The Customer Journey & the Marketing Funnel

[Music]
welcome back
earlier in the course you learned how
digital marketing and e-commerce are
continuing to change the business
landscape
you found out a little about careers in
these industries including core skills
day-to-day responsibilities job titles
and career paths
finally you considered some of the
skills you already have that can help
you advance your career
now it's time to explore the ways that
digital marketing and e-commerce create
value for companies and for their
customers
in this part of the course you'll learn
how companies use digital channels to
reach customers and explore foundational
concepts that can turn potential buyers
into loyal customers
lastly you'll learn why measuring
marketing performance is so important to
success
digital marketing is constantly growing
and changing that's part of what makes
it an exciting field to work in
but some things are always important
like raising awareness fostering trust
and building loyalty
the methods may change but learning the
fundamentals can help you adapt and grow
along with the field are you ready let's
get started
[Music]
did you know that over 60 percent of the
global population is online and more
people are joining them every day that's
why every business big or small needs an
online presence to be competitive
but it's not enough just to have a
website there may be a lot of people
online but there's also a lot of
companies that want their attention and
their business
your target audience needs to know you
exist how you can help them and what
makes you different from the competition
breaking through this crowded field and
actually reaching potential customers
that's where digital marketing comes in
now you might have noticed i haven't
mentioned anything about selling
products yet
that's because digital marketing is
bigger than sales it's not that selling
products or services isn't important but
it's only one piece of what digital
marketing can do for companies
individual sales are easy to measure but
they don't mean much if your target
audience doesn't trust your brand or
your customers don't come back for a
second third or fourth purchase a
successful digital marketing effort
guides all of a company's customer
interactions it allows companies to
think strategically about how to reach
customers through digital channels
before during and after a purchase
it can be harder to measure the value of
these activities but a well-coordinated
strategy allows businesses to thrive
online and even grow
let's think through an example
imagine a company that makes running
shoes decides to invest in digital
marketing
they create some video ads and place
them on a popular news site
they create accounts for several social
media platforms and start posting
content
but their posts don't get much
engagement and their ads don't attract
many new customers
what's worse they don't even know why
they aren't getting results they've
wasted time money and resources on a
digital campaign that doesn't work
now let's think about what could have
happened if that same company made an
effort to learn about their audience
instead of posting ads on a news website
they targeted sites that focused on
running
because they did research they knew
where to find their new customers online
that knowledge also let them create
tailored content for their social media
accounts that reached the right audience
and because they researched their
audience they were able to set
meaningful goals for their strategy
with clear goals in place they knew
exactly how to measure their success
the information they measured allowed
them to adjust their customer
communication and improve their video
social and email campaigns
they were able to recognize
opportunities to reach potential
customers and engage with them
effectively
yes sales went up but their well-planned
digital strategy also built awareness
trust and loyalty
you'll learn more about how marketers
create and execute strategies like this
one throughout the program
for now let's recap
digital marketing is more than running
ads to drive sales it's a set of
practices that can affect a company's
customer interactions at all levels and
during every stage of the purchase
journey
by learning about their customers
digital marketing teams can reach their
target audience in a crowded online
marketplace and nurture customer
relationships over time
coming up you'll learn more about the
value digital marketing creates for
businesses and some of the challenges
marketing teams face when planning and
executing strategies for online
engagement
[Music]
welcome back so far you've learned about
some of the things digital marketing and
e-commerce can do for e-commerce
businesses
you know the advantages of digital
marketing and the challenges of reaching
customers in a crowded online field
you also know that the first and most
important step to any marketing strategy
is learning about your customers
let's get deeper into that last point
it's easy to think of a business's
marketing efforts as being all about
them
about ways to bring in customers boost
profits or grow their online presence
but a really effective marketing
strategy starts with learning about
customers needs and pain points pain
points are the specific problems
customers and potential customers want
to solve
instead of asking how do we sell more
products the most successful businesses
want to know how do we help customers
address their pain points or achieve
their goals
one is about the company's goals the
other is about the customer journey
what is the customer journey
well think about the last time you
recommended something to a friend it
could be a product like an app or a tool
or a service like a restaurant or a
contractor
now think about your journey with that
product or service
how did you first find it
if you had questions how did you get
answers
what convinced you to try it
