The world has changed rapidly over the last few decades. Gen X is the first generation to grow up with access to the internet from the moment they’re born. From ordering food online to ditching television for streaming services, the emergence of the digital age has completely shifted the way that consumers behave, meaning marketers have had to adapt quickly.
What is the customer journey?
In the simplest terms, the customer journey is the interactions a person will make with a brand. We can map out the path someone makes before they even become a customer. This journey may look different from product to product, never mind company to company, but traditionally it follows these steps – awareness, consideration, decision, retention, and advocacy.
Let’s break it down:
Awareness – Your target audience becomes aware of a problem they need solving.
Consideration – Your customer starts to weigh up options and begins to see your product or service as a solution for this problem. They’ll start to compare your competitor’s USPs and look at who aligns with them more closely.
Decision – Customers are now ready to make the purchase and decide which brand they will choose.
Retention – This is the point where you focus on keeping that customer around, encouraging repeat purchases.
Advocacy – If the rest of the journey has gone well, this is the point customers become advocates for your brand – sharing your product or service organically without being asked.
The customer journey differs from the buyer’s journey as it goes beyond the point of purchase and follows the consumer into becoming an advocate for a brand or even a repeat customer.
What was the customer journey before the digital age?
Before the digital age, the customer journey was extremely linear. You would take a consumer through the process to get them to the point of purchase with a lot less consideration of the awareness stage. Now with the birth of new points of contact, an abundance of data, and other evolutions, the awareness stage has expanded, and we see this journey as an ongoing cycle.
It’s also expanded with usage and support now entering the conversation, helping to aid in loyalty and advocacy which help to promote awareness, bringing new life to the journey and cycle.
The changes brought in by the digital age
Increase in consumer knowledge due to the availability of information
Not only does the masses of information made available through the widespread use of phones mean that consumers have more options, but it also means they have more access to information about your product or service. This creates a more competitive field in many ways as they’re able to increase their research stage and truly weigh up their options.
More ways to connect and target your consumers – but also for them to contact you
Think about it. Nowadays with many (many) social media channels, websites, traditional advertising, and more, there’s never been as much opportunity to target your consumers. Through users’ phones, you can literally reach them in their own bedroom. It’s a great advancement, offering more marketing opportunities than ever before. But it also means that the consumer can now contact you… from their bedrooms! That means support and comms must be a priority for businesses if they want to attract and retain consumers.
The internet takes centre stage
The main change in the digital age has been, well, the digital. The internet has become increasingly important for marketers in the last two decades especially, with digital marketing now being a priority for many brands. It plays a role in every stage of the customer journey, but it’s also meant that the priorities of each stage have changed. Awareness is now more important than ever. Increased digital literacy has also meant that there’s less room for error – in your marketing or in your strategy.
Let’s get personal – with your consumers
One of the biggest changes is how the customer journey is being applied. The abundance of data collected through forms, surveys, and analytics means that marketers can now personalise their efforts for customers, helping to create more loyalty which in turn improves every stage of the digital journey – especially strengthening retention and advocacy.
What does it mean for marketers?
If you’re a digital marketer and you haven’t updated your tactics in the last decade, you’re behind. You need to rethink your approach in line with the changed customer journey in the digital age. How can you do this? Insights.
You now can see exactly what point you’re losing customers in the journey, so you can improve on this. Use the data at your disposal. Who are your customers? How are they behaving? What are they interested in? Where do they drop off? Are your engagement levels consistent?
That means design, web, social, and content: every team you have in-house needs to be kept in the loop so you can ensure your approach is as cohesive as possible. Delighting your customers is essential from day one, but even after the point of sale, you need to focus on retention and customer satisfaction.
If you’d like some expert guidance on improving your customer journey to increase sales, get in touch with us today and see how we can help: info@punch-creative.co.uk.
Think about how to make your customer feel like a valued individual from the moment they’re first exposed to your brand. Incredible customer experiences are a cornerstone of the consumer journey in the digital age. Personalise your marketing. Consider how you can utilise owned channels like email marketing, and make sure your social media content is hitting the right audience. Engage with your audience, remaining a faceless entity rarely works.
Consumers aren’t likely to call you to discuss your service anymore. If they can’t instantly access information or get a response, they’re likely to take their business elsewhere. It’s time to get – and stay – connected.
It also means to make the most of the channels where your audience are spending their time. It’s time to take an audit and assess your current position – and make sure your audience is the right fit for you.
And don’t forget about the cyclical nature of the customer journey.
Where can we see it going now?
There is still room for old-school techniques in the world of marketing. Just because we’ve seen this new digital age start to affect the way strategies are built does not mean that we are completely ditching the building bricks of marketing. Far from it. We’re seeing now more than ever the importance of experiential marketing.
Just take Taylor Swift’s campaign for the release of The Tortured Poet Department. In conjunction with a social media campaign that’s been building tension and interest from her audience for months, she hosted events and installations that generate a wider buzz and press like partnering with Spotify for a library instalment.
This combination means she’s able to build visibility as well as excitement for her loyal consumers who see this as a reward for their interest and commitment to her brand. It’s a masterclass in the way in which businesses can combine the two for profitable effect. But the popstar’s team also understand that the customer journey has shifted in more ways than just awareness.
Albums and merch are sold often through her website, which at times is locked, generating a buzz amongst her fans as they try to work out why and what is going on (and even try to work out the password!). Here the team drive fans to the point of sale with engaging tactics along the way, utilising a new kind of customer journey in the digital age. Seeing the vast success of the album proves the way in which the team have responded to the evolving customer journey in the digital age.
This is a prime example of where we’re going in terms of the updated customer journey. Consumers are now the ones driving the interactions. Brands need to put the user experience ahead of everything else to ensure they’re making sales.
The ease of information at their fingertips means retention is now more important than ever. Consumers who feel valued and a part of the brand are more likely to become advocates growing the consumer base and raising awareness for the brand.
They’re also far more likely to become repeat purchases – potentially why The Tortured Poets Department sold 1.4 million copies on the first day of its release. Combine this with the surplus of options that means research in the awareness stage is now more thorough and accessible and it’s more of a challenge to even get onto their radar.
Has the customer journey changed in the digital age? Of course, it has. The world has changed entirely, so how could we expect sales, marketing, and consumer behaviour to remain the same? With the massive innovations that have come in the last few decades, there’s learning to be done alongside it. We can look at brands like Nike and Coca Cola which have remained current and iconic through the ages as an example. Their strategy has changed but their essential personality and mission have remained the same throughout.
You don’t need a complete upheaval of your business but rearranging your strategy in line with the new customer journey is much needed.
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