It is often said that “you can’t improve what you can’t measure.” But what should you do when the customer journey is not linear, but complex and difficult to measure?
HubSpot Customer Journey Analytics is designed to solve this challenge.
It allows you to easily gain a comprehensive overview of the entire customer journey, from the first touchpoint between the customer and the brand, through purchase, and into post-purchase care. In this blog post, we will briefly explain how to use HubSpot Customer Journey Analytics to enhance the customer experience.
1. Set Your Goals
Before using the tool, take the first step toward improving your customer journey by setting clear goals. You likely have specific objectives, such as increasing revenue or improving customer satisfaction. By defining your goals clearly, you can track your progress toward achieving them using HubSpot Customer Journey Analytics.
2. Create Content Paths
Once your goals are set, the next step is to create content paths. A content path defines the journey you want to guide customers on toward making a purchase.
For example, this might include steps such as visiting the website, filling out an inquiry form, requesting a demo, and completing a purchase.
To create a content path in HubSpot, go to the [Reports] menu in the navigation bar and click [Reports]. Then, click [Create Report] in the top right corner of the screen and select [Customer Journey Report]. On the creation screen, drag and drop the steps you want to track to create the path.
In this step, you first set the lifecycle stages to track.
Next, select the paths that guide customers at each stage (e.g., ads, CTAs (Call-To-Action), forms, marketing emails, messages, etc.). Each of these is considered a “step.” These represent interactions the contact has had with your company and are also referred to as “events.”
Step 3: Track the Customer Journey
Once you have drafted your content path, begin tracking the actual customer journey to see which paths customers are taking.
HubSpot’s Customer Journey Reports help you track a wide range of touchpoints between customers and your company, from the initial website visit to the final purchase and post-purchase care. This allows you to grasp the overall picture of the customer journey and identify areas for improvement.
Step 4: Analyze the Data
After you start tracking the customer journey, the next step is to analyze the data.
The Customer Journey Report allows you to view how customers are engaging with your content from various perspectives. Analyzing these results helps deepen your understanding of the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. For example, data on the number of customers dropping off at each stage of the content path can reveal areas that need improvement. Additionally, if you find that many customers are skipping certain steps, you might consider removing or simplifying those steps.
Step 5: Improve the Customer Journey
Using the analyzed data, take action to implement improvements.
For instance, you might optimize your website, strengthen your lead nurturing process, or adjust your pricing strategy. When improving the customer journey, always ensure your decisions are data-driven.
Step 6: Validate and Adjust
Even after completing the steps above, trial and error is essential. Improving the customer journey is an ongoing process that requires continuous validation.
After making changes, track the data to verify whether those changes had a positive impact. If they did, that’s great! If not, make further adjustments and try again.
It is important to keep validating and adjusting until you find what works.
Summary
Improving the customer journey is essential for sustainable business success. By using HubSpot Customer Journey Reports, you can track all touchpoints between customers and your company and identify areas with room for improvement. Since the customer journey is not linear but winding, these tools are incredibly useful.
Whether your ultimate goal is to increase revenue, improve customer satisfaction, or achieve something else, HubSpot Customer Journey Reports will serve as a powerful tool to help you reach your objectives.
Author: Dan Moyle / @danmoyle (HubSpot Community Champion)
Original: Improve Customer Experience with HubSpot Customer Journey Analytics