how did it help you solve a problem or
achieve a goal
and finally what made you decide to
recommend it to someone else
the path you take from learning about
that product to getting your questions
answered to making a purchase is your
customer journey
from your perspective the goal of that
journey wasn't necessarily to purchase a
specific product
it's just the thing that you ended up
purchasing happen to fulfill your needs
here's an example
let's pretend you're in the market for a
new weather app
maybe the one you have isn't reliable
and you keep getting caught in the rain
without an umbrella
so you search online for best weather
apps and find some options
one stands out because the name is
familiar you think a friend might have
told you about it recently or maybe it
was an online ad
you narrow your options to a few
candidates and start reading reviews
two have all the features you want but
you pick the one with the familiar name
it tops several best of lists and it has
a trial subscription
so you download the app but it's not
working right
you go back to the reviews and find out
this is a known issue so you contact the
support through live chat
they help you fix the problem quickly
which makes you feel good about the
company
you start the trial and after a month
you've always had your umbrella when it
rained
you get an email reminder that your
trial is about to expire and you're so
happy with the app that you purchase a
subscription
now you're a loyal customer
each interaction with the brand during
this purchase journey is called a touch
point
from the search to the customer reviews
online ad trial subscription live chat
and follow-up email
every touch point had the potential to
help or hurt your impression of the
brand and its product a bad experience
at any point can mean an abandoned
journey so it's in a company's best
interest to make sure you get
information and answers you need along
the way
with enough customer research marketers
can use these touch points to create a
customer journey map
a customer journey map is a
visualization of the touch points a
typical customer encounters along their
purchase journey
you can even have multiple journey maps
based on the patterns and behaviors of
different types of customers
of course it's impossible to know
exactly what route each person will take
but journey maps aren't about predicting
the future they help you understand how
and why customers are interacting with
your business
when you know how customers are finding
you how they're learning about you and
what problems they want to solve you can
work to make their experiences better
and better customer experiences
ultimately mean greater success for your
business
and there you have it by understanding
customer journeys you can create better
more user-friendly experiences
coming up you'll learn how journey maps
work along with another tool the
marketing funnel to target their
marketing efforts and encourage
potential customers to make purchases
[Music]
now that you know about customer journey
maps it's time to introduce a related
concept the marketing funnel
the marketing funnel also called the
sales funnel or conversion funnel is an
idea that's older than the internet in
fact marketers have used it for over a
hundred years
if it's been around that long it must be
a pretty powerful tool
so what is a marketing funnel and how
does it work
a marketing funnel is a visual
representation of the process through
which people go from first learning
about a brand to becoming loyal
customers
the funnel is wide at the top and
narrows toward the bottom because a lot
of potential customers will enter the
top of the funnel but only some of them
will reach the bottom to become loyal
customers
of course people will drop off at every
stage in between so you want to make
sure you're doing everything you can to
keep them moving through the funnel
there are a lot of different versions of
the marketing funnel and you'll learn
about a few of them later
right now i'm going to introduce you to
a simple version of the funnel that has
four stages
awareness consideration conversion and
loyalty at the top of the funnel is the
awareness stage
this is when a potential customer
encounters a brand for the first time
maybe from an ad or a
recommendation at this stage the
customer probably doesn't know enough
about that company to form an opinion
they're just aware it exists
awareness is the widest tier because
even though a lot of people might know
about a company only some of them will
think about doing business with them
that's why it's important to raise as
much awareness as possible among target
audiences
a target audience is the group of people
most likely to purchase a company's
products they're the ones whose
attention your digital marketing efforts
should capture
things start to narrow at the next stage
consideration
this is when some potential customers
from the awareness stage start to think
about doing business with a company at
this point they could be actively
browsing the website or comparing
different brands so making a good
impression is key
those who move beyond consideration go
to the conversion stage
conversion is when someone decides to
make a purchase and become a customer
to increase the chances of conversion
businesses should demonstrate their
value and provide a user-friendly
experience
the last stage is loyalty
it takes a huge amount of effort to move
potential customers from awareness to
conversion
so once a customer completes a purchase
you want to give them reasons to return
making current customers happy can
increase trust and keep them coming back
for years to come
now if you're thinking that this all
feels pretty similar to a customer
journey map you'd be right
marketing funnels and journey maps are
related concepts and they're best when
used together
here's how they complement one another
first you know that a journey map traces
the customer's path to purchase along
