When we speak about customer journey, our understanding in retail is the moment when a customer set a foot in our store and what he has experienced inside it. In reality the picture is away bigger than that. The customer journey starts before the store visit and will continue afterwards.
Let’s look at the key five steps of this journey:
Awareness:
This is the step when you work hardly with your marketing team to get your products and brand known by the maximum potential clients in your targeted market. Based on what you are selling, who you are aiming to sell it to and how you will be selling it, your marketing execution will be aligned to your budget and drives the top of mind for your brand. The marketing team will use some of the known marketing supports like TV ads, billboards, online digital platforms, email and text marketing. The brands lately rely on new ways to get the product known. Influencer marketing is getting some of the most known digital influencers holder of your target audience talk about your products and services or performing demonstrations and experiences to their followers.
Findability:
Knowing your product existence isn’t enough to get you sales. You must work on making it easy for your clients to find you and find near. First, you have to make sure that you are easy to find on internet by either working on your SEO and ranking your online store, performing paid ads that will rank you up on google search by specific keywords related to your products. Second, you need to make sure that your physical address is available for your clients by adding your store location to the maps and adding the map location of your products reseller (Find the nearest reseller option). You should as well integrate your brand to the business directory under the brand category.
Reputation:
It has become easy for clients to spot any product’s reputation prior to purchase. I am pretty sure you are all familiar with the fact that some clients will post in a large groups a picture of a product and seeking customers feedback before buying it. Now your reputation in the market is a key, either it’s a service or a product, your customers will not shy to tell the truth and either get you more sells or kill your reputation in the market. You should work on making sure that your customers are all served and follow with them after they purchased. It will help you fix any open disagreement and understand your weakest business area that needs to be improved. Your future customers will then reply on reviews, social media feedbacks, blogs and articles to either Go or No go for your product and service. Make sure that your digital team is 24h/7 present in most of those social platform to respond to any negative comment and to convert unhappy customers. A Review for a new customer will be like a court room when they will monitor past client’s feedback and your reaction to any of them. They will monitor how you are dealing with your customers and which level of appreciation you have for them. For example, one of your past client complain about the delay in receiving the product, your digital team will apologize to them, mentioning that this happens rarely and that you are fixing it by offering them a discount or a gift voucher will first turn this unhappy customer to a satisfied one and at the same time, it will broadcast to future clients that they are in safe hands in case of any future issue.
Conversion:
The conversion is the phase were you turn potential clients into sales. They are many elements to consider at this phase:
The first is the experience, online or physical store, the way your product is presented will get your clients to be more interested by your product. Either through a good online layout for the online shop or an attractive merchandising and store layout for physical stores.
The second element which is related to the experience in store is your sales staff. The sales journey in-store should be well mastered by your team and by applying the standard customers journey in store. From the connect phase with your clients, passing by the discovery of your clients’ needs through questions and performing an outstanding demonstration experience. Those are the keys to close a deal inside the shop.
Advocacy:
This is the moment of truth for your products and brands. It’s the moment your clients will write a review about your product value for money vs their expectations. They will not hesitate to either recommend you or discourage to move forward. Unhappy customers will talk to many and their word of mouth can be either a good driver for sales and returned clients or a handicap for your brand’s growth. Please take it very seriously!!
(Global Retail TV Director)