The Customer Journey Pathway; And How Educators Can Use It To Make A Meaningful And Profitable Transactional Relationship With Parents

Trying to convert parents and prospects into clients from the get-go is like trying to push a boulder up a hill. It is not only impractical but arduous. For parents, the job of choosing the right school for their child is one that they take seriously and requires aforethought and a fly-by-night marketing approach is not one to tickle their fancy nor will take you any far.

A better way, however, is to gradually but strategically build natural and deep-rooted trust through a series of choreographed stages known as the Customer Journey Pathway.

The purpose of this approach is to hold them by the hand while they are trying to make a decision and to create customers who are not only in love with your business but also fans, promoters, and advocates who help you spread the word to others.

Below are the stages of the Customer Journey Pathway.

The awareness stage:

The aim of the awareness stage is not to acquire a new client. Although, it is not impossible to acquire a new client at the firing of your starting gun but is rather counterintuitive (unless of course, you are selling oxygen). The goal of the awareness stage is to flag down interested prospects who might be ideal for your services and in this context, is typically done via content marketing. The title and body of your content will help you to handpick prospects (ideally parents) who are otherwise marketing-qualified candidates but are on the sidelines, and funnel them into your sales system. The aim of this content, however, is to deliver educative information and leave readers more aware and educated than they were before coming across your brand. This approach is very critical in the formative stage of trust-building. Getting this stage right answers the question of how to get and keep prospects interested until they are ready to make a final purchase decision.

The Subscribe Stage:

Beware that because they have shown interest in your content does not necessarily mean they will take action today. Patience. Many atimes, they are still in their research and information-gathering mode and are still skeptical and iffy. But you have already established a good headstart with these prospects via the awareness stage, remember? and they are more likely to continue on your Customer Journey Pathway. Now is the time to convert prospects into subscribers. Converting prospects into subscribers is a big deal because it means that they have made a small commitment to share with you their personal details. This is a major milestone and should not be downplayed because giving someone your personal details these days is a big deal and should never be taken for granted, and for you as the educator/business owner, it is your earned permission to make further communications with them.

Customers typically make commitments in one of two main ways. Either with their time or money. For a school, a time commitment could be to make the time out of their busy schedules to read your emails, content, or attend your free webinars or events or pay a 'pre-enrollment' visit to your school.

And a money commitment on the other hand may typically come in the form of buying a low-priced product (loss leader) that is relevant and beneficial to them in the pre-enrollment stage. This could range from a book, or a guide or could be paying for a consultation or an event, etc. All or any of these actions predicate great interest in prospects and are vital to the customer journey.

The Excite Stage:

This is the stage in the customer journey pathway where you make a convincing case for your prospects to continue to the next, much more serious and involved level. This is the stage to make a solid conviction and excite prospects by delivering top-flight value via your content, email, events, consultation, physical visitation, or any medium available in your arsenal.

This is the ripe stage to make prospects simply say: Wow.

You need to do everything within your power to excite your customers even if it means going the extra mile because this is the deciding stage that makes all the difference between a Yes and a blatant, emphatic NO.

Think about the Tesla's epic power launch for a second and you will grasp the concept of the excite stage. If you are in the market for a high-tech car and you experience Tesla's power launch, it is excruciatingly difficult as a prospective car buyer to not wind up buying a Tesla, given that the price is within your budget because the power launch experience is jawdropping.

That is a classic example of the Excite stage and what you should aim for in your business. It is your golden chance to make a convincing first impression.

The Ascend Stage:

This is the meat of the customer journey pathway. This is where prospects become clients and this is where the cash register rings for your business.

Prospects, having been 'wowed' in the excite stage are now requesting to ascend up the ladder and convert into a client. This is where they are most excited about the potential transformation that your services will deliver to them to improve their lives. Although, the ascend stage is only a part of the bigger puzzle of the customer journey pathway, as you will see in the next stage.

The Promoter Stage:

The dream stage of any business, because your customers are already becoming successful with your services and now they are spreading the word to others within their circle and are bringing new customers to you at no associated advertising cost. If you deliver on all of your promises to your clients, this stage is almost inevitable. Word of mouth will take a life of its own and work for you while significantly reducing or slashing advertising costs in half.

The Advocate Stage:

This stage is where lifelong customers and promoters are formed. Advocacy is typically aided by supporting causes of similar interest to your customer base. This not only cements a relationship but it makes you relatable and synergizes you with their everyday life.

The customer journey as you can already tell is not a sprint but a marathon.

Becoming conscious of the framework and choreographing the stages to best match your business puts you ahead of your competitors.

Not having this framework means you are not conscious of how customers are coming into your business nor do you know what stage they are at to enable you provide tailored experience and service.

How do you flag ideal prospects and generate awareness for your school?

Feel free to discuss in the comments section

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