specific touch points
but a marketing funnel is part of a
business's plan for moving customers
along that journey
a journey map adopts the customer's
perspective but a funnel considers that
same process from the position of the
business
second the structure of a marketing
funnel is simpler than a journey map
customer journeys are complex because
they demonstrate how customers might
interact with a brand their path to
purchase are unique and they can repeat
or loop back on themselves
in contrast the funnel is a linear model
that breaks this journey into broad
stages
it's not about how specific customers
reach consideration or conversion but
what a company can do to move lots of
customers from one stage to the next
remember the weather app example let's
think about a few of the touch points
our hypothetical customer encountered
and how they might fit into a marketing
funnel
the customer was reminded of the app by
the online ad in search results making
these awareness activities
the trial membership could be a
consideration offering since it helped
the customer learn about the product
but it was the reminder email that
finally got them to commit so that's a
conversion tactic
funnels like this one help businesses
focus their goals and marketing efforts
making their path from awareness to
loyalty as smooth as possible
they drive engagement and make it more
appealing for customers to do business
with the company
when used together journey maps and
marketing funnels help marketers
understand and serve their customers
better than either can alone
let's review
along with customer journey maps a
marketing funnel is a powerful tool that
allows businesses to focus and
coordinate their marketing efforts
to get the most out of a funnel they
should try to optimize their work at
each stage
from awareness to consideration
conversion and loyalty a carefully
planned funnel can help businesses
succeed online
coming up we'll explore a few different
versions of the marketing funnel and
discuss how they evolve through
e-commerce meet you there
[Music]
hello again
earlier in the course we went over the
concepts of the customer journey and the
marketing funnel
now let's explore the funnel in a little
more detail starting at the top with the
awareness and consideration stages
we'll consider some of the things teams
can do to get attention from potential
customers and drive engagement
effectively
first awareness
you already know that awareness is when
a potential customer encounters your
brand for the first time
this may seem like a simple idea but how
do you make sure your brand gets in
front of the right audience the first
step is research
finding out who your customers are and
where they are online can help you focus
your marketing efforts in the right
places
getting to know your particular audience
allows you to pick the channels that
have the best chance of reaching them
there are a lot of different tactics a
business can use to reach customers
one way is to improve their rankings and
search engine results
they can do this by optimizing website
content around specific search terms or
paying to place digital ads on websites
social media email or video platforms
forming promotional partnerships with
other brands or influencers can also
help raise awareness
you'll learn more about each of these
tactics later in the program
for now just remember that a strong top
of funnel marketing strategy takes
advantage of multiple channels and
creates a consistent experience across
all of them
it's also important to keep in mind that
awareness isn't a one-time event
once someone knows about your business
it can take days weeks or even longer
for them to get to the consideration
stage
so once you've reached a potential
customer the goal is to get them to
remember you
say your company sells refrigerators
that's a big purchase and not one that
you make every day so even if a
potential customer knows about your
business they might wait until their old
fridge breaks to start thinking about a
new one
maintaining a consistent online presence
can remind them that you exist when the
time is right
that way they'll think of your business
when they do need your services
now let's move on to consideration
you know that consideration is the
getting to know you stage it's when
people start exploring your business and
finding out what makes you different
from the competition
during this stage the goal is to
increase the chances that a potential
customer will eventually make a purchase
they might be reading online reviews or
actively browsing your website by now so
you need to give them reasons to stick
around or to come back if they've
already left
at this stage some potential customers
will become leads
a lead is a potential customer who has
interacted with a brand and shared
personal information like an email
address
let's take that refrigerator example
again imagine that customer goes to your
website and checks out a few different
models but they don't make a decision
right away
maybe they need more time to think about
it or want to compare different brands
or they could have just gotten
distracted
you can engage that person again by
serving them ads based on the products
and pages they visited
that makes it more likely they'll return
to make a purchase
once a potential customer is on your
site you should aim to educate them
about your offerings and explain how
specific products or services address
their pain points
that can mean offering engaging useful
content like blog posts newsletters or
webinars
free samples tools or trial memberships
can let potential customers test out
your services before committing
the goal is to start building trust and
the quality of your products and give
customers what they need to make an
informed choice to recap the top of the
funnel boosts awareness and customer
engagement
at the awareness stage marketers use a
variety of tools and channels to connect
