In the big digital world, there are multiple ways customers can discover and learn about your business. From social media to offline marketing and advertising, it can all get a bit complicated. However, the main role of your website is to nurture any leads to your website, from any location at every awareness stage. 

First up, what is the customer journey?

SurveyMonkey explains it best:

“The customer journey is the complete sum of experiences that customers go through when interacting with your company and brand. Instead of looking at just a part of a transaction or experience, the customer journey documents the full experience of being a customer.”

Your website is the one place where you have full control to create a well-designed hub of content to complement the customer journey from initial awareness all the way to loyal customers; providing smooth and frustration-free customer experiences. What other platforms can achieve that? 

This is why it’s so important that your website provides relevant valuable information to reach your customers at the right time. 

Understanding the intent of your customers at each stage of their buying journey is the first step. You can’t expect the same website copy to convert someone who has just discovered your website compared to a returning customer.

Optimising your content and navigation throughout your website can help add important value, create efficient processes, nurture leads, increase those important conversions AND keep customers coming back. 

Each user who arrives at your website has a different awareness level about their search, so are at different stages of the customer journey. To drive the most impact, your website content should align with these stages.

Here are a few fundamentals to support your customer journey on your website

Organised Design 

If your customer can’t easily find the information they’re looking for, they won’t spend much longer trying to figure it out. Instead, they’ll get frustrated and leave for another site! 

The best websites consider what information their customer is looking for at every stage, from awareness, engagement, offers, sales, to growing brand promoters. Then it uses this to develop specific pages, content and images. All while being easy to navigate in between!

Plan out your typical customer journey touchpoints, then under each stage, brainstorm key bits of information, motivations and potential frustrations your customer faces. Use this to guide your website pages and copy!

Call To Actions/ Actionable Copy

To help the navigation on your website, and to help users move through further customer stages, you need to tell them! 

Having clear call to actions throughout your website is crucial. Make them as clear as possible and don’t be afraid to be blunt as possible either. The more concise and clear, the more effective. 

This goes the same with your copy, integrate action verbs to direct the user. Use second person, present tense and an active voice to speak to the reader not about them. 

Internal Search

Important for two reasons, it immediately supports your user if they know exactly what they’re looking for but don’t want to scroll down your webpage to find it. 

Also, through Google Analytics, you can track what people are searching for most on your website. If there’s a trend, adapt your website to help simplify what your customers are looking for.

For example, if people are searching often for ‘phone number’ why not add your phone number to the footer of your website, add a call to action button on your homepage above the fold line. Or, add a clear ‘Contact Us’ page to your website menu. The main point is to make it as easiest as possible for your customers.

Want to know if your website supports your customer journey?

To truly ensure your website supports your customer journey, you need to assess and completely understand your customer’s wants and needs at each stage. You then need to apply this understanding to your website. As each business is different in its service and appeal, there are so many fantastic ways to support your unique customer journey. 

Remember, the main goal is to ensure your website provides an effective and seamless experience for your customers. 

If you need a hand improving the content and usability of your website, we offer website audits, website design and content marketing services that can help transform your website into the customer journey experience of dreams! Get in touch with us today!