Costumer Value Journey: Create a Digital Marketing Strategy
Q. WHAT IS THE CUSTOMER VALUE JOURNEY?
Image of Costumer Value Journey
The Customer Value Journey is a blueprint for creating a predictable flow of customers. It defines the step-by-step process of converting total strangers to high-value customers and brand promoters. Modelled after human relationships, it includes additional steps not found in a traditional marketing funnel. Not only does this lead to a more natural sequence of interactions, but it also helps align organizational and customer interests around shared success, leading to happy customers, advocates, and promoters. For these reasons we believe documenting the Customer Value Journey is the most important step in formulating a sound marketing strategy for businesses.
WHAT DOES THE CUSTOMER VALUE JOURNEY LOOK LIKE?
A Customer Value Journey that strategically builds relationships with new prospects and converts them into loyal, repeat customers.
This Journey is the process every prospect goes through to become a new customer.
It’s how strangers become buyers and, eventually, raving fans of your business.
Understanding the steps along the way in a business relationship will help you to be purposeful in meeting your potential prospects where they are, with what they need. Below are the stages of the customer value journey intended to guide your ideal customer on their journey from an unaware prospect to the raving promoter.
Stage 1. AWARENESS
Customer awareness is a concept used by marketing and sales teams. Customer awareness refers to two key concepts:
How knowledgeable potential consumers are about your brand, services or products.
How conscious customers are of their needs or wants about your company's offerings.
Sales and marketing professionals usually describe customer awareness as a scale from unaware to most aware. Some customers may know that your company exists but not that they need that your product or service could help them with. Likewise, some customers may know that they currently have a need but not how your company could solve or ease that need.
A customer's need may be a problem that requires a solution or a positive motivation to improve an aspect of their life.
EXAMPLE OF MARKETING THAT GENERATES AWARENESS
There are any number of ways a prospect could become aware of your company, products, and services. Here are three possible scenarios:
• A manager searches Google to find a new coffee supplier.
• A mother of two sees an advertisement for a new children’s winter Bootcamp on Facebook.
• A college student watches an Instagram video of her friend raving about a new brand of smartwatches.
Here is an example of a Facebook Ad that you may see in daily life:
DIGITAL MARKETING DISCIPLINE THAT CREATES AWARENESS
To improve awareness of your company, the digital marketing tactics you need to master or hire include:
• Search Marketing
• Community Management
• Content Marketing
• Digital Advertising
• Social Media Marketing
• Copywriting
Stage 2. ENGAGEMENT
Grabbing customers' attention is what makes your audience stop and notice you, but that’s all for nothing if you can’t get them to engage with you. Conversions can’t take place if your audience is not interacting with your ads and content.
At this stage of the Customer Value Journey, you need to get your target audience to read your article, watch your video, pop you a question on your chatbot, or interact with one of your social media posts.
Engagement might start here, but it certainly doesn’t end here. At each step of the Customer Value Journey, you should be seeking engagement with your audience. Make no mistake about it, unless they are engaging, they have no emotional interest in your company.
EXAMPLES OF MARKETING THAT GENERATES ENGAGEMENT
Engagement typically comes in the form of content or community. Here are a few examples :
The owner of a boutique wine store becomes active in an Instagram community for wineries and other wine retailers.
A grandfather of five receives an email newsletter from his financial advisor detailing several ways to save for a child’s college tuition while reducing taxes.
The mother watches a YouTube video from Johnson & Johnson showing her how to bathe her baby.
DIGITAL MARKETING DISCIPLINE THAT CREATES ENGAGEMENT
To improve engagement in your company, the digital marketing tactics you need to master or hire include:
• Content Marketing
• Community Management
• Social Media Marketing
• Email Marketing
Stage 3. SUBSCRIBE
Once you’ve gotten your audience to engage with you, now you need to get their contact information so that you can follow up with them. This is most easily obtained by offering a lead magnet so that you can connect with them through email marketing.
They’ll fill out a form and give you their email, and in exchange, you’ll give them something for free. That sounds simple, but these days, this step isn’t as easy as it used to be.
Let’s face it—people are inundated with free content, so it has to be something that stands out and provides a lot of value. While that could be an e-book, guide, or tip sheet, you’ll probably do better with something more enticing. Try a free webinar, demo, sneak peek, free trial, free product or service, etc.
