Customer Journey: What is it? What are the steps and how to structure?

From the moment a person discovers a brand, to the moment they decide to consume that brand's product or service, there are many steps involved. This process of knowledge and connection between individual and brand is known as the customer journey.

From a business perspective, understanding the path that a person takes until they become a consumer of their products is fundamental. This is because this knowledge provides more elements and opportunities to create an attraction strategy for this customer and, more than that, to generate their loyalty.

Unless a product is essential, a person doesn't suddenly decide to buy something. Much less do you become loyal to a brand like that, just by finding the name pretty or something. These decisions are built little by little, gradually, and involve building the customer journey.

What is the customer journey?

The customer journey is the path that the consumer takes during their relationship with a company. It is the connection between a real person and a real brand, from the moment they realize that they need a product or service that this company offers, to the after-sale period, when they have the opportunity to comment on whether or not they were satisfied with the purchase made.

Therefore, what marketing does is to build a narrative that aims to understand the needs, doubts and pain of the public at each stage of the journey, presenting the brand itself as a solution to a demand that, often, the consumer does not even know they have.

With the customer journey, it is possible to define a specific strategy for each audience, capable of attracting, educating and transforming potential customers into consumers engaged with your brand. That's because it's not just the attributes of a product that will define whether an audience will buy from a particular company or brand.

This journey also allows companies to invest in the consumer experience who, by the way, no longer just want solutions, also seeking to find identification in what they consume and research. That's why it's important to make him feel that, from the moment the need arose to using the product, everything was a true journey. Companies have the role of making this path taken through communication as pleasant as possible for the consumer.

What are the stages of the customer journey?

If you search in more than one place, you're sure to find more than one model that defines the customer journey. This is because there is flexibility in the stages and needs of each company in relation to the journey being built.

In general, the most common customer journey model is divided into five stages:

• Learning and discovery: initial stage in which the customer has the first contact with a brand and understands what the product or solution it offers is.
  
  
• Recognition of the problem: the customer perceives a need or a problem that may harm them in some way and that needs to be solved.

• Consideration of the solution: stage in which the customer begins to do various researches and consider different options to solve their problem. It is at this crucial moment when he explores different products, services, and companies.

• Purchase decision: in this phase, the customer decides which solution is the most suitable for their needs. It can compare prices, features, benefits, brand positioning, or even testimonials from other customers.

• Loyalty: if the customer has a positive experience, they can become loyal to the brand and the product, repeating the purchase and recommending it to others.

You'll see more about each of these steps in the next few topics in this article.

How to structure the customer journey?

Before exploring each stage, it's necessary to understand how to build a good customer journey. This should be the first step in a continuous process of improving a brand that wishes to reach a larger audience, through strategic content planning, positioning, and attractive offer.

To structure the customer journey, it is necessary to complete some important steps, such as carrying out market research, seeking to collect data and samples that help understand who the target audience is; defining the personas, creating profiles that fit the characteristics of those people; outlining the brand's objectives related to that audience, creating content planning, and other fundamental steps.

How to map your customer journey?

Speaking in more detail about how to define this journey, you need to respect some important criteria that may influence your next steps:

• Mapping of contact points: it's important that you list all the channels where your customers interact with your brand, whether at the first contact or even after the purchase. This may include site visits, social media interactions, customer service requests, marketing emails, and more.
  
  
• Description of the client's activities and emotions at each stage: for each stage of the journey, it is important to describe the activities that your client performs, as well as the emotions they may feel. This will help you understand the main pain of your audience and the various opportunities for improvement.
  
  
• Identification of critical points: with the understanding above, you will be able to highlight the critical points in your customer's journey, that is, moments in which their experience can be especially impactful.
  
  
• Journey update: with everything already planned, now it only remains to update your journey as necessary. The customer journey isn't fixed, meaning it can change over time. Continue to collect customer feedback, monitor performance metrics, and update your touchpoint map to ensure your brand remains relevant.

Check out each stage of the customer journey below to apply to your business from now on.

Learning and discovery

At this stage, your brand is unknown to your audience - which isn't yours yet. The name is given precisely for the purpose of making this audience discover your brand, your product, your solution, and to know that you exist in the market and are available to meet a need. Which brings us to the next topic.

‍Recognition of the problem

To make the consumer recognize a problem is to present an existing pain that they may not even know exists. Every person has pain that bothers them and that they want to find a solution. It doesn't matter what niche you work in, but what you know how to identify these pains.

Consideration of the solution

By defining your audience's pain, the next step is to show how your brand can solve the identified problems. This is where you will use sales pitches, presenting the attributes of your brand and the solutions it offers, with the objective of convincing the consumer - who is already aware of your brand and has already recognized that they have a problem - to the next stage of the customer journey.

Purchase decision

As its name suggests, this is the moment when the conviction takes place. The purchase decision is a consequence of the previous steps, and that is why it is so important that you follow the journey carefully and carefully so that you have good results. If your brand invested correctly at each previous stage of the journey, your purchase decision stage will generate an audience satisfied with your product or solution.

‍Loyalty

Finally, the last - but not least important - step is the loyalty stage. Also known as after-sales, this is where you will ensure that the customer who bought your product will return more often. There are several ways to invest in this phase, the most well-known of which are the after-sales channels and the constant relationship with each customer.

What is the relationship between the customer journey and the sales funnel?

While the two terms are closely related, the customer journey and the sales funnel have some minor differences. Respectively, while the first is a broader representation of customer experiences with respect to a brand, the second presents that customer's buying process in a more specific way, focusing on converting leads into payers.

Have you invested in your customer's journey? Have you ever heard about this topic? Comment!

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