How to make a map of the client journey
Because it tells a visual tale of how consumers are interacting with the brand, services, and goods, the customer journey map is essential to the success of a retailer and brand.
Given the numerous changes occurring inside a retail strategy, it should be a dynamic document that receives ongoing attention. In addition to offering a thorough perspective from the consumer’s point of view, the customer journey map is an invaluable resource for comprehending, foreseeing, and forecasting customer behavior.
In order to improve the customer experience at every single point of contact, it should offer a thorough grasp of the client experience.
In a blog post, Simon Fraser informed readers that it is critical for companies to comprehend consumer preferences, shopping habits, and—above all—how to pinpoint the areas of success.
Although creating a customer journey map can seem like a fairly simple task, experts point out that there are a number of dos and don’ts as well as some research required.
Two leading experts were contacted by RetailCustomerExperience.com via email interviews to provide their knowledge, insights, and suggestions on creating a customer journey map.
The founder and CEO of VectorHX, a human experience firm that matches client business strategy with employee, user, and consumer experiences, is Eric Karofsky.
The principal and creator of the customer experience consultancy company Watermark Consulting is Jon Picoult.
When creating a customer journey map, what is the most difficult task to do, and how can one effectively overcome it?
Karofsky: It’s critical to comprehend the full client experience. It is difficult and a constant struggle for businesses to accurately capture consumer viewpoints across all touch points while preserving relevant information for the company. Customers’ feelings, expectations, and behaviors must all be captured by brands, particularly in the intricate retail setting where digital and physical interactions coexist.
Instead of taking certain personas into account, those that concentrate on customer journeys usually handle 80% of common CX concerns and approach them holistically. The significant demands of high-value personas, which could actually be included in the remaining 20% of CX problems, must be carefully considered. This strategy must be reflected in the trip map, which should lead to noticeable enhancements, particularly for these valuable personas.
Picoult: Making sure the map represents the customer’s perspective of the experience rather than the business’s is the biggest issue. That presents a problem since, to be honest, it’s far simpler to just gather a group of workers and ask them to create a travel map. Incorporating the customer’s viewpoint into that map, whether by polling, interviewing, or even just having some of them participate in the mapping process, requires a lot more time and work.
But if you don’t go the extra mile, the trip mapping work turns into a navel-gazing exercise where internal people analyze and debate the highs and lows of the customer experience without considering the customer’s genuine voice. Such a trip map would unavoidably have blind spots and be detached from the actual subtleties of the client experience.
What guidance or recommendations would you provide a shop that is just starting to create a customer journey map?
First, don’t create the map in a vacuum, said Picoult. It needs to be based on real client input, preferably a mix of quantitative and qualitative information (from in-depth interviews to customer surveys). Secondly, ensure that you are creating a journey map rather than a process map. The crucial distinction? The experience of your customers may comprise duties and activities that your business isn’t yet involved in. In a journey map, it can help uncover potential for new goods and services that meet consumers’ unmet or unarticulated demands, but it’s not important in an internally oriented business process map.
Third, keep in mind that a trip map is only a starting point because it offers a broad perspective of the consumer experience. But in reality, it’s the little things that customers may not even be aware of that win their hearts and minds (e.g., the arrangement of a checkout queue, the fragrance and lighting of a store, the design and placement of navigational signs). A trip map cannot provide the depth of analysis needed for a strong customer experience improvement initiative. You must assess even the smallest aspects of the event, which calls for a deeper degree of analysis than is possible with conventional travel maps.
Karofsky My dos and don’ts are listed here.
Dos:
Do your research beforehand. Doing in-depth qualitative and quantitative research can help you make sure you are developing for the appropriate personas.
Find the truthful moments. Identify the pivotal points at which consumer views are formed, then concentrate on making the most of these exchanges.
Engage in internal socialization. To gather different viewpoints and find gaps, distribute the trip map around many internal departments, such as marketing, sales, and support.
Large datasets may be analyzed using AI to find themes, emotions, and patterns in behavior.
Avoid:
Avoid asking NPS or CSAT at the start of a journey. All too frequently, they are distributed too soon before individuals have had the opportunity to experience it.
Avoid depending only on the “happy path.” To proactively address possible pain points, sketch up alternative routes, including contingency plans.
Don’t make one journey map for every consumer. Personalized route maps should be used to accommodate the distinct demands and behaviors of each persona.
Add intricacy gradually after starting with simply. An initial map that is too complicated may overwhelm teams and become less useful.
Do not create the travel map alone. Get feedback from cross-functional teams to ensure the map is thorough and based on a variety of perspectives.
Remember to include customer service. They frequently offer insightful information that isn’t found in other fields of study.
Q. What is the most effective way to update or maintain a customer journey map? Does there have to be a deadline for updating it?
Picoult: It should undoubtedly be a dynamic document that is modified in response to the introduction of new goods, services, and experiences. Additionally, it should be updated if the requirements, expectations, and ambitions of customers change (or if the shop is targeting new client categories). Therefore, the best time to update a trip map depends more on what’s happening in and around your company than it does on the calendar.
Karofsky: Take into account how new consumer contacts, such as product releases, website redesigns, or shop layout adjustments, impact the experience and related journey. Analyze the effects on customer journeys of changes in business strategy and major market swings.
Here, data is crucial and needs to be developed in a way that makes it easy to spot new trends or problems. Metrics offer a real-time feedback loop for tracking how well each customer journey step is working. Every year (or more frequently if notable changes are noticed) review customer segments and personas since consumer expectations and behaviors might change and their unique journey routes need to be updated.