Crafting the buyer’s journey is a meticulous process. Not only do you have to research your various audience segments, but you have to invest in creating unique journeys for each segment. With all that in mind, no part of the process is quite as arduous as finding a way to end the journey.
Closing the buyer’s journey is about finding a way to capitalize on all the momentum, interest, and audience engagement you’ve been building up through your sales channel. Whether your audience began their journey on an ad, a social post, or through your website–the way their journey ends should feel authentic and engaging. Finding the right fit for each audience and each journey can be a struggle but it’s well worth the effort.
If done successfully, the right ending to a buyer’s journey can set your business up not only for increased purchase decisions but also increased value in customer relationships, loyalty, and lifespan. So what are the keys to a successful ending? Well it all comes down to a few valuable factors of your landing page.
There are a couple main ways customers may arrive at a purchase decision with your brand. The easiest is a customer goes to your website, finds a product they like, and completes a purchase from your product page. The other–and more commonly used path–is when a customer is introduced to your brand through some media channel and they begin a journey through your different touch points until they decide it’s time to make a purchase.
In the latter example, you would need something called a landing page. In digital advertising we all know what a landing page is and even as ecommerce shoppers ourselves, we’ve all experienced one some way or another. But it’s important to be clear about what a landing page is because they require clear intent to succeed. A landing is a specified destination designed to encourage a viewer to take some form of action and complete a conversion. A landing page is not meant to be a new extension of your website or created for SEO purposes. A landing page needs to serve a specific purpose that helps you achieve more customers.
It’s not too uncommon to see an online brand use one of their website URLs as a landing page but these only work in specific situations. The true best practice is to create a landing page specifically for your campaigns or sales initiatives.
Consider this example. A home furniture store has an ad campaign celebrating their new outdoor furniture special. They already have a product page that lists all their outdoor furniture for customers to scroll through at their own convenience that they could use for the campaign. Or, they could create a landing page filled with their top products and deals that could be more designed around illustrating the value of their special. Instead of just a basic product scroller with a price and image, they can design a page filled with details about their best products and emphasizing the price cuts they’re offering.
This is where the landing page can match intent. Online shoppers have short attention spans. So if you’re able to hook them with an ad focused on a certain aspect of your business, why risk losing their attention but taking them to a destination that’s focused on the entity of your business rather than that narrowed down focus? In the earlier example, if a customer interested in the special discounts arrived at a page featuring the store’s entire catalog of outdoor wares they might lose interest and move on. But that more focused landing page, highlighting the top deals and their premium selection of products would help the customer stay focused on creating a purchase choice. And if they wanted to browse the full selection the landing page could present a button for that as well.
Consider the intent of the journey you’ve curated for new customers when deciding your final destination and don’t risk wasting interest on broader focuses.
This is something marketer’s are constantly questioning. How many touch points should be in a marketing funnel before the sales pitch is pushed?
There’s no simple answer. Statistics show multiple touch points are associated with increased sales. But this doesn’t mean it’s time to stack your sales funnels with as many touch points as possible. It’s more about understanding varying customer needs. Some shoppers are more skeptical and precise with their purchase choices. This is why a slow building buyer’s journey isn’t a bad idea but there are still customers who don’t need nor want loads of information before making a purchase.
This is why your buyer’s journeys need multiple routes. It shouldn’t be a one way street. You need branching paths and multiple escape routes to new content. Consider making your buyer’s journey CTA heavy. Not CTA heavy in the sense that every channel or content piece needs to end with a sales pitch, but an opportunity to get more direct information.
Consider ending your blogs with a section about your customer stories or reviews. Giving customers an opportunity to get right to your testimonials or case studies to see the top-of-funnel insight you provided in your blog in a more tangible light with your success stories. This is a great way to help customers skip the top-of-funnel pathways and start getting to the meat of your offerings. Have a landing page specific to customers who want to make a purchase or book a service right after viewing your case studies. It can focus on social proof and keep the value that got customers interested up front in center.
Essentially, a successful buyer’s journey won’t come down to touch points of sales funnels. It’ll come down to your ability to invest in your audience data and personalize unique buyer pathways. This same investment will need to carry over into your funnel destinations to achieve a consistent flow of conversions.
We’ve discussed these strategies plenty of times in other posts and blogs. Feel free to check them out. Converting these strategies into a cohesive marketing plan will allow your team’s to achieve new customers in a streamlined flow that can set you up for long-term success.
If you want to see how it looks in action, don’t hesitate to reach out. We preach these strategies because my team and I have seen what they can do for a variety of online businesses. If you want to meet to learn about our strategies or discuss a personalized partnership with my team then we’re available to meet. It’s up to you, simply click here and book some time so we can evaluate the best path forward for you.