How to create a seamless customer journey

Alex Flohr

How to create a seamless customer journey

Online shopping has become the norm, revolutionizing how consumers discover and purchase products. According to Forrester, the majority of American adults who regularly use the internet find it easier to locate products online and often uncover unique items unavailable elsewhere. This shift in consumer behavior underscores the importance of creating a seamless customer journey to meet and exceed evolving expectations.

But consumers aren’t all the same. Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z use the Internet in different ways and are looking for different things.

So while it’s crucial to know what your customers want, their behavior can sometimes be vexing. You may wonder, for example, why some shoppers take a long time to make a purchase or why they abandon their carts midway through the checkout process?

This is where a seamless customer journey—from brand awareness through brand advocacy—is important. A customer journey generally describes the steps and interactions a user goes through on the way to a desired outcome. It’s typically broken down into stages and substages to get an understanding of the critical points of engagement so you can plan connected content and interactivity around them.

It takes a lot of time, effort, and cross-team collaboration to create a seamless customer journey. And while it may not provide the exact answer to all your questions, it can help narrow down possible explanations by allowing you to empathize with and understand your customers. This can have a huge impact on your brand, especially on the overall growth of your business, because a better design and better experience shows your customers that you value them.

A Forrester report shows that customers are 2.4 times more likely to stick with a brand when their problems are solved quickly. Additionally, Chain Store Age reported that a whopping 49% of customers who left a brand to which they’d been loyal in the past 12 months say it was due to poor CX.

If these consumers then turn to social media to share their experiences, that can dissuade more potential customers from doing business with you, compounding the importance of a seamless customer journey.

Avoid fragmented journeys.

No customer journey is exactly the same—they can differ based on customer segments, business type, and industry.

Understanding your target audiences is the first step in designing a customer journey and, subsequently, a better experience. Ensuring that you utilize connected data—customer data from cross-functional and cross-channel interactions that’s centralized to create a single view of the customer—is critical to delivering a connected, consistent experience.

In retail, various types of data—customer expectations, emotions and feedback, operational metrics, and other business data—must be incorporated into the customer journey map. But while data is the driving force, obstacles can get in the way and lead to disconnected, or fragmented, journeys across your various channels. These obstacles include organizational silos, siloed data, inaccuracy and inconsistency of data, lack of technology and tools, and a lack of customer understanding.

Integrating good data into the customer journey at the right place and time will ensure that your customers get the personalized experiences they desire.

Some businesses focus only on individual touchpoints, but this reinforces organizational silos, causing issues for employees and creating an inconsistent experience for consumers. Since the touchpoints are already integrated with the journey, you need to see them in a connected way and design accordingly.

Design a seamless customer journey.

Even if the above obstacles aren’t in your way, the issue is often speed, timeliness, and the ability to glean insights fast enough to be able to deliver the right experience in real time. Here are a few best practices for creating a seamless customer journey:

Put customer relationships first: Customers have many options for purchasing products or services, and it’s important to create a strong bond to keep them coming back. Communicate with them with prompt actions and valuable insights.
Be obsessed with your customers’ needs: Start by developing dynamic, data-driven buyer personas to gain deep insights into your customers' true goals and preferences. Tailor your marketing strategies and product offerings to meet their evolving needs and desires, ensuring a personalized and highly relevant customer experience.
Pay attention to shifting expectations: Customer expectations have transformed the way businesses interact with them. Utilize social monitoring and listening tools and technology to conduct research and analyze results.
Play the right channel at the right time: Understanding how your customers browse, search, and select products or services is crucial. Leverage this knowledge to present your offerings through the most effective channels, whether online or offline, at the optimal time.
Master customer-centric personalization: Stay ahead of the competition by implementing advanced personalization strategies. Leverage cutting-edge technology and data analytics to deliver the right products and services to each customer at precisely the right moment.
Deliver a consistent brand experience: According to Forrester, 95% of consumers use three or more channels in a single interaction, with 62% of them on multiple devices. Deliver a uniform experience across all channels and ensure that the process is clear, efficient, and consistent.
Emphasize brand authenticity: Customers value genuine connections with brands. Authenticity builds trust and loyalty, making it essential to be transparent, consistent, and true to your brand values. Share your story, demonstrate your commitment to social and environmental causes, and engage with customers in a meaningful way. Authenticity isn't just a trend; it's a crucial component of long-term success.
Create a feedback loop: A customer feedback loop will help you gather and implement your customers’ suggestions to create a high-quality experience.
Focus on customer service: According to a U.S. Small Business Administration report, 68% of customers leave brands because they’re disappointed in the treatment they received from customer service. Prioritize customer service support to retain customers.

The bottom line

We empower our clients to navigate the ever-shifting landscape of consumer expectations. From customized workshops to exploratory research, visionary strategy, or data-driven design, we tailor our engagement to fit the unique challenges and opportunities of your business.

To rapidly harness these opportunities, a brief initial conversation can set the stage for a tailored workshop, designed to quickly generate actionable insights and strategies. This approach ensures we deliver the most value, precisely aligned with your specific needs, right from the start.

Schedule a call with our specialists to start the conversation.