69: Website Strategy Tips: Three Customer Journey Maps You Should Create
Ever wondered how people actually navigate through your website – not just the pages they visit, but their entire journey from first discovering you to becoming a loyal customer? In this episode, you’ll learn about the customer journey mapping process.
We dive into three practical types of maps you can create today: the First Timer Flow, the Buyer's Journey Map, and the Loyalty Loop. Through real examples and practical tips, you'll learn how to identify where visitors might get stuck and how to guide them smoothly toward becoming happy customers.
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[00:00:00] Have you ever wondered how people actually navigate through your content? Not just the pages they visit, but their whole experience, from first hearing about you to becoming a loyal customer. That is what a customer journey map can help you understand. Think about it like drawing a road map of how people interact with your content.
[00:00:27] A customer journey map will show you exactly where people might get stuck and confused along the way. When you identify those confusing spots, you'll be able to put up virtual signs to direct them to where they want to go. In this episode of Think Inside the Square, I'm going to show you how to develop a simple, practical customer journey map that helps you improve your website and grow your content.
[00:00:49] One that focuses on what really matters, making it easier for your visitors to become happy customers.
[00:00:55] Welcome to Think Inside the Square, a podcast full of tips and tricks to help you create a website that you're [00:01:00] proud of. I'm your host, Becca Harpain, Squarespace expert and educator and creator of InsideTheSquare.co
[00:01:06] For a transcript of this episode, along with the links to any resources mentioned, visit insidethesquare.co/podcast
[00:01:13] there are some key moments that almost every website visitor will go through. I want you to think about the first impression that they get when they land on your homepage, then the about page where they're trying to figure out if you're the right fit, the moment they're comparing your offerings, and of course that crucial checkout process.
[00:01:29] If you have a service based business, don't forget about the contact form and what happens after they hit that submit button. Each one of these moments is a chance to either delight your visitors or send them running to your competition. These moments are spots along the customer journey, and the best way to make this journey a smooth one is to create a clear map of these experiences, so you can guide people from visitor to customer.
[00:01:53] You know what usually happens with customer journey maps? They end up being these super complicated documents filled with [00:02:00] corporate buzzwords and fancy diagrams that nobody actually uses because they focus on too many specific details and not enough on being practical and actionable. We're not going down that road today, my friend.
[00:02:12] In this episode of Think Inside the Square, I'm going to show you how to create one that you'll actually use.
[00:02:17] A customer journey map that helps you make meaningful improvements to your website and your business.
[00:02:23] Now the best customer journey map is going to be pretty simple. We're going to focus on what matters to your customers, and give them clear steps to make their experience better.
[00:02:32] You can start your map from the destination, or the beginning, or both, like I do. It's easy to think that all customer journeys start on the homepage, but here's the secret. They rarely do. Your homepage is where someone goes when they already have an impression of you. Maybe they saw you on social, met you at a conference, heard about you from a friend.
[00:02:52] The odds of them finding your homepage from a random search and then clicking on your site to truly learn about you? That's pretty slim. That [00:03:00] means that your homepage is a place to clearly state who you are and what you do, but also to provide them their next step. For a local fitness studio I worked with recently, that next step was sharing their 2 week new client pricing.
[00:03:13] For a restaurant website I created, we featured the view menu button front and center. So what about the other pages? Let's say you've got a blog. When someone reads a post and likes it, what do you want them to do next? Share it on social, comment, request a meeting with you. I worked with a web designer recently who had a fantastic blog.
[00:03:32] And at the end of every single blog post, she offered her free 30 minute consultation call, which is exactly what she wanted people to do to continue their customer journey.
[00:03:42] I'm sure at this point you have some great ideas of exactly what you think customers want to do , but when you look into the customer journeys that took unexpected turns, you can quickly learn if your assumptions are way off base. And that's why it's critical to get real customer stories when you're designing your customer journey map.[00:04:00]
[00:04:00] Earlier this year, I was working with a client who was convinced
[00:04:03] that people weren't buying because their prices were too high. They were struggling with. sales ideas and bundle offers, and they wanted me to redesign their sales pages. But when we looked at the market, their prices weren't drastically different than their competition.
[00:04:16] In fact, they were right in the middle of too cheap to be good and too good to be cheap. So we did what so many small businesses are afraid to do. We asked. We actually talked to their potential customers through an abandoned cart email. Not to sell them, but to find out why they didn't complete the purchase.
[00:04:33] That was how we discovered that people weren't buying
[00:04:36] because they couldn't figure out how to customize their order. It had nothing to do with the price and everything to do with the presentation. So instead of redesigning all of their sales pages, all we had to do was add a simple statement about the ordering process and how to customize it inside the main product description, instead of leaving all that
[00:04:55] information tucked in the additional product info further down the page.
[00:04:59] A month after [00:05:00] making these changes, we had another strategy call. And guess what happened? Sales happened. Now getting this valuable feedback does not have to be complicated.
[00:05:08] For this client, all we did was modify the abandoned cart email
[00:05:11] in Squarespace to get some feedback. If you aren't using that feature, you can start by sending a quick survey
[00:05:17] to recent customers asking about their experience.
