CVJ and Marketing Plans -Purposeful Marketing
When it comes to digital marketing, the customer value journey (CVJ) can not be forgotten. It needs to be front and center if you want to be successful in today’s market. This is a crucial tool that enables you to consistently deliver value, ensuring customer satisfaction and business growth. It gives people more than just the product or service you are selling. The CVJ outlines the steps that potential customers take from becoming aware of your brand to wanting to share it with others. If you can guide your clients along the customer value journey, you will see the rewards at the end.
At Turnkey, we work to engage our clients and give them the best journey possible as they work with us. By better understanding the CVJ, we are able to provide our customers with an unforgettable experience.
Understanding the 8 Steps of the Customer Value Journey
There are 8 components to the customer value journey. Each plays a role in strengthening customer relationships.
Awareness
People first need to be aware of your product or service. This involves using social media campaigns and paid advertising to get the word out. Give customers something of value, such as an informative blog post or video to show what you have to offer, and display that you are experts in the field. They need to know that you are the real deal.
Engagement
You need to engage with your audience and build a relationship that builds trust. Give them high-quality content and respond to comments on social media posts. Consumers like to be seen and heard. If they feel like you are providing them with this, you will be rewarded. If they feel like they’re just a number, the journey is over.
Subscription / Micro-Transaction
You want people to engage with your brand more than once. Get them to subscribe to a newsletter or text messages by offering valuable resources such as e-books or webinars in exchange for contact information. Make it easy to opt in, without putting on the pressure. If you come on too strong, people will get turned off.
Conversion
Once you’ve gotten their interest and they are engaged, the next part of the consumer value journey is to attract those customers with free trials or discounts. This allows them to see your value without taking a huge risk. If you can personalize these offers, even better. This continues to build trust and a relationship that is needed for business success.
Excitement
Get consumers excited about your product or service! You want to not only provide remarkable service, which is our first core value at Turnkey, but you also want to exceed their expectations. Go above and beyond what they expect to receive. This helps to keep customers engaged and satisfied.
Growth
Make recommendations that your customer can benefit from without being too pushy. Give them something that is relevant to their needs. This shows you are paying attention and ready to give them something of value.
Advocate
By this point, consumers should hopefully be satisfied with your product or service that they want to tell others. Make it easy for them to share their great experiences. Point them to testimonial pages or ask for a review if you know they are happy with what they have received. Some businesses also offer incentives for testimonials, such as rewards or loyalty points.
Promote
You want to build a social media community that allows all consumers to interact with each other and your brand. Be sure to spark discussions and answer questions promptly.
Putting the CVJ Into Action
Understanding the customer value journey is just part of the puzzle. To be successful, you need to put this into action in your marketing plan. This is what creates purposeful marketing. You’re not just marketing your business or product to see what happens. You’re marketing with a purpose to attract, engage, and maintain your customers. Here are some ways to put the customer value journey into action in your marketing plan.
Increase your awareness by expanding your social media reach. Social media platforms give marketers the best platforms to make people aware of their business. The best part is that you can do this for free! Consider hosting a giveaway or contest, too, to let people know you exist.
Provide valuable content to increase engagement. Consider starting a blog to give people valuable information pertaining to your company. This can be a place they can go when they have time to learn more about what you have to offer. Having a consistent posting schedule is best because it gives people something to look forward to at the same time each week or month.
Increase the value of your content to get more subscribers. If you want people to opt into emails and newsletters, give them something they actually WANT! Make the content relevant and interesting. If you wouldn’t read it, you can’t expect someone else to want to read it, right?
Get personal to get people excited. Customers want to feel valued and special. Make the experience personal by using their name in an invite. Send them a short personalized thank-you message if they’ve purchased your product. This lets them know you’re aware of their patronage and are grateful.
Offer a discount on a complementary product. If you know a customer has already bought a shampoo, they may be in a good position to buy the conditioner too. Be in tune with their needs, but offer them a discount on a complementary product.
Keep it short and sweet. When asking customers to complete a survey, don’t ask them to write a book! No one has time for that, and you’re going to draw them away. Instead, keep the survey short so they have time to complete it and will actually want to do so. You may also want to consider giving them a discount or free item in exchange for a testimonial. People always love free stuff!
Offer a good referral program. If someone refers your product or business, they are helping to build awareness. By offering a solid referral program, you are giving them an even greater incentive to refer your product.
Why CVJ Matters in the Quest for Purposeful Marketing
When you can align your marketing plan with the consumer value journey, you can start building a community. This is different from a one-time effort to find a customer. This converts a one-time buyer into a lifelong customer. Purposeful marketing is about transformation. It works because instead of just making a sale, you are navigating someone toward a shared goal. It focuses on what happens after the sale. Do they tell others? Do they come back for more?
To engage and maintain customers, everyone on your team has to be on the same page. Everyone needs to see the same journey so that the purpose becomes a way of doing business every day. Purpose-driven marketing helps to strengthen your brand’s authority and credibility. It opens new doors to new opportunities with companies, customers, collaborators, and investors. If you have a clearly defined mission, by keeping the consumer top of mind always, you will find greater success.
To learn more about customer value journeys and how they relate to your marketing plan, contact the Turnkey team today.
