Maximizing Your Conversions, Part 1: Understanding the Five Stages of the Customer Journey and How to Create a Successful One.

Hey!

Drew here. As usual.

Before we get into today’s ‘thing’, give this quote a read:

Every contact we have with a customer influences whether they'll come back. We have to be great every time, or we'll lose them. - Kevin Stirtz

True, no?

Anyway…

In part 1 of this 2-newsletter series on maximizing your online sales, We'll discuss what the customer journey is and how you can walk away, able to create one yourself, regardless of your product, brand, or service.

So, let’s get straight into it. No fluff. Straight to work.

The first thing: What a customer journey is.

“So? What is it? What is a customer journey, Drew?”

Good question.

A customer journey refers to the steps a user goes through and the decisions they make, from the beginning, right until they buy.

Or, in other words…

The journey a person takes from being a stranger to becoming a customer.

Now, understanding this is important.

Partly because it plays a critical role in converting a person from just another crowd member to someone who is an educated and aware customer...

and partly because each stage has the potential to make or break a conversion.

There are various points in the journey that can affect it differently.

From the ads they see on social media to how your website navigation is positioned, everything can play a significant part in driving them toward the CTA you want them at.

Knowing what impact each step has can not only help you identify the potential friction points causing you to lose sales but also help improve their experience and, ultimately, boost conversions.

From a zoomed-out position, there are five main stages:

Awareness, where you focus on increasing your brand’s awareness as a whole.

Acquisition, where you focus on identifying potential customers through various channels.

Conversion, where you focus on different methods to prompt the visitors to take action.

Retention,  where you keep the customers happy and loyal,

And reactivation, where you engage and potentially reach out to customers who may have left.

Each stage has different tools, methods, and strategies you'll use to achieve your goal.

However, it all ultimately comes down to one thing:

Trying to get them to convert.

To do that, you study each of the stages to understand what they’ll go through and what type of decisions they make.

Essentially, you put yourself in their shoes.

What might get their attention?

What could motivate them to straight-out go through with the CTA?

What would drive them to consider your offer over all the other brands out there?

Asking these questions not just helps you to make a better journey overall;

It helps you focus on the things that matter and will have the most impact in getting them to the next step in each stage with the least friction.

“Got it, Drew. Awesome. Seriously. Okay, now how do I do the same thing for what I’ve got?”

Well, there are many offers out there.

There are many different types of customers as well.

Is your ideal customer more of a “Where’s the button? Where do I pay?” type of person?

Or would they first rather research, read reviews, ask around, look for guarantees, do comparisons, and then be like “Yeah. Let’s give this a go. You do have a money-back guarantee, right?”

Or are they neither?

Well, in all cases, you'll want to have things as optimized, concise, and simple as possible.

You’ll want the content to be detailed, and valuable yet extremely easily consumable.

You’ll want to do outreach and project your content through different platforms.

Essentially, you’re going to work every single one of the five stages in thorough proper detail.

Awareness, acquisition, conversion, etc.

Trying to think about the emotions your potential customer will feel.

The decisions that they’ll have to make.

The options they have.

Their wants.

Their needs.

You put yourself in their shoes, and try to look at things from their perspective.

Here’s a possible example of what you could do for a luxury watch brand:

Awareness: At this stage, the focus is on increasing brand awareness. Potential customers may see ads on social media or search for luxury watches online. The goal is to catch their attention and make them aware of the brand's offerings.

Acquisition: Once a potential customer becomes aware of the brand, the focus shifts to acquisition. The brand may offer a free guide on how to choose a luxury watch or offer a discount code for signing up for the newsletter. The goal is to capture their contact information and start building a relationship.

Conversion: The conversion stage is where the brand attempts to turn potential customers into paying customers. The brand may offer a limited edition watch or a special bundle deal to entice customers to make a purchase. The goal is to create a sense of urgency and motivate customers to take action.

Retention: After a customer makes a purchase, the focus shifts to retention. The brand may send follow-up emails to ensure customer satisfaction or offer exclusive content to keep customers engaged. The goal is to build long-term relationships with customers and turn them into repeat buyers.

Reactivation: This stage involves engaging with customers who may have left or become inactive. The brand may offer a new collection or invite customers to a VIP sale event. The goal is to reignite interest in the brand and encourage past customers to return.

At each stage, you explore the various things you could do.

To get them to convert, you could do anything from giving out promo codes to your newsletter list, announcing a limited number of free products, a free add-on, having a limited-time offer, and so on.

To retain them, you could offer free follow-ups (if it was a service), 24/7 customer support, a dedicated portal with exclusive content for customers, give them membership, and so on.

There’s no “one thing fits all” here.

It’s more of a “there are many things and any or all of them could work” type of thing.

Is personalization working?

Do they like getting calls?

Do they like custom emails, right from the top members of management?

You’ll only find out what is working and what isn’t by trying.

When you figure that out, you can double down and potentially scale.

Is a specific ad campaign converting exceptionally well?

Time to scale it to see how much potential it has.

Do cart abandonment email sequences perform at an above-average rate?

Focus more on getting them to add to the cart; The emails will do the rest.

These types of realizations are also what help you focus and double down and figure out what’s working.

However, to figure out what these are for YOUR business, YOUR offer, YOUR brand, you’ll have to give things a go.

Maybe they like a long, interactive, and detailed customer experience.

Maybe they like a blank white page with a box to put their credit card info in because they know all about what you have to sell because of your ads and content, and they’re interested.

Maybe they’re a mix of both.

Maybe they like reading content, from emails to blogs and posts.

Maybe they like talking to customer support and getting sold on the call.

All of these realizations, these discoveries, these strong points will come when you try things.

That’s the secret to creating your customer journey.

Next time…

Expect to discover how to make the most of your customer’s data to make the customer journey personalized as well as test to increase conversions.

For now, you can get started with the 5 stages (Awareness, Activation, Conversion, Retention, and Reactivation) and go ahead with exploring the different things.

As usual, if you get stuck, or have any issues with anything, feel free to reach out. I’d be more than willing to help you out.

Otherwise, you got this.

Cya in the next edition.

Drew.