What is Customer Journey Mapping?
Mapping a customer journey involves documenting the steps that a customer takes to arrive at a result that they want. For example, the customer’s goal might be to get a refund for a purchase. To accomplish this, they need to go through specific steps such as contacting the company that they made the purchase from, getting information on how to return the product, returning it, and getting their refund. There are various types of journeys that a customer can take such as ones for sales, onboarding, and customer support.
How Customer Journey Mapping Benefits Customers and Companies
Mapping out the steps of a customer journey has several key benefits:
● It helps organizations to understand what different types of customers experience at various steps of a customer journey. Asking customers questions about different points in their journey can be very insightful for the company.
● The customer journey map can include details about the emotions and thoughts that customers have as they go through the journey steps. This helps companies to better understand the needs of their customers.
● It helps companies to identify areas where the customer journey could be optimized or steps of the journey that could be removed.
Improving the steps of a customer journey ultimately benefits companies and customers in the following ways:
● For customers, it improves the customer experience and creates improved customer service.
● For companies, it helps to boost customer satisfaction and loyalty. It can also increase efficiency and profit.
The Importance of Customer Journey Mapping in 2021
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in remote workers, online customer interactions, and online shopping. As a result, customer journeys have changed. Therefore, it is important for companies to re-evaluate their customer journeys to make sure that they are still aligned with what their customers need and want. They especially need to consider whether they are providing enough convenience, availability, value, and options for communicating with their customers.
Customer Journey Mapping Best Practices
According to an article by Customer Think, there are several Customer Journey Mapping Best Practices to focus on including:
● Setting goals for your customer journey map and choosing your demographics and customer types.
● Collecting data from customers and prospects using methods such as surveys, reviews, interviews, and user testing.
● Identifying the channels that your various types of customers use to connect with your company and concentrating on the ones that are used most often.
● Using technologies such as AI and Machine learning to help enhance the customer experience.
● Using the customer journey map to identify areas for improvement and the tools and people you will need to make the improvements.
From the moment your customer begins to learn more about your business, the customer journey has started. Create a plan that sets them up for success, no matter what their end goal is.
CH Consulting Group provides unparalleled expertise in the Contact Center and Customer Experience (CX) verticals. We have a nationwide team of industry veterans that can assist you to achieve exponential growth, manage change, and generate profit. For a comprehensive CX assessment and strategic plan customized for your unique business needs, connect with us here today.
