1. Define the customer experience
The first step is to define the structure of the customer experience. How does the customer journey proceed step by step within sequential blocks such as awareness, evaluation, purchase, onboarding, usage, and churn? Based on this grid, you can determine at which touchpoints you generate revenue (revenue relevance), how good you are at certain touchpoints (maturity) or with which touchpoints you want to differentiate yourself from the competition (differentiation). It is also crucial that you not only record the current state, but also define the target experience.
Checklist for your company:
- Do we have a structured customer experience with all journey touchpoints included?
- Do we have clarity about which touchpoints are relevant to sales?
- Have we defined where along the customer path we want to set accents for differentiation?
2. Generate and connect performance data
Next, you have to enrich the target structure with data and KPIs. The first step is to generate relevant data per touchpoint – e.g. for awareness the social media reach or ad impressions, for evaluation the number of website visits, for purchase the number of purchases made or the size of shopping carts, abandonment rate, etc. In a second step, this data is to be linked along the intended customer journey – e.g. number of website visits generated by the social media paid ads (conversion rate). A rich database is essential for effective optimization. Existing data gaps need to be closed.
Checklist for your company:
- Do we have sufficient performance data for the relevant touchpoints?
- Do we know the conversion rates along the customer experience?
- Have we defined measures to close data gaps?
3. Remove bottlenecks
Based on the data – especially the conversion rates – weak points in the “customer flow” can now be identified. Comparisons within the industry or development data over time can serve as indicators for potential improvements. The causes of bottlenecks or low conversion rates can be manifold – for example, poor content or content that is not relevant to the target group or too little consistent use of call-to-actions.
Checklist for your company:
- Do we know the most important bottlenecks and greatest potential in the customer flow?
- Do we know the reasons for these bottlenecks?
- Have we defined measures to address these bottlenecks?
4. Promote cross- and up-selling
When optimizing along the customer path to purchase, cross-selling and up-selling potential must not be forgotten. At various touchpoints, there is the opportunity to sell additional products or services or to make existing customers aware of a higher-priced offer. Depending on the industry, cross- and up-selling can account for up to 30% of sales.
Checklist for your company:
- Have we identified the cross- and up-selling potentials along the customer experience?
- Have concrete measures been defined to consistently exploit this potential?
- Do we measure the cross- and up-selling conversion rate?
5. Optimize the customer experience
The value creation or customer experience is always evolving. With this in mind, it is important to regularly check whether there are innovative new touchpoints that can help to strengthen the “customer flow”. Customer Experience Growth Hacking is not a one-time project – it is a philosophy and as such a constant task.
Checklist for your company:
- Do we regularly check the performance data for the “customer flow”?
- Do we know innovative approaches and instruments for existing touchpoints?
- Do we take advantage of the opportunities offered by completely new touchpoints?
