A customer journey on your website will make or break customer experiences, satisfaction, and retention rates. If you provide a seamless experience that leaves no questions unanswered, customers are likely to complete a transaction and feel satisfied, as opposed to a poor customer journey that is slow, clunky, long, or inaccessible.
Depending on your industry and your customer base, how you curate a positive customer journey may vary. In this article, we’re going to detail customer journeys and explore some of the different ways you can begin to improve yours.
What is a Customer Journey?
Simply put, a customer journey is the path a customer takes from their initial interaction with your business or brand to the end of their relationship with you. This can include everything from researching your products or services, making a purchase, receiving support, and even leaving customer feedback or writing a review.
Understanding and optimising the customer journey is essential for any business that wants to provide a positive customer experience and that prioritises customer success. A well-designed customer journey can increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately lead to more sales and revenue. On the other hand, a poorly designed customer journey can result in frustration, confusion, and even lost customers.
For example, if you provide financial services and have an online application process, you need to make sure customers have answers to every question they may have at every stage of the process. If they want specific information broken down in more detail or explained more clearly, there should be the functionality to allow for that as soon as the customer needs it, e.g., APR explained. If they have to click back or leave where they are during the process to find additional information, they may abandon the application altogether.
Customer journey mapping is not just about providing an ideal route to transact, it’s about making sure customers have a seamless experience from start to finish and have all the information they need to make informed decisions. It also encompasses ensuring existing customers are able to navigate your services with ease should there be an update or overhaul.
What Are The Benefits Of Improving Your Customer Journey?
The customer journey impacts every aspect of your customer's experience with you. If the user journey is poor, your customer service team will have to pick up the pieces, therefore increasing their workload, elongating wait times for customers, and resulting in inefficiencies, additional costs, and lost revenue. It's in your best interests to make sure every customer journey is optimised, because doing so will give way to a myriad of cross-business benefits, including:
Increased conversion rates
One of the most significant benefits of improving your customer journey is increased conversion rates. A smooth and seamless customer journey helps to build trust with your customers, which can lead to higher conversion rates. According to a report by McKinsey & Company, businesses that prioritise customer journey improvements can see a 10-15% increase in revenue and a 20% increase in customer satisfaction. Satisfaction leads to increased customer retention and longer life cycles - the ultimate goal.
Reduced costs
Improving your customer journey can also result in reduced costs for your business. By identifying customer pain points and areas where they may experience friction or frustration, you can streamline your processes, reduce wait times, and eliminate unnecessary steps. This can result in a more efficient and cost-effective customer journey. A study by Forrester Research found that companies that focus on improving customer experiences can expect to reduce costs by up to 20%.
Faster transaction times
A smooth customer journey can also lead to faster transaction times, which can benefit both your business and your customers. Customers want a seamless and fast experience when transacting or engaging with a business, and delays or complications can lead to frustration and abandonment. By simplifying the process and eliminating any unnecessary steps, you can speed up transaction times and improve the overall customer experience. One way you might do this is to offer multiple payment options to allow for faster checkouts, or the option to checkout as a guest.
Improved customer satisfaction
Improving your customer journey can have a significant impact on customer satisfaction. A smooth and seamless customer journey can build trust and loyalty, leading to increased customer satisfaction and retention. According to a study by PwC, 73% of customers point to customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions. Improving the customer journey can also lead to positive word-of-mouth recommendations and reviews, which can attract new customers to your business.
How Can I Improve My Customer Journey?
Some of the ways you can begin to improve your customer journey, refine your customer experience strategy and exceed your customer's expectations include:
Use tools and technology
There are numerous tools and technologies available to businesses to enhance their customer's digital experience. Two such tools are screen sharing and co-browsing softwares. They allow call and contact agents to guide customers through their digital interaction by sharing their screen and co-browsing the website. It enables agents to provide real-time assistance, making the customer experience more seamless and efficient. According to a study conducted by Forrester, using co-browsing software can reduce the average handling time by up to 25%. It can also increase customer satisfaction by up to 40%. Where there is increased satisfaction, there tends to be increased customer loyalty.
Another tool that you can use is chatbots. Chatbots can assist customers with simple queries and provide instant support, reducing the workload of customer service agents. According to a study by Grand View Research, the global chatbot market size is expected to reach $9.4 billion by 2024, indicating the importance of chatbots in customer service.
Increase speed and load times
Slow website speed and long load times can be frustrating for customers, leading to a negative customer experience. It's essential to invest in website optimisation to improve website speed and load times. According to a study by Akamai, a one-second delay in website load time can result in a 7% reduction in conversion rates, bolstering the need for you to prioritise website optimisation to enhance the customer experience is a good one.
Simplify website navigation
Customers should be able to find what they're looking for on your website quickly and easily. Therefore, it's crucial to simplify website navigation and customer journey maps. This can be achieved by organising your website into clear categories and subcategories. Additionally, you can use website analytics tools to identify which pages customers visit most frequently and optimise those pages for a better user experience.
Focus on design aspects
Design aspects such as color scheme, font, and layout can have a significant impact on the customer experience. It's necessary for you to focus on the core design aspects of your website so as not to turn potential customers away. Use a color scheme that aligns with your brand, and choose a font that's easy to read. Additionally, ensure that the layout is clean and easy to navigate.
Improve available customer support
Providing excellent customer support is crucial for enhancing the customer experience. Customers should be able to contact your business easily and receive a timely response. Investing in customer support tools such as live chat and email support is a good way to achieve this. Additionally, look at using customer service metrics such as first call resolution and average time per success to track the effectiveness of your customer support.
How Can Vizolution Help Improve My Customer Journey?
At Lightico, we understand the importance of a seamless customer interaction and offer software solutions that cater for self service and agent assisted customer journeys to help businesses improve their customer experiences. Our solutions are designed to simplify the customer journey, reduce friction, and improve overall customer satisfaction.
Media Sharing
Media Sharing is an excellent solution for complex processes and applications, making it viable for businesses within any industry. Through co-browsing, an agent can see a customer’s screen and click buttons or enter text on their behalf. This is ideal for customers who may be confused or having difficulty with certain forms or setting software up. It provides a fast, accurate solution that helps customers reach the end-point with ease, enhancing the customer journey and providing efficiency for both parties.
Identity verification
A big part of the customer journey is meeting your customers across multiple touchpoints. This means providing accessible methods at every stage, including where identification and verification is needed. At Vizolution, we provide comprehensive identity verification solutions which allow you to meet your customers halfway. They can easily submit their ID online at a time that is convenient to them, helping to automate application processes and streamline timelines.
E-signatures
Along with ID verification is e-signatures. Giving customers the option to read and sign paperwork at a time that works for them, as opposed to setting an appointment in-person, allowing for a smoother, more efficient process and an improved customer journey overall.
With our range of leading customer journey solutions, your customers can do everything they need and access information and help required from the comfort of their own home. You can also free up agent’s time and balance their workloads, allowing them to help customers faster and improve first call resolution rates.
To find out more about our leading customer experience tools, please contact us.