with potential customers and stay fresh
in their minds
during the consideration stage they
should make it clear what they're
offering and how they can meet customers
needs
when executed carefully awareness and
consideration tactics can lead to more
people eventually becoming customers
coming up you'll learn more about
marketing funnels and discover some ways
to measure awareness and consideration
success
[Music]
so far you've learned about some ways to
raise awareness and engage with
potential customers
you know that selecting the right
channels to reach a target audience is
one of the most important things
businesses can do to market products
online
but we haven't gotten to the most
important part
how do you know if the tactics you've
chosen are working
are there ways to improve on what you're
already doing
or do you need to start again with a
whole new plan
to answer all these questions is
measurement
the fact is no matter how much research
you do or how carefully you plan a
marketing strategy none of it matters
unless you can measure your success
measuring outcomes at each stage of the
funnel allows you to find out what
you're doing right
what you're doing wrong and where you
can improve
in this video we'll discuss some of the
metrics companies use to measure success
at the top of the funnel
a metric is a quantifiable measurement
used to track and assess progress toward
an objective
marketing metrics can gauge different
aspects of campaign performance and
effectiveness which can help businesses
make improvements for the future for
example to measure awareness of their
ads marketers use tools to track things
like impressions reach and frequency
impressions are the total number of
times an ad appears on people's screens
that number includes users who encounter
the ad more than once
so if an ad is encountered 200 times by
100 people the number of impressions is
200 since it's been shown 200 times in
contrast reach is the total number of
unique individuals who encounter an ad
across their different devices
no matter how many times a person gets
that ad they're only counted once so the
reach of an ad that's encountered 200
times by 100 people would be 100.
frequency refers to how many times each
individual encounters the ad in a given
time frame
so if each of those 100 people gets the
ad twice in a week their frequency would
be two
these are just a few of the metrics you
can use to gauge awareness
you'll learn more about tracking and
analyzing awareness measurements later
on in the program
the goal of the awareness stage is
usually to get ads in front of the right
people at the right times
by analyzing impressions reach and
frequency marketers can find out how big
of an impact their ads are having if the
numbers are below the company's goal for
awareness they may decide to re-evaluate
their ad strategy
but businesses can also have more
specific awareness goals like getting a
certain amount of visitors to a page on
a website exactly what you choose to
measure depends on what you're trying to
achieve
that's why it's important to set goals
for each stage of the funnel
at the consideration stage there are
different ways to measure success but
they all come down to one idea
engagement
how much how often and for how long are
potential customers engaging with your
content
analytics tools can track things like
how often customers search for your
business online the number of first-time
visitors to a site
the number of pages per visitor and how
long visitors spend on a page
signing up for emails or newsletters is
another good measurement of engagement
and getting customer contact information
will make it easier to remind them you
exist and demonstrate your value later
on
it may seem like more engagement is
better but that isn't always the case
if the goal is for customers to find
what they need quickly but customers
spend a long time completing tasks it
may mean you need to reevaluate the
layout of your website
measuring website interactions can give
you a lot of insights so knowing which
numbers are important and what they mean
for your goals is crucial
even with clear goals and accurate
information measuring awareness and
engagement is often more challenging
than measuring bottom of the funnel
concerns like sales
later in the program you'll learn how to
interpret this kind of information and
how businesses use it to improve their
tactics from moving leads from
consideration to conversion
let's review
measuring awareness and engagement is
the most important things brands can do
to ensure success at the top of the
funnel
marketing teams use analytics tools to
measure awareness through numbers of
impressions reach and frequency
consideration can be measured through
website engagement including page visits
detailed views and email signups
knowing what to measure in order to
reach your goals is an important part of
marketing success
coming up you'll learn more about the
funnel and what to do at the conversion
and loyalty stages
[Music]
welcome back
in the last lesson we covered the
awareness and consideration stages of
the marketing funnel
we discussed some of the things
businesses should do and measure to
raise awareness and boost customer
engagement now let's get into the
conversion and loyalty stages of the
funnel
we'll consider what teams can do to
drive sales and keep customers coming
back again and again
you know that the conversion stage also
known as the decision or purchase stage
is when someone makes a purchase and
becomes a customer
not everyone who considers a purchase
will convert
and potential customers make purchases
when they think that one company
solution fits their needs better than
others
so it's essential that they do
everything they can do to demonstrate
and deliver value at this stage
you want customers to trust you and feel
confident in their decision to buy your
product
the goal of the conversion stage is
simple it's to turn potential customers
