Putting the Customer Front and Center with The Customer Journey
If you are trying to figure out how to reach your customers, you certainly won’t starve due to a lack of information and opinions. Do customers enter a funnel when they become aware of your brand and then exit when they make a purchase? Is it more of an hourglass that flares back out when your customers are advocates for your brand? Are they on a customer journey that ultimately leads to a relationship with your product or service?
Yes. It’s all of those things.
At Firebrand, we like the Customer Journey model. A true customer journey is not easy to define because no two are alike. Customers zig and then zag and then double back to zig again. While we try to get to the best version we can, we’re ok with a journey that is less specific. No two customers are alike so it follows that no two journeys will be alike.
The reason we like to use Customer Journey language is that it emphasizes people over process. It is too easy to think of customers as pachinko balls randomly dropping towards a goal. The more numbers we can push into the top of the funnel the more will come out of the spout. Which isn’t untrue, but it reduces a living breathing person to a piece of the process.
Journey with your customers
By thinking of the customer like they are on a journey with you, brands are able to shepherd the customer from experience to experience. This customer-centric view says “now that I have their attention, what do they need from me to be as excited about the brand as I am.” There is an intentionality to the creative work you do.
The reality of the work will be the same, but how you approach it makes a huge difference. With an eye to the customer’s journey, you are making content or providing answers to an individual person. You hold the customer in mind when you design an ad or make a post.
Customers are looking for authentic brand experiences
Your customers can tell if you care about them. When a brand is authentic, there is something that transcends the medium and makes a connection. This customer-centric view is a big part of creating a brand experience that will resonate as authentic.
How does a brand develop a customer journey? We’ve put together a few posts to help you develop a customer journey for your own brand, product or service. We hope this helps you connect with your customers in a meaningful way.
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