A large part of running a business is the customer experience you create, in every place your brand is accessible. The customer experience starts from the moment a visitor finds you, and continues after they’ve made a purchase.

This experience is what can attract the right type of customer – one who returns to buy from you, and talks about your brand to others.

Here’s how to maximise the first four steps of your customer experience, from the point of first contact to purchase.

Step 1. Look at every place your target customers access your brand

We recommend having at least five brand access points. This might be Facebook, Instagram, a website, a mailing list, digital advertising, a podcast, PR, or advertorials. List all of these in separate tabs on a spreadsheet.

Then, look at the activities you’re running at each of these points. You might have Facebook advertising set up for example, for which you’ve created a simple marketing funnel using MailChimp. Map activities and stages under each access point in the spreadsheet, so you have a snapshot of what your market sees.

Step 2. Review the content you’ve created for each activity

Does it meet these criteria?

• Is it showing enough value, fixing a pain point and creating trust for your market first, without asking them to do anything? You might want to pull out your customer snapshot, a description of your target customer based on research and information you’ve gathered along the way.
• Does it speak to customers at their level, in a language they understand?
• Is it on-brand? You might want to revisit your brand statement and key messages, and check the voice is consistent. A brand statement articulates how your product or service fills a need in the market in a way that other brands don’t. Key messages are what you continually want to reinforce to your customers. Having a clear set of key messages will let you create stronger content that’s aligned to your brand. If you feel your copy is outdated of not well aligned with your brand, there are professional website copywriting services that can assist you.
• Does the communication flow? Does it drop off anywhere? Could it be better at any stage to create a memorable moment? For example, are you emailing them on their birthday or anniversary?
• Do you have different levels of interaction? There are two things to consider here. Firstly, people will choose different ways to engage with your brand. They might follow you on Facebook and listen to your podcast. Or they might follow you on Instagram and subscribe to your email list. So there’s little point in duplicate content. Secondly, consider the different levels at which they can engage. You might want to picture this as a vertical. For example, after showing enough value and creating enough trust through free content, you might want to invite them to make a purchase. Once they’ve done that, you might want to add them to a separate email list and serve them more content. Eventually you might invite them to book a consult. Map out these verticals and consider whether it’s on brand and flows in a way that makes sense to your customer.

Step 3. Hone the call-to-action at every touch point

Consider:

• Is it strong enough?
• Does it clearly telling them what to do next? What might seem clear to you isn’t always clear to them.
• Are you telling them what they’re missing if they don’t take it up?
• If it’s at sales stage, can you sweeten the deal by offering something extra that can’t be bought? This can increase the perceived value. It can be as simple as a checklist or a template – whatever makes life easier for them.
• Is your offer limited? This can create a sense of urgency to act.

Step 4. The last step is to measure

You can do this by using a tool like Google Analytics to see page visits and clicks, and take stock of any trends and drop off points to strengthen your activities. Some topics might simply not gel or be as relevant to your market, and analytics is a great way to highlight that.

Understanding the customer experience can take time, especially if you’re marketing an established brand where a lot of content has already been developed.

You might want to reach out to a content marketing service like us, Article Writers Australia, for help.