[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/03\/08\/bridging-gap-turn-potential-customers-brand-advocates\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/03\/08\/bridging-gap-turn-potential-customers-brand-advocates\/","headline":"Bridging the gap: how to turn potential customers into brand advocates","name":"Bridging the gap: how to turn potential customers into brand advocates","description":"At SAP Hybris LIVE: Digital Summit 2017, speakers talked about how brands need to pay attention to the entire customer journey and offered advice on improving customer experience.","datePublished":"2017-03-08","dateModified":"2024-05-02","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/michele-hackshall\/#Person","name":"Michele Hackshall","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/michele-hackshall\/","identifier":206,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cdfe601f4ea5e7c5a9fda497cdadd4aff1b27d52bacb8d397bdbf72005c2b4d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cdfe601f4ea5e7c5a9fda497cdadd4aff1b27d52bacb8d397bdbf72005c2b4d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/jw1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/jw1.jpg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/03\/08\/bridging-gap-turn-potential-customers-brand-advocates\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/customer-experience\/","name":"Customer Experience","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_experience","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q984142"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/customer-experience\/customer-experience-general\/","name":"Customer Experience","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_experience","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q984142"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/service\/customer-service\/","name":"Customer Service","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_service","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q1060653"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/marketing-general\/","name":"Marketing","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marketing","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q39809"]}],"wordCount":884,"keywords":["Customer Journey","Customer Service"],"articleBody":"It\u2019s a great time to be a customer. There are so many ways purchase now. Whether it\u2019s a new smartphone or planning a big vacation, the process of making a decision offers a huge variety of options\u00a0to consumers.\u00a0Usually the customer journey\u00a0starts with online research. This is where they brush up on information about the product or service they wish to buy: Is that smartphone\u2019s camera high grade? Does the\u00a0hotel offer free Wi-Fi? From there they can narrow down their search. Reviews are read on social media and on forums, simple questions can be answered by\u00a0chatbots. Purchasing can be done easily online. For more tactile retail goods, visits to bricks-and-mortar stores come into play as well. But while it’s simple to describe in these terms, the\u00a0customer’s experience is rarely simple and straightforward\u00a0as they move back and forth through the journey. Of course,\u00a0as a business you want it be easy at every stage. You want to support and help them choose your product or service as much as possible. The customer journey doesn’t stop with the saleJohann Wrede, Global Vice President of Audience, Brand and Content Marketing for SAP Hybris, explains that\u00a0the most common pitfalls companies make are in\u00a0the customer experience.\u00a0Many people think the buying journey stops once the customer has made a purchase, but “the reality is the longer part of the customer journey is what happens after the purchase”.Studying and recognizing the gaps between the various stages of a customer journey shouldn\u2019t be overlooked. \u201cThe most fragile moment is when the customer transitions,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cIf that gap isn\u2019t seamless \u2014 if the experiences before and after the gap aren\u2019t the same \u2014 you break the customer\u2019s journey.\u201dHere are four examples of where to bridge the gap:One: \u201cI want to buy it before I hold it.\u201dDoes the retail experience match the online one? Will a customer walk into a store after checking online for stock, only to be disappointed that it\u2019s not available? Will the staff be as helpful as the online experience?To achieve a frictionless experience for your customer, departments must work together. E-commerce needs to talk to Retail, and vice versa, to make sure they are meeting customers’ expectations.Two: \u201cI\u2019d like to get more information.\u201dThis is about making sure leads get to your salespeople to provide a quick response. If leads are getting lost in the process, or taking too long to get a response, then you lose that customer. Provide salespeople with context for the call back as well. What offer was the customer responding to? What product page were they on? By transferring the intelligence, the sales person responding can have a conversation that will add value to the caller.Three: \u201cI need help.\u201dDoes your customer\u2019s experience match the experience of their purchase?The longest phase of the customer journey is the \u2018Use Phase\u2019. A good example is buying a car. The purchase will most likely last years, so they\u2019ll be interacting regularly with you. When they service the car, make it seamless and easy. Does it match the great sales service they received when they test drove the car, when they purchased it? It\u2019s important for the information captured from the marketing process and the sales process feed into customer service. This way when a customer picks up the phone and calls for help, customer service will know what they bought, and why they\u2019re calling. This saves time and frustration, while also adding value. \u201cMarketing should care as much about what customer service is saying to your customers as you do about what\u2019s going into an outbound email,\u201d Wrede says. \u00a0\u201cIf that experience is different and disconnected from what you say across marketing and sales, it will break that customer journey. You will never bring that customer to the final phase of advocacy.\u201dFour: \u201cHelp me share my experience.\u201dYou want your customers to become your advocates. To share their fantastic, seamless and overly positive experience with everyone they know. \u201cIf you don\u2019t bridge that gap to go from use to advocacy, you\u2019re damaging your business,\u201d Wrede says. \u201cHow does your organzation work to cross that big divide from saying \u00a0\u2018I bought it\u2019 to \u2018I love it.\u2019\u201dRespond quickly to customer feedback and reviews. Have systems in place that flag positive feedback as well as the bad. Train your customer service to recognize a possible advocate and foster them. Make sure your customers have financial backing, or at least the resources like GreenTouch loans should be pushed to the forefront to help make purchases easy.Overall, it\u2019s about minding the gaps and looking into your business. Not just in your department, but across the whole organization. Go beyond marketing, sales and customer service. Understand what the gap looks like from the customer\u2019s perspective, and base your solution around that.Don\u2019t miss out on all the great panels, insights and thought-leadership from SAP Hybris LIVE: Digital Summit 2017! Binge-watch the replays now!  Customers want excellent service.Brands know they need to deliver it, but often fall short.Take a product tour to see how modern CRM powers great customer service HERE."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2017","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"03","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/\/03\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"08","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/\/03\/\/08\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Bridging the gap: how to turn potential customers into brand advocates","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/03\/08\/bridging-gap-turn-potential-customers-brand-advocates\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]