Creating a delightful customer journey can feel impossible sometimes. But we can get closer to hitting that mark by learning from the learning community.
Learning and the Customer Journey
I’m learning that learning is hard! We recently launched a beta version of our website course. At the same time, I’ve joined a cohort of other course creators to learn about learning. How meta is that?
There are A LOT of smart people in this course. Guess what? I am not alone. We all concur. Learning is hard. AND there’s usually a dip on the journey to learn.
Let’s talk about the journey of learning.
Learning a new thing, we all start out jazzed…until the learning becomes more difficult than we imagined. That’s when we want to throw our hands up and quit.
Maybe you’re not as demonstrative (some may say melodramatic – I say tomayto, tomahto…) as I, but I’m definitely the one you’ll see throwing my hands up. But I digress…
It made me think about the customer journey after the sale but before results are experienced. The more I think about it, the more it feels like there’s a dip there too.
The Customer Journey Dip – Here’s how I see it playing out…
Clients buy a promise of a brighter future.
They make a purchase. And then, the product or service is harder to use than they thought. They have to put more time into the service than they expected. The results don’t come as quickly as they imagined.
They thought they were headed to immediate ease, peace of mind, and bliss. After all, that’s what you told them to expect in the end. And here they are feeling disheartened at some point along the path.
You know this story because even you’ve felt it before.
So, what’s the cure?
Here’s where empathy and authority can work wonders for you and your client.
☀️ Manage Expectations: You can give them a heads up that people usually feel overwhelmed or frustrated at a certain point in the journey before they even get there.
☀️ Express Empathy: When you get there, let them know they are not alone. Everyone feels overwhelmed/frustrated/disappointed [insert emotion here] just like they do.
☀️ Convey Authority: Just a spoonful of authority helps the emotion go down. Remind them of stories of other clients who have felt that way too. But who made it to the other side in the end. Let them know you were the guide that got other people to where they wanted to be in spite of fits and starts along the way. Use numbers if you have them.
☀️ And right back to the beginning: manage their expectations about how long this “dip” is likely to last if they’ll just stick with it.
Managing the dip will make your life easier, and it garners trust from the people who need you most. Plus, it feels so personal when someone can see you and meet you where you are. Even when “all the feels” are not positive during their work with you. They still feel seen and heard.
Comment below if your clients experience a dip when working with you and how you handle it. Let’s share best practices and grow together.
