The customer journey is the process by which people become aware of your business, decide to deal with you, and eventually encourage others to do the same. There are five phases in the customer journey: discovery, education, trust, conversion, and advocacy. Business owners sometimes prioritize the discovery and conversion portion of the customer journey, but in truth it’s all important. Every step in the customer journey is an opportunity to optimize the relationship you have with them.

Martech solutions are selected and deployed based on the type of experience you’d like to provide your customer given their current customer journey position. For example, during the education phase, augmented reality can provide a fun way for shoppers to familiarize themselves with your offerings; influencers are also highly effective during this time, as is targeted content shared via your website, social media, and other platforms.

Every step in the customer journey matters. If the results you’re seeing aren’t in alignment with your goals, you can see where the customer journey goes off track by examining your website data. Google Analytics records and quantifies user behavior; problem points reveal themselves through a process of targeted analysis. The same data also provides insights on how to improve what’s already being done well. Data is a key component in effective personalization, allowing you to refine your customer’s journey so they feel centered and catered to at every step.

Are You Listening to Your Data?

Many business owners know their Google Analytics contains useful valuable data, but they’re not making the best use of it. This is because Google Analytics is not set up out of the box to analyze your traffic and answer your specific business questions. Google is taking steps to make the data more user-friendly, but the process takes time, with improvements rolling out on a semi-annual basis at best.

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To help those business owners who want to make better use of their data now, we’ve introduced RetailSmartData. Featuring custom Google Analytics configuration and expert analysis, RetailSmartData provides you with a comprehensive understanding of your customers’ journey, from the first moments of discovery through relationship development, conversion and beyond. If you’re going to do only one thing to improve your business in 2018, the smartest choice is to take control of your website data. RetailSmartData makes it easy.