A carefully coordinated mix of print and digital can provide potential customers with comprehensive and highly personalized support through the various phases of the customer journey. Print and digital are not antagonists, but two independent media channels that can complement and strengthen each other to achieve the best results. Customer journey means "customer's journey" - and this is exactly how it can be understood and designed. Going on a journey with the customer with the goal of making a purchase. What can print products contribute to achieving this goal? Let's take a look at individual stages of the journey:
Awareness - attention
Touch is how we experience the world from the moment we are born. Print products can satisfy this deep and lifelong need in us. Print products that are cleverly selected and designed to suit the target group can be correspondingly effective in arousing curiosity and the desire to "touch and have", thereby increasing interest in a brand. It is the physical touchpoint that can create awareness like nothing else.
Consideration - weighing up
In this phase of the customer journey, print media can be used to create a deeper connection between the brand/product and potential customers. Attractive magazine advertisements, high information density and other appealingly designed media, for example, can arouse emotions and emphasize the advantages of the "object of desire". This builds trust, helps to persuade customers and can pave the way for a purchase decision.
Decision - Decision
On the last few meters of the customer journey, where anything can still happen, print products can provide the final impetus for the purchase decision. Attractively branded packaging that immediately catches the eye, high-quality direct mailings, eye-catching discount coupons or detailed product catalogs can provide important persuasion as directly tangible, available offers. Here too, print products score points with their ability to be literally at hand at the decisive moment.
Retention - customer loyalty
After the purchase decision is before the purchase decision. It is now crucial to maintain and positively link the customer relationship that has been established in order to be remembered and encourage further purchasing decisions. For example, physical thank you cards and mailings or vouchers can be sent to convey a special value and give the recipient the feeling of being appreciated and seen in a fast-moving world. Can another email in an already overflowing inbox achieve the same thing?
Advocacy - Advocacy
The peak of customer loyalty is reached when they not only return, but also become ambassadors for the brand themselves. Print products can also work wonders here. High-quality content in the form of appealing articles, special editions of magazines or thoughtful promotional gifts can encourage customers to share their positive experiences and stories with others. In this way, they strengthen the brand image and generate new customers themselves.
Print goes to the heart.
In the digital era, print products are not just a relic from times gone by. On the contrary - they are essential elements without which a successful customer journey would not work. They form the irreplaceable physical dimension within brand interaction, creating emotional depth and a moment of value, pause and connection. Paper will not give way to pixels. Print is alive. Print makes hearts beat faster - yesterday, today and in the future.
