Do you know 7 of 10 online shoppers leave their carts without buying anything?
Most of these are because of poor user checkout experiences and changes of mind. By now, you are probably thinking about how hard it is to make customers complete a desired action.
But take this:
A Statista study revealed that a third of customers in the US expect a response to their concerns online within 24 hours. This is where automated customer journeys come into play.
With chatbots and virtual assistants in call center management, today’s automated customer journeys deliver quick, personalized, and efficient services. However, what exactly are automated customer journeys?
We have much more to share about this topic. This article offers insights into automated customer journeys. Let’s get started!
Understanding the Power of Automated Customer Journeys
Automated customer journeys are phases where you combine customer experience with marketing automation to guide users through their interactions with a brand.
It involves the automation of repetitive tasks by using an app to save you time. It also makes the process feel more authentic to your customers.
For example, when a “window shopper” views your shop online, your tool can track its activities based on the information it gathers from her/his phone. It may include their locations, social media profiles, search history on different apps, and purchase history on other online shops.
Want to know more about how websites and apps can collect customers’ information? Check out our article about third-party cookies. |
Some customers check out quickly, while others need more time to decide.
Fortunately, with the additional information that your “special” tool has, you can adjust your promotions for each customer. This way, you can give them what they need and motivate them to buy.
Automated customer journey also involves customer onboarding, support, communication, and personalization to improve the customer experience. It saves time and money, ensuring consistency in the quality of your service.
For example, if a customer sends you a message through a form on your website, it may take time for you to get back to them if you reply manually. However, with automation, you can send a response automatically while still making it personal to your customer (e.g., by mentioning their name in the subject line).
A solid communication process with customers for a rapidly growing business lets you handle more people on a large scale. This is so because automation also helps get and retain new clients through personalized customer journeys.
Want to know more ways to keep your customers coming back? Check out our tips about customer retention tactics. |
The Key Practices of Successful Automated Customer Journeys
Automating your customer journeys one step at a time can create meaningful interactions that resonate with your customers. Here are the steps you can follow:
|
Now, let’s break down each step with some tips and tricks.
Step 1: Collect Raw Ideas & Developing Your Automation Strategy
The most effective customer experiences start with a clear understanding of the “customer personas.”
What are these? Customer personas include who your customers are, what they want, what job they have to do, and how they feel about themselves.
There are many ways you can collect and use your customers’ data. Here are some simple tips:
Gathering Basic Information
You can start by creating detailed buyer personas and grouping them based on age, gender, location, wants, needs, behaviors, and many more. Most automation tools can automatically detect this information.
This helps you create a unique automated customer journey for each persona to give them specialized experiences. Next, trace your customer journey map and recognize gaps, broken processes, and improvement opportunities.
Using Subscription Forms to Collect More Personal Information
Getting more information on your subscription forms also helps you create a buyer persona.
Rather than simply asking for an email, consider adding fields for other information about your subscribers, such as their birthdays or interests.
This information lets you give special discounts on your customer’s birthday. You can also offer exclusive promotions for the items they like.
Collecting Employees’ Reports
Invest time in collecting raw data and developing a plan for automated customer journeys. Don’t just depend on the information in your database.
No one on the team knows your customers better than those they interact with the most: your employees. Ask the staff in other departments, like sales, support, and marketing, for feedback about the plan.
After crafting the plan, understand how much time and effort you should exert to achieve it. Most importantly, analyze the possible impacts when applying automation to your business.
Step 2: Sequence Your Work
Take all your customer experience automation ideas and organize them into specific places to use them.
You can use visual aids to make it easy to organize projects, following your plan for automated customer journeys. Some examples are photos, infographics, and charts.
Start with the project that has the largest value and the least effort. Or, if you’re new to automation, it would be best to start with a very small project with the least impact.
This way, you can get familiar with the platform and lessen the risk of delays.
One good example of this is email marketing. Most companies would send you a welcome email when you check and sign up for a website.
Suppose you added something to your cart; they also remind you via mail to check out your order. After a few days, they may offer an exclusive or limited-time discount.
This way, companies keep you engaged, and you eventually become a regular buyer. Often, companies actually plan these series of emails. They have this series of letters queued up since you visited their website.
Many use smart apps to send pre-written emails depending on a specific customer’s prompts or actions.
Step 3: Understand Your Marketing Automation Technology
Customer experience automation requires different marketing automation systems. Some offer easy navigation, while others are outdated and hard to use.
There are also many apps now that you can integrate with a CRM tool, while others require a third-party app to connect. You can check out Twilio, Smaply, and ClickUp. HubSpot is also an all-in-one CRM and mapping tool.
Regardless of your technology, reading support documentation and getting familiar with the platform, UI, and terms is important.
Step 4: Use Data To Measure Impact, Avoid Issues, & Future Decisions
Review your marketing automation system for data and insights as you create automated customer journeys.
