Inbound marketing can become pivotal to business success as it involves non-intrusive techniques to engage potential customers. HubSpot confirms that inbound marketing tactics generate 54% more leads than traditional intrusive marketing tactics. 

One of the most popular ways to attract, engage, convert, and retain customers is through value-adding content. Gaining conversions requires crafting content tailored to every sales funnel stage. 

However, managing diverse content, especially for agencies with multiple clients or large teams, is a daunting undertaking. Most businesses use the WordPress editorial collaboration tool for agencies to simplify content creation and ensure smooth team collaboration. Such tools are vital for crafting coherent inbound journeys and converting visitors to paying customers. 

In essence, the focus is on creating content for the top of the funnel (ToFu), middle of the funnel (MoFu), and bottom of the funnel (BoFu) stages. Any gaps or overlaps here can disrupt the funnel and reduce conversions. 

This blog will explore highly effective ways to reach target audiences and achieve business goals by leveraging the inbound journey that turns website visitors into customers.

But first, let’s start with the basics.

What is a customer journey?

The customer journey involves a lead or customer’s process in accomplishing specific tasks, like subscribing to a blog, registering for a newsletter, or making online purchases. This lead may come from anywhere, like organic Google search, email newsletter, social media, third-party blogs, etc.

All of these touchpoints combined shape their experience. It’s essential to make a thorough map of this journey to efficiently navigate it and optimize it for conversions. Let’s delve into the process of mapping out this customer journey for a deeper understanding.

Customer journey map

A customer journey map visually outlines all touchpoints between your brand and leads/customers, clearly representing their interactions. Think of it as a strategic compass that showcases how the audience converses with a brand at every touchpoint.

Key tips to map inbound journeys for solid results 

Set clear goals

Determine your goals, target market, and the experiences you want to highlight before drafting a customer journey map. Align these motives with larger business goals like revenue boost or fostering customer loyalty. 

Decide on customer persona to target

Determine which client personas you want to concentrate on during the mapping process and accordingly design specific journey maps tailored to each persona’s unique needs and behaviors. To get insights, consider leveraging surveys, interviews, testimonies, evaluations, and suggestions from customer relations staff.

Your customer journey maps will be accurate if you gather comprehensive data on the characteristics and preferences of your target audience.

Decide touchpoints

Decide which touchpoints are most important for your customer journey maps. These touchpoints serve as the foundation of your map because they cover all customer interactions with your brand.

Consider all the various contact points where clients can interact with your company. Include both the direct touchpoints you oversee and indirect activities like reviews on external websites. Every touchpoint can influence consumer conversion, emphasizing thorough representation’s value.

Iterative refinements 

Stay ahead in a fast-paced digital ecosystem since the world keeps changing rapidly. Therefore, make iterative refinements to keep up with the competitors.

Here’s how:

• Scheduled check-ins: Periodically analyze and assess your customer journey maps since new, emerging platforms can change user behaviors. Therefore, the journey will require frequent updates to match market updates.
• Leverage tech innovations: With AI, machine learning, and predictive analytics, you can anticipate changes and adjust your strategies proactively.
• Competitor analysis: Keep a keen eye on what industry leaders and competitors are doing to understand the market pulse.

Jot down customer actions and motives

Make a list of the client behaviors that are essential for interacting with your brand. Separate them from touchpoints based on customers performing actions like looking up your product on Google, following you on social media, etc. A touchpoint is the next link clicked that brings people to your website.

And when it comes to digital marketing, more than merely observing the surface-level actions of visitors is required. Truly mapping an effective inbound journey and converting visitors into customers requires delving deeper into understanding both the actions they take and the motives behind them.

Here are some activities to track inbound customer journeys and try to turn them into visitors.

Decoding actions

Every visitor’s click, scroll, and interaction on your site or platform offers a clue. Did they bounce off the landing page or spend time reading your blog? Did they abandon a filled cart or navigate through multiple product pages? If so, you can work to reduce shopping cart abandonment, and likewise, each action, or lack thereof, can narrate a part of their journey.

Unearthing motives

Apart from customer actions, you also need to understand ‘why’ they do what they do. This is where you get the data for qualitative insights. For instance, if a visitor repeatedly abandons their cart, consider some bottlenecks like unexpected shipping costs, a complex checkout process, or concerns about product quality. Surveys, feedback tools, or even direct communication can help shed light on these motives.

Aligning action with motives

Once you grasp what visitors are doing and why they’re doing it, align your content and marketing strategies accordingly. If you intend to find in-depth information and the action is reading blogs, offering detailed ebooks or webinars could further engage them and guide them towards conversion.

Make the map & review it frequently

Lastly, you must map the customer journey and check whether it follows the desired path. In the world of inbound marketing, understanding your audience’s journey isn’t just a one-time task; it’s an ongoing process that requires regular attention.

Follow a dynamic blueprint

The first step in guiding a visitor toward becoming a customer is to map their initial interaction with your brand (possibly through an online search or a social media post) to the final conversion point (making a purchase, signing up, etc.). Each phase should be meticulously plotted to understand the touchpoints, their emotions, motivations, and potential barriers.

Keep a check

What worked six months ago might be less effective today. Regularly reviewing and updating your inbound journey map ensures you use current strategies and take advantage of new opportunities.

Integrating feedback

Customers and visitors provide invaluable feedback, sometimes directly and through their actions (or inactions). Therefore, regularly reviewing the journey map can help spot patterns or behavior changes that allow for refining the journey effectively. For instance, you may simplify a sign-up process, add more supportive content at crucial decision-making stages, or proactively address frequent questions and concerns.

Bottomline

Understanding your consumers’ contact points with your business is crucial for giving them the best experience possible. The customer journey map is a practical visual tool for understanding this procedure from the viewpoint of your target audience. 

Your business can even deploy WordPress editorial collaboration tools for agencies in content marketing to turn visitors into customers. It’s dynamic and always changing, so be flexible. It should change over time to appropriately reflect how customers’ experiences are changing.