Customer Journey Mapping: Creating An Impeccable Customer Experience

Back when the first explorers left Europe to explore the Indian subcontinent in the 15^th century, they didn’t have a map to guide them. They had their instincts and the method of trial and error at their disposal. They faced the wrath of the seas and sometimes detoured for more than hundreds of miles. Only when they landed on the shores, were they called explorers. Today, we have GPS guiding us in our daily lives but do you think you would be able to go from place A to B without a map? As difficult or easy as it might be for you to reach your destination, the journey of a customer with a brand is more difficult. This is where customer journey mapping helps brand map the journey and experience of the customer with their brand.

What is customer journey mapping?

In simple terms, customer journey mapping is a process of identifying the journey of the customer alongside the experiences and how customers interact with your brand. It helps you identify the numerous touchpoints in your customer journey that can be plotted on the journey map.

Why is it so important for your Customer Experience?

A journey has various stages and each stage presents its own set of challenges. The same is with the Customer journey stages. If you wish to provide an impeccable customer experience, you need to identify your customer journey touchpoints. These touchpoints refer to the various stages where customers interact with the brand.

• Customer Journey Mapping allows you as a brand to improve the process of customer onboarding
• It helps you bridge the gap between the customer expectations and the actual customer service provided. Mapping allows you to better understand what your customers expect from you vs what they are getting.
• A user journey map helps you sort your buyer persona. Despite offering a universal product/service, your customers have a unique buyer persona. This persona is the driving reason why the buyer might interact with you in the first place. To improve your customer experience, you need to be aware of the personas to better cater to their individual needs.
• You can fix the gaps. With every brand, there comes one stage where customer detraction is the highest. In such a case, a user map can identify the stage and the reason why customers are leaving at a particular point. With the cause identifies, you can now work on fixing the problem.

How to create a customer journey map?

To create a comprehensive customer journey map, you need to get into the shoes of your buyers. While you might navigate through your website or product catalog even in your dreams, your first-time users need more visual cues to navigate on the platform. This is the approach that would allow you to create an efficient journey map. The map would be a fusion of insights and art. To create the best customer mapping, you would need to follow these basic steps and go from strength to strength.

1. Decipher the Complexity of Buyer Persona

Buyer Persona is a reflection of who your customers are. You identify them and categorize them under their respective buyer’s persona. This would help you identify what they want, what they expect from you, and how do they behave. This would help you create strategies that work best with the persona.

2. Understand what are the goals of your buyers

A customer approaches a brand with a goal in mind. It can vary from just fulfilling a short-term purpose to forging a long-lasting relationship with the brand. Once you have figured out the persona, the next step is to understand what are the aspirations as they go through the user journey.

Different users might come to your website with different goals. You need to identify if they are visiting your website to just view the catalog, are they assessing the market or are they looking for fair pricing amongst the competitors?

Some of the ways you can assess your user goals are

• Sending out feedback surveys
• Study the customer interaction via support emails and calls
• Conduct market testing to see what ticks your users
• Use analytics tools to gain further insights

3. Identify User Touchpoints

There are numerous stages at which your user interacts with your brand. These stages are referred to as touchpoints. Figuring the major touchpoints allows you to create an intricate framework for your map. These touchpoints may vary from physical interaction, digital interaction to interacting over the phone.

Now each touchpoint has a unique significance in the customer journey. A bad boarding experience is more impactful than a slightly salty food in-flight. Hence, once you figure out the major points, you can work on creating an efficient map.

4. Tackle Pain Points

With a journey that follows multiple touchpoints, there are bound to be some pain points. These pain points if not tended to, can lead to an overall bad customer experience. Things you can to identify the pain points are

• Are the users succeeding in achieving their goals?
• What are the stages where user detraction is highest?
• What stages lead to a major frustration for your users?

5. Update & Evolve

A process, when left dormant, can become useless and outdated over time. In order to keep up with the pace, keep on updating your user map with new touchpoints and pain points. This would allow you to constantly assess your new strengths and weaknesses. The ideal time to update is once every 6 months.

If you are looking for a platform to assist you with identifying your customer journey, contact Survey2Connect. With its easy to make DIY surveys and advanced analytics, you can understand the goals and pain points and create an impeccable Customer Journey Map.