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It’s been reported that in the US, 49 percent of consumers left a brand during 2022 as the result of a poor customer experience. At the same time, 86 percent of buyers shared that they would pay more if it meant they got a better customer experience (CX).
Even in light of this, a recent study showed that 30% of businesses said it took over 4 separate contacts to resolve a problem with their financial institution. But how can we make the customer experience better? How do we really know what customers go through when interacting with our company?
Enter customer journey mapping. Poor customer experiences are never intentional, but when they happen, it’s often because there are large gaps in the customer journey, communication isn’t as strong as it could be, and handoffs from one team to another are inefficient.
Journey mapping looks at these touchpoints from beginning to end to identify critical aspects of the customer experience, pinpoint areas of risk, and come up with solutions to make the experience better. Here’s what customer journey mapping is, the benefits of the customer journey map, and what it can do for your organization.
What Is Customer Journey Mapping?
What is a customer journey map used for? According to customer journey mapping expert Tim Attinger with OvationCXM, “the customer journey map is the lifecycle of that customer’s experience with your company from their first interaction.” Ideally, it’s a journey that never ends. What is a customer journey map? It answers questions like:
● Who is the customer?
● Who are they working with?
● What team is in place at each step?
● What communication channel are they working through?
● What are the customer journey map touchpoints and the tasks within?
Essentially, with a customer journey map, your organization is looking to create the optimal experience for customers from end to end. Tracking the customer journey map steps means seeking to understand their experience as they navigate from Point A to Point B and asking questions like, “How can you make your operations the most efficient and positive as they can be”
Much of the creation of a customer journey map means asking questions regarding what it’s like to experience your organization as a customer or client. What does it mean for customers to start in a particular place and bounce from silo to silo? How satisfying is that process for the customer? Does it feel disjointed? Are customers unsure of where they are in their journey?
Customer journey mapping is about shifting to an external focus to discover what it’s like for the customer. Mapping a customer journey can improve the overall CX, improve conversion rates, and boost customer retention if you take action on what you’ve learned.
Customer journey mapping involves looking at all the ways a client interacts with an enterprise on a macro- and micro-level; the elements of the customer journey.
1. Stages
2. Interactions
3. Events
4. Tasks
If you look at only one of these elements, you can lose the big picture along the way. Customer journey mapping looks at the entire journey, not just a snapshot of one moment, to give you a true picture of customer interactions to optimize them across the whole experience.
As customers traverse through their journey, you want your process to work as a whole to prevent each stage, interaction, event, and/or task from feeling disjointed. Customer journey mapping and horizontal visibility keep everyone on the same page.
What Does a Customer Journey Map Look Like?
So, what is a customer experience map? What does it look like? The customer journey map can be broken down into three product functions or solution sets; 3 different phases of the customer journey:
Discovery and Sales Process
This is when the customer discovers that your brand exists. They learn about your product or service, and through working with your sales team, they decide they are ready to invest in your solution.
Boarding and Activation (The “Go-Live” Process)
This step is a bit more complex than the phases that come before and after it. This phase is when your team is getting your client set up and trained to use the solution they purchased and ensure they’re thrilled with it. It’s about delivering the business outcomes that were promised during the sales process..
Servicing
Journeys can vary widely after the Go-Live phase. At this point, the primary experience customers have with your organization is when they need assistance; when they need help with the solution to run their business, when the solution isn’t working the way they would like it to, when there may be an issue with the solution, or when the solution isn’t being applied correctly.
The phase that can be the most valuable to address first when it comes to the customer journey map is the middle, Go-Live phase. After all, this stage is the point when you ensure your organization is delivering the business outcomes your sales team promised.
The issue that often happens during this stage? There are so many people, teams, solutions, systems, and organizations involved in this phase of the customer journey, which is one of the biggest frustrations cited by businesses. There are sometimes countless hand-offs as customers are passed from one team member to another, and customers may feel like they are being passed around.
Additionally, customers may not have great visibility of where they are headed. They don’t know when the Go-Live process will end, and they may even have a hard time remembering how your solution was going to drive value for them. This phase is where customers often abandon ship; the process is too frustrating. That’s where customer journey mapping delivers its value. play. Journey maps help you identify, understand and smooth these pain points.
The Benefits of Customer Journey Mapping
So what’s the top benefit of customer journey mapping? It can provide clarity for customers on where they are in the implementation process and give them peace of mind. In turn, it will alleviate some of the frustrations they might experience if they don’t know where they are in the process.
Taking the time to outline the customer experience in this way can show your organization what it’s like when your customer is trying to navigate through your processes. But that’s not the only benefit. Mapping the customer journey can also accelerate time-to-revenue and time-to-value for the customer, creating happier customers who are more likely to become your new brand promoters.
Fixing a broken customer journey can help you focus on making the customer’s journey enjoyable. You can better demonstrate to the customer where they are in the journey and provide them a much better overall experience. Optimizing the customer journey from their perspective helps manage expectations and helps them understand what’s coming next.
Other reasons that customer journey mapping is so important?
● You can better empathize with your customers.
● You can pinpoint gaps in your service and communications.
● You can better predict customer behavior.
● Your customer journey map serves as a visual aid for key stakeholders and decision-makers.
● You can start to work together between departments toward shared goals.
The benefits of customer journey mapping impact your organization both internally and externally, and have the potential to grow your business to the next level.
Addressing the Customer Journey
Once you understand all the touchpoints your customers may encounter and any frustrations they may have along the way, you will know what issues need to be addressed and get the most out of your customer journey mapping process.
You’ll start to ask questions that get progressively more specific and more targeted on improving the journey, like:
● Who is the customer?
● Who are they working with?
● What team are they working with at each particular step in their journey?
● What communication channels are they working through?
● How can these communications be clearer and more efficient?
For example, if you discover during the customer journey mapping process that a customer was sold a product or service that doesn’t truly fit what they are trying to achieve, you can receive key insights into how to correct these issues. You may find you need to tweak or adjust the sales journey.
Or, if you discover that your solutions are not integrating with a client’s system the way they should, you can refine your Go-Live process accordingly. The Go-Live process is often the one phase that can have the biggest impact on your overall customer experience. It’s also where there tends to be the most complicated issues to resolve. Your customer journey map will give you a clear overhead view of your entire customer journey to help you understand these complications.
One of the easiest ways to determine which part of the customer journey needs the most attention? Go to your experienced team leaders and tenured employees and ask what pain points they see most often, and what frustrates them the most. Your people are the ones who have a clear vantage point on what’s going on, what problems need to be solved, and where the pain points are.
Your All-In-One Customer Journey Mapping Resource
At OvationCXM, our entire mission centers around the customer experience--and we leverage customer journey mapping to help clients begin the process of refining their customer experience. We’ll help your organization examine every touchpoint in your customer journey, across teams and your partner ecosystem to build a CX strategy in which your customers feel seen, heard, and cared for. And your employees are empowered with the visibility, communication and collaboration access they need to guide customers to success - a win-win for everyone.
Ovation also provides a CX management (CXM) technology platform, CXMEngine, that turns those journey mapping insights into action, providing drag and drop journey building and designing automations to see and guide progress in real time. It requires no re-architecture or customer development so our clients are often up and running in 90 days, out of the box. You can discover more about customer journey mapping here, and pour over our resources on the customer journey mapping process across our resource center.
Ready to learn more? Connect with our team today!
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