Customer Journey

What is a customer journey?

The customer journey is the sum total of all the interactions a customer has with a brand before, during, and after a purchase. A smooth, effortless customer journey can ensure a prospect converts into a customer in the quickest time possible. Brands need to factor in consumer needs and behavioral patterns when mapping out customer journeys to deliver a great end-to-end customer experience (CX) and achieve their business goals faster.

What is a customer journey map?

A customer journey map helps brands visualize all the interactions a prospect or customer has with the brand, product, or service. These interactions, also called touchpoints, can vary in number depending on your customers’ preferences, their end goals, and the channels through which they interact with your brand. A detailed customer journey map can help you understand your customer pain points and customize individual touchpoints accordingly.

Why is the customer journey important?

Having a firm understanding of how customers engage with your brand lets you accomplish the following:

Better customer experience

Today’s customers have more options than ever and have much higher expectations in terms of product, price, and service than ever before. In order to meet and exceed those expectations, brands must identify their customers’ likes and preferences. With a clear view of the customer journey and the various phases a customer navigates to address their objective, brands can deliver superior experiences to their customers.

Faster conversion

Customers switch between channels quite often during the course of their journey. For example, an angry customer may first try to reach a service agent on the phone and then move to a messaging channel like Messenger in the hopes of a faster resolution. If this transition isn’t smooth, your customers may not feel invested enough to continue their journey to achieve their goals, whatever they may be. A customer journey that is free from obstacles, such as an inconsistent experience when switching between touchpoints, impacts your conversion rate.

Customer delight

A customer’s journey doesn’t come to an end immediately after they’ve made a purchase. A happy and satisfied customer often comes back for more. Additionally, they become loyal to the brand and can help spread the word about your brand increasing brand affinity and, in effect, becoming brand ambassadors for your product or service. Knowing your target buyer personas and designing persona-driven journeys will help create more positive “moments of truth” — a significant brand-customer interaction whereby the customer forms or changes their impression of your brand — leading ultimately to customer delight.

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What are the phases of a customer journey?

The customer journey phases represent the different stages your prospects and customers go through as they interact with your brand. These phases usually include multiple touchpoints and are classified as follows:

Awareness: this is when a prospect is looking for a solution to their business problem(s) through research on search engines and in the process comes across your brand and product.

Consideration: the prospect then tries to identify the most appropriate solution for their specific business needs by visiting your website and that of your competitors to evaluate their options.

Decision: the prospect shortlists potential solutions that they think will be able to solve their needs, and then proceeds to shortlist your product or service along with a few others. Then, after a period of deliberation, decide to buy or adopt your offering.

Retention: after a while, the customer may have issues with your product or service and decide to reach your customer support for help. Or they may wish to renew or upgrade their existing product or service, and subsequently land on your FAQ pages to understand their options.

Advocacy: the final stage involves the customer being so happy with their experience with your brand that they recommend your solution to others. They do this through word of mouth – text, calls, and by leaving positive reviews on the platform of their choice.

Unify your customer journey across departments with Sprinklr

There are dozens of modern communication channels available to consumers nowadays. Thus, brands must take into account a wide range of potential customer journeys. Brands have traditionally adopted point solutions to manage each stage of the customer lifecycle. These solutions, though convenient, can’t deliver a 360-degree view of the customer, which exacerbates departmental silos.

As the first platform purpose-built for unified customer experience management (Unified-CXM), Sprinklr can empower brands to understand customer preferences and behavior, as well as reach, engage, and serve them on all modern channels to drive business growth. Some of the world’s leading brands rely on Sprinklr to manage all stages of the customer journey on a single Unified-CXM platform, powered by our product suites:

Sprinklr Insights: become customer-centric by interpreting consumer data at scale, identifying opportunities, and gathering actionable insights to build smarter strategies.

Sprinklr Service: redefine customer service as a proactive, digital-first experience – by engaging with customers earlier on their channels of choice, and scaling service with a human touch.

Sprinklr Marketing: transform social media from a conversation into a revenue driver by building content that delivers personalized experiences at scale.

Sprinklr Social: know when, where, and how to connect with customers on their native digital channels – and protect your brand reputation at every touchpoint.