5 Customer Journey Stages You Should Know

The importance of customers' experiences to a company's growth is rising. You can better engage customers and boost revenue by tracking their progress from first contact to final purchase. But how do you even start mapping out each individual stage? 

The good news is that there are five stages that can serve as guidelines during your work to design a customer journey. In this blog post, we’ll explore these five imperative customer journey phases enabling you to provide better experiences for each consumer. Keep reading to learn more!

5 Customer Journey Stages

Customer journey refers to the entire process a prospective buyer goes through before, during, and after purchasing. There are five major stages of the customer journey: awareness, consideration, purchase, retention, and advocacy. Let's examine them more closely.

1. Awareness

Such a customer journey phase as awareness is vital to making a long-lasting impression on potential customers. This is the very beginning of their journey with your brand, and it's important to be positive. By building brand awareness, you can earn your target audience's recognition, trust, and loyalty.

Maximizing your brand's recognition can do wonders for your profits. Expect increased website traffic, improved customer conversion, and a rise in sales. Investing time and resources into raising brand awareness at the beginning of the customer journey pays off in the long run.

2. Consideration

At the consideration stage, customers have already recognized a need or craving for a product and are determined to find the perfect one. They're looking at reviews, asking for recommendations from their loved ones, and conducting extensive research to ensure they end up with the best product possible.

This stage of the customer journey is particularly important because it's when the customer is most likely to take the plunge and make a purchase.

3. Purchase

If you've presented yourself well during the consideration stage, the sale isn’t far behind. The customer’s expectations are high, so your goal is to exceed them by providing an effortless and stress-free purchasing experience.

Don't let them second-guess their decision. Instead, make their journey unforgettable with a seamless and satisfying ordering process. In particular, it's a good idea to streamline the payment process and offer a variety of convenient payment gateways.

4. Retention

Building a solid relationship with customers during the retention stage is crucial for maintaining those relationships over time. Your ultimate goal after the sale should be to encourage repeat purchases and strengthen your customer's loyalty to your brand.

Winning new customers is quite an investment. It can be five times more expensive to bring in a new customer than to keep an old one. So, you should put retention strategies at the top of your list if you want to get a better return on your advertising and marketing efforts.

5. Advocacy

Advocacy is the final stage of the customer journey. At this stage, customers have already made a purchase and had a positive experience with your brand, which has transformed them into loyal advocates of your products or services. These loyal customers are likely to spread the word about your business, which can result in new customer acquisition and increased revenue.

That's why you also need to concentrate on attracting new clients who can become loyal customers in the future.

Why You Should Consider the Customer Buying Phases

Have you ever considered the customer's perspective as a business owner, both before and after a purchase has been made? You can gain a great deal of value by focusing on the buyer's journey.

To begin with, mastering it will allow you to provide a better service to your customers in general, resulting in increased customer retention and positive word-of-mouth.

Not only that, but it will also help you find the best ways to reach and engage with potential customers. This deeper understanding of your target audience can promote product development and enable you to offer customized and attentive customer service.

Moreover, keeping track of stages of the customer journey can also reveal any potential problems that could stop a sale. This information is invaluable in taking the right steps to tackle these major issues and increase sales.

Keeping these factors in mind, let's look into some effective strategies for improving your customers' journey along the way. 

Useful Tips For Developing Customer Journey Steps to Keep in Mind

Remember that 80% of customers value their interactions with a company as much if not more than, the quality of the products they purchase. The following strategies will assist you in designing a customer journey that is both seamless and fully meets the requirements of your intended audience.

Determine the main customer touchpoints

Did you know that every customer's journey is as unique as they are? Some love browsing your website, while others prefer connecting with you on social media or sending an email inquiry. There's no one-size-fits-all approach to customer lifecycle marketing, so let's explore some examples of these channels:

• Website. Your website acts as a gateway, providing a first impression that can either make or break customers’ opinions of your company. From seeking product information to making a final purchase, your website can be the deciding factor in their decision-making process.
• Social media channels. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter offer valuable opportunities such as increased reach and direct communication to establish meaningful relationships with customers.
• Emails. With advanced email marketing personalization features, businesses can analyze users’ purchasing history and browsing behavior and curate unique messaging for each of them.

Share customer reviews

A glowing review can entice potential customers to invest in your brand, while negative feedback can help you realign and enhance product or service offerings.

Overall, incorporating social proof into your business strategy can be a game-changing move. After all, customers want guarantees that their money will be well spent. And what better way to showcase your credibility than through a collection of testimonials?

By leveraging the power of social proof marketing, you can transform positive reviews into valuable marketing tools. You can use these endorsements as a selling point in your favor by displaying them on your website or sharing them on social media.

Monitor your customer journey

Not only should you map out your customer journey but also keep track of it. Through a thorough exploration of the customer journey, you'll be able to reveal vital perspectives into customers' behavior and improve conversion rates.

For example, with targeted questions and thoughtful analysis, you can optimize your marketing strategy, maximize your budget, and tap into the power of data analytics and social media.

Study the competition

Consider discovering the secrets of your competitors' customer journey. Delve deep into their online presence through their websites and customer acquisition funnels and stay up-to-date with their latest posts on social media.

By leveraging this valuable data, you possess the tool to elevate your customers' journey to new heights and ultimately surpass your competitors.

Achieve Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

As the compass that guides businesses toward customer satisfaction, the phases of the customer journey should not be underestimated in any way. It’s an integral aspect of ensuring customer loyalty and continued patronage. There are five distinct consumer journey stages: awareness, consideration, purchase, retention, and advocacy. All of them should be carefully navigated by businesses seeking to excel in customer experience.

Each stage is just as crucial as the next. Once one has been finished successfully and with the customer's satisfaction in mind, the entire journey has been a success. Businesses should carefully consider how they can keep customers interested throughout each stage of their journey. In the long run, doing this will help them all gain new, devoted clients.