How to develop an effective customer journey

Are your potential customers given an easy decision to instruct you, or is their journey hindered by inconvenience that causes them to go elsewhere?

A customer journey should lead your consumer on a smooth, clear path from their first interaction of your website or advert to the sale point and beyond. It is important to establish clear goals for want you would like a potential customer to do and then map out the most convenient journey to achieve those goals. Your service could be the best in the world but if it is difficult to access or communicate with, then a buyer is most likely to turn elsewhere regardless of how good your service or product is.

Developing an integrated customer journey that is driven by your target consumer is the key to successful sales and will boost conversion rates, improve customer satisfaction and the reputation of your business. 89% of successful businesses acknowledge it is critical to their growth that they anticipate customer needs and provide assistive experiences along the customer journey (Martin Ceisel at Mindtouch, 2018). Building trust with your customers is especially important in the legal industry as many of the cases can be sensitive and emotional for those involved.

Where does the customer journey begin?

Your customer’s journey begins the moment they have their first interaction with your business and consider using your service, this could be by searching a service through Google and going directly to your website or seeing an advertisement billboard they passed while driving their car. They have now been exposed to your business but be warned, it could take a number of interactions before a potential customer decides to buy. At mmadigital, we use data to drive our targeted marketing campaigns across a number of platforms to make sure we reach as many potential customers as possible including TV, Radio, Social Media, SEO and pay per click (PPC) advertising.

However, its not enough to be seen by target consumers, they also need to be able to reach you. By providing a large range of communication channel options such as email, telephone or live chat, a customer can contact you in a way that suits their needs and be more flexible with their time. Consider using a chatbot which will allow your business to remain active 24/7, 365 days a year. According to Chatbots Life, by 2020, it is predicted that 85% of consumer interactions will be handled without a human agent (Chatbots Life, 2019). It is important to consider the future while developing your customer journey. Think about your customer touchpoints when developing your communications strategy, for instance, someone between the age of 18 – 25 may be more comfortable using Facebook messaging and WhatsApp compared to someone over 65.

Streamline your customer journey

Whatever way a customer chooses to get in touch, they should be provided with the same consistent standard of customer service across each stage of the journey and it is vital that their experience is high quality, consistent and accurately reflects your brand/business. Using the power of technology can help to enhance and streamline this process and remove the chance of any human error.

To improve our own customer journey, mmadigital have recently begun implementing Natterbox cloud systems for our contact centre. This will integrate voice & cloud tools developing our customer communications service and link these processes with the Salesforce CRM system, keeping all our data in one centralised system. This means our team can vet each enquiry once contact has been established and hotkey transfer qualified leads to law firms in one smooth process. Our panel members can then view the full details of the customer in their own secure management portal to gain further information, instead of having a customer repeat the whole process again, making the customer feel valued. According to a recent 2019 Microsoft report, 61% of people have switched brands due to poor customer service, with nearly half having done so in the past 12 months.

Make sure you provide regular training for your staff and keep them updated with any new technology you implement. Recording your calls for quality checks and as a training device will also help you to establish the quality of your communication and keep staff up to date.

The journey doesn’t stop when a sale or service has been completed

Your sale was successful, and the customer has finished using your service, now what? This is the time to get feedback on your product/services and use this feedback to continually update your customer journey. Once a sale is complete, ask your customer for a review or fill in a short survey which rates your service. According to mmadigital’s Consumer Attitudes Towards Law Firms: Research Report, online reviews of law firms matter to 58% of people, who do their research before engaging with a law firm (read the full report here). To encourage your customer to submit a review, send a short thank you and remember to be consistent.

Finally, stay in touch! Keep your consumers loyal and updated by inviting them to sign up to your newsletter or social media channels to keep them informed about other services that may be valuable to them in the future. This means you will remain in your customer’s mind and increase the opportunity of a referral.

Fill in the gaps in your customer journey with our top 5 tips:

1. Revisit your customer journey on a regular basis to make sure it still fits your customers’ needs and requirements. As technology improves there may be new platforms and services for you to take advantage of to reach and service your customers more effectively.
2. Identify the areas you are losing/gaining customers by creating a customer journey map - developing a timeline of each stage of the customer experience. Additionally, conduct a review of the process using a mystery shopper who can identify areas for improvement.
3. Implement a centralised system to hold all your data and interact with existing and new technology such as a leading CRM system, allowing your staff to work in one place and use the data collected to influence your future plans.
4. Keep your staff trained! Make sure staff receive regular training that includes updates on any new technology/processes you are implementing. This will keep your service consistent and running smoothly.
5. Ask for feedback from both your staff and customers. Reviews can not only encourage new customers to use your services but can also identify areas for improvement. Your staff have regular contact with your customers, so make sure to tap into this resource and listen to their feedback as your brand ambassadors.