5 Steps To Build Your Pet Business’ Irresistible Customer Journey

The statistics are a tad overwhelming: The average business loses 10-25% of customers annually.

This means building a loyal clientele ensures your pet business thrives for years to come. After all, they’re more likely to spend more, refer their friends, and become brand advocates likely to spread the word about your pet business.

But how do you turn first-time visitors into forever customers?

The secret lies in creating a memorable experience at every touch point.

So, with customer retention in mind, let’s get started fetching those superfans with a customer journey unique to your pet business!

What is a customer journey?

The customer journey is made up of all the interactions a customer has with your pet brand—from the moment they discover your pet business to the time that extends past the sales transaction. To fully grasp your customers’ experience, you have to break down their engagement with your brand into distinct phases.

Here’s what that could look like:

The customer journey isn’t always a straight line. Your customers may even be in multiple touchpoints at once!

For example, a customer could be in the ‘decision’ phase for Product/Service A while already in the ‘return’ phase for Product/Service B. Each path is unique. Some pet business customers may move through the stages quickly, while others take their sweet time.

Now, let’s start mapping your pet business’ customer journey!

The customer journey can shape your retention and how your customers perceive your pet business. It’s important to look for moments where you could improve the process, surprise and delight your customers, and encourage more touch points.

Step 1: Pick a phase to focus on in your customer journey.

Start small and focus on one phase or key area of your pet business so you won’t be overwhelmed as you begin outlining all the steps in a customer experience.

Here are the main phases in a customer journey:

1. Awareness. This phase sets the stage for the entire customer experience, but it’s not enough for potential clients to just stumble upon your pet business. You must create a great first impression so they won’t abandon the journey!

Consider how customers discover you. For instance, when they look for products or services like yours, are you showing up in relevant Google searches? And what happens when they find you? Is your website easy to navigate and optimized for mobile devices? Think about the factors that can make or break their decision to proceed with the customer journey.

2. Decision-making. You’ve caught and held their attention, but now they’re weighing their options. What will ultimately influence their decision to choose your pet business over others?

Tip the scales in your favor during this phase with these offers that convert:

Solutions to a huge, relevant pain point
Limited-time or limited-quantity offers
Strong guarantees
High-value bonuses or add-ons
Social proof
Easy-to-claim offers

3. Purchase. This is where your potential customer takes the leap and becomes an actual paying client!

What does the purchasing process look like? How smooth was the checkout process? Did you offer various payment options and provide clear order confirmation and tracking? Review what a customer experiences during the sales transaction.

4. Onboarding. Congratulations! Your new customers have made their purchases, but their journey is far from over. At this phase, welcome them with a red carpet treatment. Proper onboarding can be a difference-maker in customer retention!

Try a combination (or every single one!) of the following surprise and delight ideas.

Welcome packet
Welcome video
“What to Expect” series
Call/text the night before to answer any questions
Week in review
30-day touchpoint

5. Nurture: This is your long-term plan for customer retention. How do you develop lasting relationships? You can make daily offers, such as free or paid consults, mini sessions, 7-day passes, upgrades, or loyalty programs. You can also acknowledge milestone moments like class completions, birthdays, moves, anniversaries, and more.

Step 2: List all the touch points within your customer journey.

Jot down every customer interaction from the beginning to the end of the phase you’re focusing on. Charting the complete customer journey can feel daunting due to the sheer number of possible touch points. It’s up to you to determine the level of white glove service you want to provide.

Step 3: Spot the pain points in your customer journey.

Where do customers typically get stuck, confused, or frustrated? How do you handle issues and complaints? Identify the bumps in the road along the customer journey and proactively address them in the next step.

Step 4: Brainstorm solutions to improve your customer journey.

Explore different touch points and tools you can implement to solve each pain point in the customer journey. Don’t rule out any ideas too quickly! Instead, evaluate if they align with your business values and goals and if you can execute them. Think of solutions that could help your customer retention, make your customer happier, and make YOUR life easier.

Step 5: Build repeatable processes to ensure customer retention!

Can you create a process around the solution that’s easy to maintain and repeat for all your customers? An efficient system helps make sure the improvements you’ve envisioned are sustainable for the long term. Document these processes and help your team implement them.

Wrapping up why the customer journey is so important in your pet business:

Today’s pet parents are bombarded with more choices on where to shop, more demands of their time, and more pulls on their attention, both online and offline. You can use the new tricks you’ve learned about creating an exceptional customer journey to cut through all that noise and make lasting connections from the moment visitors (or browsers) walk through your door (or click on your website)!

Learn more with us!

Need 1:1 support to make massive action now? Book a discovery call with us to see if working 1:1 with Candace is the right fit for you.