Customer journey as the basis for communication and sales process

How many customer touchpoints do you have before they make a purchase? According to Dr. Jeffrey Lant, the ‘Rule of 7’ states that you need at least seven contacts within 18 months before a purchase follows. This claim seems completely unfounded and far-fetched but of course contains a kernel of truth. Especially in B2B, many contact moments are more the rule than the exception. The customer journey naturally differs per product, company, customer group, and industry.

We prefer to think in terms of customer journeys rather than contact moments. It’s about the circular path the customer takes from introduction to purchase and not to forget aftercare and evaluation. In this article, we delve deeper into that customer journey. We discuss the definition and meaning, provide examples, explain models, and gladly tell you how to actually implement the customer journey in your organization.

Customer Journey Example from Hell

Imagine you’re standing in Albert Heijn in front of the dairy fridge choosing a pack of yogurt. After a minute and a half, you decide: full-fat yogurt from the store brand. You walk to the checkout and pay.

The next morning you walk into a Starbucks for a coffee and who comes out from behind the counter? A salesperson from Albert Heijn: “Would you like to buy this pack of full-fat yogurt?” Surprised, you say you already have a pack of full-fat yogurt. The salesperson says: “Okay” and walks away. Half an hour later you’re in Hema for some household items, and the same Albert Heijn salesperson suddenly approaches you again, pushy: “Would you like to buy this pack of yogurt!?”.

In such a situation, you really start to wonder if they all have their heads screwed on straight, don’t you?

Sounds pretty bizarre, right? Yet this is exactly the customer journey we experience online far too often.

If your vacuum cleaner breaks, you read some reviews online and check different providers until after an hour of research you make the decision and order a vacuum cleaner. The next day it’s delivered, exactly what you wanted. But in the days and weeks after, all three providers chase you, including the one you actually bought the vacuum cleaner from! You can’t read an article on nu.nl without getting bombarded with 5 vacuum cleaner ads, it’s maddening!

How does this affect your buying experience and perception of these brands?

Customer Journey as the Intersection of Marketing and Sales

Even in a B2B environment, this phenomenon is common. All contacts are lumped together in one file and receive the same mailings and invitations. Even the long-time customers! The prospect you met for the first time two months ago at a trade show gets the same message as the customer who has been buying your product for 10 years. What’s going wrong here?

• The prospect is at a very different stage in their customer journey than the existing customer. They are still exploring and don’t really know how they will make their choice. They would appreciate a demo, whitepaper, or presentation.
• The long-time customer already knows all the ins and outs of your product, they could even teach your engineers something! They benefit more from new tips and tricks from other customers or an invitation to a customer day.

Your communication does not sufficiently align with the stage of the customer journey each customer is in. The big risk is that this will cause them to drop out or look for another supplier who does have this sorted. You prevent this by mapping your company’s customer journey and aligning all communication accordingly. For that, we start at the beginning.

Customer Journey Definition and Meaning

The definition of customer journey to start with:

The customer journey is the collection of phases a customer goes through in their interaction with a company.

A customer journey thus represents all contact a customer has with your company. This quickly becomes a complex model affecting all departments of the organization. In the past, and this still applies to many companies, the customer journey reflected the structure of the selling company:

1. Marketing
   The first contact with a company at, for example, an event or webinar and the subsequent mailings and possible contact
2. Sales
   The relationship becomes more serious, the potential customer considers a purchase
3. Production
   Delivery, installation, or realization of the purchase
4. Customer Service
   Aftercare and help with using the product
5. Relationship Management
   Keeping the built customer relationship ‘warm’, possibly leading into a new Marketing & Sales cycle

But is this also how the customer thinks about their contact with your company?

Probably not, and that is the challenge. It often goes wrong, as in our earlier example, at the transition between different phases. Sales can do their job well, but if it doesn’t align with marketing efforts, you’re 1-0 behind. The customer journey therefore works from the customer’s perspective: how do they make their choices? By responding to this, you increase the return on the efforts of the different departments. Simply put: you sell more.

But what does your customer journey look like? There are various models you can use as a basis.

Customer Journey Model: Make Your Choice

In fact, every customer journey is unique. One person researches online for weeks before making contact, another calls immediately. Your customer journey must cover both. You map the different phases your target group goes through and then determine what is needed during each phase. You probably already have a good idea about this.

But to arrive at a complete customer journey, it is probably useful to work based on an existing model. This way, you ensure you don’t skip phases and every department always knows what is expected of them. There are many models; we mention four here. Reflect on each model and consider whether it fits your company well.

