What do you do if your customer journey maps are incomplete or outdated?

The product & service is a living organism and the journey in it changes in time, along with your strategies. Plus, people use different journeys as well since the tools they're using are always evolving. The important thing is that we need to be tracking our data regularly and be adaptive to the changing situations. Following some questions would be beneficial at this point: - What's the first touchpoint? - What patterns do they choose mainly? - At what point do they end their journey? - How many segments do I have following different paths?

Updating your customer journey maps? It’s simpler than you think. First off, dive into your data—everything from customer feedback to analytics. It’s like piecing together a puzzle; you’re checking if anything’s changed. Notice any shifts? It’s probably time for some fresh insights. Chat with your customers, run a survey, or analyze new data points. Once you've got the latest scoop, tweak those journey maps. Make sure every detail is spot on, from touchpoints to emotions. Don’t forget to loop in your team for a quick check—they might spot something you missed. With the updated maps, steer your strategies and keep an eye on the customer pulse.

Let's say you're a retail company and you want to update your customer journey map. You could start by gathering data from various sources: Send out surveys to recent customers asking about their shopping experience, what they liked, what they didn't like, and any suggestions for improvement. Analyze data from your website to see how customers are navigating through the site, which pages they visit most frequently, where they drop off in the checkout process, etc. Review feedback from customer service interactions such as emails, chat transcripts, or phone calls to identify common issues or pain points. Look at sales data to understand which products are popular, which promotions are effective & any patterns in purchasing behavior.

To update customer journey maps, broaden your data sources by including emerging platforms and advanced analytics like predictive analysis and sentiment analysis. This reveals shifts in customer behavior, preferences, and challenges. Regularly cross-referencing data from diverse sources such as IoT devices, customer service logs, and new social media ensures a comprehensive view. Identifying inconsistencies or gaps in data helps pinpoint changes in customer engagement patterns, enabling more accurate and dynamic journey mapping. This process ensures your maps reflect current customer experiences, guiding more effective strategy adjustments.

If customer journey maps are incomplete or outdated, I initiate a comprehensive review with cross-functional teams to identify gaps and updates needed. Gathering customer feedback and data analytics helps refine and enrich the maps. Collaborating with marketing, sales, and customer service teams ensures alignment with current processes and customer touchpoints. Incorporating emerging trends and technologies enhances relevance and effectiveness. Regularly revisiting and updating the maps maintains accuracy and enables the organization to adapt swiftly to evolving customer needs and expectations.

The next step in fine-tuning your customer journey maps is to get into your customers' shoes. Think of it as chatting with them through user testing, focus groups, or even workshops. It’s about listening to their stories, understanding how they see your brand, and what they’re looking for. Please don’t shy away from asking about the rough patches or the moments they wished for something more. Their honest feedback is gold—it helps you see where you're guessing right and where you need to pivot. Plus, this whole process? It’s a great way to show your customers that you truly value their voice and are committed to improving their journey with your brand.

Testing validates the data we've been following. To verify the journey maps, we can leverage some user research methods such as usability studies, focus groups, interviews and even small surveys depending on our budget and time. Don't forget to follow your data to see if there is any fluctuations on user actions after some changes (e.g. product update, new ad channel).

In my experience, this is less presumptive than most like to think. If you’re taking the approach of “let’s test these assumptions through data”, I suspect THAT is why you’re customer journey maps aren’t serving their purpose. The exercise should be more holistic than this. It’s about understanding your customer in a great depth and to specific metrics, not about making assumptions and testing to see if you have these correct.

To ensure your customer journey maps accurately reflect user experiences, directly engage customers through user testing, focus groups, and workshops. These interactions provide invaluable insights into customer perceptions, expectations, and challenges. Incorporate their feedback on pain points and opportunities to refine and validate your assumptions. This hands-on approach not only enhances the accuracy of your journey maps but also strengthens customer relationships by demonstrating your commitment to their satisfaction and input.

Validating your assumptions and hypotheses with real customers is a crucial step in updating your customer journey maps. To ensure the accuracy and relevance of your maps, consider employing a variety of validation methods, including user testing, focus groups, online communities, or co-creation workshops. The objective is to gather direct feedback from your customers regarding their perceptions, experiences, values, and expectations associated with your brand. Additionally, inquire about any pain points, frustrations, or opportunities for improvement they may have encountered throughout their journey.

After diving deep into data and chatting with your customers, it's time to refresh your customer journey maps with everything new you've learned. Think of it as updating a travel guide with the latest, must-visit spots and removing the closed-down restaurants. Adjust your maps to reflect who your customers are now, the paths they take, and how they feel at each step. Pinpoint any rough patches you've found or exciting opportunities to make their journey smoother. This isn't just about keeping your maps accurate; it's about actively finding ways to make your customers' experience better, every step of the way.

And here’s a really important tip; not all new insights and findings need to be incorporated. It’s your role to determine which (and that’s not really possible to answer so broadly without understanding the nature of your business, the industry etc). The crucial point is to not assume or automatically apply the rule of “something new = something important”.

