Content is the driving force behind the customer journey in today’s 24/7-on world. We often forget the critical role that content plays in SEO.
What content drives the customer journey
Let’s first look at the customer journey, so we are all on the same page.
Here’s how Google might present a customer journey with touchpoints where customers interact across channels and platforms.
The customer journey is sometimes linear. It can take several days or weeks for a customer to convert. This makes it challenging to portray the actual customer journey accurately.
This leads to frustration for the consumer and a loss of opportunity for the brand. They couldn’t offer the content necessary to make the journey effective.
Create content that will drive the customer journey
You must create customer-centric content, and not IT staff, to avoid the dysfunctional customer journey shown in the cartoon. This customer-centered, intelligent content can be a battleground for marketers who want to optimize content for customer journeys and developers who wish to easy-to-create, easy-to-maintain content that creates beautiful and efficient websites.
This is because the goals of each functional area are different. Marketers are responsible for increasing conversion rates, while developers are required to speed up, optimize, and provide SEO. Developers claim their website and do not want marketers interfering with their business, except to write a blog post. Marketers need to gain the design and development skills required to have productive conversations with developers. But that’s another argument.
However, knowing the root cause of the problem doesn’t make it easier to create content that drives customer journeys. To do this, we must think like customers, not developers or marketers.
All content throughout the customer journey
This is a simplified version of the conversion funnel. The image has apparent flaws. It assumes that the journey is linear. This is not the case. Let’s make this simple and instead focus on the content for each stage of the customer journey.
Awareness
Awareness is the first and most crucial step. Without awareness, there is no way to go. This stage aims to create and distribute content across as many channels as possible. This stage is all about SEO, paid advertisement, and influencer campaigns that drive potential customers to our shops (online and offline). Companies pay the most attention at this stage if they need more attention. If interested, you can find more information about the content that drives customers to the top of their funnel.
Take into account
To drive purchase, more than awareness is needed. To drive impulse purchases, understanding is not enough. Next is a consideration.
The funnel narrows at the consideration stage and then narrows as we move toward conversion. This indicates that potential customers are leaving the horn and are not moving toward transformation.
