We’re all looking for something!
People are on the internet because they are searching for something
1. Entertainment…Make me think, laugh or cry or just escape for awhile.
2. Information… What’s the weather tomorrow or how can I change a tire?
3. Engagement…I want to connect with other humans
4. Solution to a problem…I’m hungry, my roof is leaking, or my shoes are too tight.
Whatever you offer the world, it’s important to understand how people hunt for your thing, how they move through your platform/website and ultimately choose you.
What is a Customer Journey?
In the marketing world, we call this a Customer Journey; the path people take from the time they find you and come into and through your online presence to ultimately taking an action.
The Customer Journey is crucial for a well-rounded marketing system and one of the 8 areas of focus we work with clients.
It’s common to spend lots of time trying to attract visitors, but marketing doesn’t stop once visitors arrive at your website. It is the job of the website to quickly help people determine if you can solve their problem and then guide them to the desired action.
Read more here about our 8 areas of focus
When you think about what you are trying to achieve, there are three easy metrics we love from the experts at qualtrics.com for how to think about for the person who hits your website:
Success – did the customer complete their task and achieve their goal?
Effort – was the process smooth and easy?
Emotion – did they come away from the interaction feeling good?
How to Improve Your Customer Journey
For those of you in the service industry, you are offering solutions to problems. Here are five ways for service providers to improve their customer journey.
1) Have a strong first impression
2) Use messaging that specifically targets your ideal market. Remember your website is about them and not you. Visitors need to answer these questions from the top of the page:
- What is it?
- Who is it for?
- What’s in it for me?
3) Up-to-date design
- Is your site up to date?
- Does it load quickly?
- How is the mobile experience?
4) Clear navigation
- Is your content easy to find?
- Is your intake process clear and easy to find?
- Register, calendar, call buttons, forms to fill out?
5) Call people to action
Does every page have a strong call to action (including blogs? Do you want them to download, register, schedule or something else entirely?)
Take some time and plot the way you imagine someone moving through your site and then do the work to fix the gaps.
Could Your Customer Journey Use a Little Work?
If your website isn’t creating conversions, then it’s not doing its job. The why’s behind this can vary, but, more times than not, if you’re not getting the results you expect, you’re probably losing potential customers somewhere along the customer journey. If you need a little help figuring out where things are going wrong, we want to help! Schedule a chat with me today to learn more about the customer journey and how to optimize yours.
