Create An Effective Buyers Journey Template To Build Your Business

A Step By Step Approach To Understanding The Customer Experience

Understanding the journey of your buyer will greatly help you in boosting customer engagement, optimizing sales, and improving customer loyalty to your brand.

Whether you are in charge of a brand that sells products or services, digital or physical, your buyer’s journey will provide you with insight on what you need to work on to improve your business.

It will place you in the buyer’s place and you will view the transaction from your customer’s perspective, opening your eyes to things you overlooked as a seller.

The buyer’s journey is the process that defines the customer’s experience. It starts from the moment the customer becomes aware of the existence of the product or service.

Next, it maps their journey as they consider and evaluate their need or want for the product and decide to make the purchase.

The journey doesn't end here, as in most cases, it expands to customer satisfaction and loyalty in terms of reviews and repeated purchases.

There are different ways to create and plan out buyers' journeys. If you search online, you will find many types of customer journey maps for you to fill in.

The one featured in the main image of this piece is one of the best revolutionist approaches to mapping out the journey of your buyer. It not only features the main stages of the journey but helps to identify the emotions involved in each of the stages, as well as work out possible solutions to the problems connected with each stage.

Here is another alternative to map your buyer’s journey.

Stage 1: Interest

The first stage happens when your potential buyer develops an interest in your product or service.

They become aware of a need for a solution to their problem.

Your Goal: Record what their emotions can be when they are in this stage. This will help you later on when it comes to marketing and developing the design and visual representation of the product/service when you would need to pinpoint what emotions you want to instill in your buyer.

Stage 2: Research

In the second stage, the customer is aware that your product exists, yet before making the purchase, they research other similar products to pinpoint the best choice for their need.

Price, quality, features, and payment/delivery methods are all factors that help the buyer make the decision to purchase.

Your Goal: Research what your competitors are doing.

Observe top-selling products or services in your niche and try to pinpoint from the customer’s perspective why they are top-selling.

Note down what elements make the customer’s journey a successful one.

• For example, are they implementing multiple payment sources, thus providing the customer with more payment options and easing the transaction process?
• Are there high-quality verified reviews that are enticing customers to purchase and build trust in the brand?

Try to implement some of the successful strategies you observe from your competitors.

Look at different products in different outlets and investigate their benefits and weaknesses.

Stage 3: Decide

This is a critical stage where the customer designs to purchase the product and select the right seller.

Your Goal: Observe from your customer’s perspective what the seller can do to ensure the decision-making is a smooth informed decision.

If it is an online purchase, how can you ensure there are no errors in the payment stage?

How can you help make the decision process easier for your customer?

Is there an SSL certificate encrypted on the website to ensure your customer’s payment information is protected?

Would you provide additional discounts or one-time discounts in order to close the sale in the instance that the customer clicks the back or close button?

Stage 4: Customer Loyalty

After they make the purchase and receive the order, the customer will decide if they are happy with the purchase. If so, they will likely become a repeating customer, referring you to their family and friends and placing a good review.

Your Goal: Work out potential ways to build trust with your customer in this stage.

Is there a loyalty program for repeated loyal customers who make consistent purchases or share the brand’s page on social media?

Is there a reward to entice customers to place a review of the product?

Is there aftersales support for your customer in the case that there are delays in delivery or receiving a faulty item?

This is the most important stage besides closing the sale. It is this stage that helps your brand thrive. Consistent action should be taken to optimize the success of this stage.

Tools To Help You Plan Your Buyers Journey:

Canva is one of my favorite tools to use when planning out my business reports and analysis. It offers professional templates that make my work easier and more effective just for 11.99 per month.

You can access a 30-day free trial to Canva premium which provides you with the opportunity to try it out.

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About The Author

Noor is a second-year business student at Tredu. She is also studying for Diploma in International Smart Industry at Tampere University. She is passionate about marketing and content creation. She recently launched her YouTube channel specializing in holistic healing.