Every organization wants happy customers! According to Forrester Research1 experience-driven businesses grew revenue 1.4 times faster year-on-year. Happier customers ultimately mean more revenue. We often find companies pay particular attention to individual touchpoints and transactions, and as a result are less informed of their customers’ end-to-end experience. Companies with this siloed vision miss crucial interactions along the customer journey and may be unaware of unhappy customers. This could mean bad news for many stakeholders, not to mention the bottom line. And that’s where the Customer Journey Map comes into play!
With so many interactions, channels, touchpoints, devices and stages in a customer lifecycle where do we begin to map out the entire customer journey? Confirmit’s Claire Sporton got together with other customer experience experts on MyCustomer’s recent podcast to help you hit the ground running. So, if you’re new to the Customer Journey Map world, read on for a taster. If you’re not, check it out anyway, you’re bound to learn something new!
Amy Scott, Founder at Sedulous, describes a customer journey map as a visual representation of what a customer goes through when they interact with an organization. The customer journey should include steps people take; before they’re a customer, when onboarding, for support, through to when they decide to reengage or leave. And this begins with research. ‘To create effective journey maps, you need research to ensure those maps are actually infused with the Voice of the Customer.’
Customer Journey Maps help you understand what customers value and recognize weak links. In many instances the foundation of a Customer Journey Map is built on internal beliefs and priorities. Claire Sporton suggests that internal perspectives distort the Voice of the Customer and looking at real customer data can bring a reality check. Claire recommends two data types you can build upon; intentions and behavioral data. By gathering customer satisfaction scores, likelihood to buy and recommend, you can measure customer intentions and shed light on what they think and feel. But what do customers actually do? Real data, such as % renewals, can help build on behavioral patterns.
Customer Journey Mapping isn’t a speedy activity! Especially when it involves bringing together many data points and teams across departments. Claire simplifies the process in three steps:
- Step 1 – Insights are key: Gather what information you already have from customers when building your initial customer map. Look at your Voice of the Customer and Voice of the Employee programs, interaction verbatims from in store, social media, web chats etc.
- Step 2 – Verify the journey: Confirm what you know internally, with customers. You can test this by engaging with customers in in-depth interviews.
- Step 3 – Don’t stop monitoring! Collecting feedback from customers and stakeholders is ongoing so that you have real time perspectives to drive continual change.
All of this research will help identify pain points within departments, devices and channels where the business is performing below expectations Putting the customer at the center of every decision will help you meet their needs. If they’re not happy, they’ll tell others!
There are a lot of advantages to be gained by building Customer Journey Map. Be sure to listen to the full podcast. You can also find more tips and habits of highly successful CX professionals here.
1 Forrester and Adobe: The Business Impact of Investing in Experience, 2018