Walk in Your Customer’s Shoes Before You Start Selling
How often do you think about what your customer wants? What are their needs? And what do they expect from you? If the answer is anything other than, “All the time”, then it’s time that you take a walk in your customer’s shoes. The thought behind using this phrase in the marketing community is to take into consideration your customer’s thoughts. In short, all you have to do is put yourself in their position and then go ahead with your plans.
When we talk about how to build a successful influencer marketing strategy or how to strategize your marketing to make great profits, we focus majorly on setting the goals, having a big budget, hiring the best marketing agencies, etc. That’s great! You should do all of that. But before all the shenanigans begin, take a deep look inside the minds of your customers. To understand that better, the first step is customer journey mapping.
What is customer journey mapping?
It is important for both brands and influencers to understand their customer to create better content in 2021. A customer journey is about understanding the experiences of your customers. This may include how they discover your brand, how they reach your website, how they navigate your website, and everything else about their journey with your brand.
What is the purpose of customer journey mapping?
In simple terms, the answer to this question is to stay relevant. For instance, if you look up at some stats or even just look around, you will see a rise in video content consumption today. If you do a customer journey mapping for your audience you can decide if you want to integrate video content in your marketing strategy. Brands create customer journey mapping to understand the behavior of their customers and to enhance their experience with them. It helps in optimizing the website, improving the services, and also to strategize your brand campaigns.
What are the stages of the customer journey?
- Awareness
This is the first step in the customer journey where they are introduced to your product or they have discovered your product for the first time. There are many ways that a customer can become aware of your brand. And one of the most prominent ways these days is social media or the internet in general. Creating brand awareness is one of the key strategies of influencer marketing. Hence, people find your product on social media through various sources like influencers, paid ads, sponsored posts, etc. Another way that customers find your product is through recommendations from your old customers.
This is the first stage of the customer journey and as a brand, you can control this. You have an opportunity to create brand awareness and strategically introduce your target audience to your brand.
- Consideration
In the second stage of the customer journey, they are trying to figure out if they should buy your product or not. In this stage, your target audience who has recently gained knowledge of your brand will start to know more about you. They could visit your website, check your social media, browse through your products, etc. Your target audience is evaluating their choices and their purchasing decisions towards your brand. You can make your customers choose you and in fact increase your sales with micro-influencers at this stage.
Wants and needs are two major reasons why your audience is considering purchasing your product. Apart from these two driving forces, your target audience considers buying your product based on the quality, prices, and reviews of your products. Speaking of reviews, do not forget that customers trust influencer’s reviews. Hence, utilize them best.
- Purchase
As self-explanatory as it sounds, it cannot be more obvious. After going through multiple options, reviews, comparisons, your target audience has now finally become your customer as they purchase the product. Congratulations! You have a new customer. But this is not it. This is not the last stage of your customer journey, nor is it when your customer has received the product. It goes beyond that.
- Retention
This stage involves post-purchase shenanigans. When you have gained a new customer you want them to stay with you, right? This stage is all about that. Basically now is the time to test if you were successful to build brand loyalty. You try to retain your customer by connecting with them through emails, social media, contact numbers, etc. This stage is all about acknowledging your customer. You have to find out how their experience was with your product. You can do that by asking them to review your product. If it’s good, then wonderful! You not only have the possibility to retain a customer but their review will also help you bring new customers on board.
But what if they did not have a good experience with you? In that case, you must try to resolve their issue through customer service. Understand their problem and provide a definite solution for the same. Good customer service plays a huge role in retaining customers.
- Advocacy
How amazing would it be if your existing customers can bring new customers to your brand! Well, that is what this stage is all about. In the last stage of the customer journey, your existing customers become your advocates because they loved your brand so much. You can also create a UGC campaign for your brand at this stage.
If your customers had a good experience with you, they are bound to recommend you to their peer groups or even on their social media channels. When they do it on social media, they are generating UGC for you. To make this happen you must remember that your product or service delivers what it promises. And then you are bound to gain loyal customers.
Understanding what a customer goes through when they are interacting with your brand is one way to walk in your customer’s shoes. When you understand their journey, you can contribute to make it better and enhance it at every stage. You can take it up a notch by knowing what you should avoid to not hamper your customer journey.
Here are 3 things that you must avoid that can impact your customer’s journey.
- Failed checkout
Declined payments can cost you a customer. No matter how much they love your product or are in dire need of it, if the payment cannot go through then you lose a customer and they are on finding other options. There are many reasons that can cause payment failures. You have to try to minimize as much as possible. In addition to that, you have to also ensure that you provide multiple payment methods to your customers. Most people today prepare mobile payments because they are quicker. Now, there are various options there as well. Some might also prefer debit or credit cards. Ensure that you provide every possible option to your customers.
- Slow loading
A lot of brands fail to acknowledge the importance of their websites. Having a website is not just about credibility. It is about providing a good experience to your customers. And believe us, slow loading time is a big no-no. You have to also ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. Little things like these make sure that you cater to all needs of your customers.
- Bad UX
Bad UX can discourage your customers from purchasing and it’s high that brands start understanding this. If your customer finds difficulty in understanding your website, or if it is not responsive, it accounts for bad UX. This can easily cause your customers to frustrate and leave the website or app. Avoid it at all costs.
When we speak of walking into your customer’s shoes, we speak of understanding your customer from every perspective possible. And influencers have been massively successful in doing so. Hence, this is one of the many reasons why you should start influencer marketing as soon as possible. And to find the right influencers, you can always use WORD Marketplace. It is an influencer marketing platform that is designed for brands to meet their best influencer matches.
Make it a habit to walk in your customer’s shoes. It will help you go a long way.