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Show Notes

Ever felt like your customers are playing a game of hide and seek with you? Maybe they clicked but never stuck around? Let’s change the game! Dive into this episode where we unwrap the magic of how to guide those elusive clicks into loyal customers, ensuring they enjoy every step with you. Trust us, after this episode, you’ll be leading and enchanting your audience from that very first click all the way to the final sale. Ready to become the ultimate guide in your customer’s journey? Let’s hit the road!

Want to Work with Jennifer and her Virtual Marketing Experts Team?

Are you a coach, consultant, or online course creator who are looking to grow your business, increase your income, and scale your impact? Connect with me at YourMarketingMatchmaker.com I look forward to hearing from you.

Jennifer:

Hey there, welcome back to Marketing Matchmaker I have been I know last week on last week’s episode, we were doing a strategy session. And we were talking about really how to create and sell out events. And that got me to thinking because one of the things that we discussed, kind of touch base on in that episode, were customer journeys. And so I wanted to take this episode to kind of dive into that, we’re going to dive deep into not just what a customer journey is, but the steps to map it out so that you’re able to create a customer journey that’s actually going to help you grow and scale your business.

So when we think about customer journeys, I often wonder if you’ve ever thought about what it actually feels like to be one of your customers. I mean, if we think about it for everyone, and I’m sure you’ve gone through this same experience going through someone else’s customer journey, it’s almost like going on an adventure, right? I mean, from the moment that you discover someone, or they discover you and your brand, to really be coming all the way to the other end, where you are a raving fan of someone and just talking about them everywhere. That’s what we’re looking for, when it comes to our customer journey. And there’s this whole story that can unfold within that journey that really does help to create relationships and connections with your audience.

So if you think about it from the story perspective, if you’re reading a really fabulous novel, the first chapter, that’s when your customers first stumble on your brand, maybe it’s through an ad or a social media post, and they’re curious, and they’re flipping through the pages, eager to know more. So they’re scrolling through all of your information, learning more about you.

And as the story progresses, the customer will often go through a lot of twists and turns and sometimes face challenges that may be things like for you an unclear website, a slow response to a query, maybe it’s an unclear message. And they also find bits and pieces of information about your product, service, or solution, or testimonials that make them excited to still learn more about you. So every stage of your customer journey is crucial.

It’s about ensuring your customer sticks around that they get invested in who you are, what you do, and how you can serve them, and ultimately that they become that raving fan. So when we talk about mapping out the customer journey, it’s almost like if you were writing that story from scratch, that whole plotting out of the chapters to make sure that you keep your customers engaged, that you’re solving their problem. And that the journey leads them smoothly from introduction, through to commitment all the way through to keeping the romance alive, where they are ready, willing and able to be your biggest advocate.

If you think about mapping out your customer journey, it’s kind of like using that GPS in your car. When you’re going to a specific destination, you really do want a map to go get there, especially if you’ve never been there before. Which is why knowing why this customer journey mapping is important it is going to set the stage for success for you and your business.

A customer journey map will really help you to tailor your customers’ experience because every customer is on an unique journey. From that moment they first hear about you to the time that they buy, they are on a journey that hopefully is bringing them closer and closer to who you are and how you can help them and by understanding the path they take. You as a business owner can per can tailor that experience more deeply which will help that customer move a little faster through every touchpoint.

It also allows you to optimize your marketing strategy because when you have a really defined customer journey If you know where to spend more of your money, is it at the top of the funnel where you’re getting them introduced? Do you need to spend money on retargeting when you’re selling them something, those kind of pieces of information really do help you to really dive deep into your marketing strategy and know where to allocate funds in every step of the journey. It also allows you to understand how to spend those funds and how much you might need to spend.

You’re also able to identify the pain points.

Really, that is a critical piece to your entire marketing, not just your customer journey. It allows you to help people move past obstacles or objections or any other piece of that information that’s keeping them stuck at a specific part of the customer journey. It can help you to increase sales. And if you look at it from a data perspective, you’ll really understand what steps are are actually bringing in more revenue, which will help you to scale in the long run. And overall, having a really detailed out customer journey will help you to build stronger relationships with your audience, which is the key to all of this in the first place. Because the whole idea of our business is to create relationships.

So when we think about your customer journey, your whole customer journey is really designed around the dating analogy that I use so often, from introduction through to keeping the romance alive, every step of that customer journey plays a role in keeping them motivated, engaged, aware, and moving forward.

For instance, in your introduction phase, which is really about that awareness phase. It really is, it’s like seeing someone across a room of a party, it’s that initial attraction, that surface level piece that really makes them want to take a look at a deeper look into who you are, what you do, and how you can help them.

The flirting phase is really where you start to grow your audience and build that connection a little bit further. In this stage, oftentimes your audience is filled with a lot of excitement and anticipation and they’re really ready to learn more from you. So it can look like things like engaging content, asking questions, social media, your email sequences, those pieces of information really do help to grow your audience.

The dating phase is always the consideration phase. This is where people actually step into your map, right, they step out of their own map rat reality and step into your map into your customer journey, where you help them to understand deeper, how it is that you can help them. You really want to build that trust in this phase, and really create that deeper engagement, because it’s going to lead you to phase four, which is the commitment phase, that’s where they make that decision to buy from you.

Honestly, you’ve already built a level of trust in the dating phase. And sometimes that first initial purchase with you can still be met with a little bit of anxiety from the people that are following you.

Which is why this is the biggest leap of trust that they have.

So while they’re in this phase, you are really making a huge effort to make that purchase as seamless as possible and providing them with the value and potentially more than the value they paid for.

