When someone makes a purchase, a process occurs that covers different phases from when that person seeks to cover a need until they finally cover it by purchasing a product or service. This is called Customer Journey.
If you want to know more about this purchasing process, the phases it consists of, how it can help your business and the most important social metrics for the Customer Journey, keep reading.
Customer Journey: definition and functions
The Customer Journey is what we know in Spanish as “customer journey”, and it is the set of phases that a person goes through to become a customer of a product or service. This process may be longer or shorter depending on the product in question. In addition, it can also vary depending on the company that offers it and the market or sector in which it is located.
As we see, the customer journey is a marketing strategy which is used to define the purchasing process of a product or service and recognize the possible needs that a potential customer may have during such process.
In this way, being aware of the stages a customer goes through is very useful for designing a successful purchasing experience that ends up enhancing subsequent loyalty.
Phases of the customer journey
Within the process that a consumer goes through when purchasing, we can distinguish about seven phases. If you know what the sales funnel or conversion funnel is, you will probably see that they are two very related concepts, however, the customer journey is more focused on the customers' point of view.
These are the main stages what a person goes through until they become a final customer:
– Discovery. In this first stage, the customer becomes aware of the existence of a brand and the products or services that the company can offer them. Maybe they can meet some of your needs. The company, for its part, must generate a good impression and give clear information about what it offers to attract the potential client.
– Consideration. In this phase, the client evaluates and compares the different options. To do this, they usually read reviews, look for more information or ask people around them for recommendations, among others. The business at this time must try to demonstrate the value it offers to the customer and highlight its differences from the competition.
– Decision. After the previous stage, the potential client makes the decision to obtain the product or service and in this case considers factors such as price, quality or brand reputation. The company, for its part, must offer a simple and secure purchasing process, offering different payment options and return guarantees.
– Buys. Finally, the person buys the product or service. He becomes a client as such.
– User experience. Although for many the customer journey ends in the previous phase, the reality is that this is not the case. In this fifth stage, the customer already uses the product or service that he has just purchased. The business must be aware of any problem or doubt that may arise for the customer to offer a quality post-purchase service.
– Loyalty. At this moment the customer is already using your product, but if they have received good treatment and attention, their experience has been favorable and the company has given them incentives to encourage their loyalty, it is likely that the customer will become loyal and return to you at another time. make a new purchase. Something that a company can offer is, for example, exclusive discounts for customers.
– Promotion. This is the last stage and if the customer has experienced a pleasant process, he usually recommends the products or services purchased to those close to him, therefore, making the company reach other potential customers.
