You can’t ignore the back-end pieces that have to work together and flow smoothly in order to build a brand, grow a movement or disrupt an industry. If the operations side of your business is a mess, putting out fires will always take priority… leaving no room for creative innovation, fun visibility or networking with powerhouse peers (or wannabe peers). If you’re soaking up what I’m spilling and are getting a little excited about operations, I invite you to listen to The Ops Authority podcast. Every week, I will share actionable strategies from the Director of Ops community to move your business forward and transformational stories of powerhouse business owners who now value operations.
https://theopsauthority.com/
episode 18: Why it Pays to Develop a Customer Journey
Customer Journey: what is it and how can you ensure a positive one for your customers? Why do you need to define your customer journey? What should you consider in developing one?
The client and customer experience is one of seven pillars of your business, but it may rank near the bottom when you’re in the thick of generating revenue. However, the customer journey is important to your small business’s financial health and you can map it out in less than an hour. In this episode, I’ll walk you through how to make this happen.
What is the Customer Journey?
What’s the one foundational tool your business MUST do when selling a product or service? You want to define a customer’s journey. Outline what happens once the client has paid, not just the onboarding process, but all the interactions after that.
Four Ideas to Develop a Customer Journey- Anticipate the needs of your customers.
- Deliver on your promises.
- Add a human connection element through Voxer, a Facebook group, or video greeting.
- Over communicate through an email sequence.
"Deliver on your promises."
How Developing a Customer Journey Benefits Your Business
- You carve out a competitive advantage.
- You add longevity and lifetime value by retaining current customers.
- You develop loyalty to your brand, which can generate leads.
- You gain revenue and save on operational costs
"You have competition so it pays off to think about how you will set yourself apart."
What’s Not Included in the Customer Journey
Gifts! You don’t need to buy your gifts for your customers. Save your money while creating “super fans” by anticipating their needs, delivering on your promises, connecting with them, and over communicating.
"You can absolutely create raving fans without sending them a physical gift."
Weekly Ops Activity
Look at your #1 revenue-generating product or service and outline the journey. Document everything that you want to happen from the time the transaction occurs to the moment they’ve completed the experience. There will be several small projects that come of this but outlining it is the best place to start.
Previous Episodes Mentioned
Episode 5: The Seven Pillars to Your Business Strategy with Andrea Layne
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This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/18.