A customer’s journey may seem simple on the surface: Someone needs a service, they go get that service. But the customer journey is an essential aspect of any business's marketing and customer retention plan.

Steve Jobs once said, “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology, not the other way around.”

Your customer journey needs to be flawless. With so many different options and multiple ways to find a service, it’s essential you understand how you obtained a customer. If you didn’t get a customer, why did that customer not go with you? At what point in the customer journey did they fall off? To understand this, you need to create a customer journey map.

What is a customer journey map?

A customer journey map is a drawn-out diagram that shows the different stages a customer goes through while interacting with your company.

Map out all the different ways your customers can interact with your company and in what way. In this day and age, you are sure to have multiple different marketing channels. This can range from someone looking at your website for information, calling your business for an estimate, or going to find your company on social media.

The customer journey isn’t going to be the same for each customer, even your existing customers. Make sure to plan for every buyer persona. Your customers may prefer one way of communication over the other, like a preference of getting emails vs getting updates from a Facebook page.

Not only should your map include different touch points the customer goes through, but what they are feeling and experiencing.

Are customers getting upset because your website is too slow? What if people are having trouble leaving a review after services? Or maybe you will find that emails are performing extremely well, but people aren’t aware you have an email list. Having a customer journey map will help you paint a picture of your company and your customers.

Why do I need a customer journey map?

With a customer journey map, you will be able to visually see and understand the paths and channels customers take to schedule an appointment with you and what they do afterward.

This will help you gather insightful information on how customers move through the different channels and what you can do to optimize that path. You will be able to step into your customers’ shoes to understand their expectations and learn how you can better accommodate their needs.

Here are some long-term benefits of having a customer journey map:

  • Increase customer engagement
  • Discover individual channel optimization opportunities
  • Determine significant points in the conversion process
  • Shorten the decision-making time of the customer
  • Eliminate gaps in the customer experience
  • Identify opportunities or current issues

How can I improve my customer journey?

To get more information for your customer journey map, utilize website trackers like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, CRM programs, and more. You can also talk to your customers to get a better understanding of the decisions they make and how they make them. Talk to them in person or send out an email and ask them to participate in a small survey. You can even check social media comments for any additional insight on how customers interact with your business.

If you need more time to collect data, get started on that sooner rather than later. Then you will sooner be able to look at more complex trends like the weather, seasons, time of the day, and more.

Just having a customer journey map won’t mean anything if you aren’t analyzing the data and taking the steps to improve your sales channels. Create a set of goals for improving the customer journey.

The customer journey isn’t something just the marketing team needs to worry about. Once you have a customer journey map, make sure everyone in the company is aware of it and how it works. That way they will be able to evaluate their role more clearly in the organization and help them understand the steps they need to take to keep the customer moving along the customer path.

Keeping your employees in the loop will also be helpful because they can provide ideas on how to improve the customer journey and give insight into what is or isn’t working.

Customer Journey Map for HVAC Marketing

Here at Hudson,Ink, we can improve your customer journey so you can increase your leads and retain your customers. We’ve been helping contractors with their marketing for over 20 years, so we know what does and doesn’t work.

A huge part of your customer journey is your website. For a lot of people, Google is the first place they will go when looking for HVAC services. If the customer journey is starting there, you need a mobile-friendly website that implements up-to-date SEO practices so you can show up first. Once they are there, Hudson,Ink will make sure your website is personalized, fast loading, and full of significant content that will keep the customer on your site.

We can also help improve other channels in your customer journey map, like your social media accounts. Make sure they are up-to-date and being posted consistently with content people will want to read.

If you are struggling with your direct mail or print campaigns, Hudson,Ink will optimize your content to increase return on ad spend and engagement rates while you book more appointments.

Whatever channel in your customer journey map needs improvement, Hudson,Ink is here to help.