How to Use a Customer Journey Map to Create Content that Sells

According to a report by Salesforce, 86% of senior-level marketers agree that creating a cohesive customer journey is a must.

With customer journey mapping, you understand the experience flow a user has with your product. The customer journey map is a visual presentation of the user’s journey, which involves using your products or services. It helps you understand how people interact with your business.

The goal is to identify the touchpoints of interaction – the moments that turned the user into a customer. When you have those insights, it’s easier to figure out where you’re going wrong and what you can do to reach more conversions.

Are you wondering what content has to do with this?

You’re publishing content all over the web to boost your sales. The customer journey map shows how you’re making those sales. The connection is evident: the insights from that map can help you write better content. Content that gets you more conversions.

Let’s see how you can do that.

Step 1: Who’s Your Customer Persona?

This is a one person’s journey. Who is that person going to be?

You can map out the journey of a customer you have and know. But, you can also think of an imaginary customer: how would a potential user of your products and services act?

Although you’re focusing on a single persona, you’re still drafting a universal map. The persona is an archetype, who can be applied to most of your customers. They all have similar needs and issues, and they solve through your products.

Let’s say your customer persona is a woman in her mid-twenties. She signs up for your online exercise program. The customer journey map should include her goals.

  • Why does she sign up? She wants to do something in her free time. She needs to take care of her body. She wants to feel more confident. Think about the motivation: maybe she impulsively buys things online. She saw your program and she wanted to try it.
  • What motivates her to use these services? She wants to lose some weight. She is striving towards a healthier lifestyle.
  • Ask yourself another question: where does she come from? Young women who want to exercise use Pinterest – a lot. She came across a pin that led to your site.
  • what’s her online behavior like? She’s always looking for the best offer. She compares different sites, so she can pay for the thing she needs while getting the biggest value out of it.

Think of a specific person, who has universal qualities that you can apply to most of your customers. That’s the perfect recipe.

Once you have your persona, you can go on with the next stage:

Step 2: What Does the Persona Want?

Your customer has specific goals when he shows interest in your products or services. Here are few of them:

  • She wants to check the options.
  • She wants to see how your offer is better than the similar ones on the market.
  • She wants to see if you understand her.
  • She needs to see how your product or service will improve her lifestyle.

When you answer those questions, you’ll have the map of your customer persona’s journey. They land at your website with specific goals in mind. When you engage them through every step of the way, you’ll turn the visitors into customers.

But, how do you engage them? Content is the answer.

Step 3: Create That Content!

What does your customer persona want to achieve when interacting with your brand?

You’ll have few possible answers to that question. Create content that shows how your offer helps them achieve those goals.

Let’s take the same woman as an example. The one that wants to watch exercise videos online and is willing to pay for them. There are tons of free exercise videos on YouTube. If she decides to pay for a program, it has to be great. The owner of this website will provide a great program. However, they must also create content that shows how awesome it is. That is the touchpoint right there – the moment that transforms her from a random visitor to a customer.

In that content, they will emphasize the strengths of the program. They will provide short, free videos, so the user can understand what she’s going to get.

You get the point, right?

It’s important to break down the customer persona’s goals into specific content development tasks. These are the types of content you can provide:

  • Textual content that explains how your product can help the customer achieve their goals.
  • Personalized content aimed at specific problems and goals your key persona has.
  • Videos and infographics. Remember: today’s Internet user has no time to read the endless text.
  • Content that’s suitable for the channels you choose. Pinterest is all about visual content. Twitter is about brief, witty messages. Tumblr is about blog-like, personal content. Facebook is somewhere in between all these. You can check writing websites reviews to find the best place to order content.

Pay close attention to the customer’s journey whenever you’re creating content. Revisit it often, so you can adjust the content according to the changes in behavior you notice in your target audience. You’ll definitely notice results in the conversions!