Customer journey mapping: What you should know before launching your next marketing campaign

Understanding the journey your “customer” will take as they learn more about your organization and/or products and services is critical to marketing success. When a nonmember considers joining your association, what is the experience they will have as they make their decision? If a member is interested in attending the next annual meeting, will they have all the tools and information they need to complete registration and prepare to attend? Laying out each phase of this process using a customer journey map provides a visual of the steps your audience will take to complete an action with your organization.??

“Customer journey mapping helps create a guideline for organizing and setting your campaign plan,” says Jemilah Senter, vice president of marketing and communications at MCI USA. “Ideally, you would create a separate customer journey map for each of your personas, as well as each marketing campaign.”?

MCI USA’s customer journey map outlines five stages:??

1. Awareness?
2. Consideration?
3. Decision?
4. User?
5. Advocate?

Within each stage, the following elements should be summarized:?

• Customer goals: A description of what’s driving the individual at each stage of the process?
• Touchpoints: How the organization has engaged with the individual, based on their persona, through content and other communications?
• Customer thoughts: What the individual might be thinking about or questions they may be asking??
• Overall customer experience: How the individual may be feeling at any point of the journey?

Once these elements are outlined, identify the content you have available or will need to secure to help move customers through each stage. (A content audit will help with this.) Don’t be afraid to repurpose content that’s already created. Think about how you can use one piece of content in various ways for different channels.?

Once target audiences, customer journey stages and content are identified, the marketing campaign can be launched, using the customer journey map as a guide.?

Stage 1: Building Awareness?

According to Senter, this stage is all about building trust with your audience. Because your organization or products and services may be unknown to your prospects, it’s important to provide valuable, relevant information that can hook them quickly. At this stage, promote content such as short blog posts, infographics, polls and quizzes via social media, e-newsletters and your website.??

Stage 2: Consideration?

At this stage of the journey, prospects are thinking about the different options they have, so your content should be more directed at helping them achieve their goals, as they’re going to spend more time reading and engaging with your content. Ideal content for this stage includes demo videos, case studies, e-books, how-to guides and photo galleries.?

Stage 3: Decision-making?

Here, prospects are focused on their needs and have decided if they’re going to pursue the action you want them to take, whether that’s joining the organization, attending an event or purchasing a product or offering. The content mix at this point of the journey should include consultations and demos, microsites and testimonials, reviews, in-depth blog posts and more.?

Stage 4: User Stage?

At this point in the journey, the individual has fulfilled the action you wanted them to take, so it is important to keep them interested so they will continue to engage with your organization.?

For example, if they purchased a registration for the annual conference, you’ll want to ensure that the touchpoints after that are effective. Perhaps they’ll want to build their schedule or make travel arrangements that include exploring the host city. Maybe they want to share on social media that they’re going to the event and plan to meet with peers from other cities. The content mix could include the following:?

• A list of things to do and see in the host city, from the perspective of a local member?
• A social sharing toolkit that includes a digital “I’m attending” badge??
• An invitation to record a testimonial on why they decided to attend?
• A poll on what they are most excited about?
• An invitation to register for supplemental events?

Finding ways to maximize the excitement of attending the conference, while offering opportunities that help encourage loyalty, is beneficial to the organization and useful in the planning and marketing of future meetings.??

Stage 5: Advocate Stage?

Though it’s the final stage in the customer journey, the advocate stage has the most potential to yield a high return on investment, as the cost to acquire a new customer is higher than the cost to retain one.?

“People who have consumed your products and services have the greatest potential to be your champions and your ambassadors,” Senter says. “I think, oftentimes, this stage of the customer journey is the most neglected. Don't miss out on opportunities to leverage the passion of your greatest fans and make them your evangelists.”?

There are multiple ways marketers can create opportunities for members to showcase their positive experiences with your organization. In the instance of a conference attendee, for example, you could implement the following activities:?

• Send a thank-you email with a link to the post-event survey.?
• Share and respond to social media posts, at-mentioning the member.?
• Offer a post-event social-sharing toolkit with dedicated graphics.?
• Offer an exclusive registration for next year’s meeting with a “next-time-now” discount.??
• Recognize top social media sharers and offer them a gift card as a “surprise-and-delight” tactic.??

Another way to engage members in the advocate stage is by recognizing them in various ways in e-newsletters and on your website. Additionally, providing opportunities for them to contribute as subject-matter experts or even planning unique or exclusive experiences for them can foster loyalty and membership longevity.?

“Think about ways you can make these individuals feel extra special,” Senter suggests, “because the more special they feel, the more natural it will be for them to evangelize your organization or your product or service.”?

Download MCI USA’s on-demand webinar, “Small Budget, Big Impact: Affordable Ways to Level-Up Marketing,” to learn more about how you can use customer journey mapping in your association’s marketing.?