Building an Effective Automated Customer Journey

Building an Effective Automated Customer Journey

Selling to customers is so much more than hoping people will stumble onto your offerings through your marketing and then hoping they’ll feel compelled to make a purchase from you. Sure, you could try to sell that way, but the problem with that method is that the sales aren’t reliable and you as the seller don’t have much to do with the outcome. A way to take charge of your sales is to take your customers on a journey that you design; a curated "experience" with your business that serves them in each phase of the process, from pre-sale, to sale, to post-sale.

Serving customers well throughout their sales journey with you ensures that you:

1. Attract them in the first place by providing significant value
2. Make their experience working with you as seamless and satisfying as possible
3. Leave a great impression so that they will be eager to continue working with you or to work with you again

The most successful physical journeys are embarked upon using a map to guide travelers’ progress - to locate the destination, then to mark the route along the way that ultimately leads there. A customer journey is no different. It begins with the destination, or "the sale." Then mark out the route you want the customer to take to arrive there (and where to go afterward).

The first step, then, is to determine what you would ideally like the customer to purchase. It could be anything - an insurance policy, a trip to Italy, a boat, a pair of shoes, a cat bed…

Then you begin to map out the journey, which could go like this:

1. Advertise your product or service by pointing out how your offering can solve their problem, scratch their itch, fulfill their need or want. Distinguish yourself in the marketplace by appealing to your ideal customer who will have special interest in what you’re saying and how you’re saying it.

• Provide value via information and helpful tips
• Share your insider knowledge and professional opinions
• Build your trustworthiness factor through consistency

Automation at this stage of the journey could be:

• An email sign up form to collect contact information so you can send marketing materials, useful intel and related news
• A thank you email acknowledging the initiation of the journey (for attending a webinar, joining your community, filling out a discovery form, expressing interest in a particular product or service) with a coupon code or notice of a sales event
• An invitation to connect on social media where you host live events, Q&As and nurture an engaged community

2. Once the sale is made, it’s time to serve and serve efficiently. Keep customers apprised of every stage of the sales process, from thank you to delivery of the product or service. Tell them how you will serve them, then follow through.

• Keep promises by delivering as promised
• Remind customers of important dates or milestones along their journey
• Keep things moving by reminding them to schedule appointments, renew agreements or make choices

Automation at this stage of the journey could be:

• Welcome new customers thoroughly with a welcome notification expressing gratitude for their business
• Onboard thoroughly, outlining expectations, providing dates, amounts, deliverables, contact information, procedures, links to calendars and schedules, instructions, agreements, warranties - any details they may need to feel completely served
• Alerts of every stage of service including order in process, order shipped/tracking, order delayed
• Send regular updates in the form of news, videos, sales/discounts, special events, opportunities, best practices… In short, engage in a meaningful relationship so they know that they are more than just another credit card.
• Establish regular invoicing so there are no surprises and you’re not chasing down payments

3. Once the transactional part of the "journey" has ended, ideally, it’s not the end of the road. This is your opportunity to continue to serve and to - hopefully retain a satisfied customer. (Remember, it’s far more cost-efficient to retain a customer than to gain a new one.)

• Demonstrate how they can continue to work with you
• Anticipate what they might need next now that they have what it was that they purchased from you
• Recruit brand ambassadors by asking for referrals from your satisfied customer, thus remaining connected through their contacts

Automation at this stage of the journey could be:

• Notify them of a continued engagement opportunity
• Send discovery poll asking about future pursuits/interests/plans
• Offer discounts and/or rewards for referrals they send your way

All these steps along the journey can be set up as an automation; a "When this occurs, respond with this next step in the process" format. Automations work best when they are efficiently set up on the front end, anticipating each step from the previous one.

For this process, templates are your friend! Templates ensure consistency among interactions and save you time because you’re not writing new copy every time you send the same information - and that makes for a more efficient process throughout. Remember when setting up your templates and forms to gather specific information that when processes are automated, can personalize them to the specific recipient so the response is more targeted to the recipient.

Setting up such correspondence as well as creating forms, proposals, agreements… anything that will be sent out regularly - will be much more easily replicated when templatized.

Once you have a solid customer journey defined, it can be enhanced by a consistent and repeatable automated process. Your business will run more efficiently and your customers will be served more effectively - win-win.

Is your business’ customer journey as automated as it could be?