How to Create the Journey You Want Your Customers to Have

Remember when we printed out Mapquest directions? Remember your mom giving you hand written maps and instructions to help you drive somewhere? That’s all changed, it’s digital and in our car’s console or on our smartphone, right in front of us or in our hand. Google gives us options, knows our preferences, asks if we want to make additional stops, and the experience is getting better and better!

We’re in charge of mapping out customer journeys and campaigns, and similarly to GPS we need to take notice about the way they prefer to get from point A to point B. It’s all about having options available and tailoring based on preferences –but there’s another nuance here. Tailoring can either be planned & canned or it can be dynamic and responsive based on real time customer activities. This advanced layer of tailoring is what I’m interested in digging into.

The essence of effective multi-channel marketing is about interplay between channels (meaning email, text, offline, web, phone, etc), and the customer’s pathway through them. The patterns can be orchestrated by us — in fact that’s what strategy is all about: leading your customer through a multi-dimensional experience that is different for everyone, but still leads to the final destination that we care about as a marketing team.

It’s been proven over and over again that a campaign that’s integrated in terms of channels, and responsive to customer needs, delivers higher ROI than a single channel, set it and forget it campaign.

“Strategy is not the consequence of planning, but the opposite: its starting point.”

Henry Mintzberg

So what does the strategy actually include? The place to start is to think about how you can tailor your message (meaning the copy) and the calls to action (meaning what you’re asking someone to actually do – i.e., click a link, share something, download, respond somehow, buy your product).

Both aspects – the messages and calls to action are going to motivate a result, and ideally get you to your campaign goal – which is the reason why you’re doing a campaign in the first place. So how does responsiveness come in? And more importantly, how can we possibly be responsive in our highly regulated healthcare industry?

It’s all about options for your target audience.

Dynamic multi channel marketing boils down to offering options and then tailoring a message or experience based on the actions taken by the person you’re engaging in this relationship.

In thinking about email, there are just a few basic calls to action that this channel offers, including opening it, clicking on a link, forwarding it, downloading an attachment and opting out. As for SMS, we’re limited to clicks on a link; and direct mail can include a host of calls to action including calling a phone number, going to a URL, or clipping a coupon for example.

Think through what happens next when each of these actions are taken – where do you want that action to lead next? What’s the next strategic pathway in the customer’s journey that gets them closer to the ultimate goal for you or your brand?

One campaign can include all of these and more, and so an advanced campaign architecture isn’t linear. It’s got arms and legs which look like actions and responses, more actions and more potential responses. The strategy is a well thought out tunnel with twists and turns that aren’t the same for everyone who enters.

So how do you think all this through? It seems overwhelming, the possibilities are endless sometimes as the segments, channels and messages multiply. As with any journey, you need a great map.

Here are a few tips:

1. Don’t exclude channels, (i.e. don’t default to email). Yes, email is a core delivery method, and there are channels that can positively augment your campaign. Consider demographics, preferences, and goals when considering a well rounded multi-channel campaign.
2. Once you have your channels identified, create a list of possible actions for each and be sure to highlight these in your messaging to enable tracking.
3. Don’t exclude assets. Think about your web properties, incentives you can offer, media that may already be in motion. Include all of these on the map and decide how the interplay works. What is the ideal pathway for a prospect or customer, and then what are the likely options?

“What a good portion of today’s marketers have been slow to realize is that consumers now run the show—about when they shop, how they shop, and what messages or content they choose to engage with. They want to rub elbows with brands, but on their terms, not yours.”

Ed Henrich, Chief Customer Officer at Oracle Responsys

If you’re ready to visualize a tailored multi-channel customer journey, sign up for Springboard and start mapping!