What are the 7 Stages of Customer Journey?

Customer journey management (CJM) is observing, measuring, and optimizing the customer journey. It represents the overall experiences that one undergoes, from being aware of the brand to making purchases and thoroughly being a trusted client.

A better understanding of customers helps businesses optimize their goals according to client preferences. It provides a positive experience and increases retention, making it a significant factor for business success.

There are seven stages of the customer journey, starting with awareness of services, considering their usages, making purchases, leveraging their benefits, following up on feedback, and eventually becoming a firm loyal buyer and promoting the brand.
 

Customers become aware of your brand when they use search engines to find a solution to their problem. In this stage, they gather information through web surfing, articles, advertisements, social media, etc., so it is crucial to satisfy their queries and invest in marketing. It is the initial impression that a firm makes to its potential customers.

In the second stage, customers consider your brand a solution to their problem. They compare your services with other competitors. A unique service can trigger one’s attention. In the consideration phase, they seek detailed information about the product, including different factors such as budget, online review, experienced buyers feedback, etc.

To ensure further engagement, keep your content regularly updated to address their queries. As customers rely on each other’s opinions, make sure to monitor and follow up on reviews.

The third stage is where customers finally make purchase decisions. They decide between your product and competitors’ products. This indicates that your brand has the potential to solve their issues, which may lead to a purchase.

Since customers trust your service, you must provide them with a seamless buying experience. It provides clear pricing details and a competitive comparison showing why your product is superior.

The customers utilize the product and observe its usability and benefits. They get hands-on experience with how your product really works and decide to engage further with your brand. Some products can be complex to set up, so guidance should be provided for a better customer experience.

The best method of enhancing the customer journey is to get to know them better. Monitoring the review provides clear client insight. It aids businesses in aligning marketing strategies with users’ expectations.

Purchasing is not the end of the journey; retaining them is crucial for business. Use the data you have to communicate with them and update them with related and new products.

The overall customer journey revolves around building trust. This phase aims to keep clients happy and encourage them to be committed buyers. It includes maintaining a positive relationship between the user and the business. Adopt call routing to offer direct access to relevant departments for any issues and queries.

Customers who are satisfied with the product share their experience and encourage others to purchase. Buyers value the opinions of their peers, so they are the top-tier promotion of the product.

For example, a loyal customer may share your brand's social media profile with a friend who is looking for relevant services. When they actively promote your product, they invite others to begin their journey with your brand.

A smooth customer journey is crucial to maintaining a long-term relationship with clients. Observing its overall phases, focusing on users’ expectations, and establishing a service-oriented environment ensures a smooth buyer journey.

• Customer Journey Mapping 
  A customer journey map is a visual representation of clients' interactions with businesses throughout their entire journey. The map presents the users’ experience in each stage. Mapping the journey pinpoints areas for improvement and optimizes marketing strategies.
• Review Customer Journey
  Regularly reviewing the customer journey helps you meet their evolving needs. It highlights flaws within the phases where user experience is affected and resolves them faster. It results in increased traffic to your website and an increased conversion rate.
• Leverage Customer Feedback
  If there is a constant complaint about the products or services from the customer, take their feedback into consideration. Try to provide an instant solution.
• Train the Employee
  Employees are the first to interact with customers. They know the users' experience and issues best. Training employees to interact with and solve client issues increases brand reliability and enhances the journey.
• Offer Reliable Metrics 
  The right customer management tools offer better buyer insight. They track the KPIs and pinpoint the stages where buyers need to make critical decisions.

Understanding the customer journey is complicated and often a non-linear process. Customer journey management uses technology to map, simplify, and optimize the journey, making it flexible and responsive. Eventually, this facilitates a business's alignment of goals with the client’s demands.

Calilio helps you create journey maps, tracking each step from awareness to brand recommendation and making them manageable. With its advanced call analytics, you can measure customer sentiment and uncover ways to improve product experience. Sign up today!!

The customer journey describes the various stages that a customer goes through, from being a targeted audience to brand purchase and eventually becoming a loyal client.

The seven stages of the customer journey are brand awareness, consideration, purchase, customer experience, follow-up, customer loyalty, and brand recommendation.

Listening, understanding customer needs, collecting feedback, and aligning business goals with customer requirements help improve the customer journey.

Customer journey mapping is the visual representation of customers' needs, perceptions, and interactions throughout their journey with the business.