Customer journey: turning viewers into paying customers

The term ‘customer journey’ refers to the in­di­vid­ual phases that customers go through before they decide to purchase a certain item or service. The following example helps il­lus­trate this concept:

While watching a YouTube video, a hobby mountain biker learned about the pos­si­bil­i­ty of recording his tours by using an action camera. The viewer’s interest has now been aroused. In order to find out more about the camera, the potential customer does a Google search for the product and runs into an SEA ad placed by the man­u­fac­tur­er. The conveyed in­for­ma­tion sounds promising, and the product appears to be just we our dedicated hobbyist has been looking for. But what have other users said about the camera? And are there any al­ter­na­tives? Further research leads the biker to a user forum, where they encounter positive reviews of the producer they are in­ter­est­ed in. This last comment was enough to motivate the mountain biker to get onto the company’s start page. Lo and behold: there’s a sale going on, and the cyclist ends up making a purchase.

As this example shows, the customer journey is shaped by many different ‘touch points’, where the customer comes into contact with the product, brand, or company of interest. These touch points are located through­out different parts of the purchase decision-making process, and each of them fulfill different purposes. Online retailers can optimize marketing measures by analyzing which phases of the customer journey a potential customer passes through, allowing them to best reach customers during the buying decision process. Generally, the customer journey is broken down into the following phases:

• Awareness: this first phase begins once a potential customer becomes cognizant of a certain product or service’s existence. After they’ve been informed of the product through an ad­ver­tise­ment or word of mouth, the consumer generally rec­og­nizes a need or a desire for it. But this desire sometimes isn’t strong enough to motivate them to actively research the product. Service providers and man­u­fac­tures ensure that potential customers become aware of their offers through brand ad­ver­tis­ing. For instance, in the case of the mountain bike, the ad­ver­tise­ment on YouTube led to an interest - or awareness - being awoken.
   
• Fa­vor­a­bil­i­ty: once the consumer actively begins to search for in­for­ma­tion on a certain product or service, they enter the second phase of the customer journey. At this stage, potential customers try to get an overview on products and potential al­ter­na­tives by doing research. In the mountain biker example, the search engine research con­sti­tutes the second phase of the customer journey.
   
• Con­sid­er­a­tion: once an interest for a concrete product has been aroused, the customer enters into the third phase of the customer journey. This stage is also shaped by the consumer’s active search for in­for­ma­tion. This general interest turns into something more concrete, i.e. an intention to make a purchase, after any pros and cons are taken into account and prices are compared. From the example, the mountain biker finally makes the decision to purchase the item after re­search­ing and reading various user ex­pe­ri­ences and test reports.
   
• Intent to purchase: just because a consumer has made a concrete decision to purchase an item doesn’t mean they’re au­to­mat­i­cal­ly going to end up becoming customers. Often another mo­ti­vat­ing factor is needed in order to finalize the purchase. Such in­cen­tives can come in the form of a special offer, as seen in the example above.
   
• Con­ver­sion: in the last phase of the consumer journey, the desired results have finally been achieved: the consumer makes a product purchase, or begins using a service.