Do you feel as though your marketing messages are not getting through?

One of the biggest challenges an organization will face is determining what tactics or technologies will help them reach their client experience objectives. It is commonly one element that is identified as a differentiator between competitors, so many organizations strive to improve it but few can define what that means. Defining what it means to improve your client experience is necessary if you want your message to get through. For example, have you considered creating your own customer experience laboratory to measure if your planned changes will be well received by your clients and prospects? At XRM Vision, we call that your Customer Journey.‍

What is the Customer Journey?

‍The Customer Journey is an internal communications tool developed by our CRM experts which allows your organization to share, internally and externally, the customer experience that you would like your clients to go through. Sharing this information is a key component in creating a cohesive message between the different channels and departments dealing with your customers and prospects. Once completed, you will be able to connect the dots between your customer’s state of mind and the best way to reach them.

‍The importance of defining your target audience properly

‍Each Customer Journey is unique: it is created per the criteria and profile characteristics you have identified for each of your customers. It is essential to properly identify each trait exhibited by your customers with whom you want to or are already interacting with. There are different ways that will help you get to know your target audience.

Via secondary data: Many sources can help us gather data. Platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Statistics Canada, to name a few, can help you segment and gather information about your target audience.
Via research (interviews, surveys, focus groups): If your budget allows it, you can acquire information about any specific groups. For example, you could survey your best clients on their interests, their favorite hang-outs and communication preferences.

The value of personas

‍The main purpose of correctly identifying the different personas of your target audience is to help you get into your customer’s shoes and find out what makes them tick. By identifying and consolidating their needs and objectives, you’ll be better equipped to address whatever objections they may have about you, become part of their tribe and start earning their loyalty.Thanks to the personas, your teams will be able to give a human face to the target audience, a virtual identity that allows you to navigate through every stage of the customer journey until the eventual marketing material production and the creation (or update) of internal sales and customer service procedures. Once they’re defined, you will then need to determine how each persona will experience each step of the Customer Journey.

‍Sharing information internally

‍Once you’ve completed the process above, it is critical to communicate it to your entire organization. It is only at this point that the work done previously takes on its significance. You should make sure that your employees, partners, suppliers and anyone who participates in the success of your organization be made aware of the Customer Journey.There are times where sharing the Customer Journey with clients could be strategically beneficial to you. It could help proactively manage their expectations towards the customer experience you are creating on their behalf.

Conclusion

The Customer Journey tool that we’ve developed at XRM Vision requires an active engagement from all your organization’s stakeholders. However, the benefits to this exercise are more than a little interesting. Your marketing strategy will be positively affected and your customers will enjoy a relationship with you based on their real interests and concerns. Ultimately, your marketing messages will also be a lot more interesting to them and geared to the right captive audience.