into buyers
but how different companies go about
making that happen depends on their
products and audience
it's also important to keep in mind that
different customers can get from
consideration to conversion through
different touch points
but it is possible to identify trends
and customer behavior so you can
personalize content and improve target
areas
you'll find more about identifying these
trends later in the program
to set themselves apart at the
conversion stage businesses should
provide clear and useful content and
experiences
that includes everything from accurate
product descriptions to a smooth
checkout process and a clear returns
policy
well-placed product-focused ads in a
clearly organized website can be
persuasive too
whatever the methods making it easy for
leads to find answers and take action
makes conversion more likely now some
marketing funnels end after the customer
makes a purchase
but building and maintaining customer
loyalty can be just as important as
converting them in the first place
successful businesses balance customer
acquisition with retention
because once you've made the effort to
build a relationship with a customer you
want to keep that relationship going
customer loyalty depends foremost on the
quality and value of your product
but even if a customer loves their
purchase that's no guarantee they'll
come back for more
building loyalty is about creating a
great customer experience during and
after purchase
many companies use things like follow-up
emails rewards programs or social media
engagement to nurture relationships with
customers on an ongoing basis
those interactions should always be
purposeful and thoughtful
for example email coupons can encourage
repeat purchases
but sending a coupon for something a
customer just bought
they probably won't be too happy about
that
when companies focus on creating a
positive post-purchase experience they
can drive future sales and when
customers who aren't just brand loyal
but devoted fans
and that's it
let's review
at the bottom of the funnel businesses
focus on converting potential customers
and encouraging those customers to
return in the future
during the conversion stage they
demonstrate value through quality
content and experiences
after a purchase they build loyalty by
continuing to engage customers and build
relationships
by optimizing these results at each
stage businesses can thrive in a crowded
online marketplace
coming up you'll review what you learned
about marketing funnels so far and find
out some things businesses can do to
measure success at the bottom of the
funnel meet you there
[Music]
by now you've learned a lot about the
marketing funnel and how businesses use
it to raise awareness increase
consideration encourage conversion and
build loyalty
you know some of the things they measure
at the top of the funnel and understand
why tracking this information is key to
success
in this video we'll explore some ways to
measure success at the bottom of the
funnel in the conversion and loyalty
stages let's go
the most basic thing you can measure at
the conversion stage is the number of
conversions
a conversion happens when a potential
customer takes a desired action
in this case when they make a purchase
seems simple right
the number of conversions is crucial
information but it's not the only thing
you can measure at this stage
tracking time to conversion
cost per conversion
the average number of touch points
before conversion or the average order
size can provide valuable insights into
how customers interact with your brand
these insights also allow you to address
drop-off issues like abandoned carts
cart abandonment is when a customer adds
an item to their cart but doesn't
complete the purchase
believe it or not it's estimated that
nearly 70 percent of online carts are
abandoned
so finding out where customers drop off
in the checkout process can help you
improve procedures and increase your
conversions
okay it's time for the last stage of the
funnel
loyalty
how a business chooses to measure
loyalty depends on their target audience
and particular goals
some common things to measure include
the rate of repeat purchases
the length of time between purchases the
number of orders per customer
and the rate of account activation after
sign up
the level of engagement with rewards
programs is also another indicator of
customer loyalty over time
loyalty metrics allow businesses to
assess and refine strategies to keep
customers boost sales and save money
but they also reveal where they can
manage customer relationships more
effectively
in the end customer loyalty is the
truest test of how well the entire
funnel serves customers and meets their
needs
we'll get further into how conversion
and loyalty measurements are used later
in the program
for now just remember beyond completed
purchases conversion measurements also
track behaviors like time to conversion
and order size
these measurements provide valuable
information that can enable teams to
curb drop-offs and increase sales
loyalty measurements track things like
account activation time between
purchases and orders per customer
by measuring loyalty businesses can
improve retention rates and build
revenue over time
and there you go
measuring results throughout the funnel
is the best tool brands can use to
optimize their effort at each stage
and a well-planned funnel means they can
nurture leads effectively throughout
their purchase journeys
coming up you'll explore some ideas of
where the e-commerce industry might be
headed in the future
congratulations on finishing this video
from the google digital marketing and
e-commerce certificate
access the full experience on coursera
including job search help and start
earning the official certificate by
clicking the icon or the link in the
description
watch the next video in the course by
clicking here and subscribe to our
channel for more lessons from google
career certificate