer segments may include to save money, save time, reduce frustration, or increase cash flow.
Once a company identifies each customer segment, it will be time to develop marketing strategies to entice customers to learn more about the products a company offers. Each segment can be captured with the help of tracking codes to allow your marketing team to retarget these customers to help them during their decision-making process.
4: Product/Service Variables
Each type of product a company offers could have variables that are different to each customer segment. Understanding the needs of the customers who show interest in the products a company sells will allow the company to develop content to help support what the customer wants when they are in a time of need. A customer may want to save time, but they also may want to increase cash flow. The product pages that align with this type of customer will differ from a custom which is frustrated and is looking for a way to save time and money.
Throughout the buyer’s journey, a company will need to adjust their marketing efforts as they retarget customers in hope to make a purchase. Tracking codes and analytical date will become a potent tool throughout this process to ensure that the product message is aligned to the customers want. As time goes on, a company will begin to understand a pattern of their customer base. The analytical data will play an important role to enhance the entire marketing process that the company uses.
5: Conversion
Conversions are the most important piece of the sales funnel for a company. When customers convert, the company makes money. Companies also can begin up-selling to those customers who have shown an interest in the products a company has to offer. Conversions will also allow a company to monitor which marketing channels are most effective to get their message out and allow the marketing team to enhance the message to reach more potential customers.
Conversions can be a powerful tool for understanding how traditional marketing tactics are working for a company. A company may run a Television ad that provides a link to get their customers to check out more information about the product they are advertising. The link should be exclusive to that marketing channel so that a company can decide if they are profiting from the advertisement or if they should reinvest in other channels.
6: Satisfaction
Customers also have something to say about the products they buy. Sometimes they are happy and want to share the products with their personal and professional following. Testimonials are a powerful tool that companies can leverage to increase sales. When a company showcases testimonials from other customers, the message provides a sense of authority that will reduce risk among new customers.
There are times when customers will not be happy with their purchase. Depending on how a company handles negative feedback will determine how new customers will interact with a company. In the digital age, information never goes away and could haunt a company for years. If customers see that a company communicated to an upset customer, they will see that the company cares about the people who buy from them. This will allow future customers to feel comfortable dealing with the company knowing that if they have any issues about the products they buy the company will be there to help them.
The entire sales funnel of a business can be a difficult task to manage. Company owners should not be afraid to fail. To understand what is successful and what isn’t is through the process of trial and error. As the sales funnel is refined, so is the customer's journey.
