So far, we’ve explored the customer journey mapping process, and looked at some key factors that will help you identify the touchpoints to include. Throughout this process, you’ll need to keep an eye on where your customer is on the adoption ladder. This model includes various stages, and can help you determine how close a healthcare professional is to becoming a prescribing customer.

First up, there’s the awareness stage, where your customer first becomes aware of your brand or product. This can happen in many ways - for example, they might see an online ad for your brand, or a colleague may have mentioned your brand to them in conversation. Next comes the exploration stage. Here, the customer will likely be researching your brand with and without your input. At the evaluation stage, your customer is assessing the benefits your brand can offer both them, and their patients. This is where customers will start comparing your brand with other potential options on the market.

The trial stage is where a customer has decided to give your brand a go by trialing it with a small number of patients. At this point, the customer will have done their research and maybe even attended customer group meetings or had some discussions with you directly. Once the customer is satisfied with the results of the trial, they’ll hopefully move onto the expanded trial stage of the adoption ladder. This is where they’ll start prescribing your brand to a larger number of patients.

Eventually, they’ll move onto the expanded user and full adoption stage. This is when it’s time to celebrate - the customer has made your brand their ‘preferred choice’ for their patients.

By analyzing where your customers are on the adoption ladder, you can begin to understand the significance of each touchpoint in their journey. You’ll start to see which interactions are moving customers along the adoption ladder towards full adoption, and you’ll be better equipped to remove any obstacles in their way.

After you’ve mapped your customer’s journey and analyzed where they are on the adoption ladder, there’s one more important element to consider - your brand campaign. This is where collaboration with your marketing teams is key - you’ll need to investigate which touchpoints from the brand campaign can be connected to the touchpoints in your customer journey map. This will then give you a ‘customer campaign journey map’, which will help you deliver the right content, to the right customer, at the right time.

The Adoption Ladder

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