Over the past few months, we’ve been exploring the space between what technology can do and what people actually do. And likewise, we’ve talked a lot about helping people take the next step. But recently, a conversation with our partner Trakwell raised another question:
What happens after they take it?
Because sometimes the customer taking action is the end of the journey. But most of the time, it isn’t. The action is merely the beginning of another moment. Which means we need to understand whether the rest of the experience needs to be ready for them.
When Customer Action Looks Like Success
In-store traffic is a great way to look at this concept (and Trakwell happens to be awesome at measuring it). We create a plan—maybe a VIP Event—to drive traffic into the store. We invite people (maybe with SPLICE notifications). The customer is intrigued and comes into the store.
Win!
✅ The communication worked.
✅ The customer acted.
✅ Traffic increased.
But that’s just the beginning. Because while the goal of the campaign (or workflow) is for someone to come into the store, it really doesn’t matter how many people were there if no one buys anything.
And success on that front? That depends on what happens next.
Perhaps the store is prepared for additional traffic. The right number of sales associates are available. Customers are acknowledged quickly. The information they need is accessible. They feel supported without feeling pressured. They make confident decisions and complete their purchases.
Or perhaps the store is overcrowded. Associates are trying to help too many people at once. Customers wait without knowing whether anyone has noticed them. Questions go unanswered. The experience feels rushed and chaotic. Customers leave without purchasing.
From the perspective of the campaign, those customers converted. They received the invitation and visited the store.
From the perspective of the customer, the journey broke when they arrived.
The organization successfully generated action.
But it doesn’t matter if the experience isn’t ready to receive it.
Every Action Creates Another Expectation
We often talk about customer action as though it is a finish line. But most actions are not finish lines, primarily because most industries (including finance and insurance) are looking for long-term value from people who stay.
Which means, the action is never the finish line; it’s a transition.
And the action changes what the customer needs next.
The system can’t simply say, “They did it!”
There’s always a, “Now what?”
Traffic Is Evidence of Action. Conversion Tells Us What Happened Next.
Trakwell recently shared an example from a study of 800 retail stores in which conversion rates varied from 30% to 75% across locations in the same chain. Which means, for the same brand, some stores were converting customer opportunities at 2.5 times the rate of others—without generating more traffic.
That variation is important. Because if traffic alone determined success, stores with similar visitor volumes would produce similar results.
But they don’t.
Because the arrival of the customer is only one part of the experience.
The customer walking through the door creates the possibility of a sale, not the sale itself.
In the same way, data creates the possibility of understanding. AI creates the possibility of a better decision. Communication creates the possibility of action.
So, if the role of technology is to create possibilities, something else needs to determine what those possibilities become.
That something? The Customer Experience. Both digitally and in-person.
Collision Points
We’ve previously explored the idea that customer experience is created at the point where a human collides with the technology ecosystem. In insurance, those collision points often appear to be digital. But in retail, the collision can be physical, too.
The customer walks through the door carrying expectations created somewhere else. By a digital or TV ad. A personal invitation. A previous interaction. A financing approval. A delivery experience. A promise made by the brand.
The store is where those expectations collide with the retailer’s ability to respond.
And on a busy day, that collision becomes much easier to see.
More customers do not automatically create more value.
Sometimes they expose the places where the experience can’t keep up.
No One System Sees the Whole Journey
This is also where the partner ecosystem becomes important.
One solution may help a retailer identify the right customers. Another may distribute the invitation. Another may measure whether store traffic increased. A point-of-sale system may record what was purchased. And the people working in the store understand what actually happened during the interaction.
Each capability contributes something meaningful. But none sees the entire customer journey on its own.
SPLICE can help distribute a relevant invitation that gives a customer a reason to act. Trakwell can help reveal whether customer traffic changed and what happened to conversion when it did. Retail teams can provide context about the conditions inside the store. Sales data can show whether visits became purchases.
Together, those capabilities can answer a more valuable question than “Did we send the campaign?” or even “Did traffic increase?”
They can begin to answer:
Did the customer continue moving toward the outcome they came for?
That is what a partner ecosystem should make possible. It’s not just multiple technologies completing disconnected activities. It’s complementary capabilities helping the organization understand and improve one connected customer outcome.
The Next Step Is Not the Last Step
Helping people take action still matters. After all, if the customer never visits the store, submits the document or responds to the request, the journey cannot move forward.
But action alone is not enough.
Because the moment someone takes the next step, they arrive somewhere new. And wherever they arrive needs to recognize them, understand what they are trying to accomplish and help them continue.
That requires more than communication.
It requires the organization’s systems, teams, and partners to work from a shared understanding of the outcome.
Because the customer taking the next step is only valuable if the next part of the experience is ready for them. And the real measure of a connected ecosystem isn’t simply whether it can generate action. It’s whether it can turn that action into momentum.