Customer Quests Part 2: Solutions for the Journey

The Search Problem

In Part 1, we explored the idea of reframing customer journeys as a quests; purposeful pursuits with challenges, obstacles, and transformative moments. Now we’ll look at some ideas to possibly solve challenges along the way and empower customers navigating decision-making complexities. Let’s focus on brands as guides, clearing obstacles and providing tools for success.

The Search Problem Revisited

Every quest starts with a need and evolves into a search. Consumers gather information from diverse sources to evaluate their options and make decisions. This search, however, is often full of friction points that can delay or derail the process. In crafting better experiences, we should understand not just what customers seek, but how they seek it and barriers they encounter along the way. The sources consumers rely on during the search stage can vary depending on the type of purchase, the consumer, and the circumstances.

I’d like to introduce the idea of some general quest archetypes. This first framing of this idea is probably not exhaustive. Individual customer personas are useful, but I’d like to try to focus more on general types as that can also help us figure out what we need to provide. I expect to expand and refine this over time.

Some Archetypes

• Explorers: Engage in open-ended searches, often seeking inspiration or discovery. They value serendipity and need tools that surface unexpected options (e.g., “You might also like” recommendations). They may lack depth of subject matter expertise, possibly struggling with keyword search. Generative AI products that allow for contextual seeking may help them.
  
• Hunters: Pursue direct solutions with a clear outcome in mind. They require streamlined search tools, precise filtering, and clear comparisons.
  
• Puzzle Solvers: Tackle complex decisions requiring deep research and customization. They benefit from interactive tools, calculators, or configurators. Those using this approach may be early adopters of tools like AI Agents to help them.

Just as with personality types and our role changes in life, we’re not necessarily only one of these things. There can be overlaps or switching roles as suggested by a task. It’s possible to try to map the archetypes onto behavior such as browsers vs. searchers, but that’s a bit simplistic. The idea here is to understand the flow of a seeker in context; they could easily be evolving and shifting methods along the way as they themselves evolve during their quest.

Both information sites, (usually accessed via search), and social media have become primary sources for consumers to gather information about products and services. (You likely already consider this and use SEO.) Whether prospects come across information via earned, owned or paid media, generative artificial Intelligence and bots also help educate about features, functions, and benefits they might not otherwise have considered. We should consider the information seeking needs of these personas. There may be faceted metadata or adjacent information that’s useful to a seeker.

Consumer Anxiety During the Search Process

Let’s go deeper in the consumer experience. Consumers face a range of anxieties during the search process, which can impact their confidence and decision-making. The depth of this clearly depends on task. What’s for dinner? Not a great big deal. Whereas a major equipment purchase for a small business could make or break the whole company. Let’s reframe these anxieties as obstacles along the quest path and explore how we can act as guides:

1. Fear of Wrong Decision: Choosing poorly can feel like failure, especially for high-cost or high-stakes purchases.
   
   • Possible Solutions: Use storytelling to build trust. Share testimonials, case studies, and success stories to highlight real-world outcomes. We can offer clear comparisons and decision aids to instill confidence.
     
2. Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): The volume of options can create paralysis. (You’ve likely heard of The Paradox of Choice.)
   
   • Possible Solutions: Balance abundance with curation. Recommendation engines and “best seller” badges can simplify choices while still showcasing variety. But avoid overwhelming customers with too many options or at least offer a clear path for resolving the differences. Ironically, consumers sometimes abandon shopping carts upon coming across a discount code field, and often don’t return. Does offering that option always make sense?
     
3. Fear of Regret: Post-purchase regret can haunt customers.
   
   • Possible Solutions: Highlight return policies upfront and make them accessible. A transparent, hassle-free process reduces risk and builds trust. See: The Crucial Impact of Return Policies on Cart Abandonment Rates. Abandonment for poor return policies alone might be 18% or more.
     
4. Fear of the Unknown: Unfamiliar products, brands, or categories breed hesitation.
   
   • Possible Solutions: Provide educational resources. Offer explainer videos, FAQs, and interactive guides to demystify unfamiliar options.
     
5. Information Overload: We have endless data, but too much can paralyze decisions.
   
   • Possible Solutions: Reduce cognitive load. Simplify complex information with visual aids, such as charts, infographics, and concise descriptions. Prioritize the most relevant details for each archetype. Options might generally be thought of as good, but again, beware The Paradox of Choice.
     
