The best creative agencies for apartments have developed considerable expertise in the identification, analysis, and prediction of consumer activities through the drafting and use of customer journey maps.

What is a Customer Journey Map?

In much the same way that a geographic map displays specific details of a certain tract of land, a customer journey map provides a visual representation of the unique course that a customer or potential customer takes as he or she interacts with a particular company. Because they allow for clear and easy visual study, customer journey maps are a great way to examine and predict the full spectrum of consumer behavior as a constantly evolving process.

The Value of Customer Journey Maps

As it charts the evolution of a consumer’s relationship with your company, a customer journey map offers a range of unique insights into his or her wants, needs, likes, and aversions. Furthermore, by mapping out the different contact points in a customer’s relationship with your company, you can develop more efficient motivational strategies to better meet your own goals (driving online traffic, boosting rental conversions, etc.).

While your potential level of control at any given consumer contact point may vary dramatically, the customer journey map clearly shows the ways in which all consumer interactions with your company work together and exert a profound influence upon one another.

The most important and beneficial characteristic of a customer journey map is the fact that it presents information squarely from the point-of-view of the consumer. Therefore, when planning a customer journey map, it is absolutely vital to assume the consumer’s perspective and, in the words of prominent Dallas multifamily marketing professional Misty Sanford, think “from the outside in.”

In an article for the leading independent multifamily industry networking group Multifamily Insiders, Sanford gives several tips for ensuring that your customer journey map accurately reflects your customer’s experience and, thereby, delivers the maximum benefit to you. She recommends beginning by asking and answering the following questions:

• What are customers doing at each stage of the journey? (What action are they performing?)
• How are consumers feeling at each stage of the journey? (Are their emotions motivating them to continue, and if so, why?)
• What questions do customers have during each stage of the journey? (Will these questions stop/hinder them from continuing or compel them to continue?)
• What other elements might be stopping or hindering the customer journey? (These elements might range from apartment unit cost and/or availability to technical issues with your website and/or social media pages.)

The Customer Journey of the Typical Apartment Renter

Writing for Exchange (the official online publication of the Chartered Institute of Marketing), reporter Rob Coston stresses the supreme importance of the following stages, phases, or contact points of the customer journey:

• Awareness – When and how the customer first becomes familiar with a particular brand.
  
• Consideration – When and how the customer begins to weigh the value of a particular consumer option.
  
• Purchase – In the multifamily residential sector, this typically involves the signing of a rental agreement or lease.
  
• Retention – Following the initial purchase, companies can seek customer retention through a wide range of initiatives.
  
• Advocacy – When and how the customer shares opinions about a particular brand and its product/services. Can be either positive or negative.

Organizations with a specific focus on apartment rental have added other key customer journey stages including “rental application,” “move-in,” and “acclimation to apartment.” Each of these stages may involve multiple points of contact with multiple representatives of the chosen apartment complex, and some may take an extended period of time to accomplish. The acclamation stage, for example, begins when all of a renter’s belongings have been moved into their new apartment unit, but may continue for a while as that renter unpacks boxes, arranges furniture, sets up/transfers utilities, and shops for needed or wanted home items.

For More Information

If you’re looking for the best creative agency for apartment developers or the best creative agency for multifamily residential property owners, contact a skilled and knowledgeable Bigeye representative today. Someone is standing by to answer any questions that you might have about customer journey mapping or other key digital or conventional marketing techniques.