When I try to design positive experiences for my customers, I often reflect how I am as a buyer make my buying decisions first. I reflect on the entire buying journey and how I come to one decision among many compelling offers. As a buyer, some times we may not be aware of the different touch points as we experiencing them and the feelings those touch points created for us. At the end of the day, those feelings led to the final buying decision. Recently, I was shopping for a marketing service. I summarized my buying decision journey with different experiences. This helps demonstrate how did the customer experience led to my buying decision.
The first step: I recognized and decided that I need marketing service for my business. The need is recognized and established. I also decided a budget I want to spend on marketing. After that, I started the online search for marketing service.
Once I conducted a through internet search , I have identified 4 candidates.
->Through internet search I found company A & company B. I reached out to them via their website.
-> I got 1 referral of company C from friends
-> I browsed social media and noticed company D. I then clicked at the campaign and reached out to company D
After my initiation outreach action, here are my Customer Journey with Company A,B,C,D.
With Company A: I went from curious and interested to not interested at all without any person to person touch points. The negative experiences from the digital touch points was able to led me to lost of interest and confidence to company A’s service.
With Company B: I went from curious to interested. Company B did not initiate many touch points with me. Every touch point they focused on providing me value. I was able to build confidence in their ability to understand the customer’s need throughout the process.
With Company C: Because company C was referred by a trusted friend, I had the highest interest in company C at the beginning. Because of the introduction meeting company C was very “self focused”, I did not get enough clarity of how the service would fit me. I did not build enough confidence of their service from that touch point. Later, the lack of response certainly lead of lack of confidence in the brand from my side.
With Company D:I went from curious to disappointed. From disappointed to be annoyed. I eventually unsubscribed from their email marketing and felt very negative towards to brand. Company D initiated daily touch points with little value to add for me. The overwhelming amount of push information generated negative feeling on my end.
It was interesting to see these journeys comparing side by side. I had a clear need, clear budget allocated and desire to buy. These companies offered very similar solutions to solve the same problem. End of the day, it was the experiences created by their digital touch point and physical touch points lead me to a clear favor position to the buying decision.
I talked about “Customer experience is set to be the number one brand differentiator” in the last blog. Customer engagement is going through a transformation. Instead of perfecting the internal comprehensive sales process, Business shifts from inside-out thinking to an outside-in mindset.
Every customer interaction creates an emotional experience that affects the customer’s buying decisions. Our Value Differentiation service is to help you develop a Customer Journey roadmap that guarantees every touch point creates a positive experience for your customer. This differentiates you in from your competitors, and generates more response, more interest, and eventually leads to the next stage of engagement.
At ZL, our mission is to empower small to medium-sized businesses through a suite of bespoke consulting services encompassing market analysis, go-to-market strategies, project management, and PMO consulting. We are dedicated to delivering insightful, hands-on guidance and execution support, ensuring our clients not only achieve but exceed their strategic objectives. Our commitment lies in driving tangible business impact, fostering growth, and building long-term resilience in an ever-evolving marketplace.
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