Turtlewax, the car care products company, amassed a trove of positive customer reviews on their website only to realize these same reviews were trapped on their site and didn’t support retail store sales. The company pivoted and aggregated these reviews to share with retail stores to extend their utility across all stages of a retail customer journey. As a result, the company lifted sales 50% at the retail level.
Marketers need, and are uniquely positioned, to deepen relationships and move customers beyond just being purchasers and into the domain of Loyads, those loyal advocates who will amplify both messages and marketing spend, according Augie Ray, research director, Gartner for Marketing Leaders at the Gartner Digital Marketing Conference 2016.
The new buyer’s journey encompasses three simple, but intimately related, parts: Buy, Own, and Advocate.
The new customer journey
Today’s customer buying journey spans buying, owning and advocating. It is progressive so that if brands do the right thing in the buy and own stage, they earn customer advocacy. This is important because when marketers improve the entire customer experience across all three phases, their marketing results amplify and improve.