When operating owned media, it is important to understand the ”
customer journey
.”
A customer journey is the process from a user’s awareness of owned media to the purchase of a product or service.
Visualization in the form of a “customer journey map” makes it possible to clarify the information needs of users at each stage and the content provided that can meet those needs.
In this article, let’s take a look at what a customer journey is and how to create a customer journey map for B2B companies.
What is the owned media customer journey?
The owned media customer journey is the process from when users become aware of owned media to when they purchase a product or service.
Specifically, we visualize this by creating the “Customer Journey Map” below.
The diagram above is a simplified version of the customer journey map for ease of understanding.
When actually creating it, add items as necessary.
When operating owned media, users start by “recognizing” the media.
Next, through the process of “information gathering” and “comparative consideration,” the process ultimately leads to the “purchase” of the product or service.
A customer journey map is a visualization of what kind of information needs users have at each stage, and what kind of content should be provided to meet those needs.
By creating a customer journey map, you can create and operate owned media content from the user’s perspective.
Two definitions of customer journey
There are two ways to define a customer journey:
1. The customer journey as an ideal for companies
The first step is to define the customer journey as “what a company should be.”
Every company has its own business flow. Create a customer journey that follows the ideal flow for your company.
2. Customer journey based on actual user behavior
The second is to define customer journeys based on actual user behavior.
We extract data on which pages users who visit owned media actually view and in what order.
Create a customer journey based on that data.
In general, the two customer journeys above will be different.
By analyzing the differences,
- Where are the bottlenecks for owned media?
- Why are there discrepancies between companies’ ideals and users’ actual behavior?
This allows you to improve your owned media.
Difference between BtoB customer journey and BtoC
The customer journey in B2B is different from that in B2C.
In BtoC, the “customer” is an “individual,” whereas in BtoB, the customer is a “company.”
In a company, there are multiple people involved in addition to those directly responsible for purchasing.
Purchasing personnel must seek approval from superiors and management regarding purchasing. It is also necessary to obtain the consent of the people who will actually use the product or whose business flow will change as a result of purchasing the product.
BtoB purchasing processes are becoming more complex and lengthy, and customer journey maps are becoming more complex as well.
How to create a customer journey map in BtoB
Let’s take a look at an overview of how to create a customer journey map in BtoB.
The process can be broadly divided into
1. Create a company persona
2. Creating a list of related parties
3. Create a purchasing persona
4. Creation of hypothetical questions from stakeholders to purchasing personnel
5. Creating a customer journey map
There are five.
A persona is a model of a customer.
By defining a detailed customer persona model, you can examine the customer journey in more detail.
In the case of BtoC, customers are individuals, so it is sufficient to create personas for individuals.
In BtoB, in order for a company to become a customer, it is necessary to create a “corporate persona”.
When creating a company persona, first pick up the customer companies that are the top 20% of your company’s revenue sources.
We will list the company’s attributes, such as the company’s industry and type of business, sales, what kind of problems it has to solve, and who will be involved in purchasing.
After creating a company persona, create a list of people involved in purchasing products. If possible, make a list of the people who will need to make an approval or who will need their agreement, giving specific names.
When doing so, you should also consider what kind of information needs each stakeholder has.
After creating the company persona and stakeholder list, it’s time to create the purchasing persona.
We consider what kind of information needs you have at each stage of awareness, information gathering, comparative consideration, and purchasing.
We recommend thinking about your personality, challenges, preferences, etc. so that everyone on your company’s marketing team can easily imagine your personality.
When purchasing staff seek internal agreement and approval, they can expect to receive a variety of questions from related parties.
Purchasing managers must be able to answer those questions in order to move forward in the purchasing process. Consider what questions you would expect to ask the purchasing manager.
Finally, create a customer journey map.
In a BtoB customer journey map, it is important to separate “information needs” into “information needs of the purchasing staff themselves” and “information needs for answering questions from related parties.”
The content you provide must meet the information needs of both parties.
summary
◆ Customer journey is the process from a user’s awareness of owned media to purchase ◆ Visualize by creating a customer journey map ◆ Customer journey has two perspectives: one from the company’s perspective and one from the user’s perspective ◆ B2B customer journeys are more complex than B2C customer journeys ◆ When creating a B2B customer journey map, it is important to take into account the information needs of company personas and purchasing stakeholders