If you’ve done steps one and two well, your prospects will already be starting to trust you, so they will want more from you. As long as you offer them something they truly want, you’ll get plenty of subscribers.
EXAMPLES OF MARKETING THAT GENERATES SUBSCRIBERS
The biggest criteria for your free offer is that your target audience finds it valuable. Here are some examples from a variety of industries:
A young professional signs up for a webinar presented by a local realtor about the best practices of purchasing a first home.
A college boy fills out a form on a blog to receive a free sample of new face cream.
The HR manager of a mid-sized accounting firm signs up for a demo of a new application he can use to manage the hiring of new employees.
In each case, the prospect fills out a form, provides their contact information, and is sent information about how to access the offer.
The young professional is sent the time and URL of the webinar.
The college boy is sent a thank-you email telling her the face cream is in the mail.
The manager is contacted to schedule his demo.
But it always starts with a form.
DIGITAL MARKETING THAT STRATEGIES GENERATE SUBSCRIBERS
To get more subscriptions for your company, the digital marketing tactics you need to master or hire include:
• Content Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Digital Advertising
• Community Management
• Conversion Rate Optimization
• Copywriting
STAGE 4. CONVERT
If the subscribers you gain in Step 3 of the journey remain engaged, some of them will be ready to increase their level of commitment. They like the information you share and have begun to trust you, so they’re ready to invest in one of two ways: either with time or money.
This is a critical stage in the Customer Journey and one that frustrates many business owners. The key to success in this stage is to employ what we call “entry-point offers.” These offers are designed to give the new prospect tremendous value without forcing them to put too much “skin in the game.”
At this stage, to ask for a significant investment in a complex product or service would be asking too much, too soon. You’re still in the early stages of a relationship.
It’s too early even to concern yourself with profitability. That’s right: in this stage of the Customer Journey, you might lose money on the prospects you acquire as buyers.
This is, perhaps, the most important lesson you must learn so it bears repeating:
The Convert stage of the Customer Value Journey is about acquiring buyers or ramping up the commitment level of the leads you already have. It is NOT about profitability.
The most valuable businesses in the world all understand that the costliest marketing activity your business undertakes is customer acquisition. It’s the reason Sprint is willing to buy you out of your Verizon cell phone contract and give you a free phone. It’s the reason GoDaddy offers domains for $2.95, and It's the reason VistaPrint will sell you 500 business cards for $9.
The goal is to acquire a new customer. Profits come later.
EXAMPLES OF MARKETING THAT GENERATES CONVERSIONS
There are two types of entry-point offers: those that require a commitment of time, and those that require a commitment of money.
Here are some examples:
A daughter of elderly parents schedules a walk-through visit at the local retirement home.
A man takes advantage of a $20 teeth whitening service at his local dentist.
Your goal here is not to make a huge profit. It’s to get customers, to shift the relationship between you and your subscribers. Because, as you’ll see, once someone is a customer, it’s much more likely that person will purchase higher-ticket, more complex products and services and do it more frequently.
Remember, one of the costliest (in time, money, resources) marketing activities your business will undertake is the acquisition of customers. The good news is that once you’ve acquired them, you don’t need to pay to acquire them again.
DIGITAL MARKETING DISCIPLINES THAT GENERATES CONVERSATION
To improve conversions in your company, the digital marketing tactics you need to master or hire include:
• Digital Advertising
• Content Marketing
• Search Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Copywriting
Stage 5. EXCITE
If you remember where we left off in the Customer Value Journey before, you’ll know that during the Convert stage, the customer has made their initial low dollar purchase.
During the Excite stage, you want to ensure that the transaction is a good one. If they don’t feel like they received great value from the transaction, they are probably not going to want to purchase more from you and will likely stop interacting with you.
This stage is something you must go back to again and again. Each time a customer does what you ask of them (attend a webinar, fill out a form, buy this product) there should be marketing follow up that maximizes the perceived value.
EXAMPLES OF MARKETING THAT CREATES EXCITEMENT
A life coach sends three of their best, most informative blog posts for their newest client to review before their first session.
Old Navy gives their customer a coupon for $10 off their next purchase after spending a certain amount.
A new user of the Spotify music streaming app goes through an instructional walkthrough teaching her how to build a playlist of her favourite songs.
This stage is all about ensuring that your marketing is allowing your customer to get value from doing business with you—and to enjoy that value right away.