And the final phase of your customer journey is that keeping the romance alive phase it’s where your audience goes from being a buyer to being an advocate for you. They are out there singing your praises and letting everyone they know know that you know what you’re talking about and that you can help them get to the next stage.

All five of these stages are very important when it comes to creating your customer journey and just as important. emotions play a critical role in every one of these stages.

A customer journey takes a deep personal and emotional experience for people and a brand, it’s really helps them to create that connection. So your customer journey can be a make or break with the relationship that they’re looking to build with you.

The reality is, is that no two journeys are alike. And that’s where the magic lies.

Using data as feedback can really help you to craft, craft a plan that feels personal and unique to every person. It is crucial to personalize your journey. And that means knowing your audience inside and out, what is it that they’re experiencing at every level of your customer journey so that you can tailor that journey to them, and help them to take the next step in the journey which will help you to grow your business.

More importantly, it’ll help you to impact the lives of your audience.

And the reality is, is if you’re not looking at the data, and you are not looking at the journey as a whole, and where you might be breaking down in that journey, you are leaving so much money on the table, and it can really hurt your business. So make sure as you’re developing this customer journey, that you’re also looking at where it’s breaking down, so that you’re better able to make small tweaks along the way, rather than what so many business owners do so often, throwing the whole baby out with the bathwater.

There is no need to completely take apart a customer journey.

If you know you can get them on your email list, but they’re not taking the next step. It’s time to look at that dating portion of your customer journey. Is it engaging enough? Is it interactive enough? Is it really touching the pain points that your audience needs in order to move them to the buyer portion of the customer journey. Every stage has its own analytics that you’re going to want to look at.

Just like every journey is unique. Every journey also has its own twists and turns. And there are things that could happen that could make your journey challenging, challenging for your audience. So what if you could foresee some of those challenges and be prepared, not just prepared to help your customer move forward, but almost stepping in before they even get to that block.

Things like too many choices. I’ve said this before in many episodes, when you are starting out, when you are growing your business, it is best to have one option, one choice, one thing that you want your audience to do. So whether that’s one funnel that you’re running, or whether that’s one product service or solution that you’re selling, the point is in the customer in the initial part of the customer journey is to bring them in for that one thing. And then you can have a value ladder that continually sells them on to the rest. That’s also part of the customer journey. However, giving them too many options, telling them that you work with mindset, and you work with business and you work with marketing, and you work with weight loss. And you’re a finance coach who also does weight loss coaching.

You see how this can confuse your audience and a confused person never buys.

Recognizing from the start exactly what you want your customers to do will help make that process seamless. Another piece that you want to look out for before it actually happens is really that complicated checkout process, right?

Having too many steps or too many layers, or maybe one that just doesn’t work as seamlessly as you would like it to is going to reduce the number of people that buy from you. So really streamlining that process will help you to create a offer and a purchase that your audience will buy immediately. One of the other pieces that I really want to focus on is a lack of trust. The whole reason that someone doesn’t buy from you is that either your way to your price way out of the market, which happens I’m never going to tell someone to discount their prices because we price based on our value. That being said, not everyone can buy from us so are you targeting people that can actually buy from you or not.

On the other side of that, the trust may be, you’re not speaking their language, you’re not speaking in a way that they can hear you. They can’t connect with how your can you’re talking to them. That can also break down trust. When it comes to do you really know who they are, what they do and who and what they need, so that you can serve them best. That lack of trust will hurt your business in the long run. So make really sure that you know every step of your business whether or not you are creating that trust and that bond with your audience.

One of the secrets that’s not that big of a secret in marketing is really being adaptable. That is going to be the secret sauce to you growing your business. If you see whether that’s through data, or through just lack of buyers, that there is a problem within your funnel, it’s time to pivot, it’s time to look at what the problem is and to make changes. Being adaptable will really help you to make those changes within your business.

So oftentimes, when I talk to business owners about how often or about their customer journey, they often ask how often should they revisit and revise their journey map? The thing is, is that’s going to be individual for each business owner. That being said, you should be constantly looking at your journey map to make sure it’s effective.

It is not a set it and forget it.

That is not an option.

Your journey map needs to be reviewed on a regular basis to understand what tweaks and and adjustments you can make to make it better to make it better for you and for your audience. How can someone who doesn’t have a big budget and doesn’t isn’t able to hire an agency create a really effective journey map?

The reality is is you don’t need a lot of money to create an effective journey map.

What you need is time to sit down. And yes, you may need to hire someone for a small small portion of time to help you map out that journey. But then you can take it away and implement it yourself. There is no reason that it needs to be incredibly complicated. In fact, a simpler journey is better for most business owners. It’s also no reason that it needs to be astronomically expensive for the map portion of it.

That being said, if you are hiring someone, make sure that they understand the lifecycle of your customers and how to help them get through each step of the journey. When it comes to growing your businesses scaling your business having a customer journey map with every stage outlined and detailed and and really dive into what it is you need to communicate and what you need to do through each stage will help you to grow your business, increase your revenue and scale your impact.

So if you right now are struggling with your customer journey with your customer journey map or just getting consistency in your marketing and understanding the best way to reach your audience at over to yourmarketingmatchmaker.com and schedule a free strategy call. We can help you to come away with at least one actionable item to take on the road for your business.Outro: Thank you for listening to the marketing matchmaker podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, I would love to hear your feedback. Please head over to Apple iTunes and leave a review so we can hear from you. And if you are a coach, consultant or online course creator who are looking to grow your business, increase your income and scale your impact. And that put me at your marketing matchmaker.com I look forward to hearing from you.