Why a Healthy Customer Journey is a Team Sport

The first webinar in our five-part series, "The Collaborative Journey: Why a Healthy Customer Journey is a Team Sport," featured a panel of industry experts who discussed the intricacies of managing and optimizing eCommerce customer journeys across multiple touchpoints. The live webinar took place on August 22, 2024, but you can watch it in its entirety here:

The panel included leaders from Finch, creative gurus Flocksy, a CRO expert from Fireside Digital, and an online ratings and reviews specialist Shopper Approved.

The group discussed how to pull all of the pieces of the customer journey together across their various disciplines to achieve one goal: a high-performing, low friction customer journey. But first, we should define the customer journey a bit.

Customer Journey Stages

Traditionally, there are five main stages of the customer journey: awareness, consideration, purchase, retention, and loyalty. This is the ideal, but we know the customer journey can be more of a rollercoaster than a direct path.

Each stage represents a crucial touchpoint where potential customers interact with a brand. Managing these interactions effectively is key to conversion and long-term customer satisfaction.

Customer Journey Stages:

• Awareness: There are people out there looking for the stuff you sell. You have to make them aware of your existence before you can sell to them.
• Consideration: A certain portion of your Awareness audience starts to show signs they are shopping. You have to remind them you have the goods.
• Purchase: This is where the money is made. You win the conversion and the cash register rings.
• Retention: Getting converters to come back and convert again is how you grow CLTV. That's the good stuff.
• Loyalty: Make repeat purchasers into enthusiasts with loyalty and referral programs.

The specifics tactics you take within those stages are called touchpoints - critical spots on the customer journey where you can increase velocity with thoughtful campaigns designed to nudge folks to the next stage of the journey. These touchpoints will need to be tested and tweaked and can be very different for every brand.

Success requires more than just a focus on sales - it demands a coordinated approach that involves marketing, customer service, and product teams working in harmony. When this works well and each department is interconnected, a brand's success is supported by the entire customer journey, not just the conversion point.

George Ryan, from Flocksy, stresses the importance of consistency across all touchpoints in the customer journey. Every interaction a customer has with a brand, from initial marketing to post-purchase support, should align with the brand’s promises.

"Internal departments must work closely to ensure the experience a customer expects from marketing materials echoes experience they receive during the actual service or product delivery. Using consistent creative teams for both internal and external content creation helps maintain this alignment."
- George Ryan

A Data-driven Approach to Optimizing the Customer Journey

So, how do you know that your customer journey is working - or more importantly - that it's not? Drew Himel, the CEO of Fireside Digital, encourages marketers to focus on conversion rate optimization (CRO) through the stages of the journey. 

While the purchase phase is often seen as the key moment, it’s vital to pay attention to the entire journey and measure it properly for continued success. Things rarely stay the same in the digital marketing space for long.

Customers may not convert on their first visit, so capturing leads and nurturing them through email marketing and retargeting campaigns is crucial.

"Optimizing the customer journey involves understanding every touchpoint and using data to improve engagement and conversions across the board."
- Drew Himel

A live poll asked attendees "Which stage of the customer journey does your brand focuses on the most?" The results were surprising:

Instead of the anticipated focus on the purchase phase (the one that rings the cash register), a significant majority of respondents prioritized retention.

With customer acquisition costs climbing, it seems the focus is increasingly on keeping customers loyal and maximizing their lifetime value. This is good news for brands that focus on the customer journey.

Retention and loyalty are increasingly important as customer acquisition costs rise. Keeping customers and turning them into brand advocates is not only more cost-effective but also crucial for long-term success.

The Role of Creative Content in the Customer Journey

As social media platforms have become the go-to place for consumers to learn about brands, creative content here is crucial. It’s not enough to simply advertise, instead brands must craft messaging and visuals that resonate with their audience on a more personal level. Authenticity and relatability are key.

Sarah Fitzgerald from Flocksy noted that social media is evolving into more than just a marketing tool - it’s now also used as a search engine where consumers seek out trustworthy brands.

"Creating content that feels genuine and fosters trust is essential for winning over customers and keeping them engaged."
- Sarah Fitzgerald

Reviews Build Social Proof and Trust Throughout the Customer Journey

Ratings and reviews are powerful tools that can influence a customer’s decision at various stages of their journey. Scott Brandley from Shopper Approved stressed that ratings and reviews should be prominently displayed across all customer touchpoints, from search engine results to product pages. This social proof builds trust and can help move customers further along the journey.

Ratings, reviews, and social proof are not just "nice-to-have's" anymore. They are table stakes for brands to not get weeded out before they have a chance. Not only that, but the input you get from reviews should inform your business. A recurring complaint about a product should spur action from the product team to fix the issue. The Marketing team can then advertise that their product is better than competitors. A targeted campaign can be spun up to get the word out. You get the idea. 

The Power of Collaboration in the Customer Journey

Managing a successful customer journey is not the responsibility of one department, but requires a cohesive effort from all areas of a business. Marketing teams, customer service, sales, and creative departments must all work together to ensure that every stage of the journey is optimized and consistent.

Want to dive deeper into the topics we covered? Visit our LinkedIn post to explore the Q&A and connect with our panelists directly. You can learn more about the upcoming session here. 

Explore the Rest of the Series