Aside from top-level campaign metrics, drill down into specific steps in the journey. This may include the following:
- Total number of deliveries, opens, and clicks for each email
- Top-performing and under-performing steps
- Opportunities to improve the journey
There are many important KPIs that some businesses forget. Because of this, they miss opportunities for improvement.
These key metrics are organic ranking, Google Business ranking, Apple Maps ranking, click-through rates, and customer lifetime value.
The 9 Best Customer Journey Mapping Tools
Staying in touch with your leads and converting your audience into clients require using automation tools to great effect.
These tools free you up from the hardest, most time-consuming tasks for your old clients and let you see through journey maps to contribute to the overall growth of your business.
Below are the nine customer journey automation tools that will help you improve customer experiences.
1. Trello
Trello is a convenient tool for your team to plan tasks and projects. It is a great tool for planning the customer journey since software teams and departments from marketing, sales, support, and HR can use it.
Teams can quickly sit in to manage, brainstorm, and make detailed task maps. Here, every task is on a card where the members can get a clear view of progress, comments, or attachments for quick communication.
Pricing:
Trello is free to use. It also offers three paid options per user every month. They are the Standard at $5 per month, Premium, which costs $10, and an Enterprise package for $17.50. |
2. UXPressia
UXPressia is a customer experience management platform that allows teams to understand the personas of customers and users.
It helps visualize ideas and improve the mapping process, improving the overall customer experience.
With UXPressia, it becomes easy to quickly produce designer-quality customer journey maps using export formats like PNG, PDF, CSV, and PPTX.
Pricing:
UXPressia offers three options for users: A Free plan, a Starter package for $16 per user/month, and a Pro package priced at $36 per user/month. |
3. Lucidchart
Lucidchart is your go-to visual tool for tapping into customer experience through flowcharts and diagrams.
This customer journey mapping software allows people to visualize and share insights using several templates and formatting options.
With Lucidchart, it is easy to target specific buyer personas, improve your business’s revenue, and boost customer engagement.
Pricing:
Lucidchart also has a free plan and two paid plans available for users. The paid subscriptions offer an individual plan priced at $9 per user/month and a team plan that costs $10 per user/month per user. |
4. Gliffy
Gliffy is an editing tool for project management. This is perfect for teams looking for ready-to-use diagrams, flowcharts, mind maps, and more.
It allows you to visualize processes and texts to simplify complicated details easily. That said, it’s a great tool for mapping customer journeys with your team!
Pricing:
Gliffy offers pricing plans such as Professional for $6 and $8 per user/month, and enterprise, for which they don’t reveal the price. |
5. SuiteCX
SuiteCX is a customer experience and journey mapping platform that provides templates to help teams plan and design a holistic experience from their customers’ perspectives.
It provides engaging customer maps with data-driven information, such as customer data, metrics, segmentation data, analytics, and more.
With SuiteCX, improving customer satisfaction through a detailed analysis of how customers feel and think about your business is easier.
Pricing:
For three users, a SuiteCX product already costs $15,000/year for each module (VisualizeCX, DiagnosticCX, PrecisionCX). Each unit of the Primer products is $50 per user/month. |
6. Clarabridge
Clarabridge is another tool that helps teams understand and improve customer journeys. It uses advanced text analytics from social media, call center notes, emails, surveys, and other feedback forms.
With Clarabridge, you can get real-time information to identify the biggest pain points and areas for improvement. These insights can help you make well-informed decisions to enhance customer satisfaction, improve product offerings, and provide automated customer journeys.
Pricing:
Clarabridge doesn’t currently provide a Free Trial, Free Version, or Premium Consulting Services. |
7. Mural
Mural is a collaboration and editing tool that allows users to create canvas-like items for detailed information.
It has built-in sticky notes, drawings, diagrams, and other elements. These are great for design thinking and brainstorming sessions.
The platform offers a creative space for teams that want to deliver their ideas efficiently.
Pricing:
Mural offers three pricing options for users: a free plan, Team+ for $9.99 per member/month, Business for $17.99 per member/month, and Enterprise with pricing available upon request. |
8. InMoment
InMoment is a customer experience tool that uses a unique combination of data from comments, videos, voice, surveys, and review data.
Using this software, users can truly understand the likes and dislikes of customers. This is useful in creating an accurate customer persona and experience, leading to effective customer journey mapping.
What’s best about InMoment is its phone and email support through monthly or annual plans.
Pricing:
InMoment only discloses their prices after you book a demo. |
9. Custellence
Custellence is a convenient and easy customer journey mapping tool that offers the following:
- Flexible map structure
- Curve lanes
- Unique image collection
These features are an interactive tool for teams that focuses on putting themselves in the customers’ shoes through visual stories. This is also a simple and easy-to-learn tool, so you can onboard customers easily.
