As an off-highway manufacturer, it is sometimes difficult to get a clear understanding of your end-users’ experience in acquiring and using your products or services. However, this critical information will help you adapt your products, services and overall “go-to-market” strategy to best suit your customers – and it will differentiate you from your competitors by creating value for your customers.
Understanding your clients’ customer journey is more important now throughout COVID-19 disruptions. Imposed lockdowns and distancing measures, put in place to limit the spread of the virus, have acted as accelerators towards digitalization. Construction and agriculture companies of all sizes are showing stronger interest in digital tools and solutions.
- How precisely have off-highway equipment customers’ usages and behaviors shifted towards more digital?
- Which specific steps of the equipment customer journey have become more digital?
- Which actions, from information gathering and sharing to actual machines, services or parts purchase, clients now consider implementing via digital solutions?
In order to not miss the mark, customers should be offered the right solutions and services at each step of the journey. Off-highway manufacturers should gain a detailed understanding of how perceptions towards digital tools, along with how the confidence surrounding these various digital tools has evolved in the last year,
Understanding the journey of an off-highway equipment buyer will allow your company to gain a clearer understanding of the following:
- What are their touch points with your brand? When or where are customers in contact with your brand? Which digital tools are used at these different touch points, what is satisfactory and what is missing from the current offering?
- What are the “Moments of Truth”? Which impressions at these moments lead them to a purchase decision? What roles digital solutions play to generate moments of truth?
- Who are the participants and influencers in the purchasing process?
- What are areas of pain points and dissatisfaction?
- How can you ensure you offer the best service at the key touch points, including via digital solutions?
- Which KPIs should you put in place to monitor your performance at key touch points? How digital can facilitate?
The Best Advice for Building a Customer Journey – Listen to the Voice of Your Customer
Reasons for selecting and purchasing a product or service are not always fully rational and can be based on multiple factors. An exploratory and qualitative approach is recommended to read between the lines and analyze feelings, attitudes, and behaviors.
Ideally, the study should be carried out by phone. A typical questionnaire will contain several steps, following the phases of the purchasing journey:
- Information collection
- Evaluation and selection
- Purchasing and delivery
- Usage and sharing experience
The study will uncover customer actions, expectations, pain points, touch points with brands, moments of truth, and behaviors and opportunities related to digital tools.
Exploratory interviews take 45 minutes to an hour. This time is necessary to fully understand a customer’s journey and experience. Interviewing individuals in a B2B context requires a particular expertise. The understanding of your customers’ journey, coupled with the identification of your customer persona will be the cornerstone of your customer centricity strategy.
To learn how Ducker can support your organization in becoming more customer centric, and set you apart from your competitors, contact us at:
Ducker Europe: info@duckereurope.com, or +33 1 46 99 59 60
Ducker North America: info@ducker.com, +1.248.644.0086 or +1.800.929.0086