Introduction to Digital Customer Journeys
When we talk about digital customer journeys, we need to look beyond just algorithms, channels, and cold numbers. We need to delve into the communication strategies, the unique mechanisms we use in our sales arguments, and who our ideal customer persona (ICP) actually is.
In today’s digital market, it has never been harder to capture consumer attention. It’s no longer enough to simply be present on Meta, Google Ads, TikTok, and send out a couple of newsletters each month.
It requires an understanding of positioning your customers’ stages in the customer journey, followed by a digital marketing strategy that creates needs in the end user’s decision-making process.
In this blog post, you will gain insight into how we at the Final Click create digital interaction in digital buying journeys using models, psychology, and analysis work.
Market Sophistication
Determine your customers’ position in the market across your digital customer journey to formulate the best offers, strategies, and content for your digital marketing efforts.
Your customers’ position in the market is directly linked to their skepticism and their knowledge of the given market. Based on the current stage, you should design the right offer with the appropriate assurance to avoid drowning among your competitors who are offering the same.
Eugene Schwartz
Eugene Schwartz’s model:
Level 1: Unaware (No competition – Blue Ocean Market)
Level 2: Problem-aware (Your customers are aware that there are multiple providers to solve a problem)
Level 3: Solution-aware (Your market requires innovation and a new, unique angle before they are sold)
Level 4: Product-aware (A good offer is not enough; they require education about the product and assurance about the product/service)
Level 5: Saturated (Your customers have seen it all. They are educated about the product/service; now it’s all about the angle and the outcome)
Define your ICP (Customer persona)
Hypothesis: Most people start by finding a product to sell, then they look towards a customer type. In reality, one should start by identifying a problem and then build towards a product, customer type, and finally an outcome that the product can solve for that specific type of customer. The more detailed, the more targeted your digital customer journey can be mapped to this kind of customer persona. (Example: Poor sleep -> Poor pillow -> Parents over 40 years old, struggling at work -> Gain more energy with better sleep using our pillow).
Data: Once you have defined your hypothesis about who your customer persona is, you should look at cold data from your website, email marketing (segments), consumer data, order locations, social media, etc., to map out exactly who your customer is, what they do in their free time, what kind of music they listen to, and what their daily life is like. Based on your data across platforms, you compare the cold facts with your hypothesis.
If your data and hypothesis are in contrast, you should look at your ICP’s market position and build a new offer that fits an outcome that will improve their daily life.
Increase your AOV instead of lowering your CAC
This may sound somewhat contradictory, as a higher average order value (AOV) often indicates a longer buying journey. Most are constantly fighting the eternal battle of reducing CAC per sale/closed lead. Instead of struggling against something you can’t change, try looking at your profitability.
You can experiment with options such as bundling products, offering volume discounts, adding a free product to the order, or even providing value through a digital product included (Example for a fitness product: “Spend over 699 kr. and receive a free training plan”).
This will not only increase your profitability and scalability options but also provide your brand with a form of gamification that customers can look forward to.
Loyalty Club/Ambassador Program
Humans are social creatures; this means that they follow the recommendations of their friends, family, or acquaintances, especially when the customer themselves has an incentive to help.
When selling online, it can be highly beneficial to build a community of loyal customers who share their positive experiences in the market in exchange for simple benefits such as a gift voucher for their next purchase, a small commission per sale, etc.
At the Final Click, we have been involved in establishing EasyGreen.dk’s ambassador program, a product that averages 150,000 kr. per order, with over a 50% conversion rate per referral from ambassadors.
Sell a lifestyle or an outcome
There are many recipes for the “right” communication strategy. Therefore, we recommend that you take a look at the section on “Market Sophistication” and ICP (Ideal Customer Persona) building before you reassess your entire marketing effort.
Based on your hypotheses regarding your customers’ awareness levels in the market, combined with your actual data about your ideal customer persona, you should examine your sales element.
Are you selling to the right customer type?
Are your customers where in the market you thought they were?
When these two questions are clear, you should focus on the problem that your product and your marketing strategy solve.
Taking sport giant Nike as an example. A brand built on performance marketing and strong branding initiatives. Nike has established itself in the market with a promise of a lifestyle and an outcome that their products represent: “Just do it.”
However, not everyone has the same budget or time in the market as Nike has had to build this lifestyle. Yet the formula is simple:
Instead of showcasing the product/service directly, your digital customer journey, communication, and offers should be centered around one thing only: an outcome of a better lifestyle.
People buy with emotions and support their decisions with logic. If a customer has been convinced that the safe choice to solve a given problem is to choose your product/service, then the sale is secured.
