Why You Should Embrace The Customer Journey—And How To Begin

We’ve come a long way since the days of broad, singular marketing campaigns, where you’d spend months tinkering on a “catch-all” concept designed to capture as much of your audience as possible. Looking back, we really were boxed in. But with the rise of digital marketing, we can now create personalized experiences that cater to our customers’ needs, preferences and behaviors. The key here is “personalized.” Personalization empowers us to create customized experiences for customers across our entire audience. So why do we keep boxing ourselves in?

The Why Behind The Customer Journey

Look, we’re all consumers. And as consumers, we know what we expect from brands today. Whether we’re browsing their websites, reading their emails or perusing their social channels, we expect a seamless experience across all touchpoints. This philosophy has become commonplace among customers in all industries. By creating a customer journey, you can map out the entire experience and ensure that each touchpoint is tailored to each customer’s needs and preferences.

Remember The Big Picture

Another reason to shift to customer journeys is to empower your organization with a more cohesive and integrated marketing strategy. Instead of creating singular campaigns that may or may not be effective, you can focus on creating a holistic experience that moves the customer along the journey—shifting the pressure from that singular campaign to a more agile, iterative strategy. This approach can also help you identify gaps in your current strategy and fill them with relevant content and messaging.

The Benefits Of The Customer Journey

Let’s get to the real reason you’re here—how does this benefit you? Here are three key benefits:

1. Increased Customer Engagement

By creating a personalized experience for your customers, you can increase their engagement with your brand. Customers are more likely to engage with content that is relevant to them and meets their needs.

2. Improved Conversion Rates

When customers have a positive experience with your brand, they are more likely to convert. By mapping out the customer journey, you can identify the touchpoints that are most likely to lead to a conversion and optimize them accordingly.

3. Retention, Retention, Retention

I mean customer retention, of course—which we’re big believers in at our shop. A customer journey is not just about acquiring new customers, but also bringing them back for more. By creating a seamless and personalized experience, you can build loyalty and keep customers coming back.

A Quick Checklist To Get You Started

The beauty of a thoughtfully crafted customer journey is your ability to customize it to your audience. In other words, your business is unique—and there’s no one-size-fits-all blueprint for getting your strategy off the ground. Below are some best practices to get you started:

Define Your Customer Personas

Before you can create a customer journey, make sure you understand who your customers are and what they want. Define the customer personas that are interested in your product or service—their pain points, motivations and behaviors.

Map Out The Journey

From awareness to conversion to retention, map out the entire journey you expect your customers to take. Within this strategy, surface touchpoints where you can provide value and create a seamless experience.

Personalize

This is the key, and what will separate you from your industry’s sea of sameness. Use the data you have collected about your customers to personalize the content and messaging at each touchpoint. This will help you create a more engaging and relevant experience.

Monitor And Optimize

Once you get your customer journey off the ground, your work has just begun. By continuously monitoring the journey, you’ll be able to optimize your approach based on customer feedback and data. You’ll probably need to use analytics tools to track the effectiveness of each touchpoint and adjust as needed.

In Conclusion, Play The Long Game

The days of shortsighted wins and high-stakes campaigns are over, and that’s a good thing. By taking a step back and focusing on a deeper relationship with customers, you can reach goals without attempting to re-create the viral magic of a singular campaign. Customers want consistency, and embracing their holistic journey will enable you to nurture a longer, more fruitful relationship.

This MODintelechy authored editorial originally appeared in Forbes Agency Council