12 steps of the Hero’s Journey
Problems with the organizational silos and turf wars within your brand and omni-channel experience? In my previous post, Customer Experience: The Hero’s Journey, I wrote about the background, the stakeholders involved and what effect the Heroes Journey can have on your brand experience. Ready to go on a journey? Here are the 12 steps to create a seamless customer and employee experience!
Why the heroes journey?
Unfortunately, silos in the workplace create a negative ripple effect that widens the gap between departments, this means that information is not shared freely and each team wants its own department to excel, particularly between sales, marketing and service units. The larger the organization, the bigger the boundaries. The result? The company and its employees lose sight of the bigger picture. In more severe circumstances, silos often damage the synergy in the organization and kill organizational productivity which has a negative effect on your overall customer experience.
To deliver a consistent customer and employee experience, our brand and its dedicated staff members across all touch points need to understand and empathize with what point of the journey the customer is on.
Therefore, we use the 12-step guide to take an empathetic approach towards understanding our customer, our Hero’s Journey. We act as wise mentors through these customer touch-points and help them to be free from their obstacles.
12 steps of the Hero’s Journey:
The Hero’s Journey is an effective formula that circulates the main character, the Hero; who goes on an adventure, faces tests and trials, is victorious in a decisive crisis and comes home changed or transformed.
Here is an analysis of the 12 steps of the Hero’s Journey, divided into three departments:
INITIATION (Marketing):
- Brand Call Out:
Our consumer, the Hero, begins their journey with a simple problem in their life. As this is within the marketing phase you can see this step as the MQL (marketing-qualified lead). They appear on your website, they get a push notification, view a sponsored post or they pass a billboard and pay brief attention to it. - Refusal Of The Call:
Usually, they assume they don’t need a solution or they may have a fleeting thought that their issue isn’t significant enough, yet it sets them on the path of consideration. This is where we come to assist them on their path to freedom! - Meeting the Mentor:
Whether our consumers or heroes find us through a targeted ad, blog post or other ways, we step in as the mentor to guide them through the journey.
We can appear in the form of a marketing campaign, a staff member, additional research or a newsletter. All, in order to help them crossing that first threshold. - Crossing the First Threshold:
With our presence and guidance, the Hero is all set to commence their journey. This starts with, for example, a clickthrough to your landing page or a step into your physical store. Whatever journey you set your customer on, now is the time for the sales department to take over.
DEPARTURE (Sales): - Navigating the Unknown:
Once entering this new physical or digital world, the Hero will go through various tests and trials. These challenges may include initial impressions, design, content and even smells and sounds. This experience can be very overwhelming and offsetting when not well thought out. Let’s bring in the next step to guide them through this adventure. - Meeting with The Guardian:
They meet our team. This team advises and comforts them so they can progress with the next challenges. This can be a staff member, an (automated) chat or an introduction/instruction video. - Compare Options:
Now with the support of the guardian our Hero has gathered the courage to face some tests, enemies and allies a.k.a comparing products, reading reviews and determining their budget. - Buying Decision:
Once they have conquered all the threats on their way to freedom, it ultimately leads to a significant moment; the approach of the innermost cave, the buying decision. Buying Decision is fraught with final few obstacles, such as finances, doubts, and expectations. After successfully completing these last tasks it’s up to the next department to take over.
RETURN (Service): - Access Purchase:
The journey doesn’t end when they finally decide that they want our product or to work with our company. In this step our Hero takes on his heroic persona and becomes a hero with a capital H. We term this apotheosis, feeling godlike. The moment when our Hero makes that final hit in the form of a purchase button or transaction. - Solve Problems:
Now our Hero feels the rush of dopamine one gets after resolving their issues and accomplishing their goals. Despite that they finally purchased our goods and services, our job is not done yet. As their sidekick we need to celebrate and support them while our Hero heads back to the starting point of his journey. But this time around, everything will be different. - Crossing The Return Threshold:
While our Hero undergoes a challenging journey to make his purchase from us, they still need to complete one crucial step; implementation. If they don’t install, utilize or integrate your products into their regular lives, they might as well have stayed at home. - Master of Two Worlds:
When you ensure that your Hero incorporates your purchase into their mundane life, it is a gateway to the final step. Aware of his old and new persona, our Hero now has the power to return or stay in this new world. Being aware of this final step is where you can win the best kind of Hero in the world; referrals.
Call to Action:
To conclude, when your consumers return to their mundane lives, they are transformed by what they have purchased from you. The issues and goals that led them on this quest are now resolved. However, adjusting to their new scenario might feel a little unfamiliar. This unfamiliarity is the best time to tell others how to solve their problems to attain the freedom to live. Freed from their obstacles. Fulfilled by their objectives!
Learn more about the Hero’s Journey, and feel free to reach out!
