People’s needs, expectations, and behaviours evolve as they move through their respective customer journeys. At any given moment, people exist across a range of journey phases from being completely unaware of your brand to being vocal and passionate advocates.
Effective businesses play a multifaceted role through the customer journey to earn people’s attention and interest, serve their needs, provide value, and build relationships – all to drive desired outcomes. Reflecting this multifaceted role in an organization’s strategies and implementation plans is essential for maximizing results.
However, strategies are often developed in silos, focusing on a singular Objective and Key Result (OKR). This approach overlooks the dynamic nature of a business’s role through the customer journey, where the achievement of one key result swiftly necessitates a new objective. Here are a few examples:
Example 1: Digital Product
Drive X number of app downloads in Y timeframe. Once achieved, the next objective is to convert those downloads into regular usage and engagement.
Example 2: Brand Advertising
Increase brand awareness and interest by X% in Y timeframe. Upon success, the next objective is to foster that interest, enabling deliberation and driving consideration.
Example 3: Customer Experience
Boost customer satisfaction by X% in Y timeframe. Following this, the focus shifts to converting increased satisfaction to customer loyalty and advocacy.
Adhering strictly to single objectives can lead to several issues, including blindness to driving a more holistic set of customer-focused outcomes, and hindering efficient growth.
A progressive strategy is more effective, where a sequence of connected objectives or OKRs and associated initiatives are mapped to customers’ journeys. This approach enables you to create a growth engine, where positive results in one phase fuels performance in the next.
While this approach requires some level of initial strategic investment, it pays off by fostering more efficient growth over time.
Tools for Designing Progressive Strategies and Accelerating Growth
Tool 1: OKR+
A personal adaptation of the OKR methodology, OKR+ involves using the Key Results of one OKR to inform the Objective of the next. This enables strategic planning to more accurately reflect the evolving role of your business as customers progress through their journey.
The cyclical nature of customer behaviour means that applying OKR+ repeatedly will eventually result in a Key Result that connects closely with your initial Objective. Reaching this point signifies a well-designed strategic framework for planning your brand ecosystem and growth engine.
Tool 2: What Next?
A simple and versatile approach is to incorporate the prompt, “What Next?”, into the planning process for virtually anything you are aiming to accomplish. It encourages forward-thinking and prepares you for the next opportunity that arises from achieving your KPIs or key results.
Approach this prompt from two angles: first, approach it from a customer’s perspective to build strategies around what the next steps in their journey might be once you’ve driven your desired outcomes; second, approach it from your organization’s standpoint to build strategies around what outcomes you would like to achieve next.
Adopting a progressive planning mindset with prompts like “What Next?” or methodologies like OKR+ transforms the way you approach strategic planning. It encourages an interconnected view of objectives, and enables a customer-centred approach by aligning closely with the evolving customer journey.
In the dynamic world of business, what comes next is just as important as what is now. Staying a step ahead enables you to pave the way for not just achieving current goals, but also sets the stage for a more robust and sustainable growth trajectory.