After gathering fresh insights from data analysis and customer feedback, update your journey maps to mirror the real customer experience accurately. Adjust segments, personas, and touchpoints to current realities, highlighting discovered gaps or issues. Prioritize addressing areas that enhance customer satisfaction or remove friction. This step not only ensures your maps accurately guide strategic decisions but also identifies areas for immediate improvement, fostering a more seamless and engaging customer experience.

The subsequent step in updating your customer journey maps is to integrate the newfound insights and findings derived from both your data review and customer validation. Refine your customer journey maps to accurately represent the present state of your customer segments, personas, touchpoints, channels, emotions, and actions. Emphasize any identified gaps, challenges, or opportunities and prioritize them for actionable improvements. This might involve introducing new touchpoints, eliminating redundant ones, or enhancing those causing friction or dissatisfaction to optimize the overall customer experience effectively.

+ Once your customer journey maps are updated, communicate the changes clearly and effectively to your team and stakeholders. Explain how these maps will improve the customer experience and achieve business goals. Tailor your communication style to different audiences, using metrics and data to resonate with analytical minds and clear, concise language for broader team buy-in. + Customer journeys are dynamic and evolve over time. Schedule regular reviews of your customer journey maps, at least annually or whenever significant changes to your business, product, or target audience exist. This ensures your maps stay relevant and continue to reflect the current customer experience.

The fourth step in updating your customer journey maps involves aligning your team and stakeholders with the modifications and implications of these maps. Share the updated customer journey maps with team members, managers, partners, and other relevant individuals involved in delivering value to customers. Clearly articulate the reasoning behind these maps, emphasizing their potential benefits in enhancing products, services, and marketing strategies. Encourage feedback and suggestions from your team and stakeholders on effective implementation methods and ways to measure the impact of the updated customer journey maps.

Leverage marketing automation tools to gather relevant data and update the maps accordingly. For example, use email marketing platforms like Mailchimp or HubSpot to track customer interactions and behaviors across different touchpoints. Analyze the data collected from email open rates, click-through rates, and website visits to identify patterns and understand the customer journey better. Incorporate this information into your customer journey maps to ensure they accurately reflect the current state of customer interactions with your brand. By utilizing marketing automation tools, you can maintain up-to-date and comprehensive customer journey maps, enabling more effective marketing strategies and personalized experiences for your audience.

The fifth step in updating your customer journey maps involves leveraging marketing automation tools to streamline and enhance customer interactions and conversions. These tools are software solutions designed to manage, execute, and oversee marketing campaigns across various channels and touchpoints. They facilitate customer segmentation, message personalization, timely action triggers, performance tracking, and ROI measurement. Utilizing marketing automation tools ensures that your updated customer journey maps are not only current but also actionable and impactful, driving improved customer engagement and business outcomes.

Prioritize regular updates. Utilize feedback mechanisms such as surveys, customer interviews and analytics tools to gather insights. For example, suppose an e-commerce company notices a drop in conversion rates. By analyzing customer behavior using tools like Google Analytics or Hotjar, they discover that many users abandon their carts at the payment stage due to a complex checkout process. In response, they update their customer journey map to streamline the checkout process, reducing friction and improving the overall experience. Regularly revisiting and refining customer journey maps ensures alignment with evolving customer needs and business objectives, enhancing the effectiveness of marketing strategies and customer engagement efforts.

Make updating your customer journey maps a regular part of your strategy to ensure they remain relevant and reflective of changes in customer behavior, market dynamics, and competitive landscapes. Schedule reviews at least annually, or more often with new launches or when noticing significant shifts in customer interactions. This practice keeps your maps accurate and actionable, helping you stay aligned with customer needs and ahead of market trends. Regular updates enable proactive adjustments in your approach, enhancing customer experiences and supporting business growth.

It's also essential to consider cross-functional collaboration and customer feedback integration. Engage stakeholders from various departments like sales, customer support, and product development to gain diverse perspectives on the customer journey. This collaboration ensures comprehensive mapping and alignment with the entire customer experience. Furthermore, integrating direct customer feedback through surveys, social media monitoring, and reviews provides valuable insights into real-time customer sentiments and pain points. By combining internal expertise with external customer input, businesses can create more accurate and actionable customer journey maps, leading to enhanced customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Here's what you can do if your customer journey maps are incomplete or outdated: 1. Gather New Data: Conduct customer research through surveys, interviews, and usability testing to understand current touchpoints, pain points, and emotions. 2. Revisit Buyer Personas: Ensure your buyer personas accurately represent your current customer base. Update demographics, goals, and challenges. 3. Identify Gaps and Opportunities: Analyse the refreshed data to pinpoint areas where the map is incomplete or outdated. Look for missing touchpoints or changes in customer behavior. 4. Refine and Update: Integrate the new information into your customer journey maps. Address any identified gaps or opportunities for improvement.

Every organisation evolves and grows, which means you have to review you business plan and processes on a regular basis. Mirror with your team if all is still aligned and adjust and change consistently where you can improve. These days you have to be more flexible and adapt to market circumstance and be ready for it.

Isn’t it amazing how life is all about change? And our customers, they’re incredibly innovative in their expectations of us, especially our Asian customers. So, it might be a good idea to revisit and validate our journey maps from time to time. What do you think? Doing this will make sure we’re heading in the right direction with our strategies and tactics. Let’s keep our game strong, shall we?