6. Time Pressure: Deadlines or limited-time offers add urgency but can increase anxiety.
   
   • Possible Solutions: Use urgency strategically. Increasing sense of loss with scarcity may be a goal in this case. But consider pairing time-sensitive promotions with reassuring elements, like easy returns or trial periods, to balance pressure with confidence.

It’s important for marketers and sellers to understand these anxieties and take steps to alleviate them, for example, by providing clear and accurate information, highlighting the benefits and features of their products, and providing customer service support.

Alleviating Consumer Anxiety During Product Search

There are more tools we can consider to alleviate search anxiety for consumers by changing our mindset from just “customer journey” to “customer quest.” This might mean considering things like emotional hurdles and how to handle them; not just satisfying information seeking. You’re likely already using at least some of these. Here’s some tactics to consider.

1. Interactive Tools for Puzzle Solvers:
   • Develop configurators, ROI calculators, or comparison matrices to help customers evaluate options and make informed decisions.
   • Example: Complex products offering a build-your-own feature that visualizes every customization in real time. There are cloud service providers that offer configuration tools to assess usage volumes and pricing.
     
2. Discovery Features for Explorers:
   • Introduce dynamic recommendation engines that showcase products or services based on browsing behavior or preferences.
   • Example: Travel platform with curated trip ideas from interests and past searches.
     
3. Precision for Hunters:
   • Provide fast, accurate search tools with filters and clear product descriptions.
   • Example: An ecommerce site allowing filtering by detailed technical specifications; meaning anticipating as many facets as possible and presenting them well. (Have you ever come across product descriptions with product attributes you would have liked could have been filtered or sorted upon, but weren’t? Frustrating, right? So don’t do that to your customers.)
     
4. Self-Serve Knowledge Bases:
   • Equip customers with accessible, well-organized resources to find answers independently.
   • Example: A SaaS platform offering a searchable help center with video tutorials and troubleshooting guides. (And keeping them properly updated.)
     
5. Immersive Experiences:
   • Use AR/VR or video demos to provide “try-before-you-buy” experiences.
   • Example: A furniture retailer enabling customers to visualize products in their own homes through AR apps.

It’s worth noting that consumers may have different anxieties and different strategies may work better per product / service type. Strategies need to be tailored accordingly. And like everyone else, you’re likely resource constrained so you have to strongly consider which strategies and tactics might be most effective. It would be great to test everything, but that’s an aspiration most of us can’t afford. At least when we discover potentially valuable inflection points, we’ll ideally have higher probability bets to test.

Advanced Considerations in Consumer Shopping Behavior

There are several advanced topics in consumer decision making that researchers and practitioners may find useful to study. Some examples include:

1. Behavioral economics: How psychological, social, and emotional factors influence consumer decision making and how these factors deviate from the assumptions of rational decision making. There might be differences in the perception of a “discount” vs. a “price reduction.” Consider testing subtle interventions.
   
2. Neuroeconomics: How the brain processes economic information and how this information influences consumer decision making. Charm pricing, for example offering something for $49.99 might be attempting to activate the brain’s reward center. Whereas $50 might trigger trust and simplicity.
   
3. Decision making under uncertainty: How consumers make decisions when they are uncertain about the outcome or the quality of the product, such as in the case of new products or services.
   
4. Decision making under risk: Here we might look at how consumers make decisions when there is a potential for loss or gain, such as in the case of investments.
   
5. Decision making in groups: How consumers make decisions in a group setting, such as in the case of family or friends, and how group dynamics can influence individual decisions.
   
6. Decision making in online environments: Are customers behaving differently in varying online environments, such as e-commerce websites and social media?
   
7. Heuristics and biases: How are folks using heuristics, or mental shortcuts, to make decisions and can these heuristics lead to biases and errors in judgment.
   
8. Nudging: These are small changes in the context or presentation of a choice and can influence consumer decision making without limiting freedom of choice. (Something like a default to an eco-friendly shipping option.)

These are just some examples of advanced topics in consumer decision making to consider while looking at how to adjust impacts along a customer quest, which may be a journey by another name, but with a clearer emphasis on its purposefulness.

Conclusion

The quest framework I’m suggesting is an attempt to reimagine the customer journey as an active, purposeful pursuit, (and a search problem), not just a descriptive path with some potential touch points. By addressing anxieties, tailoring solutions to archetypes, and leveraging advanced tools, the goal is to better empower customers to navigate their quests with greater confidence and ease. The key is to act as a trusted guide; reducing friction, providing clarity, and being present at critical moments.