Controlling the Customer Journey
Understanding the customer’s journey and managing it optimally – Part 1
The goal is customer loyalty through enthusiasm
Making the customer journey as pleasant and smooth as possible through the purchasing or service process is an important aspect to build long-term customer loyalty and increase customer satisfaction. The consideration of customer travel is therefore no longer a question of “whether” but of “how”. But how do we best approach the topic of customer travel in sales, marketing and service? Our proposal: piece by piece. With CRM software.
“Companies that now operate modern customer management need to closely monitor customer travel and put the customer at the heart of the strategy.”
An everlasting cycle: Controlling the Customer Journey
By customer travel we mean the individual cycles that a customer goes through until he has purchased a product/service. This can be traced using the contact points (touchpoints) such as advertisements, mailings, website, etc., which the consumer has with the company.
If companies want to retain the consumer and be recommended by them, they must inspire at these points of contact. To do this, companies must consistently look at their products, services and services from the eyes of their customers.
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Is only one point of contact decisive for the purchase and a positive customer journey?
That is unlikely today. A customer usually had a variety of contacts with the company and thus contacts with different areas and employees that influence his purchasing decision. It is also clear that the interested party is increasingly oriented towards the opinions of third parties. He finds them on review portals and on social media. And companies have only limited influence on this. Other contact points such as classic and online advertising, trade fairs, SEO and email marketing, etc. are directly influenced.
Attention: In case of disappointment no recommendation
Many contact points on the Customer Journey run the risk of sooner or later becoming a pure disappointment for the consumer. The goal, however, is boundless enthusiasm. Only enthusiastic customers recommend a product further and become loyal customers. These recommendations require excellently functioning contact points that are useful and provide real joy.
But which contact points are decisive? Which ones lead to the cancellation? What are the links with this? Only with this knowledge can communication and processes with the customer be optimized.
Customer Journey Graphic
Ask your CRM system
Are you at the beginning of the introduction of a CRM system?
If you are using CRM software, you already document, collect and control different customer contact points. But customer travel is not just about sales calls, orders and deliveries, which are usually actively monitored by means of interviews or complaints.
- Sales control and alignment of processes with CRM in sales
- Generating Perception Through Campaigns and Email Marketing Video: Successfully Plan Campaigns
- Trade fairs and events with CRM in marketing
- Excellent customer service with CRM for service
- Strengthen customer loyalty through customer events and mailings
How can all digital and physical contact points be recorded and evaluated? In practice, some criteria for the systematic consideration of customer travel have emerged. More on this in Part 2.