Mapping The Consumer Journey

BusinessAudit

Apr 22

The consumer journey will be one of the most transformative documents you will map out. The consumer journey represents a consumer’s experience with a company from discovery to post-purchase. This process allows you to strategically map out your brand touchpoints and the messaging in every stage so you can be sure to address their needs, concerns, pain points, and purchasing behaviors.

If you build it, [they] will [maybe] come

Consider this: You continuously deploy content via email, Instagram, and Facebook. In an effort to be relevant, you add TikTok to your marketing strategy. In an effort to be consistent, you create content with the same voice and same messages across each platform. And in an effort to attract the most traffic, you keep your messaging broad and unspecific - because surely, you don’t want to leave anyone out.

But you can’t figure out why your emails are not being open, your social media following isn’t growing, and your website has little traffic. You’re overwhelmed and are considering changing your title from Business Owner at Company-Built-To-Solve-Specific-Problem to Marketing Director at Company-Built-To-Solve-Specific-Problem. You’re spinning your wheels and are dreaming of a world where marketing feels natural.

Does this found familiar?

The problem:

We’re trying to offer the same solution to everyone, but everyone is in a different stage of their purchasing journey and everyone has a different need.

The solution: the consumer journey

Step 1 - Identify your Ideal Client Avatar

Understanding your Ideal Client Avatar (ICA) will help to build a solid root system for your business. Your branding, offerings and content strategy should all be influenced by your ICAs’ pain points, behaviors, and desires.

What drives them to make decisions?
What are they trying to solve?
What is their income?

Some businesses will have more than one ICA, but each ICA will have its own consumer journey and there can be some overlap between each journey.

Access the ICA template

Step 2 - map out where they are in their consumer journey

Each ICA profile will come with its own buying journey - some of which may overlap. The journey starts with buyers becoming aware of the problem or company and hopefully ends with them becoming advocates for your company.

The buyer journey will look different for each company and it may not be linear.

1 / AWARENESS:

We have to be prepared to solve their problem, but we can’t expect them to entirely know what their problem is. Content created for this phase needs to help build awareness of a potential issue and build awareness that your company exists.

2 / INTEREST:

The buyer is now in the interest phase. They’re aware of a potential issue and they are now interested in a solution. We now need to capture their interest but educate them further on why YOU are their solution.

3 / CONSIDER:

The buyer has narrowed their search and they’re researching their options. Here we need to drive the sale home by pushing relevant and educational material. What makes you better than a competitor?

4/ PURCHASE:

We did it! Our content persuaded the buyer that you are the solution. In the purchase phase, we need to consider the touch points such as the ease of purchase, access to the product, and instructions on how to use or book the product.

5 / RETAIN:

The journey doesn’t stop with the purchase, however. How can we retain and transform them to become an advocate for your brand?

6 / ADVOCATE:

Step 3: Decide which touchpoints will help progress each ICA in their journey.

Touchpoints are the different ways a consumer interacts with your brand: google search snippets, email marketing, social media DMs, website contact form, onboarding documents, and customer service are all examples of how someone might interact with your brand.

Touchpoints represent an experience, but they might also come with a desired action. As you list out each touchpoint, ask yourself what action you want them to take once there.

Examples are below of touchpoints in each phase of the consumer journey. You can expand on some touchpoints as you need: Which social media channels will be better for brand awareness? Which social media channels will be better for retention? What actions do you want them to take in each phase?

1 / AWARENESS

PR
PODCAST COLLABS
PINTEREST
WORD OF MOUTH
PAID ADS

2 / INTEREST

SOCIAL MEDIA
SEARCH
LANDING PAGE

3 / CONSIDER

EMAIL NEWSLETTER
REVIEWS
BLOG OR FREE CONTENT
MEDIA
CASE STUDY

4 / PURCHASE

WEBSITE
ONBOARDING

5 / RETENTION

EMAIL NEWSLETTER
COMMUNITY
SOCIAL MEDIA
PROMO
ONBOARDING

6 / ADVOCATE

AFFILIATES
NEWSLETTER
SOCIAL
BLOG

Step 4: Update YOUR BRAND touchpoints

When you mapped out your ICA, you learned what motivates them to make decisions. Now use that data to understand what will make them engage with your touchpoints. The decision could be motivated by emotion or pain points and that can change depending on what stage of the consumer journey they are in. Because you know your ICA’s pain points and emotions, you now know what content to deliver at the right time of the consumer journey.

How will your language differ for each phase?

Conclusion:

You’re now ready to build your consumer maps for your other ICAs. Your consumer journeys can be frequently updated as you continue to understand your ICAs, as you continue to evolve your business, or as you review your data.