What is a retail customer journey (and why do you need one)?

Your customer hears about you, visits your website and immediately buys from you. That is the absolute dream for most businesses, however, the reality is a little more complex. 

Most customers go through a ‘journey’ that takes place across several stages. This journey is set out like a road map that has been carefully calculated to help attract potential new customers as well as retain previous customers. 

It’s important that you understand what this roadmap looks like, and how you can utilise this across your sales process. 

So, in this blog, we’re going to go into more depth about what exactly a retail customer journey is, how it works, and why it’s a beneficial tool for your business. 

What exactly is a customer journey map? 

So, first things first let’s clarify what a customer journey is:

A customer journey is an entire experience that your customer has with your brand. It encompasses their interactions with you from discovery, to purchase and beyond.

It’s estimated that customers need to come into contact with your business eight times before they buy from you. So, it’s important that you understand where and when these touchpoints might be. This means you can make sure that your potential customers are getting the best experience, and that you are taking every opportunity you can to convert them into customers. 

A journey map is a visual representation of the customer journey and is also called the buyer journey. 

Each different retailer’s journey map will look different, as you’ll have your own objectives and goals, as well as places where your customers interact with you. 

It’s a competitive market and the act of building a retail customer journey map can help your brand to strengthen customer relationships.

Creating a positive process for customers to follow at each step of their journey, they will be more likely to follow through by completing or repeating a transaction, which is the ultimate goal for your paint business. 

Setting out customer journey maps allows your business to clearly mark the points of interaction between your brand and the consumer. Having these stages mapped out can help you gain insight and gather data on the success of your methods, allowing you to implement changes or areas for improvement. 

What are the stages of a retail customer journey…

The exact stages of a retail customer journey will differ depending on what your business looks like. However, most paint retailers will follow the same pattern and identify similar points of interest. 

Examples of ‘pinpoints’ on the journey map are as follows:

1. Research…

This is the first stage for the customer, as every purchase is motivated by either a need or a want to acquire and use a particular product or service. 

The customer, at this phase of the retail journey, will be considering their options, researching the prices and qualities of the different possibilities available to them. 

2. Consideration…

Once the research is over comes a period of contemplation and consideration. Once the customer has gathered all of the information required, they will begin to weigh up their options by reflecting on prices, different companies, any specific needs or motivations, and so on. 

It is important for businesses to make a good first impression during the initial stages of the customer retail journey, as that will keep them in consideration for purchase at this stage.  

3. Transaction…

This is the part that most people think of as the retail customer journey, but as we’ve explained it’s just one part of it. It’s the moment where the deal is closed and the purchase of a product or service has been made. 

In all honesty, the touchpoints that come before and after this stage can make all the difference and determine whether you get to this stage, or whether they are repeat customers. 

4. Experience…

After the customers have made their purchase it’s time to reflect…

They’ll take into consideration their experience interacting with your business, and whether the product or service is serving them well. 

This step of the retail journey is vital for deciding whether or not the customer will maintain the retailer-consumer relationship that has now been established, and the vast majority of businesses should strive to achieve this. 

5. Retention…

Did you know that acquiring new customers is 5-10 times more expensive than selling to a current customer?

And that returning customers spend 67% more than new customers?

A lot of people think that the sale ends once you’ve made it, however, maintaining an excellent relationship with past customers and ensuring that they are happy is crucial to your future sales. 

Exceeding customer expectations and leaving a lasting impression will lead to increased revenue from loyal customers. Naturally, customers will be more likely to reuse a service that they are familiar with and impressed by. 

Plus, happy customers will recommend you to others, which is a free and highly effective form of marketing. 

And it doesn’t end here. A nurture email series will help you keep in touch with happy customers and sell future products to them. Once you have delivered a service well and gained the trust and respect of the customer, your business then has the opportunity to build on that. 

Why should you have a retail customer journey?

Now that we’ve covered what a customer journey map is and identified the key stages, you may be thinking, what’s the point?

Journey maps can be a really useful business tool, allowing you to analyse their success at each individual stage and always be proactive; thinking of ways to improve upon their current practises. 

For instance, at the research stage, businesses will know to push marketing and explore different methods of attracting interest to their website or store, social media pages, email lists, and more. 

Having a clearly set out journey map is a way of keeping track of data over time and allows you to evaluate if and when changes need to be made. 

It becomes easier to notice trends developing such as existing customers not showing brand loyalty and stopping repeat purchases, for example. Issues such as these become more easily identifiable with a ‘map’, as trends can be pinpointed to the particular stage at which they occur. This can be followed up by taking action – considering reasons why this may be happening and brainstorming ways to take action to combat the problem. 

A retail customer journey is like a simplified version of a business plan and can prove massively helpful in terms of problem-solving, efficiency, and creating targets.

In conclusion, a retail customer journey map is an invaluable tool for any business, acting as a simplified version of a business plan. It enables businesses to analyze performance at each stage, spot trends, troubleshoot problems, and continuously strive for improvement. By having a concrete customer journey map, businesses can stay proactive, work towards enhancing customer loyalty, and set clear, attainable targets for success. Remember, the journey you shape for your customers is a journey you take with them towards a prosperous future.

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