Understanding the customer journey
We had a super interesting meeting with one of our clients reviewing the work we’d done with them on rebuilding and re-launching their website. One of the points of discussion came around using social media - was it worth the time, effort and energy to go about building an audience on any particular platform given the operational overhead and risk to brand if an inappropriate post went out.
The key consideration we determined was, like so much in life, what’s the purpose? Why do we need a Twitter handle or Facebook page? What’s it actually for - Brand? Engagement? Broadcast? Digging a bit deeper, the answer comes back to the customer, or more specifically, where the customer is on their buyer journey.
Turkey TV
A few years ago, at Christmas time, it was our family’s turn to host. We had all of the in-laws coming to stay. I actually get on quite well with my in-laws, but the idea of them staying with us and having to host all of them for a few days was terrifying. I kept telling myself it’ll be fine, when the conversation dries up, we can stick the TV on and watch the extended editions of Lord of the Rings to pass the (significant amounts of) time.
Imagine my horror when the TV broke. It gave up on it’s life, refused to switch on, essentially failing me in my moment of need on Christmas eve. Thankfully we live close to Cribbs Causeway so I could jump in the car and escape help to get things back on track.
Two things surprised me upon arriving in the TV section of John Lewis 20 minutes before the store closed; firstly, how quiet it was considering the timing - which made me worry about the state of bricks and mortar retail as we know it, and secondly, of those that were there, there were clearly half a dozen or so other fellas in exactly the same predicament as me.
I then spent a frantic 15 mins looking at increasingly expensive TVs before trying to find review online only to realise there was a plethora of new TV technologies to get my head around.
Long story short, I spoke with a very knowledgeable young sales assistant and promptly left the store with slightly larger, more expensive version of the TV I really needed and a few hundred pounds worse off. But, Christmas and inter-family relations were saved. Thanks very much John Lewis.
The journey
If look at my customer journey to buying a new TV that fateful Christmas, it goes through distinct phases between the trigger (my TV failing) and my end goal (buying a new TV). Now, not all customer journeys are as simple as this one, most are much more complicated. However what we need to understand and be aware of, is what stage our customers are at in order to understand what message we need to communicate - and ultimately how to support them through that stage, then influence them towards buying our product or service. Only when we know the message, can we really plan the most effective medium or channel upon which to communicate it.
Let’s have a closer look at my example of a buyer journey:
Trigger point: TV breaks
Supplier consideration: Who do I buy a new TV from
Product research: So many TVs!!
Feature/advantage/benefit research: What the hell is Super OLED????
Expert help: This kid knew more about TV than could really considered healthy
Recommendation: Which one do YOU think I should get TV kid?
Justification: But it’s worth getting the smart version! (To my wife)
Confirmation: Credit card ignites
One thing this journey is missing is the status quo - because there was a trigger of the TV breaking. If the story went that the TV wasn’t broken, how would the journey look then? Without a trigger, we would need to somehow get me to let go of my status quo ie, the old (but still working TV) to get me going to the next stage of the buying journey.
More often than not, when marketing in a B2B context, the status quo is your biggest barrier to sale. Incumbent providers of software, services, products or solutions have human inertia on their side making your job that bit harder.
Mapping the buyer journey
Typically a B2B customer journey needs to look a bit more like this:
Let go of the status quo
Commit to change
Explore solutions
Commit to a solution
Justify decision
Buy
We’ve all no doubt seen and still see countless brands jumping straight to Justify stage. Buy this because we’re the best/biggest/shiniest/funkiest widget you’ll ever see. Buy it. What this fails to do is address all the stages we need to take the buyer through first.
The first two points around about creating tension between what the customer is using now and what the customer wants or needs. These two points are to build aversion to the status quo. Not scare stories as such although FOMO is super powerful. But our messaging needs to convey the risks or missed opportunities that sticking with the incumbent could present. Stories about competitor winning using new tech or similar companies losing out because of old systems, we can use infographics or images to stir the mind, short quotes or examples that catch the eye. - we need to create a tension to make the next stage of communications effective.
The second two points are around educating the customer on what to look for in a solution. To teach them how to choose, what to look for to make a good decision. We can do this through white papers or explainer videos or guides. By showing customers how they assess their needs and how to evaluate solutions we naturally take the John Lewis position. By enabling choice, we lay the table to become provider of choice.
The final two points are where we help reinforce our solution as the solution of choice, this is the point at which we can use our customer case studies, our success stories or testimonials. We make it easy for the customer to buy.
Change the channel
This takes me back to the start of this blog - why Twitter or Facebook or Linkedin? Why ads on The Guardian or articles in the Times? If we understand the customer’s buying journey, we know what messages to communicate to help them on their journey. If we know what the messages are, we know what medium to use, white papers, videos, infographics. If we know the medium we know which channel are most appropriate, which will work well and which simply won’t.
Who wins and who loses in B2B markets is often determined by who understand the customer the most, and winners will be those who can create a customer experience that encourages change, enables choice and creates buy in.
We’ve been lucky enough to work with many brands across the B2B space over the years. If you’d like to see if we could work with your teams to map customer buying journeys feel free to get in touch.