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 what 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 optimise 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 recognises 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 manufacturers 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 finalise 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.