You have a strong brand, great products, and a user-friendly website. But before you can watch the sales roll in, you need to be on a potential buyer’s radar.
And that’s just step one of the journey to making an ecommerce sale.
“Journey” might sound like a metaphor, but once you see the eCommerce customer journey laid out step by step, you’ll understand why the marketing world uses that particular turn of phrase. Customers don’t just magically appear on your digital doorstep. You have to move them from the point of not knowing your company exists to clicking “confirm.”
We’re here to show you how to build a journey map template that creates a seamless customer journey, from end to end.
The 5 stages of the customer journey
Understanding the customer journey is one of the most important parts of running a successful eCommerce business. Recognizing the different stages customers go through lets you tailor marketing efforts to meet their needs and guide them toward making a purchase.
Here’s a breakdown of the five main customer journey stages.
1. Awareness
Stage one is awareness, which is the point when potential customers first learn about your brand or product. Think of it like catching a stranger’s eye from across a crowded room, but instead of waving a hand, you use tools like social media posts, online ads, and word of mouth.
Say a shopper named Sarah sees a sponsored post on Instagram about your new line of organic skincare products. By getting Sarah’s eyes on your post and making her aware of what you offer, you’ve put her on the first step of the customer journey.
2. Consideration
Now that Sarah knows your brand exists, she enters the consideration stage to decide whether or not you can offer a solution to her needs. She visits your website to explore your products’ ingredients and benefits, compares your skincare line to competitors, and reads reviews.
3. Acquisition
This is where the magic happens — Sarah has considered what you have to offer and decided to move forward with a purchase. She adds a few items to her cart, enters her payment details, and submits the order. Your marketing efforts have paid off, and you’ve now converted a prospect into a customer.
4. Service
You might assume the journey ends once a purchase is made, but it’s not quite over yet. Now it’s time to focus on providing exceptional customer service to keep Sarah’s loyalty and encourage her to come back for more.
5. Loyalty
As part of the fourth stage, you might have sent Sarah a personalized thank-you email and discount code for her next purchase. She’s now received her order, and when she needs a new skincare solution, she remembers how much she liked your product and the smooth process she went through to get it. She returns to use her discount code and becomes a brand advocate, recommending your products to friends and family — an indication that she’s made it to the fifth and final stage of the customer journey: loyalty.
Build your eCommerce customer journey map in 6 steps
Wondering how to do a customer journey map? The mapping process is easier than you might think. Just use these steps as your eCommerce customer journey template to create a visual representation that helps you understand and optimize a customers’ experience.
1. View your map from the customer’s angle
To build a customer experience map tailored to the buyers you want, put yourself in their shoes, thinking about their needs and motivations at each stage of the journey so you can create a customer persona (also called a buyer persona).
Looking back to our customer journey example, that would mean knowing who Sarah is and what challenges she faces to create an ad that catches her attention. You’ll then need to consider the questions she’ll have at the consideration stage and the tactics that are most likely to make her loyal to your brand.
2. Collect information
One of the best ways to put yourself in your customer’s shoes is to use the data you already have about how current customers interact with your brand — information from sources like website analytics, customer surveys, and social media interactions.
3. Analyze touchpoints
Identify all the touchpoints where customers interact with your brand, from your website and social media to email marketing and customer support. See how shoppers engage with your brand across every touchpoint so you can see which places are effectively moving them forward on their journey — and where they encounter roadblocks.
4. Determine customer goals and pain points
Now it’s time to consider the average customer’s goal. What are your customers trying to achieve at each stage of the journey? What pain points (obstacles or frustrations) do you think they’re encountering along the way? Understanding what your customers want and what’s stopping them from getting it will help you identify areas for improvement.
5. Tailor the journey to customer needs
Now it’s time to use the insights you’ve gathered to create a seamless, personalized experience for your customers. For some eCommerce companies, that could mean investing in a better checkout process to reduce cart abandonment. For others, it might mean beefing up your customer support.
6. Design visual representations
Now for the fun part: a visual map. You don’t need to be (or hire) an artist for this step — a simple sketch is fine for the initial draft, and you can use drag-and-drop tools like Miro or PowerPoint to polish up the final version. What’s most important is that you visualize key touchpoints, customer goals, and pain points to help your team understand the customer experience and identify opportunities for optimization.
Tips for improving your eCommerce customer journey
Now that you have a solid understanding of the customer journey and how to map it, let’s explore some actionable tips to enhance the experience and drive more conversions.
Generate a sense of urgency
You’ve probably heard of FOMO — the fear of missing out. Playing to this emotion is a smart way to quickly move customers from consideration to acquisition. Create limited-time offers, flash sales, or low-stock alerts to encourage shoppers to take action now so they won’t miss out on a deal.
Establish touchpoints across the full customer journey
Don’t wait for customers to get themselves to the shopping cart page. Use strategies like email marketing, social media engagement, and personalized recommendations, keeping customers engaged by nurturing relationships at every stage, from pre- to post-purchase.
Enhance customer satisfaction
If you treat customer service as a problem-solving tool that only exists to keep unhappy buyers from leaving a bad review, you’re missing out on a lot of opportunities to reinforce a shopper’s decision to choose your brand. Treat every touchpoint as a chance to offer better service, responding quickly to inquiries, offering hassle-free returns, and going the extra mile to exceed expectations every step of the way.
Happy shoppers are more likely to become repeat buyers, leading to higher customer retention and brand advocacy, so don’t wait until something goes wrong to show them you care.
Prioritize personalization
Speaking of showing customers you care, personalization is one of the best ways to demonstrate that you understand your audience’s needs and preferences. Use data to tailor your marketing messages and product recommendations to individual customers so they feel valued and appreciated.
Conduct surveys
Use surveys and feedback forms to regularly solicit feedback from your customers. The data you collect helps identify areas for improvement and ensure that you’re meeting their evolving needs.
Optimize your website for all devices
Today’s shoppers don’t do all their browsing from computers — more and more people use smartphones and tablets to make purchases online. If your website looks great on a 24-inch screen but becomes unattractive and hard to navigate from a phone, you’ll have a hard time converting customers. Ensure your eCommerce site is responsive and offers a seamless experience no matter what device potential buyers are shopping from.
Pave your customer journey with help from Fishbowl
One of the most important parts of the eCommerce customer journey is the part your customers never see — all the work that goes into managing the backend of your business. Partnering with Fishbowl streamline your operations and ensure you never have to send an email apologizing that a purchased item is actually out of stock.
Fishbowl is the all-in-one inventory management solution designed to help you track inventory in real time, even if your business uses dropshipping to fulfill orders. The platform even integrates with platforms like Shopify and QuickBooks, allowing you to easily sync orders and maintain financial visibility, and with CRMs for tracking customer interactions.
Are you ready to boost sales and create a smoother journey for your customers? Schedule a demo of Fishbowl, the intuitive, scalable, and user-friendly inventory management platform.