USING RESEARCH TO UNDERSTAND YOUR CUSTOMERS’ JOURNEYS
Companies and brands know that they need to have a deep understanding of how customers engage with their category and all the different paths they take when they shop. Not all paths are the same. For some categories, the journey remains pretty linear. For others, what used to be a fairly linear path to purchase has evolved into a complex maze, with consumers taking charge of their journey, skipping steps, combining steps, going back and forth and having many more potential interactions and touchpoints with a specific brand (and its competitors).
Add a global pandemic to the mix, which completely altered purchase behavior, and you’ll see a very different consumer from what we saw just 5 years ago. However, many companies and brands are still relying on outdated data and assumptions about their customers which may now be obsolete.
This blog post takes a deeper look into Customer Journey research– high-level information about the sample and questionnaire and what data and insights these projects uncover.
What are customer journeys?
Customer journeys, also known as buyer journeys, are detailed analyses of the complete customer buying process – including all the steps customers take on their way to making a purchase including post purchase behavior.
This information can be useful in many different ways including understanding pain points from the customer’s point of view, prioritizing initiatives that are most important to customers, identifying how and where to spend marketing dollars and where to target customers with what messages.
Customer Journey Research
Like any research, it’s important to understand the basics of each project. Customer journey research is no different. Before diving into the outline of customer journey research, it’s important to answer these questions.
Sample Audience
You’ll want to target all users of a certain category – not just your core customers. Expanding the audience will allow you to gain information on what is important to all category customers and identify how the journey of your customers is different from other category users and what you could do to engage with them through their journey.
Frequency
We recommend conducting customer journey research every couple of years, and always after large changes within the business that would affect customers. Customers naturally shift their purchasing behavior, especially with advancements in technology, and it’s important to have a pulse on this information so your brand can quickly adapt and evolve to serve the changing consumer.
Lab42 Customer Journey Outline
Customer journeys are different for each category, and sometimes for different products within a category. There is no one size fits all approach when it comes to this type of research–each project has to be customized. That said, we use the same broad framework for most journey analysis while customizing individual questions for each one.
Overall, we break our customer journey research into 7 steps to ensure we are gathering a holistic view of the customer’s path to purchase through the category and to understand how present the brand is at each point in this journey. This does not mean that consumers go through each one of the 7 steps, but this exercise helps us understand their individual path.
These steps include assessing and understanding:
1} Need
For what needs(s) are the customers initiating a specific shopping journey?
What brands are they thinking about so early in the process, if any?
Identifying the need that motivates shoppers to start a journey helps frame the potential relationship with your brand.
2} Triggers
What makes them believe they should purchase something from a specific category to satisfy this need?
What brands are they thinking about during this step in the process, if any?
Understanding what triggers customers to think of a specific category for a given need can guide you in crafting messaging and marketing to ensure consumers think of your brand at this step.
3} Research
Do consumers research at all in this category?
If so, how and where are they looking for information?
Insights at this step can guide omni-channel marketing strategy and decisions on how to better reach customers with easy-to-find, clear information.
4} Planning
Is this typically a planned purchase or more ad-hoc / on a whim purchase?
If it is a typically planned purchase, brands can focus on strategies to remain top of mind just before and during the shopping trips.
If its is an ad-hoc purchase they can focus more on in-store strategies or if online, focus on micro targeting consumers who may have exhibited interest in the brand or category.
5} Consideration
Where is this step happening - online or in store?
What brands are in their consideration set?
What is important to them and what makes them consider certain brands over others?
Insights from this step can help guide in-store and/or online strategies to ensure the brand and its benefits are visible and easily understood by consumers.
6} Purchase
Where are consumers finalizing their purchase - online or in store?
Which brand do they end up purchasing and why?
Understanding the driving reason(s) for purchase can help guide messaging, as well as in-store, online strategy and pricing strategy.
7} Post-Purchase
What do customers do after purchasing the product or service?
Do they share information with their social networks? Post positive reviews?
Do they repurchase the brand for the same need?
This is where the brand can turn a single-purchaser into a long term advocate by promoting reviews, offering sales promotions and ensuring the messaging is still in line with the values sought by the customer.
