Digital technologies have empowered consumers and enabled them to make smarter decisions in real-time based on insightful and contextual data. This development has of course been beneficial for consumers, but it has also created challenges for marketers as consumers' decision journey have radically changed. In this blog post, we will give you some ideas on how you can rethink the customer journey and adapt it for the digital age.
The complexity of today's modern customer shopping journey is particularly evident in how people buy car insurance. As you can see from the visualisation below, buying or renewing car insurance is no longer a simple task for car owners. Extensive research on how people buy car insurance has been carried out by GFK. They argue that it's essential for insurers to understand the increasingly complex purchase journey in order to craft a future-focused strategy that drives sales and promotes customer loyalty.
GFK's research reveals that 8 in 10 people conduct research for car insurance online. Additionally, they conclude that many car insurance buyers research online, but purchase offline. This is quite similar to the retail apparel industry where many of the most successful retailers are those that combine eCommerce with bricks and mortar stores. In essence, it's crucial that marketers recognise the central role that online has and provides their prospective customers with the right personalised information at the right time.
52% of car insurance buyers use a smartphone or tablet during the customer journey and it's also very common with cross-device usage through out this process according to GFK. From this we can conclude that it's important that websites and content are seamlessly optimised for all devices and platforms. Moreover, it's essential that all of the brand touch points are carefully designed and consistent with the brand identity.
This case study highlights that the customer journey is becoming increasingly complex and that customers to a large extent use digital devices as tools to make smarter decisions and find the best deal. In order to stay competitive and adapt to this change, businesses must analyse customer data and use those insights when redesigning the customer journey. In essence, marketers should think about the customer journey as an essential part of the product and the brand as it is an important source of value for the customer.