Customer Journeys 101: What are Customer Journeys & How Can My Business Use Them to Convert More Customers?

Posted by ImageWorks Creative Team June 26, 2018

Customer journeys (also known as customer journey maps) are an incredible tool for online marketers. They give the prospect the exact information they need to lead them down the sales pipelines, when they need it. It’s often an automated process, so you can deliver targeted materials with a push of a button!

Here’s how journeys work:

Let’s say you want to encourage new newsletter sign-ups to buy your product. So you decide to send an email with a special discount code as soon as they sign-up. Depending on whether or not they buy your product, you can decide to send something else to nudge them to buy-maybe a better discount or a product picked just for them. Once they buy, you send them a thank you note and an encouragement to refer your business to their friends.

See how we send emails to the client based on where they are in the buying process? You can create a streamlined process to do this for all of your clients. You can even automate it using journey creation software like Autopilot.

Today we’ll discuss the main types of customer journeys and what kinds of materials help to convert the prospect at each stage of the process. We are sure that implementing these targeted techniques will help you convert more customers.

Lead In Journey

A lead in journey begins when a prospect performs an introductory action, be it filling out a contact form or signing up for your monthly newsletter. This is the first action they’ve made, and you want to make a good impression! It’s a good idea to send a welcome email further introducing them to your company, along with a welcome offer or links to some learning resources. What kind of materials you send depends on your type of business—send content you know your clients truly value. Know that during this stage of the sales pipeline, your email click through rates will be much higher than the other stages—make your emails count!

Nurture Journey

A nurture journey is meant for people stuck between stages of your sales pipeline so you can nudge them in the right direction. Reintroduce your company in a way that reminds them why they showed interest in the first place. Offer limited time specials to motivate them to buy or share articles that demonstrate how you can help them.

Customer Retention Journey

This journey is all about keeping the customers you’ve got! Customers who have already made a purchase are much easier to convert again than first-timers. You know of stores with customer loyalty programs—this is the same thing. Find something your customers value and offer it to them to keep them interested. This can be anything from coupons to referral codes to exclusive items picked just for them. Treat them well and give them deals you don’t give anyone else.

Onboarding Journey

The Onboarding journey begins when a client first makes a purchase or signs up for a free trial (or even the real thing!) It’s like the lead in journey, but the main difference is that it occurs after a “big step” is made in the sales pipeline, rather than an introductory step. We recommend that you send a Welcome or Congratulations email, detailing and providing information for that next big step.

Survey/Feedback Journey

This journey normally takes place after the customer has made a purchase. It’s a gentle request, asking for positive feedback and/or a referral. Offer discounts in exchange for a review, or special referral deals for the referrer and their friend! It’s a great way to help keep your customers happy and gain new ones.

Customer journeys are a great way to get tailored content to your prospects at the right time.

We’d like to thank Autopilot, our customer journey platform for helping us really dig into the awesomeness of customer journeys. They opened our eyes to a whole new world of marketing possibilities. Thanks, Autopilot HQ!

Could any of these journey types help your marketing strategy? We can discuss setting up an automated journey for your business. Call us at (703) 454-8903 or fill out our quick contact form today!

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