That customer is face-to-face with you right now, and you are fielding their questions or delivering your service to them. And oftentimes and understandably, we are so immersed in the moment that we don’t think about what came before or think enough about what comes next.
But in the life of the customer, they have a journey, often an ongoing one with your organization. So, it helps to understand their perspective, so that you can deliver a better experience, foster a stronger relationship.
Need and Awareness
Let’s start very high-level. Their journey usually begins with them identifying a need or issue to be addressed, followed by their creating an awareness of your product or your service, or their need reminds them of having heard of your service.
Research and Purchase
Then, they conduct research on the service, or they make an inquiry. They want to learn more. That’s when the sales and customer service kick in, and it can lead to an acquisition or a purchase. This is what most people think of when they think of that customer transaction.
Receipt and Evaluation
Then they receive the product or the service that you deliver. They are experiencing that product or service and every process/person/policy associated with its delivery, and they’re forming opinions. They’re going through an evaluation process.
Support…or Not
Then they need support, they need guidance, they need questions answered or issues resolved, and they have to determine or research how to make that happen.
They get that support…or not. They get that answer from your team…or elsewhere.
Word-of-Mouth and Repurchase
Finally, they decide what that word-of-mouth is going to be. Will they talk you up positively, be indifferent and not mention your organization at all, or complain to their friends and co-workers?
And that word of mouth – formed from their opinions and experiences – could lead to the potential repurchase of your product.
Understand where you are in this journey, but realize everything that comes before and everything that comes after. The nature of your encounter with the customer is going to be framed by what happened before, and the experience that the customer and your co-workers have down the road is going to be framed based on the customer’s encounter with you.
See the customer’s journey from their perspective.
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