Today, we’re talking about an important part of marketing, selling, and growing a business that is often overlooked — the customer journey. 

If you’ve never heard that term before, you’re not alone. It’s not something that a lot of people talk about because consultants and really big businesses have made the whole thing seem overwhelming, convoluted, and difficult. So, most people ignore it. 

That’s exactly why I want to break this complex concept down so we can talk about how to make this simple AND incredibly valuable for our businesses. 

So, what IS the customer journey? 

Think of this as a roadmap,  a roadmap that marks how each person became aware of your business,  all of the interactions they’ve had with you, and everything that happens after they decide to buy from you. 

There are a lot of topics to cover there! But let’s break this down using this roadmap analogy because we went on a road trip in July to Yellowstone and back with the kids, and we survived so I know a thing or two about planning one.

When you want to go on a road trip, what’s the first thing you do? You decide where you want to go, right? 

For our trip, we knew we wanted to visit Yellowstone, BUT we also didn’t want to just drive straight there and back; we wanted to take a slower and more scenic route so we could do things on the way. 

In other words, we were taking the loooooong way to get there. 

Along the routes, I found a bunch of things to do and places to stay with an eye on driving no more than 8 hours a day. 

I wanted a road trip that was a fun journey AND got us to where we wanted to go. 

And I’m not saying that’s the right way to plan it because sometimes it makes much more sense to just get in and drive the fastest route to your destination. But for us, we wanted something that was much more about the journey than just the final destination. 

Well, a customer journey is the same idea. 

Your customers — your clients, your buyers — they have a pain, and they have a desire to solve that pain. 

Their pain is like the starting point for your road trip. Their desire is like the destination — the experience they want to have. 

Your job is to figure out, number 1, what that starting point — that pain — is. Then you want to map out an engaging experience that not only shows your buyers the fastest way to get to their destination but also gives them the opportunity to enjoy the journey along the way. 

When done right, this customer journey can be really fun and valuable for your audience while setting YOU up as the expert or company they want to buy from — but that only happens when you plan it in a way that isn’t just about rushing to the sale.

Biggest Show Takeaways:

• The customer journey is worth the effort. In 2017, CMO.com, an Adobe company, found that companies that truly focus on the customer journey enjoy HUGE benefits such as: 
  • 54% higher return on any marketing investment, like Facebook or Google ads.
  • 24% more positive social media mentions. (What a great way to get free word of mouth advertising, right?)
  • 3.5 times greater revenue from referrals. Hello! That’s HUGE and can be attained simply by understanding the customer journey, so your audience feels like you really DO understand them.
  • Adobe found 18 times faster average sales cycle — meaning once a customer journey is thought out and created, your audience will buy 18 times faster than before. That is a massive game-changer for any business. 
• How to create a customer journey that converts your audience into fans and buyers:
• Step 1: Perspective
  • The trick to creating a customer journey that actually hooks and engages your customer is you’ve GOT to be able to see it from THEIR perspective. 
  • That’s why I always ask my clients and students: What is the PAIN your audience is trying to solve? 
    • For marketing funnels, the pain is that a business owner isn’t making enough sales, and there are usually just a few reasons why that is: no system, wrong message, not knowing their audience, and/or an offer that isn’t working. 
    • For Facebook ads, the business owner needs to have an offer that sells, and now they’re ready to have a steady stream of new people in their business. 
    • Knowing where my audience is starting from — from their point of view — is super important because it lets me map a journey that is beneficial to THEM. 
    • In your business, what is the problem your audience has from THEIR perspective? What words do they use? What problems do they google? If you don’t know, this is the number one thing to figure out. 
• Step 2: Understand the Journey
  • You can break your customer journey down into four basic steps: 
    • They probably start out with a question or a problem they’re asking in an online group or googling for a resource. 
    • Then they start reading and gathering information. 
    • Then they start exploring options. 
    • Then they make a decision. 
  • What most people do in their marketing and messaging is skip those first two steps — knowing the question and creating great resources. Instead, they want to jump straight into “here’s my resource.” You can’t skip steps!
• Step 3: Include Proof in Your Journey
  • People are skeptical. We’ve all been bamboozled at some point buying something online, so people are skeptical of what you claim, and that part of your customer journey needs to include proving that you can deliver what you say you can deliver.
• The next time you sit down to create a marketing funnel, a Facebook ad, an email or email series, a blog post, podcast, video, or really any other piece of marketing, ask yourself these questions:
  • Where is my audience in their customer journey? 
  • Am I approaching this from my audience’s perspective or from my own perspective? 
  • Am I including proof and examples to increase my audience’s buy-in?
• Create Profit Without Worry — one system at a time. I’ll show you how to attract a steady flow of buyers without all the hustle with this free download →  5 Steps to Profit Without Worry.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• CMO.com by Abode article on customer journey payoffs
• Connect on Facebook
• Connect on LinkedIn
• Connect on Instagram
• Create Profit Without Worry — one system at a time with this free download →  5 Steps to Profit Without Worry.