Create an efficient multi-channel customer journey in seven steps

Once your marketing automation strategy has been defined, setting up customer journeys becomes the most crucial step. To make sure you don’t forget anything and avoid making mistakes, we have contacted our top consultants to define an ideal process. By following these instructions, you will be able to create an efficient multi-channel customer journey in seven steps.

1. Identify the events that drive your customer journey

Once your marketing automation strategy has been defined, setting up customer journeys becomes the most crucial step. To make sure you don’t forget anything and avoid making mistakes, we have contacted our top consultants to define an ideal process. By following these instructions, you will be able to create an efficient multi-channel customer journey in seven steps.

2. Identify data flows and data format

Each target group should be identified based on a selection of criteria that do not vary. If you start a new customer journey, the date of contact creation will be central to the process. You must therefore ensure that each data source contains this information in the correct format. If not, corrective actions will be necessary.

3. Set up the specific event that triggers the campaign

In general, whether you deal with Salesforce Marketing Cloud or Hubspot, customer journeys start with a triggering event. These events can take different forms: requests to APIs or actions like sending a form. For our senior consultants, it’s all about identifying these events and configuring them as the main trigger.

4. Set up the different stages and communication assets

Once the trigger event is set up, you can roll out the rest of the customer journey by creating the different steps. This is where you can create specific segments within the journey, based on certain more precise criteria. At each step, you can generate an email, an SMS or an API call, depending on your needs.

5. Test the customer journey

Before the final activation of the customer journey, a test phase is always necessary. Depending on the different tools, this involves creating the journey in a separate test instance. If this is not possible, it is always possible to create a parallel customer journey. This phase usually ends with a written validation from the customer.

6. Activate the final version and follow closely the first results

At the time of activation of the final version, it is always possible to implement actions to reduce the risk of errors. Once the process is finalized and secured, you can activate the customer journey. After that, it is essential to keep an eye on the first results. The success of a customer journey in the long term depends on the impact in the first days.

7. Evaluation of medium and long term results

In Switzerland, the diversity of languages and cultures does not facilitate monitoring. It is necessary to collect enough data for each customer segment to draw initial conclusions. Ideally, between 80 and 100 record should be collected per segment or sub-segment. Then, it is relevant to check the behavior of customer journeys once a week or once a month.

Need help creating an efficient multi-channel customer journey in seven steps?

If you would like to be assisted in creating your customer journey, our senior consultants can help you. They can provide you with helpdesk support. Otherwise, they can also help you manage the entire business case, from the analysis until the production.