How to Use Customer Journey Mapping

In a world where consumers are increasingly well-informed and self-aware, having a clear mission, vision, and overall customer experience strategy in your company is no longer optional – it’s essential. This is why there’s a method developed to help organizations measure, analyze and interpret what goes through a customer’s mind when making decisions. This is what’s commonly known as a Customer Journey Map, and we’re going to show you how to use Customer Journey Mapping to create the best user experience possible.

For many consumers, the most important thing is not the product or price point anymore. They are more concerned about the user experience. Organizations must know their clients’ main concerns, emotions, and opinions about the acquisition process. This is where the customer journey map comes in, a visual representation of the customer’s experience with your brand. These images tell a story about how a customer moves through each phase of interaction and the knowledge they gain through them. It should include touchpoints and moments of truth, potential customer feelings such as satisfaction or confusion, and any actions you want the customer to take. 

 

Creating a Customer Journey Map

But how do you create this customer journey map? There is no standard model applicable to all organizations since each product or service involves a different customer life cycle. There are a few key elements to keep in mind before creating a customer experience map; those being:

 

1. Set goals clearly for what you want to achieve: Without a plan, it will be challenging to determine if the journey map will translate into a tangible impact on your customers and business.
2. Find out who your average customer is: Find out as much information as possible about the typical user your customer experience map will be based upon. Without user persona profiles to draw from, your map doesn’t stand a chance.
3. Define the precise contact points with the clients: Customer contact or “touch” points usually make up the most significant part of the map. They are all the places and moments where customers have a direct experience by interacting with your brand. These may include your website, Review Sites, Email campaigns, social media accounts, and paid ads, to name a few. After clearly defining these touchpoints, you can start organizing the map. Reminder – this does not only refer to your website! It’s your entire online presence.  

 

Key Phases for Creating Your Customer Journey Map

Usually, the Customer Journey Map consists of 3 key initial phases, and two other steps after your customer have acquired your products or services. These are as follows:

• Discovery phase: (the moment in which the potential client discovers your product or service)
• Acquisition-decision phase: Where they buy your product or hire your service 
• Experience phase: When the customer uses or consumes what has been purchased.
• Retention (recurrence) phase: The consumer repeats his experience, is a satisfied customer, and hopefully recommends or reviews your product/service. 

 

Make the Graph Talk 

You now have all the necessary information to start building your customer journey map at this point. A popular way of doing this is as a graph. The X-axis displays the phases the client goes through over time, and the Y-axis illustrates how the customer “feels” at each touchpoint per phase; Negative sentiments are represented in red, and positive ones in green. Remember that the objective is to find the critical points of interaction and define the motivations that lead potential customers to move on to the next stage in the purchase process. Once all this is captured on your graph, each point is usually joined by a line, and a map of the customer experience is obtained.

Now that you’ve visualized the current state of the customer experience, your map will likely show some gaps in the user experience and the transitions between stages. Still, most importantly, it will show the discrepancies in the map’s contact points. Keep in mind that a customer experience map allows us to better understand and empathize with our consumers. Understanding and empathizing with your customers is the foundation for creating meaningful interactions and successful business outcomes. 

 

Nothing but Opportunity

Don’t let the possibility of a horrible customer experience keep you up at night. Know the current state of the customer journey experience with your business, and make the changes you need to attract and keep happy customers. The problems and challenges that may arise by implementing this tool should not be seen as a failure but as an opportunity to improve and offer a much better service.

Are you ready to implement this customer journey map? If you need support with it or any other marketing, design, or WebOps strategies to improve your online results, we’d love to do the heavy lifting for you.  Contact us today to get the ball rolling.