Four "Rules Of The Road" For Mapping The Consumer Journey

The shift in power from brands to consumers has turned the marketing funnel on its head. Today’s consumers jump around from stage to stage, channel to channel, and device to device.  They have different relationships with different brands at different times.  Consumers find and buy from brands they know and trust.  And earning that trust has become more difficult than ever.

For instance, a business traveler might use a preferred airline’s web app, but switch to a provider like Kayak at times when they are more price sensitive.  This “mood shift” makes it very hard for brands to tune their messages, especially when you factor in “mode shift” of mobile devices.

Many marketers are responding to this challenge with a “spray and pray” approach to messaging. Unfortunately, this practice decreases the relevance of the brands for consumers who simply won’t respond to messages that aren’t tailored to them in the moment.

It’s important to remember that today’s customer is on an individual journey, changing moods and modes frequently.  And that journey will be interrupted by messages from competitors, friends, relatives, colleagues and co-workers.

To solve this conundrum, smart marketers have turned their focus away from the attributes of their brands and towards the consumer’s decision-making journey.  By creating a map of the consumer’s journey, marketers are better-equipped to create an open dialog with the consumer throughout the journey in a time-sensitive and contextually-relevant manner.   

Here are some “rules of the road” that you can use to help your organization drive better results from your marketing initiatives:

Rule one:  Seek first to understand. 

To understand the consumer journey, gather research that includes both quantitative and qualitative evidence. This research should highlight the consumer’s needs, perceptions, and questions throughout their interactions with the brand.

Rule two:  Think dialog not monologue.

Consumer-driven marketing supports the consumer’s intent to control the process and actively pull in information that is helpful to them. Trying to “push” consumers through traditional advertising, direct marketing, sponsorships and other channels will no longer produce the desired effects.  In fact, pushing consumers may backfire, sending your messages straight to the spam filter.

Rule three: Segment often, target continuously.

Define the various behavioral stages your customers go through when getting to know your product, service and brand.  The customer journey map should tell a simple story to focus attention on the customer’s needs. You’ll also want to identify the various customer personas you serve and map the journey for each of them.

Rule four: Measure twice, cut once

At a glance, your colleagues should be able to clearly recognize the key touch points associated with each stage a user passes through on their journey. On your map, list the team members involved at each stage and the touch points driven by each role to help address gaps.  Then, gather and include feedback from all stakeholders and adjust the touch points accordingly.

Next Steps and quick tips

The key to maximizing the value and results of mapping a consumer journey requires a shift that engages all levels of an organization. It helps to start the process by educating the teams and building a consensus that supports the effort. Once everyone is aligned with the strategy and agrees that individualized consumer marketing is the way to go, momentum will gather quickly.  Here are some tips on how to get started: 

• Get to know what your customers are trying to achieve through website analytics, social media monitoring and customer surveys.
• Gather information from front-line staff in your business, including sales and customer service representatives, to hear what customers are saying to them.
• Use content and paid media analytics to identify what users are looking for and if you’re providing the right information to match consumer intent.
• Include touch points that are visible to customers (talking to a salesperson) as well as behind the scenes (running a credit check).
• Take an 80/20 approach and prioritize the touch points that impact the customer experience the most.