What is a customer journey?

People keep talking about customer journeys, but what does that actually mean in concrete terms? In a nutshell, the customer journey describes a customer’s path from initial contact to conversion. This path usually leads through various touchpoints with the brand, a product, or a service.

So much for the theory. In practice, however, it’s not just about touchpoints, but the expectations and goals a potential customer has and the experiences they have on their journey. It’s much more than just the ordering process on a page. The question is how to ideally lead a customer from A to B. It is therefore important to have a good understanding of your potential customers – personas are the basis for developing customer journeys.

Our products in the field of Customer Journey

The AIDA principle​

We have used the AIDA principle for years, as so many business people and marketing managers have before us. Let’s dust it off and see its potential for online marketing:

AIDAL Customer Journey and Touchpoints process from stranger to prospect to buyer to re-buyer
Customer journeys must be defined in order to smartly link target groups and marketing measures.

The acronym AIDA stands for:

Attention

Interest

Desire

Action

 

What makes the AIDA formula so valuable is its clarity, comprehensibility, and flexibility. We use it in different contexts: for the conception of a campaign, for the planning of a website, or the creation of media plans.

 

No matter how simple or complex the buying process is, the AIDA formula can almost always help structure it more simply and develop or optimize measures for individual steps.

We want to keep the formula as simple as possible. However, we have made an important adaptation by adding an L for “loyalty”. Although this makes it harder to pronounce, it is an important aspect of customer retention. The addition makes the formula more sustainable since more tools like newsletters, Facebook groups, or customer support can be included in the customer lifecycle.

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Launching a customer journey project

Before defining the customer journey, we jointly develop personas based on your target groups. The better we know the potential customers, the more clearly we can define the phases and touchpoints.

We start with the phases of the AIDAL formula and go into more detail from there. Depending on the objective of your project, the business model, and the market conditions, this results in more or less complex customer journeys. For example, B2B journeys look different from those for e-commerce or classic consumer brands.

We take the following steps specifically:

  1. Definition and description of the customer journey phases
  2. Definition of goals per phase
  3. Definition of transformation opportunities per phase
  4. Definition of KPIs and data sources per metric
  5. Definition of relevant channels per phase
  6. Definition of content and messages

 

From this list, we then derive the media planning, marketing planning, and content strategy. It has also proven useful to visualize the customer journey and communicate it within the companies themselves.

Digital Business Topics

We take a close look at your current strategy and make recommendations for action.

We thoroughly examine your current strategy and provide actionable recommendations.

Get to know your (potential) customers and their needs.

We develop the digital strategy for your company.

We carefully analyze your digital potential on the market and plan the next steps.

Success Stories

Learn more about what we do with and for our partners, how we develop strategies that help them reach their goals, and how we support their digital journey.

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These are your contact persons

Daniel Kudwien
Product-Strategian
Joris Gugnon
Project Management Starter
Miriam Ochs
Project-Strategian
Christina D’Ilio
Digital Business-Strategian
Stephan Sperling
eCommerce-Strategian
André Hellmann
Chief-Strategian
Kristina Lange
Digital Business Starter
Anna Gienger
Marketing-Strategian
Lars Grasemann
Marketing-Strategian