Your customers are on a confusing journey. Picking what to watch on Netflix causes them a nervous breakdown! So you HAVE to help them with decisions.
And that means guiding them with each email you have the privilege to send them. They need you to:
- Educate them
- Drown the noise / cut down options
- Highlight your brand’s best features
- Help them gain trust
- Show them how your organization has helped others
That’s the shortlist. Like I said, the customer journey is long, and crooked as a Philadelphia lawyer.
*Customer journey study shows 18 times faster sales cycle
Email is the best way to nurture your leads, customers, and clients. It’s a one-on-one chance to guide them to the best outcome→ for them and your organization. Because nearly 100% of your website visitors are NOT ready to buy…
GPS that Customer Journey
Being a non-sketchy member of society, you would love to help folks with no coats, right? But a map of the coatless would be step one.
Same with people needing your:
- Design services
- Marketing expertise
- Or custom-built food trucks
If you’re peddling something, you need to know where the leads are – mentally. In their customer journey.
Is MattyLight@aol.com thinking about a part-time mobile taco business or is Matt buying a second truck? If you want his business it behooves you to know. Yes, behooves!
Don’t send Matt emails educating him about food truck strategies if he’s got 5 years experience. Dude needs truck prices, feature comparisons, and better beer. This fella has money to spend and folks to feed. Choosing the right email messages for him is the difference between making and losing sales.
Examples of customer journey awareness stages if you need ‘em.
But it’s impossible to read minds, you say…
Digging for Data
Mind-reading won’t work, even on feeble minds. It’s been tried on me lots. But you can look at data to help determine where people are on the customer journey map.
- 💲Have they clicked on pricing?
- ❓Have they downloaded how-tos?
- 🧐How did they get on your email list initially?
- ⏲When do they read your emails? Be 100% sure with our triggers.
Look through your email software and website analytics. Your CRM will give you answers too.
Surveys and quizzes are options. Try making them more fun to get more people to take them. They don’t have to be focused on business each time BTW.
Other ways to get a clearer picture of your customers’ journey. Browse:
- Online reviews
- Message boards
- Facebook groups
Look at reviews and discussions about your competitors and industry. Resist urges to leave nasty reviews for Ken The Taco Kingpin.
Need more ways to map your audience?
Learn by Taking a Trip
Go on the customer journey. You can do this in three ways.
#1 Pretend you don’t know a thing about web design or taco sales. Where would you start if you were curious about those topics?
#2 Think back to a recent purchase of a product or service you bought for the first time. Trace the steps you took to get there.
- Where did Google first take you?
- How many websites did you visit before buying?
- Was the timeframe days, weeks, months?
#3 Maybe the best way to relate to your audience’s journey is if you’re currently considering buying something. New car, new home, a salsa blender perhaps. Ask yourself what stage you’re at, which options you have already ruled out and why.
The next tactic is ludicrous.
App for That
Look on your phone and find that dusty app. The phone icon one. Now use it to call former customers.
Yes speaking with a human will be scary terrifying, hellish but you may learn a bunch. So dig in and ask questions.
- How did they find you?
- Was it a long process?
- Why did they rule out other products / services?
- Did your content make a difference and at what point?
- So, do they need a new food truck? (can’t hurt)
These calls can help you understand the people who need what you have to offer. Seriously, phone calls are way underrated.
Time for Customer Journey Action
Once you have a better idea where your leads are on the roadmap to a purchase, you can take action. More efficient action.
You can begin by segmenting your audience for emails.
Then you’re ready to hone your message to those segments.
Offer easy-to-understand information to those who may have little knowledge about the topic.
Example → A guide on where food trucks tend to set up will be more helpful than a checklist about getting a food permit at this stage.
Next might be a 5-email series on food truck best practices or success stories. Then highlight problems they will face.
As you get closer to making a sale, your emails will offer detailed solutions. Business plans or industry reports. Once they advance a little further on the journey, you can provide deep-dive tutorials on using your solutions.
Then you make a sale and your work is done here! Umm, no.
Customer Journeys Become Sagas
Brace yourself. You might not make a sale! After all that.
You know this, of course. So you have to know where the customer moves on to after you’ve made all your email pitches.
Don’t give up because if it’s not obvious, most of your audience won’t ever buy from you. No, no, it’s true. ☹
Since this will be a huge segment, you need a plan for those folks. Options:
- Drastically reduce their email frequency
- Scrub them from your list
What about when you make a sale? The journey goes on and on. If you continue to nurture these most valuable email readers. Those who pull out their wallet because they…
📍Didn’t know you→
📍Became aware↓
😍Knew you then kinda liked you ∟
📍 Then shopped around, almost cheated on ya↨
📍 Decided to become your customer or client💥
Nurturing is Playing the Long Game
You know it as well as I do. Nurturing isn’t for the feeble or those looking to make a fast buck. If you have a pyramid scheme, let me know though.
Think about an email you’ve read for years. Maybe you only read every other one. And you have only bought from the brand say twice.
Your journey was long but it has cost them very little to keep emailing you. And the long game is still in play for them because you’ll probably live until you’re like 120 (drink water or something).
The bottom line is that anyone can improve their email marketing by thinking about the customer journey. Even a mediocre email can get results if the message matches the reader’s mentality. Meet them where they are.
The Knowledge Base
Knowledge without motivation lacks power so… have some
My favorite from this 47 Holiday Subject Line List is Bacardi’s
Why spend the holiday season crafting email templates? These 8 are free, responsive, & ready to roll.
The #1 thing you can do to get PR for your brand from a journalist (+Tons of Pitching Tips)
19 Nurturing Email examples HubSpot has awaiting your eyeballs
Self Help
Burnout is for real. And one study suggests a nastier form of it is emerging.
Not only in tough jobs like hospitality, teaching, and fire-fighting.🔥
Also in cool jobs like marketing. Losing a skilled member of the team has become more likely with The Great Take This Resignation & Shove It Movement.
So anything that lightens the load on your marketers is worth a look.
They can try lowering stress with micro-breaks. Also, Inbox Mailers relieves the hand-wringing over email open rates.
Facts & Stats
Email is the leading way consumers in the U.S. discover coupons from brands
The most effective strategies for email marketing campaigns are subscriber segmentation 78%, message personalization 72%, & email automation campaigns 71%
Recognizing a sender is the biggest factor in deciding to open an email, followed by having time to read it
*Pre Inbox Mailers Quote Circa 1961: “I’ve given men with bad timing The Chair⚡. Their odds for a not guilty improve after I’ve had lunch. ” ~ Judge Paul “T-Bone” Connely
Marketing Musings
Video content is still hot.
And CMI reports 73% of marketers say videos have become more important to their business in the last year. But 86% say they get average or below-average results from their video efforts.
Awesome! Well, the first part was.
So if you believe in video. How do you plan to get people to watch yours? My ideas:
- Kidnap Mr. Beast
- Ask your audience what they watch
- Get creative with user-generated video content (recruit friends, fam, neighbors, pets)
Today’s Hack
Set aside 30 minutes. TikTok will survive your absence😉. Then use that time to map out your customers’ journey. Not enough data?
Do this. Your mission is to shop for a new cleaning gadget (pretend your 19 dusty Swiffers need company). Write down the steps that lead you to the best gadget. You’ll end up with a better feel for your current and future customers’ mindset. Walk their walk to learn the journey so your emails resonate.