[00:05:19] Or better yet, segment to people who opened your recent sales email more than once, but didn't make a purchase. Now keep this survey nice and short, maybe three or four questions max. Heck, even one question will do. Ask them what the one thing is that would have had them clicking add to cart and leave it open ended.
[00:05:37] Now here's where it gets really interesting. When you start collecting these stories and experiences in the words of your customers, patterns will start to emerge. Maybe you'll notice that everyone mentions how helpful your pricing page is but they all struggle with your contact form. Or maybe you'll discover that people love your portfolio but can't figure out how to book your specific service.
[00:05:57] These patterns can point you directly to what needs [00:06:00] fixing and what's already working great. This allows you to work on the part of your customer journey map where things might not be so clear. Now let's talk about the three basic customer journey maps you can create today. The first one is what I like to call the first timer flow.
[00:06:14] This map focuses on how new visitors experience your site. I want you to think about the main entry points for your website. Your homepage is one of them, but it's probably not the main one. Check out your analytics to see the top three to five most popular pages on your website for new traffic, and then track their path through your content.
[00:06:35] Where do they go next? What questions do they need answered before they can feel comfortable
[00:06:40] reaching out to you or even purchasing a product from you? Now the second type of map I want you to create is the buyer's journey map. This one is all about tracking the path from interested visitor to actual customer.
[00:06:52] This will include things like how they find your pricing, what convinces them to
[00:06:56] buy, and any hurdles they need to overcome before making a [00:07:00] purchase. Now most people will want to interact with your brand 5 to 7 times
[00:07:03] before they're ready to buy, so make sure that your map includes these touchpoints. And I also want to encourage you to evaluate your buyer's journey map from the perspective of a beginner.
[00:07:15] I'm going to share a little bit of insight into how I restructured my own buyer's journey map for Inside the Square. My main product is my Squarespace CSS cheat sheet. It's a collection of code snippets and selectors for modifying Squarespace. It's a fantastic product, is incredibly priced, and I really stand by the content that I've created.
[00:07:35] I was really surprised that I had so many people interested in the content on my website. Watching my videos, opening my emails, and hardly any of them were purchasing my product. I decided to send out one of those survey emails to a few of my subscribers to try and figure out why people weren't interested in purchasing this amazing product that I created.
[00:07:54] I very quickly learned. that the CSS cheat sheet I had created was way too much [00:08:00] information for the stage of code customization they were comfortable with. Just reading the sales page was overwhelming because they had a beginner level of experience with customizing their Squarespace websites with code.
[00:08:13] What I needed to do was add a couple of other points along the buyer's journey to help teach them the basic concept of CSS so they knew and understood how incredibly valuable my Squarespace CSS cheat sheet was. When I added these additional points along the buyer's journey map, I was able to guide them from my Squarespace tutorials all the way to my CSS cheat sheet across multiple touch points throughout my content.
[00:08:37] So learn from my experience here and remember that feedback is incredibly important because someone else's perspective might be exactly what you need to hear to create a new point on your customer journey map to guide your customers to where you want them to be. Now there's one more type of customer journey map I want to talk about before I call this episode a wrap, and that is what I have dubbed the loyalty loop.
[00:08:59] This [00:09:00] map looks at what happens after someone becomes a customer. How do you turn a one time buyer into a repeat customer? What makes them recommend you to others? This is where you can really shine by adding thoughtful follow ups and special touches that make people feel valued. A big part of this customer journey map happens off your website and in their inbox.
[00:09:21] This has to do with connecting with people on a regular basis and making sure that they're comfortable promoting your content or purchasing from you again and again. So again, we have the first timer flow that focuses on how new visitors experience your website content. Then we have the buyer's journey map, where people interact with your content and then eventually become a customer.
[00:09:43] And the third map, the loyalty loop. This customer journey map takes place mostly off your website and is focused on turning your customers into repeat customers and people who recommend you. Now let's wrap up this episode with three action steps that you can take right now to start mapping your customer [00:10:00] journey.
[00:10:00] I want you to pick one of those three map types to focus on first. You don't have to do everything all at once. Start with the one that lines best with your current business goals. First timer flow, buyer's journey map, or the loyalty loop. Then I want you to talk to at least three of your email subscribers about their experience.
[00:10:20] Send them a quick email asking about why they chose to work with you or what stopped them from working with you. Try to get some insight into where along the customer journey they didn't complete the process. Then I want you to look at your website analytics and identify your top three most visited pages.
[00:10:37] These are key points in your customer journey, and I want you to make sure that each one of those pages has a clear next step for visitors to take. Now the goal is not perfection, it's progress in making your website work better for your visitors and your customers. Thank you for tuning into this episode of Think Inside the Square.
[00:10:55] If you're working on your customer journey map, I'd love to hear about it. Send me a DM on [00:11:00] Instagram @thinkinsidethesquare,
[00:11:01] or leave a comment on this episode at insidethesquare.co/podcast
[00:11:05] And most importantly, have fun with your website. Bye for now.
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Squarespace CSS Cheat Sheet: insidethesquare.co/css
Squarespace abandoned cart email info: squarespace.com/blog/how-to-create-abandoned-cart-emails
Insidethesquare on Instagram: instagram.com/thinkinsidethesquare