KOPAN

Stands for Kennismaken (Getting Acquainted), Opsporen behoefte (Identifying Needs), Presenteren (Presenting), Afsluiten (Closing), Nazorg (Aftercare). This is a traditionally less known sales model but can be applied to the current process without much imagination. For example, if you fail to get acquainted well, it becomes very difficult to identify needs.

AIDA Customer Journey Model (wikipedia)

Stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. The traditional sales and marketing model that states the potential customer must first have attention before interest can be aroused, and so on. Why is this model somewhat outdated? Because it does not consider everything after Action, while nowadays aftercare and reputation are essential.

McKinsey Customer Journey Model

McKinsey states that companies can no longer simply react to the (changing) customer but must play an active role in shaping and steering it. McKinsey clearly emphasizes the circular nature of a customer journey and the different phases within it. Consider and Evaluate are the lead-up processes; within the circular customer journey, they limit themselves to Purchase, Experience, Advocate, and Bonding.

Babcock Jenkins Customer Journey Model

Babcock Jenkins presents a very complete customer journey model in (download in pdf) and distinguishes 3 core phases; Discover, Consider, Decide around which Advocate continuously revolves. The three core phases are further divided into 11 decision moments that determine whether the next phase in the customer journey is reached.

This model is our preference, mainly because it is very customer-question oriented and easy to apply to different companies. First step in using this model? Answer the questions on the right side of the pdf for your company.

 

 

Customer Journey: Role of Website and Content

The further you develop the customer journey model for your organization, the more you discover the answers your customers seek in each phase. You use your website to answer as many questions as possible with the goal of moving the customer to the next phase. Ideally, of course, a sale.

Website as a Source for Leads

But the reverse also applies. By analyzing the use of your website, you determine in which phase of the customer journey a particular customer is. For example:

Jan de Vries visits your website on Monday. He requests a whitepaper about using your product in a specific market and leaves his name and email address. You now know he is mapping possible solutions but not yet what problem he has. The following week you send him (possibly automatically) a follow-up email with 3 articles about specific problems your product solves. If he reads one of these articles, that is an excellent basis for conversation. Maybe it’s time to hand this lead over to sales?

Customer Journey: Consequences for the Sales Process

Thinking from the customer journey, also called customer-centric approach or ‘Customer First’, naturally places very different demands on salespeople. Previously, the salesperson was a ‘spy’ or a ‘door-opener’; nowadays, the salesperson’s role is more that of an ambassador. We call this Salesperson 2.0 and wrote a whole article about it called These Salespeople Will Be Obsolete Within 5 Years!

Applying this to the customer journey places the following demands on the salesperson or sales department:

• Fully informed about the pre-sales process
  A customer may have already had about 3 contacts with your organization and expects you to get straight to the point. So ensure sales is aware of where the customer is in the journey and what information or knowledge you already have. But above all; make sure you know what the next step is and what is needed to take it.
• Possess deep and relevant knowledge
  If Jan de Vries from the earlier example is called, make sure he speaks with a specialist who has experience with his specific problem.
• Authority
  The potential customer has probably already done their homework and is now an expert. How does he know you are too? Does the person he speaks with have authority, has the customer come across their name during research?
• Being reachable
  And that goes beyond answering the phone. Being reachable means answering a question within a timeframe that benefits the customer. Being reachable also means the customer can contact you via channels they prefer. Why shouldn’t you be able to ask a question on Twitter?

We elaborate further on this in our article about Salesperson 2.0.

Customer Journey Example from Practice

The customer journey example below from Rail Europe clearly shows how a customer journey can be practically applied.

Getting Started with Your Customer Journey

What is the first step to map the customer journey that fits your company? Here are some you can consider:

• Talk with sales. Take the time to talk with your sales colleagues and map the phases in their sales process. What questions do their customers ask, what objections do they raise, what decision factors are decisive, etc.
• Analyze the website. What information is currently searched for and found on the website, when do visitors drop off, how do visitors find you? Essential input for the first phase of the customer journey.
• Interview customers. Because that’s what it’s all about, they will surely tell you in detail how they come to a (purchase) decision. Note, there is often a difference between how we think we make a decision and how we actually come to a decision!

Other information sources are of course customer service, production, field service, etc., but we limit ourselves to the marketing/sales part of the customer journey.

That’s our view on the customer journey so far. Have we missed an aspect or do you have a specific question? Let us know.