The term "customer journey" refers to the entirety of the experiences and interactions that a customer goes through with your company or brand from the first contact and throughout the entire purchasing process. Analyzing the customer journey stages is an important step if you want to understand how your potential customers interact with your brand. With this understanding, you can personalize your marketing and sales strategies to boost customer satisfaction and loyalty and shorten your sales cycle.
THE 5 Stages OF A B2B CUSTOMER JOURNEY
The AIDA model is a marketing concept that divides the sales process into four phases: Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. The model was first developed by Elmo Lewis at the end of the 19th century and has since been widely used in advertising and marketing.
Over time, the model has evolved to include additional phases that address the post-commercial stages. This led to the development of the modern AIDA model, which includes Awareness, Consideration, Conversion, Loyalty and Advocacy.
Let's take a closer look at each step:
1. Awareness-Stage:
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Objective: To make potential customers aware of the existence of a product or service.
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Strategies: Marketing efforts such as advertising, content marketing, social media campaigns and other awareness-raising activities.
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Content: The content in this stage should be attention-grabbing and focus on creating brand recognition and recall.
2. Consideration-Stage:
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Objective: To influence the considerations and comparisons of potential customers in favor of your company.
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Strategies: Providing valuable information, comparison charts and customer reviews can influence decision making.
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Content: The content should emphasize the unique selling points and benefits of the product or service and address potential concerns and questions.
3. Conversion-Stage:
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Goal: The conversion of a lead into an actual customer/buyer.
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Strategies: Creating a smooth and compelling buying process. Discounts, limited time offers and effective calls to action
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Content: Product demonstrations, customer reviews and clear information on the buying process are crucial to drive conversion.
4. Loyalty-Stage:
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Objective: After the purchase, the focus is on customer retention and building loyalty.
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Strategies: Implementing customer loyalty programs, providing excellent customer service and personalized communications.
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Content: Content should highlight ongoing value, e.g. product tutorials, exclusive offers for existing customers and updates on new features.
5. Advocacy-Stage:
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Objective: In the advocacy phase, satisfied customers become advocates who recommend the product or service to others.
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Strategies: Encouraging and incentivizing customer referrals, testimonials and positive reviews can promote advocacy.
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Content: User-generated content, success stories and case studies can showcase the positive experiences of existing customers and influence others in the decision-making process.
In summary, the modern AIDA model extends beyond the initial purchase and recognizes the importance of the post-purchase phases to build long-term customer relationships and drive market advocacy. Each phase requires customized strategies and content to effectively guide customers through the entire journey.
Messy Middle of a Customer Journey:
The term "messy middle" in relation to the customer journey refers to the complex and often opaque phase that lies between a customer's initial attention to a product or service (awareness) and the final purchase (conversion). This middle phase can be confusing and fraught with uncertainty for customers, as they lack a full overview of the market and every company promotes its product as the "best".
In the "messy middle", where a potential customer compares different products or brands, reads reviews, weighs up the pros and cons and uses a variety of information sources, it is therefore crucial to understand these uncertainties. This stage is messy because decision-making is often non-linear and influenced by many factors, including emotional, social and psychological aspects.
The challenges that a customer has to deal with in this middle can be:
- Information overload: Customers can be overwhelmed by the wealth of information available online. This can make decision-making more difficult.
- Ambivalence: Customers can feel torn between different options as they weigh up the pros and cons.
- Building trust: Customers may need to build trust in the brand or product before they are ready to make a purchase decision.
- Doubts and uncertainties: At this stage, customers may have uncertainties about whether the selected product or service will meet their expectations.
To successfully navigate this "messy middle", you need to understand how your target audience searches for information, makes decisions and what factors influence their preferences. Clear and engaging communication that addresses your customers' needs and concerns at this stage can help build trust and increase the likelihood of conversion.
THE 5 STEPS OF A CUSTOMER JOURNEY USING THE EXAMPLE OF A BIOTECH COMPANY
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Awareness-Stages:
A potential customer who is struggling with their DNA analysis taking up a lot of time and resources becomes aware of your innovative laboratory technologies to speed up DNA analysis through your social media marketing, ads or an industry conference.
The goal of the awareness phase has been achieved, as awareness of the existence of the biotech company and its technologies has been created.
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Consideration-Stages:
The potential customer visits your biotech company's website to obtain detailed information about the laboratory technologies. They compare the technologies with existing solutions from the competition and read case studies and reviews from other laboratories.
If you can get the potential customer to understand the benefits of lab technologies and consider your solution above all others, you have achieved the goal of the Consideration phase.
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Conversion-Phase:
The laboratory manager at the potential customer's company contacts your company's sales department to clarify further questions and arrange a demo appointment.
After the successful demo, the customer decides to purchase the technologies and you have also successfully mastered this phase.
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Loyalty-Phase:
After purchasing and implementing the laboratory technologies, the customer is very satisfied with the results. Regular updates and enhancements to the technologies provided to the customer will keep them loyal to your company. Upselling opportunities now exist for your biotech company to provide training and ongoing support to ensure the customer can get the most out of the technologies.
The goal of this phase is reached when you have achieved a high level of customer loyalty through excellent service and continuous improvement.
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Advocacy-Phase:
Now that your customer is fully satisfied and impressed with the lab technologies and customer service, they become an advocate, which means they will happily and voluntarily recommend your product to others. They share positive experiences in the scientific community, at conferences and on social media, participate in case studies and are willing to provide a testimonial for you.
This customer journey illustrates the process of how a biotech company can convert potential customers into paying customers and how excellent service and continuous innovation can build a long-term customer relationship and positive word of mouth.
THE VISUALIZATION OF THE 5 STEPS AND WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
The visualization of the 5 phases of the customer journey using methods such as customer journey maps, flowcharts, storyboards, heat maps, customer persona collages and regular customer journey analyses plays a decisive role in the design of successful customer interaction.
These methods not only provide a clear overview of the entire customer lifecycle, but also enable the precise identification of touchpoints at which customers come into contact with the company. Visualization makes it possible to develop personalized messages and marketing campaigns for each phase, which increases the relevance and effectiveness of communication. In addition, the analysis of the customer journey from the customer's perspective makes it easier to identify potential improvements to optimize the entire customer experience. Focusing on key phases enables more efficient use of resources, while emphasizing the post-purchase phase promotes long-term customer loyalty and repeat purchases.
Overall, visualizing the 5 stepsis a crucial step in helping companies to better understand and successfully retain their customers.
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DEVELOPMENT OF A CUSTOMER JOURNEY WITH W4
Regardless of the stage your customers are at, we are here to ensure that every interaction is a positive and meaningful moment. Our comprehensive and proven strategies enable you to understand the entire customer lifecycle and target your customers' needs.
We not only provide clear overviews and identification of touchpoints, but also help to develop personalized messages and marketing campaigns for each stage. By helping you optimize the customer experience and efficiently align your resources through the use of innovative technologies, our customer journeys help drive long-term customer loyalty and repeat purchases.
Let's design your ideal customer journey together and offer your customers a consistently outstanding experience.
