How do customer journey maps improve your CX?

A customer journey map is designed to provide a holistic view of a representative customer's experience (often linked to a customer persona), ideally co-created with a cross-functional team real-time in an ideation workshop that captures the high level phases of the journey, the steps in each phase and the touchpoints/pain points/improvement opportunities for each phase. A journey map is a powerful visualization that can help drive customer experience (CX) alignment, buy-in and agreement on CX investment priorities.

Customer journey maps help drive customer experience (CX) alignment, buy-in and agreement on CX investment priorities. They also help to identify moments of truth and the customer's emotional state at each step of the journey as well - along with the typical touchpoints/pain points/improvement opportunities for each phase of the journey. Pulling this information out of the minds of customers and employees and onto a single page is incredibly powerful and provides a tangible artifact to work off of in the organization's quest to upgrade their customer experience.

One of the most interesting aspects of customer journey maps is that it gives you granular information on customer perceptions. And the underlying factors responsible for causing those perceptions. The interactions between touchpoints and how a customer sentiment moves between peaks and valleys helps hone in on opportunities to improve the overall experience. I’ve found there are almost always small changes that can create immense impact in a customer’s journey and we wouldn’t know those opportunities without the use of journey maps.

The customer journey map allows the business the ability for change management and to evolve at the same pace as the customer journey.

Customer journey maps (done well) visualize the steps, touchpoints, pain points and customer experience improvement opportunities. It gives anyone, anywhere in the organization a view into what the customer experience is composed of and how all of the efforts of the organization come together to create it. They are also a valuable employee onboarding tool, especially if you are committed to creating or maintaining a customer-centric culture.

Customer journey maps are created after doing customer research and carefully crafting personas that capture something very different than marketing personas - CX personas should capture the different desired and/or actual customer experiences that exist - so we're differentiating based on behavior and expectations across the whole experience. They should be created with a cross-functional team either in person with butcher paper and sticky notes or virtually using tools like Miro, Mural, LucidSpark, Microsoft Whiteboard (free) or Google Jamboard (free).

Creating a customer journey map is vital for enhancing the customer experience. Start by defining the objectives and target audience. Research your customers through surveys and interviews to build detailed personas. Map out the customer's stages and interactions with your brand. Identify touchpoints and channels used. Lastly, assess satisfaction and loyalty at each touchpoint to improve the overall experience.

I like to compare a digital customer journey as a road … the “path to purchase” if you will. On that path you may find potholes. These are areas along the path to purchase where your would-be customer hits a snag. By looking at customer feedback, cart abandonment, reviews, and call center data, you can likely identify where the potholes exist for your brand on the path to purchase. When you find them, be vocal and thank your community/customers for the feedback. Let them know you’re working on an active solution. And finally, shout it out on social when you have fixed the pothole. It not only shows you’re listening - and that you care - but it also reduces friction along the path to purchase.

Once you have a customer journey map, it becomes a powerful tool for CX improvement. Focus on critical touchpoints, optimize emotional connections, and streamline the process. Solicit and act on feedback to personalize offers, eliminate barriers, and demonstrate that you value their opinions. Embrace continuous improvement to deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Journey maps serve as essential benchmarks, capturing a point in time for the customer experience. But to be truly valuable, they require a comparison mechanism, like the anticipated or intended journey, to identify gaps and areas that fell short. Pain points typically arise from the difference between customer expectations and their actual experience. It’s crucial to map the journey against the intended one to assess the sentiment delta at each touchpoint and gain insights for improvement.

At the highest level, the value that comes from 'Customer Journey Mapping' stems from a company's ability to see a process from the other side of the table. As service providers, it is essential to understand what questions clients might have that can be addressed pre-emptively. Additionally, any consideration for what would make it less cumbersome for clients and external stakeholders to adopt our processes, systems, and products, would bring not only efficiency, but would likely foster goodwill and appreciation from those whose experience after signing are often overlooked as 'not profitable'. Insights from multiple perspectives are necessary for true improvement.

I really enjoyed the commentary concerning the customer journey map being a living document of sorts: always liable to being updated or edited as necessary What I would stress is included is true empathy for the customer experience and viewpoint - it is one thing to ask within the organization about what colleagues believe and have heard and to try and conduct internal analysis, but it is another thing entirely to seek out and receive the timely, earnest and intentional feedback of the customer - positive and negative - and to iterate upon both. This can be done through incentivizing clientele to give feedback, including all internal stakeholders in process changes and responding to inquiry/responses with intent and alacrity.