Navigating the customer journey with a strategic touch
At different stages of a customer’s journey, they want to digest different types of content to help them make an informed decision about what option to purchase.
So we need to do some customer journey mapping. But why?
Because at different stages of their purchasing decision, they need different content to help push them to where they need to be i.e. working with you or buying your product.
We just need to figure out what that content looks like at each stage.
The customer journey below shows you the different stages, now let’s dig into each of those stages.
P.S. Keep reading to access the full template 😏
📣 Awareness
In the awareness stage, the customer is unaware of their need for your product. And our job is to make them aware of that need.
Your customer is already conducting research of their own so we want to be at the forefront of that research through online content.
We can do this by:
Conversation-provoking content (blogs, long-form text posts, short videos) that’s native to the platform they’re viewing it on (we don’t want to take them off-platform at this stage)
Hosting free online events such as webinars
Success-focused content like case studies
Here’s a great example that Slack posted on LinkedIn
💭 Consideration
Next, we move on to the consideration stage.
At this stage, your potential customer is aware of the problem they have but has multiple solutions to pit against one another.
It’s time to show them your solution is their best option.
Here, the customer is requesting information, scrolling through reviewing & exploring competitors. They may even request a demo of your product.
This is where your website comes into play. They’re bound to land on your site & they want to have all the information easily accessible to them otherwise they’ll move on to another solution.
Basically, your site needs to have clear CTAs.
For example, this landing page from Steep offers everything the customer needs to navigate the pricing & a clear-cut call-to-action for more information or a demo.
We also really want to highlight the benefits of your product, rather than the features.
“Don’t tell me how good you make it; tell me how good it makes me when I use it.” - Leo Burnett
It’s a good idea to have a lead generation tool at this stage too. This allows you to directly feed these potential customers the information they need straight to their inbox.
This example from Superlist uses fun language & the key goals (jobs-to-be-done) of their customers to highlight their benefits.
💰 Convert
Onto converting. The customer is aware of your product but needs to make the final decision about whether it’s right for them.
This is where our 121 communication comes in. They’ll have booked a demo, spoken to someone on your team & be metres away from making a decision.
This is where you want to offer a freemium of some kind so they can explore the product & make sure this is the one for them.
Clear communication between the potential customer & your team is key here. Make them feel important & keep all comms as personal as possible.
😍 Loyalty & advocacy
This part of the customer journey is often forgotten. But it’s one of the most important.
Once your potential customer has become a customer, you want to keep that relationship strong through effective account management.
You also want to keep up with what drew them in in the first place. Content. Don’t let this slip now.
Your content will take a slight pivot here to be education-focused about your product & how your customer can get the most out of it. You can do this through blogs, newsletters & webinars.
The below blog examples from Hotjar do this brilliantly.
The better this stage of the customer journey goes the more likely they are going to leave you a glowing review or recommend your product to a peer which links us back to the start of the customer journey for the next person.
🗺️ Mapping the customer journey
This is such an important part of your overall content strategy.
You want to make sure you’re giving your potential customers the right content at the right time.
To make it even easier for you, we’ve created a content mapping template for you to work on. All you need to do is click here & make a copy of the Miro board to start customising it for your brand. This free template gives you everything you need to successfully map your content to the right stage of the customer journey.
Key takeaways
👉 Customers need different content at different stages of their purchasing decision. And you need to show up in the right place, at the right time.
👉 It’s all about showing the benefit your product can make to their life rather than talking about the features of your product.
👉 Make sure the loyalty & advocacy stages of the journey aren’t forgotten. They’re key.
