Latest / Customer Journey with Fexingo: Touchpoints, Mapping, and Multi-Channel Marketing / The Touchpoint Most Journey Maps Miss After Cart Abandonment
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've spent a lot of episodes talking about the touchpoints that journey maps tend to skip over. And I think today's one is particularly sneaky because it happens in a space where brands are often looking the other way. Luna: Okay, I'm curious. What's the touchpoint? Lucas: It's the post-abandonment search. You know, someone adds a product to their cart, then leaves without buying. But instead of disappearing forever, they go back to Google and search for that exact product a few hours later. That search is a massive signal, and most journey maps just... don't capture it. Luna: Right, because the map usually ends at 'cart abandoned' and then skips straight to 'recovery email.' But that search is a whole different moment. Lucas: Exactly. And it's not just a nice to have. I was looking at a mid-sized DTC skincare brand earlier this week. They had a decent email flow, but they noticed that a chunk of their abandoned carts came back to the site through organic search within 24 hours. So they set up a dedicated landing page for that specific search query, and they saw a 23 percent recovery rate on those sessions. That's not a rounding error. Luna: Twenty-three percent is huge. So what's on that landing page? Just the product page again? Lucas: No, that's the thing. It's not just the product page. They made it a page that acknowledges the hesitation. It says something like, 'Still thinking about this serum?' and then it brings up the key benefits, the reviews, and a gentle reminder about the free shipping threshold. It's almost like a mini-sales pitch designed for someone who's already been convinced once. Luna: That's smart. Because the person searching already knows the product. They just need that extra nudge. Lucas: And the reason most maps miss it is that they're built around channels, not around behavior. The map will have an email step, a social step, maybe a display step. But the organic search moment falls through the cracks because it's not a channel that the brand actively controls in the same way. Luna: So how do you even start mapping that? Like, how do you know when someone is searching for you after abandoning? Lucas: You can start with search query data in Google Search Console. Look for branded or product-specific terms that spike a few hours after a cart abandonment. Another way is to use session replay or analytics to see if people who came to your site via organic search had a prior cart abandonment in their history. Luna: But that's all post-hoc. Is there a way to actually design for it, not just measure it? Lucas: Absolutely. You can create a retargeting campaign that specifically targets people who've abandoned a cart and then search for your product terms. The ad copy can speak directly to that hesitation, like 'Still deciding?' or 'Your cart is waiting.' But the key is to make sure the landing page matches that message. Luna: So it's about consistency between the search ad, the landing page, and the original product promise. Lucas: Right. And that's where journey maps come in. If you don't have that touchpoint on the map, you're not even thinking about the handoff between the search ad and the landing page. You're just hoping the generic product page does the job. Luna: It feels like this is a classic example of a micro-moment. The intent is incredibly high, but the window is short. Lucas: Yeah, and the window is actually longer than you'd think. The data from that skincare brand showed that the search often happened two to five hours after abandonment. So it's not a split-second thing. But it's still a distinct phase that needs its own strategy. Luna: Before we go deeper, I have to be honest about something. A few listeners have asked how we keep this show going without ads. And the truth is, it's because of a small group of people who chip in a few bucks a month through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's literally what funds making this many of these episodes. Lucas: Yeah, it's a listener-funded model, and we're grateful for every single person who's part of that. It keeps everything ad-free and lets us explore these niche angles that a sponsor might not care about. Luna: So if these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used, and you want to help us keep going, that's the place. No pressure, of course. Lucas: Alright, back to the search moment. One thing I want to dig into is how you actually design that landing page. It's not just about repeating the product page. You want to acknowledge the consideration phase. Luna: What does that look like in practice? Do you show different content? Lucas: You might lead with social proof, like a highlighted review that addresses a common objection. Or you could show a comparison table with competitors. The skincare brand used a quiz that helped people find the right product for their skin type, which was actually a way to re-engage them with something interactive. Luna: Oh, that's clever. It turns the landing page into a conversation, not just a pitch. Lucas: And it also gives you more data about the customer. Now you know their skin concerns, which you can use for future recommendations. But the important part is that they put that page on their journey map as a distinct step, so they could measure its performance separately from the main product page. Luna: That's a good point. If you don't map it, you can't optimize it. What about the email flow? Does the search moment change what you send? Lucas: It should. If you know that a segment of abandoners tends to search for the product, you can trigger a different email that says something like, 'We noticed you came back to check us out. Here's an extra 10 percent off.' That kind of sequence can lift recovery rates even more. Luna: So it's about aligning all the touchpoints around the same behavioral signal, not just treating them in silos. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the real lesson. Journey maps are supposed to show the whole path, but they often miss these cross-channel loops. The search moment is a perfect example because it's a behavior that happens outside your owned channels, but it's directly tied to your cart abandonment. Luna: I guess the bigger takeaway is to look at your search analytics for patterns that pair with other actions, like cart abandonment. Lucas: Right. And not just in a 'reporting' sense. Actually redesigning the journey around those patterns. That's where the wins are. Luna: So, what's the first step for a marketer who wants to tackle this? Should they start with the landing page or the email? Lucas: I'd say start with the data. Look at your search queries in the 24 hours after abandonment. If you see a consistent cluster of product terms, that's your signal. Then build a simple page that addresses the hesitation and see if it moves the needle. It doesn't have to be fancy. Luna: And if they don't see that pattern? Maybe they're not looking hard enough? Or it just doesn't apply to their product? Lucas: Could be either. Some products are more considered than others. A cheap impulse buy might not generate a follow-up search. But for anything with a bit of price or complexity, I'd bet there's a search moment. It's just a matter of finding it. Luna: So, for our listeners, what's one concrete thing they can do this week to start tapping into this touchpoint? Lucas: Set up a Google Alert for your own product names and see if you get any notifications from search results. It's a crude but quick way to see if people are looking for you after abandoning. Or, if you have access to Search Console, filter for queries containing your brand plus 'review' or 'alternative'. That's a clear sign of comparison shopping. Luna: That's a great starting point. And it's something you can do in an afternoon. Lucas: Yeah, and once you see that pattern, you'll never look at your journey map the same way again. The abandoned cart isn't the end—it's often just the beginning of a more informed consideration phase. Luna: I love that. It turns a 'loss' into an opportunity to build trust. Lucas: And that's the kind of insight that makes a journey map actually useful, instead of just a pretty wall graphic.