Digital Marketing: Customer Journey and User Experience

Aspects of Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing is the process by which companies create value for customers and society, resulting in strong customer relationships that capture value from the customers in return through digital means. With more channels, more competitors, and more powerful clients than ever, digital marketing presents unique challenges and opportunities.

The main differences are that consumers have evolved, and the 4 P’s of marketing (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) have become the 5 P’s (adding Performance).

Types of Digital Consumers

In digital purchasing, consumers derive satisfaction from their ability to navigate a website and the convenience of online searching, which allows them to compare prices and “shop around” with minimal time commitment. Thus, the online consumer is often motivated by more utilitarian factors. We can categorize digital consumers into these types:

• Direct Searchers: Users searching for information directly. There is no guarantee of sale or conversion.
• Indirect Searchers: Users more likely to navigate through and interact with digital advertisement campaigns.
• Heavy Users: Users with a straightforward intention to purchase a specific online product.
• Bargain Hunters: Users searching for products on sale or promotion.
• Entertainment Seekers: Potential targets for gamification or content strategies.

The Customer Journey

The customer journey is the complete sum of experiences that customers go through when interacting with your company and brand. Instead of looking at just a part of a transaction or experience, the customer journey documents the full experience of being a customer. It encompasses every interaction, from the very first impact of your brand or company until a purchase, payment, or any kind of conversion.

Why is the Customer Journey Important?

• Better Understand Your Customers: It allows you to put yourself in your customer’s shoes.
• Identify Marketing Waste: Optimize customer experience and resource allocation.
• Transversal to Company: Encourages the cross-departmental coordination needed to provide the best customer experience.
• Build a Differentiated Experience: Stand out from competitors.
• Provide a Seamless Customer Experience: It’s the best tool for ensuring a smooth and consistent customer journey.

Elements of the Customer Journey

1. Stages: Awareness, consideration, acquisition, purchase/service, loyalty/advocacy.
2. Channels: TV, street, internet, radio.
3. Touchpoints: Individual interactions with the client.
4. Steps: Decisions made by clients.
5. Calls to Action (CTAs): Instructions to the audience designed to provoke an immediate response, regularly using verbs.
6. Levers: Price, promotion, technology, etc.
7. Departments: Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, etc.
8. KPIs: Impacts on client, web visits, number of purchases, prescriptions, etc.
9. Moments of Truth: Filling out an application, downloading content, booking a reservation, making a payment, etc.

User Experience, Design, and Interface

User experience (UX) encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products. UX design is the process of creating products that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to users. This involves the design of the entire process of acquiring and integrating the product, including aspects of branding, design, usability, and function.

In information technology, the User Interface (UI) is everything designed into an information device with which a person may interact.

Key Features of UI

This can include display screens, keyboards, a mouse, and the appearance of a desktop. It is also the way through which a user interacts with an application or a website. The growing dependence of many companies on web applications and mobile applications has led many companies to place increased priority on UI in an effort to improve the user’s overall experience.