- [Narrator] Let's talk about your customer's journey
and how email can support it.
The definition of a customer journey
is the steps a person takes to become a customer.
Simply it's the process of becoming a customer.
The popular way to facilitate this process
is the use of a customer journey map.
A customer journey map is the visual representation
of the engagement experience
from the customer's point of view.
Mapping the engagement experience
from your customer's viewpoint,
is key to positioning your products
and your organization for success.
The customer journey map matters
because it puts the customer at the very heart
of your marketing plan.
It's a critical part of your marketing toolkit
because it forces you
to see how your customers really experience your brand
versus how you think they do.
And it helps you visualize the experience
of interacting with your brand
from the customer's point of view.
Let's dig just a little bit deeper into a journey map
and find out.
The process of becoming a customer starts with a trigger.
When a yoga student for example,
discovers that they need to find a new way to practice yoga,
the thing that triggered their journey
could be any of these common events.
Their studio closed, or their teacher moves,
or their schedules change.
No matter what the specific event they are experiencing,
they have to find an alternative.
They may start their search by asking their teacher
or calling their studio for recommendations
and checking with friends.
Here's an ideal customer journey map.
Albeit simplified.
Every customer has their own path
of interacting with your brand,
and there are many places in the process
where they can get distracted or go away.
What if the studio recommends live online classes
but the schedule still doesn't work?
What if they try a new teacher and don't like their style?
What if they download an app and it doesn't work?
Let's take a look at that process we saw just a moment ago.
What if the free trial for example,
doesn't go as expected?
Either the wifi is slow
or they can't find their favorite teacher in the list,
or they get distracted by cat
knocking over the stack of books.
All kinds of things can happen at this stage.
And it's just one stage of the process.
Here's where an email can help.
At this point,
the potential customer has shared some information with us,
specifically an email address,
and we can see that they're stuck
because they haven't tried a class yet.
Your customer journey is as unique as your brand.
There can be dozens of interactions or touch points
that lead up to a desired goal,
whether it be to make a purchase
or schedule a call or download a white paper.
At every touch point,
your customer can be pleased
or annoyed with their experience.
It's up to you to engage or excite them
with a well-timed and well-written email,
but don't just attend to the ones
that have a positive outcome.
Negative touch points are opportunities too.
If a customer abandons a cart,
there could be dozens of reasons that that happened,
and depending on how you respond,
you could rebuild or regain their trust.
So pull out your customer journey out of the file drawer
and identify all the points
where your customer could be helped along.
Think about where a well-timed email could help
and get started.