DIGITAL MARKETING DISCIPLINES THAT CREATE EXCITEMENT
To improve consumption in your company, the digital marketing tactics you need to master or hire include:
• Email Marketing
• Content Marketing
• Copywriting
STAGE 6. ASCEND
At this stage of the Value Journey, you’ve sunk time, money, and resources into acquiring leads and customers and making sure they get value from doing business with you.
It’s entirely possible that, until this stage, you have yet to turn a profit. If you’re in a competitive market (and who isn’t?) you may be losing money on the front end of this process to acquire customers.
That’s perfectly acceptable, and here’s why:
You’re investing in your future profits.
Always remember that it costs more to acquire a new customer than to sell to an existing one. That first sale isn’t about profits. It’s about converting a prospect to a customer, so you can begin a long (and profitable) customer relationship.
Buying customers on the front end is just a shrewd business, but only if you can monetize those customers on the back end.
The Ascend stage of the Value Journey is where your customer will be ready to buy more and more often. If your business has a core offer, this is the place to make that offer. Then once your customer purchases that core offer, it’s time to present them with other relevant offers.
You’ll notice that the Value Journey worksheet represents the Ascent stage as a ladder. That’s no accident. This is a ladder that will hopefully lead to multiple purchases over time.
EXAMPLES OF MARKETING THAT CREATES ASCENSION
Upon request, one of your best customers writes a glowing review of the service you provide.
A woman enters a contest to win a new lipstick from a beauty company she loves by shooting a video review of one of their other products.
A woman with a brand new Mercedes buys an unlimited car wash package for $40 per month instead of paying for each car wash individually.
DIGITAL MARKETING DISCIPLINE THAT CREATES ASCENSION
To improve ascension in your company, the digital marketing tactics you need to master or hire include:
• Email Marketing
• Copywriting
• Digital Advertising
• Content Marketing
Stage 7. ADVOCATE
Now you should have some happy customers who are making several profitable purchases from you. It’s time to take it to the next stage and create marketing that encourages advocates for your business.
An advocate is someone who speaks positively of your business. They may not necessarily promote your business as yet, but when prompted they’ll respond favourably.
The final two stages of the Customer Value Journey (Advocate and Promote) are often thought to be outside the control of the business, but that’s not true. There are marketing opportunities you can create that generate more advocates and promoters.
EXAMPLE OF MARKETING THAT GENERATES ADVOCATES
These final two stages (Advocate and Promote) are often thought to be outside of the control of marketing, but that simply isn’t true. You can create marketing that intentionally generates more advocates and promoters.
Here are a few examples:
• A woman enters a contest to win a new lip gloss from a beauty company by shooting a video review detailing how much she loves one of their lipsticks.
• Upon request, the Warehouse Manager at a produce supplier company writes a glowing review of the local courier service she uses to transport fruits and vegetables locally.
DIGITAL MARKETERS ADVOCATE THAT GENERATE ADVOCATES
Getting advocates is important because it helps generate awareness, trust, and credibility with a wider audience—which helps you to get more customers and grow your business.
To get more advocates in your company, the marketing efforts you need to work on include:
• Social Media Marketing
• Email marketing
• Search Marketing
Stage 8. PROMOTE
Promoters are different from advocates in that they actively spread the word about your business, products or services.
Sometimes it’s as simple as they had an amazing experience with you and want to share it with their friends and family. Other times it’s because you have created an incentive for them to do so.
Either way, it’s initiated, the new audience is hearing about you from a trusted source (such as a friend or family member). They are generally much more likely to become customers themselves.
EXAMPLE OF MARKETING THAT GENERATES PROMOTERS
Intentionally creating more promoters is important because it creates an army of paid or unpaid sales people spreading the word about what you sell.
Here are a few examples:
A beauty guru earns 20% commission from a certain makeup brand on every purchase by one of their viewers when they use her affiliate link.
A woman attends a conference for free because she got 5 of her coworkers to sign up as well.
Shipt (a grocery delivery service) offers 'Give $10, Get $10'. If a friend places an order, they get $10 off and you get $10 off your next order for the referral. Offers, where everyone wins, are good… your customer wins, their friend wins and you win (a new customer).
As you can see, promoters help you get more customers at a lower cost. So even when you reward promoters, it’s a win-win.
DIGITAL MARKETING DISCIPLINES THAT GENERATE PROMOTERS
To get more promoters in your company, the marketing efforts you need to work on include:
• Email Marketing
• Copywriting
