...

Our Blog

Consider the Customer Journey and Pain Points to Come up with a Marketing Strategy

ThinkClever

News

May 15, 2017

In order to come up with a useful marketing strategy, it can be helpful to consider the customer journey. What process does the customer go through before they come to a decision regarding a certain product?

In fact, the customer journey doesn’t stop at this point. It continues for as long as the customer uses a certain product. So it also includes a consideration of whether or not the customer stays happy with the product.

It’s possible to make sure that the customer has a good journey from beginning to end—from the time that they hear about a certain product until the time they are done using it. But in order to do this, you have to understand customer psychology—the reasons why they choose to buy certain things and the reasons why they feel happy or unhappy with these things.

The quality of the product does have some bearing on customer happiness, of course. But sometimes, other factors also play a large role, such as the way in which the product is marketed and the way that marketing campaign makes the customer feel. Plus, the quality of customer service the company provides is also important. And if the product is being sold on the website, then the ease with which the customer can find what they are looking for and purchase it will also play a role.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s consider the customer journey right from the beginning to see how we can make it smooth and more appealing.

Hearing About a New Product

Let’s assume that the customer is new to your product. In that case, they have to hear about it in some way. This can either happen through the company’s marketing campaign for the product or through a referral, either in person or on social media.

In other words, the marketing can be outbound, reaching out from the company towards the customer, or inbound, in which the customer hears about the product in some way and then does a search for the company or product.

Outbound Marketing

Traditionally, marketing techniques have been outbound. So all the marketing methods that we are familiar with, such as ads on TV, in print, on billboards etc. are outbound. Email marketing and direct mail marketing are also outbound.

However, the effectiveness of outbound methods is now decreasing because customers are becoming more savvy. They can weed out messages that are exaggerated or untrue with ease. And they can spot sincerity.

So if you choose to go with an outbound marketing method, make sure that you don’t try to fool your customer with unsubstantiated claims because these will cut the customer journey short right at the beginning.

Inbound Marketing

In inbound marketing, you wait until the customer reaches out to you. This might happen because they heard of your product on social media or through a friend.

Given that the customer is already reaching out to you, all you need to do is make sure you have a good, easily navigable website with a mix of images and text. All the information that the customer needs about your product and company should be easily available.

It also helps to have social media pages with more information, customer comments etc. And make sure that your written content is conversational and easy to read. Because if it gets too complex or jargonized, then the customer is likely to lose interest.

Pain Points

Once the customer hears about your product in some way, they look you up and get all the information they need. And once they have this information, they decided whether or not to buy the product.

The customer is only going to buy the product if they have a real need for it or if it addresses one of their pain points. For example, maybe you’re selling a weight loss product. In order for the customer to buy the product, weight should be one of their paint points.

Now, there are a lot of people for whom being overweight or obese is a pain point. And there are many products which promise to relieve this pain as well. So you might have to dig a little deeper. Figure out why these other products haven’t exactly been working for the customer. Why haven’t they felt any relief from their pain despite the fact that they have tried other products? In what specific way has their pain not been addressed?

Sometimes, people with this particular pain point come to expect quick results which are promised them by the weight loss products they buy. So you could address this particular pain point by promising gradual, long-term weight loss rather than short-term, quick weight loss.

Customer Experience

Once the customer has heard about the product and feels that their pain point is going to be addressed, it’s just a matter of making sure that you simplify their experience on your website. This can be done in several ways.

1. Images

You can make sure that you have good images of your product, taken from various angles, on your website. Sometimes, companies make rookie mistakes like showing photos of products in packaging rather than without packaging. How is the customer going to know what the product really looks like if you do this?

Just try to put yourself in the customer’s place and think about what you would want to know about the product. Then make sure that you post images accordingly.

It also helps to have people in your images. Customers relate more to images of people using products rather than the product by itself. At the same time, it also helps to use relatable models because, as companies are realizing nowadays, not everyone wants to see skinny models who look nothing like themselves.

2. Specs

Once the customer has inspected photos of the product, they’re going to turn to the specs. So you need to make sure they’re accurate.

Providing the product in various colors and sizes also helps to make things more convenient for the customer. Remember that it can be very aggravating to research a product only to find that it’s not available in the size or color that you want. This is a pain point and one that you can address through your ecommerce website.

3. Payment and Shipping Methods

Once the customer decides to buy something, they’re going to place an order. At this point, you need to give them the convenience of paying via several different methods—credit card, debit card, PayPal etc. And also the option of different types of delivery so that they can get the product exactly when they need it.

4. Site Search

70% of desktop eCommerce site search implementations are unable to provide relevant results when a search query contains a product synonym.

Even worse than this, is that about 20%-30% of ALL searches end on a 0-results page because search engines aren’t able to process queries correctly. This is one of the worst experiences a shopper can have on your site because you’re essentially telling them you don’t carry they product they want to buy; this means they’ll take their business elsewhere.

By implementing a good product search function, you can help shoppers find what they’re searching for

 

Customer Service

For most companies, the customer journey ends at this point, because they’ve accomplished their goal—getting the customer to buy their product. However, the customer journey doesn’t really end here.

It’s possible, once the customer buys the product, that they might have trouble using it. They might have further need of the company’s expertise, in which case good customer service becomes invaluable, on the phone as well as via email.

Remember that if you want your customers to recommend your product to someone else, you need to make sure they’re 100% happy with it. And this means helping them with any minor problems they might have after purchase.

5% for schools

Our custom printed laptop and tablet sleeves have been put to the test in thousands of classrooms since 2010.

  • Free samples
  • In-house design team
  • Full satisfaction guarantee
right-image
Used for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons
Happy Holi From Everyone At CustomLogoCases.com! ❤️🩷🧡💛💚💙🩵💜🕉🇮🇳

Happy Holi From Everyone At CustomLogoCases.com! ❤️🩷🧡💛💚💙🩵💜🕉🇮🇳 ... See MoreSee Less

Throw Back Thursday! We ❤️ seeing our custom creations featured on social media. Here is a gem from The Bethany School, UK a few years back. #Laptopsleeve #ChromebookCase #NeopreneZipSleeve #computersleeve💻😁🤩🇬🇧🇬🇧

Throw Back Thursday! We ❤️ seeing our custom creations featured on social media. Here is a gem from The Bethany School, UK a few years back. #LaptopSleeve #chromebookcase #neoprenezipsleeve #computersleeve💻😁🤩🇬🇧🇬🇧#repost from @bethany_compsci

Our lucky Year 7 and 8 pupils getting new laptops in September will also get one of these brand new Bethany laptop sleeves!

Fingers crossed for a staff version too 😍
... See MoreSee Less

Load more