Maximize Ad Conversion Rates with Effective Customer Journey Mapping
Reading Time: 6 Mins | Written By: Jason Serafica & Luigi Macías
Customer journey mapping is the process of identifying the path that your customers take from the moment they first visit your website to completing the transaction. Every step of the customer journey can provide valuable insights that help you better understand their needs and concerns.
By creating a visual map of the customer journey, you'll gain a clearer picture of where they enter, where they drop off, and how to maximize your ad conversion rates.
Step #1: Gather Information
The first step before creating your customer journey map is to collect data about your customer. Check website analytics, gather website feedback/reviews, and collect testimonials to gain insights into how customers interact with your site.
Identify important touchpoints in the journey, such as when customers first land on your site and where they tend to abandon their cart.
Tip: Using Google Analytics 4, you can analyze user journeys under “Explorations” to visually track the number of users entering your site, which pages they visit, and where they exit.
Step 2: Create a Customer Journey Map
Organize your data into a simple flowchart or timeline that outlines every step of the customer journey.
Example: Customer Journey Map for a Clothing Brand
Stage 1: Awareness
Touchpoint: The potential customer sees an Instagram ad or Facebook post showcasing your new clothing collection or seasonal sale.
Stage 2: Consideration
Touchpoint: The customer lands on a product page with detailed images, descriptions, reviews, and pricing for the clothing item.
Stage 3: Decision
Touchpoint: The potential customer adds the clothing item to their cart but doesn’t complete the checkout process.
Stage 4: Retargeting
Touchpoint: The customer sees a retargeting ad or receives an email offering a special discount, free shipping, or reminder about the item left in their cart.
Stage 5: Purchase
Touchpoint: The customer reaches the checkout page where they can finalize their order.
Step 3: Refine
Once you have a clear visualization of the customer journey, the next step is to dig deeper into the details. Start by identifying specific points where customers are leaving or exiting the site. Are they abandoning their cart at checkout? Is there a point in their journey where they hesitate or drop off entirely? Pinpointing these areas can help you understand where the customer experience is falling short. Perhaps the checkout process feels too complicated, or there are steps in the user flow that could be simplified.
In this stage, your focus should be on two key elements: highlighting goals and identifying user actions at each touchpoint. Each goal corresponds to a desired outcome at that step in the journey and every user action reveals how customers are interacting with your site or ad. By understanding the goals and actions, you can identify areas that need improvement.
Additionally, if you identify any areas where customers are actively engaging with certain content or responding well to specific retargeting ads, focus on that. Use those insights to capitalize on these touchpoints, maximize conversions, and personalize your campaigns based on customer behaviour.
Example: Refining the Customer Journey Map for a Clothing Brand
Goals and User Actions at Each Stage
Stage 1: Awareness
Goal: Raise awareness of your brand and spark interest in your clothing line.
Action: The user clicks the ad and visits your website or product page to check out the collection.
Stage 2: Consideration
Goal: Provide enough information to help the customer consider the product and decide whether it fits their style, size, and budget.
Action: They browse the product details, size guide, and customer reviews to evaluate if the clothing is the right choice for them.
Stage 3: Decision
Goal: Encourage them to move forward and complete the purchase.
Action: They leave the site without finalizing the purchase, potentially due to indecision or distractions.
Stage 4: Retargeting
Goal: Remind the customer about the item and incentivize them to return and complete the purchase.
Action: They click the ad or email, revisit the website, and proceed to checkout.
Stage 5: Purchase
Goal: Ensure the checkout process is smooth and easy, offering secure payment options and any final incentives like a discount or free gift with purchase.
Action: They complete the purchase and receive an order confirmation email with shipping details.
Step 4: Optimizing Ads Based on Customer Journey
Now that you’ve identified opportunities and analyzed your customer journey map, it's time to optimize your ads to improve conversion rates.
Stage 1: Audience Segmentation
Segment your audience based on demographics, behaviour, or interests that are aligned with your campaign goal. This will help to refine and optimize your performance.
For instance, if a clothing brand offers fashionable clothes for a younger demographic in Vancouver, they can segment the ad audience by age between 20 - 35 years old and use interests related to shoppers, fashion, clothes, and others. Plus, targeting potential locations depends on your capacity.
Stage 2: Retargeting Ads
Once you have more data from your customers, GA4 is a great tool to create custom audiences based on your needs. For instance, a clothing brand could segment audiences based on first-time visitors, repeat visitors, visitors in the last 30/60 days, previous buyers, etc. Thus, you can retarget those potential visitors who did not complete a purchase but could be a buyer in the future.
Stage 3: A/B testing
Test different ad creatives, copy, CTAs, and landing pages to see what works best with your audience.
For instance, testing the different CTAs such as Shop Now - Limited Stock vs Get 15% Off Limited Offer. After one or two weeks, you might be able to get some insights on what call-to-action drives better results.
Stage 4: Creating Urgency
Use time-sensitive offers to encourage immediate action. You can also do an A/B test with different copy variations For example, you could test “Only 3 left in stock – Order Now”. vs “Flash Sale: Ends Tonight.” This can push potential audiences to take action.
Stage 5: Offer Discounts or Promotions.
Special promotions can reduce friction and increase conversions.
Discounts are very common in digital ads. It is a great way to catch the reader's attention and improve Click through rate (CTR) and cost per action (CPA). For example, you could show an ad with “Get $10 Off Your First Order” for new customers or “Buy One, Get One 50% Off” for returning buyers.
Step 5: Measure Performance
To assess how well your ad campaigns are performing and the impact of your customer journey optimizations, measure the following metrics:
Conversion Rates: Are more customers completing their purchases after interacting with your ads and website? Higher conversion rates indicate better ad and landing page alignment.
Customer Satisfaction: Use surveys or feedback tools to gauge how customers feel about their experience.
Engagement: Are visitors spending more time on your site or engaging with your content?
Click-Through Rate (CTR): Is your ad resulting in a good volume of clicks compared to the number of impressions? A low CTR may indicate that your ad copy or creative isn’t compelling enough.
Cost per Click (CPC): This may depend on your industry benchmark; however, understanding your CPC behaviour could provide insights into the competition and relevance of your ad.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): The cost of acquiring a new customer or lead. This will offer data on how efficiently your ad drives conversion. It can be beneficial to understand your industry benchmark CPC as well.
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): Measures how much revenue you generate for every dollar spent on ads. So, the higher your ROAS, the better the results.
Boosting Ad Conversions with Journey Mapping
Customer journey mapping is an effective and simple tool for improving ad conversion rates. By understanding the full customer journey and identifying opportunities to streamline the process - from brand awareness to purchase - you ensure that customers not only complete their purchases but also have a smooth, enjoyable experience along the way. With consistent monitoring and optimization, your ad campaigns will deliver better results and more satisfied customers.
