EPISODE 33 – THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY

by | Sep 12, 2019 | Podcast, Sales Conversations, Social Media Conversations | 0 comments

 

Today’s episode is brought to you by my new downable Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Facebook Ads.  This is a workbook full of exercises, tips and tricks on how to get your first Facebook ad hitting the goal you need it too.  To download it now, go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/ads – Facebook Ads will change your business forever if you get them right!

Today’s topic on the Podcast is something I talk about a lot but have never dedicated a podcast episode to. The Customer Journey.

Every customer or client you have is on a journey with you or to you.  They begin as someone who has never heard of you to, hopefully, a raving fan who purchases from you over and over again.

This is what marketing is all about.  Getting your customers to go on that journey.  To be giving enough value, enough business love for them to want to do business with you one day.

One of my favourite sayings, and I do not know where I picked it up from, is being do business with people who align with their values – so making sure people know your business values is an integral part of the client or customer completing that journey.

Although, a side note, you hope they never complete the journey, you hope that they just keep ascending through your business model, buying what you sell, becoming an advocate and your biggest fan!

Before I share with you a couple of examples of how your customer might take a journey with you, let’s do the discovery of the week.

THIS WEEK’S DISCOVERY!

Gifs or jifs – whatever you’d like to call them – you have to call them cool!  I love a good gif and I love to share a good gif on my socials – to make my point!!

So, this week’s discovery is where gifs come from – https://giphy.com/ – here you can find all the gifs you’d ever want as well as make your own.

Use them in your emails, your social accounts, your website – wherever you’d like to see them.

If you’ve ever wondered where they all come from – well here’s the place!  Maybe you could give making your own a go!?!?

As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am.  I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too!

Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you’d like to share, please do so.  Email me at jenn@jenndonovan.com.au or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple.  I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler!

THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY

Here’s an example of how someone might come into your world – what their journey might look like.  I want you to be very aware of how many touch points and steps there are in this one example – I’ll talk a little more about that in a sec.

  1. They like a social post shared/liked by a friend or sponsored.
  2. They come and like your business page
  3. Get invited into your “closed” Facebook group
  4. Interact with your community, absorbing quality content for free from you and your community members.
  5. They take up an offer to download a lead magnet which solves a current problem they are having
  6. Take up offer on the Thank You page (of the offer) to follow along on Instagram or Join you on LinkedIn
  7. Receive an email with the opted-in lead magnet attached (note this is possibly the most opened email you will ever send)
  8. Then they start receiving a series of 3 or 4 other nurture emails over the coming days/weeks talking about the lead magnet and deepening the relationship.
  9. One of the nurture emails before asks if they want to join your weekly Newsletter – which they do (so now you start weekly communication)
  10. Another nurture email offers them the opportunity to undertake a small mini training via a series of 3 or 4 short videos
  11. The final video in that series, invites you to attend a live seminar or event you are hosting or are affiliated with.  They are offered a free GUEST pass, an offer they decide to take up.
  12. They attend the live event, connect in person. (so now have a connection with this person online,              offline and human to human).  At the end of the event, they are offered an opportunity to buy a          low-level training program or series or something that requires the exchange of money, such as a               membership etc.

Now they are a paying client and have gone from being just a fan on social to be on your list and buying from you – which, is EXACTLY the point of being on social media in the first place!

So, you see that there’s a possibility of 12 touch points before any money has exchanged hands.  Recent statistics tell us in 2019 that’s almost the minimum amount of touch points you need to get someone to go from cold traffic (no idea who you are) to a paying customer.

Granted it maybe less and it maybe enormously more.  I’ve been thinking about buying my next car for about 4 years now – I’ve had lots of touch points – but haven’t bought yet!  But I can tell you the day I go into test drive that car will be the day I buy it!!!

I digress …

There’s 8 steps in what I can see as the value-add customer journey.  All of these 8 steps belong in all businesses – none of them are ever skipped, but some come quicker than others and some might even come together.

The 8 steps are

  1. Awareness – maybe trade fairs, SEO, PPC, Social Ads, referrals etc
  2. Engagement – Blogs, videos, podcasts, retargeting, email newsletter etc
  3. Subscription – a gated community – so downloaded a report or signed up for a webinar
  4. Conversion – purchase of a lost leader or attending the actual webinar
  5. Excitement – that Ah-Ha moment when they realise you’re just the person to solve their challenge, problem
  6. Ascension – The take up a core offer (or the offer they found you for) and they upsell, upsell, upsell (over time) and maybe expand the purchases they make – e.g./ they came to you for Accounting services but now take up your Investment services …
  7. Advocate – they become a supporter, give you testimonials, share your content with their audience, give Facebook/google reviews, and lastly
  8. Promotion – they become an affiliate partner to your business, or a referral partner, a value add and/or a resell etc

So, what’s the point of today’s episode – for me the point is simple – you know that great post you put on social media today or that great blog you wrote this week or that fabulous newsletter you sent out last fortnight – these things aren’t single use items – REPUPOSE, REPURPOSE, REPURPOSE!

If you struggle to create new content continuously, then you are not “touching” your audience as many times as you need to, to take them on their journey. 

Therefore, again, REPURPOSE, REPURPOSE, REPURPOSE!

Of course, if you need some inspiration for content on social media and you haven’t downloaded my 108 Social Media Content Creation Ideas eBook (like 1000’s of others have), when go to www.108social.com.au and get it there.  108 ideas is like content for the rest of the year and then some!

So, what are the touch points you have with your clients/customers?  Where do they first connect with you (hopefully there’s loads of places) and where does that journey take them?  Is there enough touch points out there for you to convert your fans?

And, just one final point, not all these touch points can be online (well they can be, but they shouldn’t be, and they definitely shouldn’t be all on social media platforms that you don’t own).

Do you have a bricks & mortar store?  How do you capture the details of people coming and going from there?

Do you have a website?  How many CTAs do you have?  (Calls to action) Do you have Google Analytics set up and the Facebook Pixel for tracking and retargeting?

How often do you get in front of your prospects personally, either through speaking or networking or attending events (or being on your shop floor)?

I could go on and on, but hopefully you see my point.

Think about your customer journey.  In the Show Notes there’s a worksheet – the Client value Journey worksheet.  Go there and check it out.   You can print it straight from the Show Notes if you want.

Got questions?  I’ve got answers! Let’s continue this conversation in my Facebook Group – Like Minded Business Owners. Not joined yet.  Well welcome … let’s do that!

I’ll be back next Thursday with some more marketing know-how and another discovery of course. 

If you’re enjoying this podcast, don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this with a friend.  And maybe leave me a rating and a review wherever you listen in.  Those things are like gold for podcasters like me!  PS – you can leave more than one rating and review – just saying!

But that is all for Episode 33. I’d love to connect with you all on social – so let’s get social on social – I’m on all the platforms, so let’s do that!

…….. and remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!

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Brilliant – it’s on its way – thanks!

 

Brilliant – it’s on its way – thanks!

 

Brilliant – it’s on its way – thanks!

 

Brilliant – it’s on its way – thanks!

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