What Is The Customer Journey?

Customer Journey : The most important asset for any business is its customers. Customers, in addition to benefits, will provide a brand image and the most effective marketing strategy if they are satisfied after their purchase.

The problem is that many times, we forget this important phase: knowing what customers feel, what sensation, positive or negative, our product or service has caused them, and what the path they have traveled to reach it has been. . Knowing this path and improving it, if it is the case, will give us the key to increase profits and retain customers. And that path is the customer journey.

The customer journey or buyer journey, which, literally translated, would be “the customer’s journey” is the process that a person goes through to buy a product or service based on a need they have, and all the research and consideration of alternatives you have considered. Before, this process was made to coincide completely with the discovery and purchase of the product or service, but now, thanks to the Internet and the vast amount of information available, the customer investigates, informs himself, and compares before taking any action.

Phases Of The Customer Journey

Every consumer goes through these three phases before deciding on a product or service. Knowing them and reflecting on how you can influence them will help you improve your brand.

The Discovery

The potential client is presented with a need and seeks solutions, finding your brand.

The consideration 

Once your service is known, the client looks for other options in the market and compares what each one offers. 

The decision 

After comparing, the client decides on what you offer.

Customer Journey Map: How To Influence The Decision Of Consumers

Once the consumer’s customer journey has been identified, the most appropriate way to solve the possible problems that you have found is to define and map this consumer’s journey to understand the purchase process, the needs that the client has, how they investigate and what type of information you need. This is what, in design thinking, is known as the customer journey map. This tool will help you not only to know each step your client takes, but also to know exactly where, when, and how to act to ensure that your brand is always the one chosen.

In order to create the most appropriate customer journey map for our brand, a few preliminary steps are necessary. First, we must know and identify our “customers” perfectly, since the way to approach and, finally, buy the product will not be the same if the process is carried out by a student, a retiree, or a senior executive. In addition, a customer journey will have to be designed for each type of product or service that we offer, establishing different categories of products.

When creating a customer journey map there are no closed or concrete formulas. There is no model that can be applied to all companies since each product or service requires a different life cycle for the customer. Even so, there are some well-known forms already in the business world:

Using the phases of the customer journey (discovery, consideration and decision), draw a table with two different columns: in one the problems that the consumer encounters at each stage, and in the other the solutions that you can offer.

On a graph, plot the phases the client goes through on the x-axis and the sensations they experience (for example, positive and negative sensations) on the y-axis. By completing the graph you will know, in a very visual way, what fails and what works in your brand.