Understanding the context

Marketing is data-driven now and understanding the buyer journey has become essential for organisations looking to optimise their engagement strategies and drive conversion rates. The buyer journey isn’t just a series of steps leading to a purchase; it’s a complex, multifaceted process where potential buyers evaluate their options, make decisions, and either move forward or drop off at various points. By accurately mapping and analysing these journeys, businesses can gain critical insights into buyer behaviour, identify bottlenecks, and refine their approach to better meet the needs and expectations of their audience. With Odyssiant’s journey tracking visualisation, you can delve deeper into these interactions, providing a more precise and actionable understanding of how buyers engage with your offerings, ultimately leading to more informed decisions and improved outcomes.

It’s not uncommon to come across data visualisations that, while engaging, may oversimplify complex processes or present information in a way that can be misleading. A recent LinkedIn post we saw that garnered significant attention serves as a prime example. The post featured a series of charts purporting to illustrate key metrics for decision-making, but a closer inspection raises questions about the accuracy and depth of the data presented.

Unlike these oversimplified charts, Odyssiant’s journey tracking visualisation offers a far more nuanced and accurate depiction of buyer behaviour. While the charts in the LinkedIn post may give a snapshot of data points, they fail to capture the intricate movements and decisions that buyers make throughout their journey. For instance, a simple line graph might show a general trend, but it won’t reveal where buyers are dropping off, reverting to earlier stages, or how they navigate through different options before making a decision.

Odyssiant, on the other hand, provides a dynamic visualisation that tracks every twist and turn in the buyer journey. It allows you to see not just where buyers are going, but how they are interacting with each stage of the journey—whether they are progressing, backtracking, or exiting. This depth of insight is crucial for businesses looking to truly understand and improve their buyer engagement strategies. By using Odyssiant, you can avoid the pitfalls of oversimplified data and instead, base your decisions on a comprehensive and accurate analysis of buyer behaviour, leading to more effective and targeted interventions.

Journey Tracking Visualisation Description

The journey tracking visualisation in the engagement dashboard provides an insightful view into user behaviour as they progress through different stages of a predefined journey map. Here’s a breakdown of the key elements:

• Green Dots: Each green dot represents a step on the journey map.
• Green Arrow to the Left of the Dot: This arrow signifies the number of users arriving at a particular step. It gives an indication of the volume of users entering that step as a first step – they arrived here.
• Green Arrow to the Right and Pointing Down: This arrow illustrates the number of users who exit the journey at that specific step. It provides insight into where users are dropping off or where their journey ends.
• Line Thickness: The thickness of the lines connecting the dots represents the number of users on each path. Thicker lines indicate a higher volume of users following that route, helping to identify the most and least travelled paths.
• Grey Circle Lines Above the Green Dots: These lines represent forward travel, indicating the movement of users from one step to another. It visualises progression through the journey.
• Grey Circle Lines Below the Green Dots: Conversely, these lines indicate backward travel, showing instances where users revert to a previous step. This can highlight areas of the journey where users are uncertain or face obstacles.

Analysis: In the provided example, a significant number of users are moving directly to the “Consider & Compare” step, as shown by the thick lines leading to it. However, many of these users are either leaving the journey at this point or moving backwards rather than progressing forward. This lack of forward movement beyond the “Consider & Compare” step suggests a bottleneck or a point of friction in the journey.

Analysis and Interpretation

This visualisation highlights a critical issue within the user journey—specifically, the stagnation and potential confusion or indecision at the “Consider & Compare” stage. The fact that a large number of users arrive at this step but fail to move forward suggests several possibilities:

Complexity or Lack of Clarity: The information or options presented at this stage might be overwhelming, leading to analysis paralysis where users are unsure of how to proceed.

Insufficient Support or Guidance: Users may require additional support, such as clearer comparisons, decision-making tools, or personalised recommendations, to help them move forward confidently.

Mismatch Between User Expectations and Offerings: There could be a disconnect between what users expect and what is being offered at this stage, leading to a loss of interest or trust.

Lack of content in follow on steps – they have nowhere to go next.

Recommendations

To address these issues, the organisation should consider the following steps:

Simplify the Comparison Process: Streamlining the information provided or offering a more straightforward comparison tool could reduce user friction and encourage forward movement.

Enhance User Support: Introducing additional guidance, whether through customer support, interactive tools, or educational content, could help users make informed decisions and progress through the journey. (Create more content for the onward journey).

Conduct User Feedback Surveys: Gathering direct feedback from users who drop off at this stage could provide valuable insights into the specific challenges they face, allowing for targeted improvements.

A/B Testing of Journey Adjustments: Experimenting with different versions of the “Consider & Compare” step, such as varying the amount of information or the way options are presented, could help identify the most effective approach.

By addressing these areas, the organisation can enhance the overall user experience, reduce drop-offs, and ensure more users successfully navigate through to the later stages of the journey.

Real World Example

The practical application of Odyssiant’s journey tracking visualisation is vividly demonstrated in the case study involving Splitit, a global payment solutions provider. Splitit faced the challenge of effectively engaging a diverse audience of potential buyers who were at different stages of their journey. The company needed to not only capture attention but also guide these buyers through a complex decision-making process that would ultimately lead to conversion.

Using Odyssiant’s journey tracking tool, Splitit was able to map out the buyer journey with precision, identifying key points where users were either progressing smoothly or encountering obstacles. The visualisation revealed critical insights, such as where buyers were dropping off, which steps were causing hesitation, and how they navigated the options presented to them. For example, it became clear that while many users reached the “Consider & Compare” stage, a significant number were either backtracking or exiting before reaching the final decision-making phase.

Armed with these insights, Splitit implemented targeted strategies to address the identified bottlenecks. They simplified the comparison process, provided clearer and more compelling content at critical stages, and offered additional support where buyers were likely to struggle. These adjustments were made possible because the journey tracking visualisation didn’t just show where users were, but how they were moving through the journey—allowing Splitit to intervene effectively.

The results were substantial. Splitit saw a marked improvement in buyer progression through the journey, with fewer drop-offs and a higher conversion rate. By leveraging Odyssiant, they turned data-driven insights into actionable strategies that directly enhanced buyer engagement and drove better business outcomes.

This case study shows how Odyssiant’s journey tracking can be used not just to understand the buyer journey, but to actively shape it, ensuring that potential buyers receive the right information and support at the right time, ultimately leading to increased conversions and stronger customer relationships.

To truly unlock the potential of your buyer journey, it’s time to move beyond generic metrics and surface-level insights. With Odyssiant’s journey tracking visualisation, you can gain a deep, actionable understanding of how your buyers interact with your content and make decisions. Imagine the impact of knowing

exactly where and why potential buyers are dropping off or moving backwards, and having the tools to address these issues head-on.

If you’re ready to take your engagement strategy to the next level, we invite you to explore how Odyssiant can transform the way you approach the buyer journey. Whether you’re looking to optimise your current strategies or need help identifying key areas for improvement, Odyssiant provides the clarity and direction you need.