OPINION: Keeping up with a changing customer journey

How easy was life when you knew exactly what process your customers would go through before they bought your brand?

You made a big noise in market, told a compelling story that addressed all the barriers and played to a human truth. Your target consumer then weighed you up against the competition, read a few comparative reviews in magazines, asked some friends, went around a few stores, listened to a couple of sales reps and then made their decision. They bought your product. They went home and everyone was happy, and if they weren’t, who was to know? There was always another customer.

The good old sales funnel.

But those days are gone. We have moved from selling and we are well and truly in the era of buying. The customer is in control and marketers have to rethink their strategies to take on the complex multi-faceted revolving sales spiral that we now have to circumnavigate. Here, your brand’s story and reputation are critical as is the value it presents to the end consumer.

There is an old Chinese saying (there always is) but this one I really like - When a storm comes, some build walls, but others build windmills.

The world has changed, the customer is in control and companies have to understand that they too need to change. That is, change the way they go to market and the value they offer if they are to stand out from the competition.

They need to innovate. Look at the structure of their offering, look at the way they take it to market and very importantly, look at the interactive experience the consumer gets during consideration, sale and post-sale. Why is this so important? Because today’s consumer has a loud and powerful voice and we are conducting business in an interlinked economy

Social networks are now the number one internet activity (they’re bigger than porn). Brands are now openly discussed in social conversations and natural search features brand names. Fantastic news! Free publicity! But there is also the ugly side. Brand problems can rank more highly than positive brand messages. Why? Because of the consumer movement, the ability to share a single experience with the crowd.

Hence my comment on value. And in the complex customer journey, the more value offered through product experience, the better the reputation, the better the journey and the more likely the brand will foster an advocate.

How can we build value in this remote world? Keeping in mind that value is subjective, so we have to offer multifaceted value.

Consider the following...

Pre-purchase. Review your brand’s service promise and look at how you are going to get this message across, Virgin is a great example. They’re totally up front about the service you can expect when travelling with them, which has been so successful it’s now being copied by many other budget airlines.

Review sites. Consumers will source the crowd and will use online tools to compare their consideration set. This is a given in the car market but it doesn’t have to be owned by them. If you know your competitor set, you can create your own review site.

Key influencers and experts are everywhere. Do you have a key influencer strategy? I think Johnnie Walker with their ambassador programme do this very well. As did Philips with Lady Shave in Japan.

Video content. Are you offering content on an ongoing basis? Do you have a conversation calendar? Look at Toyota and the mini-series it created on 4WDriving. Amazing.

Brand experience offerings online and offline in the last few feet or minutes of the sale. Take advantage of the ability to interplay. I recently read about Dixons in the UK, an electrical retailer that have looked to create audio tours in-store, to help their customers circumnavigate the overwhelming choice on offer.

Purchase. Retail vs. e-store. It’s no longer one or the other. You have to do both. Some create separate pricing policies, while others push the convenience factor. E-stores won’t divert sales away from your retail outlet, they will provide incremental sales from segments you would never have previously been able to service. They will also vastly cut your call centre costs.

And finally, post purchase. Make me feel good. Everyone wants to know they have made the right choice, especially if they have gone through an extensive journey. Brands that have instantly acknowledged customer purchase see an almost immediate related activity in social networks. Monitor this and you start to cultivate your advocates and the potential of your new brand community, your newly satisfied customer’s community.

It’s a complex customer journey, brands have to work harder to earn their customers and even harder to keep their customers. Behaviour changes as new technologies come into play. Today’s customer journey is dynamic and truly exciting. It challenges us as communication experts to be innovative in the assistance we provide the consumer on their path to purchase. It’s a time of real opportunity and businesses have to change to realise this opportunity.

I will leave you with this thought. If your business model in three years time is the same as it is today, will you still be in business?