Pricing:
Custellence is free of charge. It also offers a Paid plan for $625 per month for organizations. |
The Benefits of Implementing Automated Customer Journeys
There’s a reason why several small startups and large corporations invest in automation tools to personalize customer journeys.
Implementing automated customer journeys makes marketing more effective and easier in many ways. Here are some of them.
Improved User Experience
Customers want a simple buying process and a seamless experience.
When things go smoothly during the journey, they instantly build trust and connection with the brand throughout the end-to-end customer journeys.
You can also improve the buyer’s journey with personalized ads, faster responses, and focused attention to customers’ needs. It makes for a happy and loyal customer who will return again and again.
Increase in Conversion Rates
Targeted messaging and timely interactions can boost conversion rates big time!
For example, if a user places an item in their basket, you can automatically send a reminder with an offer. In the end, it encourages them to complete their purchase.
This serves as a tool to let them do what you want them to do. Ultimately, your customers should feel seen and understood.
Automation also checks page load times regularly, so you’ll know when your page loads slowly. It also uses powerful images and copies, places objects in the right places, and tests CTAs to keep your customers interested for a long time.
Connect Across Many Channels
Automation is your partner for easy and unlimited communication with buyers. It helps businesses reach more potential customers through different channels.
With it, customers become more interested as they hear about your business at whatever site they use.
You can also check how each different channel is working for you. This way, you can identify which strategies are effective on each channel.
Real Stories, Real Success: How Automated Customer Journeys Transform Businesses
Amazon
Amazon is a good example of a brand that gives personalized customer experiences.
Here’s how it works: When you click the link in Amazon’s email, you’ll see relevant products that are just right for you.
They do this by noting what you like, what you’ve bought before, and the items you added to your cart.
Here’s the catch: This personalization only happens on Amazon.
They make your shopping experience awesome by considering what you search for and buying only through the app, not on other websites.
Netflix
At Netflix, they completely focus on their customers.
They gather information about viewers to recommend movies. Netflix also talks to groups and does surveys to get to know their customers even more.
They call this approach “consumer science,” where they use a scientific method to develop and try ideas.
This focus on customers is why their personalized experience is so great. It shows in their original and notable shows like Black Mirror and The Queen’s Gambit.
Spotify
Spotify’s popular feature, “Spotify Wrapped,” is a yearly celebration of users’ music listening habits.
Customers enjoy this event since they get a personalized and fun report of their music taste. They are also allowed to show off their musical taste on social media.
This automated feature has become an anticipated event for music lovers. Other brands also joined the trend by creating their own humorous takes online.
Encouraging users to share their Spotify experience on social media makes the app more popular among potential users.
It’s a smart way for Spotify to spread the word about its service and attract new listeners.
Starbucks
Starbucks makes people feel at ease when they step into their shops. No matter where you go, they can make you feel at home.
They stand out because they care about giving their customers a great experience. Their employees understand what you want and help you out.
And here’s something cool about how they handle complaints: They use the “LATTE method. They listen, acknowledge, take action, thank, and explain how they improve things.
L – Listen
A – Acknowledge T – Take action T – Thank E– Explain |
It’s an automated way of ensuring they address the issues that make you feel valued.
That’s what sets them apart from other coffee shops. Starbucks goes the extra mile to make its clients feel happy and satisfied.
Airbnb
Airbnb wants to make customers’ experiences with their apps more personal and enjoyable.
They monitor how you use the app so they remember what you like if you search for places to stay and ask questions. This includes the location, price, and amenities you prefer.
They’re even smart enough to predict if you’ll like a particular home before you stay there. This way, they can show you homes that can encourage you to go on a staycation.
That doesn’t end there.
Based on your previous trips, they’re considering the style and atmosphere you like in an Airbnb hotel. This makes every future travel plan easy.
Not only do they match you with hosts and listings that you like, but they also suggest neighborhoods and experiences that suit your needs and interests.
The Bottom Line
In summary, many businesses are looking for a better way to introduce their brand to their target audience and keep customers loyal.
We cannot deny the importance of nurturing leads and building new connections with possible clients, so it’s high time to use technology to make these jobs easy for you.
With automated customer journeys, many ways exist to improve user experiences and convert more audiences into regular buyers.
As we wrap up, using the power of automated customer journeys empowers businesses to drive long-term success.
Streamline Your Marketing with Profitable Media!
Tired of juggling repetitive tasks and missing out on leads? At Profitable Media, we specialize in marketing automation solutions that save you time, nurture your audience, and drive revenue. From email campaigns to CRM integrations, we’ll help you work smarter, not harder.
Ready to scale effortlessly?
Click below to schedule your free consultation and discover how marketing automation can transform your business.
Take the hassle out of marketing—let’s build a system that works for you 24/7!