By Swatil Binte Mahmud, Lava Protocols
I wish I could tell you that the customer journey was as simple as a customer coming to your shop, buying products, and then leaving. It is not the 90s anymore, and today’s customer journey is elaborate and intricate. But yes, if you think doing some basic things like smiling at your customers is enough to retain existing and attract new customers, you might be in for a surprise. Growing up, the middle-aged man’s shop from where my mother used to send me for emergency eggs or sugar never smiled at us. But we still went there because it was convenient. Yeah, customer journey may not have been a thing back then, but now it is! And I am here to spill some secrets (11 to be exact) to help you craft a niche customer journey for your lovely customers!
But first, I will give you some facts to explain to you the gravity of the situation. Did you know that 75% of customers usually use more than one channel to interact with a company when making a single purchase? This means you need to provide a great customer experience in your selling touchpoints. Some numbers that can make you happy are that 53% of customers say they feel an emotional connection to the brands they buy from the most. Hence, you need to up your game and connect with your customers!
So, here are the eleven ways to sweep your customers off their feet:
- Know all your customer touchpoints
Do you know all the ways your customers can interact with your business? They can find you through social media, online and offline advertising, talking to friends or colleagues, search engine pages, review sites, other websites, and the list can go on. Hence, track down where your products are showing up!
- Know how your customers find you
Once you know where your products are gaining visibility, it is essential to know if the audience receiving them are your customers or not. For example, Dornier MedTech, a customer-centric global healthcare company, uses Salesforce to capture and reference the data points in the customer’s journey with their company. Knowing how and where your customers find you will allow you to focus your time and energy on optimizing those touchpoints. Optimizing channels that do not generate customers is wasted energy and resources. For Dornier MedTech, using Salesforce helps them get closer to their customers.
- Potential customers find what they are looking for
When I am doing my grocery shopping online, I use the website’s search bar to find the things I am looking for. This saves time and makes my life easier. Would you not want to know when customers are using your website whether they can locate their preferred products or not? I don’t know much about business, but I can tell you if your customers cannot find what they are looking for, they will go somewhere else. Hence, I recommend you regularly check your website analytics to assess how your customers are browsing and what they are searching for.
Dornier MedTech had largely manual processes for customer data before adopting Salesforce. Hence, they deployed Sales Cloud and now have a 360-degree view of their customers and activities.
- Creating a FAQ for your customers
Having a Frequently Asked Questions section on your website can help your customers to look for answers before contacting the customer support team. This allows your customers to find answers and solutions without ever talking to another human being (great news for introverts like me).
- Check your reviews and address it
I know going through customer reviews can be a daunting task. But it has to be done for you to improve your products and services. Reviews from real customers will give you the levels of customer satisfaction and tell you about how your products and services are being used. It is also essential to look for trends in those data, such as finding out which stores or products generate high reviews and which don’t.
- Buy and use your own product
Who will be the best judge of your products than yourself? This might sound silly, but this is an effective method to find opportunities for improvement or find a reason to pat your back!
- Your website is very important
Your customers will visit your website, but if your website is not easy to use or cool to look at, you might lose them. See how your website looks and functions for others. Get feedback and read reviews.
- Knowing your customers’ interests
Gen Z’s make up a huge chunk of any customer database. They care about the vibes your messages are giving. They will leave if the ‘vibes are off’ with your website. Oh, they might also leave a pretty savage review online. Hence, you can use Marketing Cloud by Salesforce to give you insights into your campaigns. The Marketing Cloud will tell you what is working and what isn’t.
- Check to see if customers are abandoning your virtual carts
If your customers are leaving after placing products in their carts, that might mean something is causing friction for the customers. Commerce Cloud by Salesforce is the best solution to help you optimize processes such as checkout flows, payments accelerator, and saved carts. Sometimes, it is better to let the professionals handle these for us. We cannot allow customers to leave after deciding to buy; this will hurt your business in the long run.
- B2B and their problems
If you have a B2B model, you need to see if any sales processes cause problems for your customers and sales teams. If there are problems, you can opt for Sales Cloud to iron out your wrinkles by making your sales pipeline efficient. Sales Cloud can help you achieve better outcomes for salespeople and customers both!
- Include your employees
Senior management can forget the importance of including their employees in evaluating the customer journey. The employees are the ones who are most in contact with customers and can have valuable insights into customers’ satisfaction, behavior and dissatisfaction. Hence, don’t forget to put your service agents, marketing teams, salespeople, and any other employee who interacts with your customers in a room together! It is essential to get their insights and listen to their experiences.
All the best to you and your teams! Let’s hope these eleven tips and tricks will help you to create a seamless customer journey.
Lava Protocols is an authorized Salesforce Reseller. Looking for a cloud service provider? Drop us an email to: hello@lavaprotocols.com.