Four ways to improve your customer journey mapping

78% of marketers say that customer journey mapping is important to their company’s overall success. They know these visual representations of the customer journey tell the story of its pain and passion points, which mean a more optimised, personalised, omnichannel customer experience. They know that’s essential with today’s digitally accelerated consumers who demand frictionless, individualised experiences. And they know that boosts brand engagement, conversion rates, sales and customer retention. But only a quarter of marketers say they’re proficient at this increasingly important practice, according to Econsultancy. How can they plan out a better route into customer journey mapping?

2. USE DATA TO WALK IN YOUR CUSTOMER’S SHOES

56% of today’s consumers expect all their customer experiences to be personalised. And high-performing businesses are 51% more likely to use data targeting and customer segmentation to connect with them, according to Salesforce.  A customer journey map based on research rather than assumption will ensure its story is accurate. Qualitative and quantitative customer research, feedback from sales reps and UX analysis will help create a truthful overview of the customer experience journey.

For example, accurately mapping Mazda customers’ functional and emotional needs over a three-year sales cycle helped the car dealer challenge its initial assumptions that customers would prefer less brand communication, leading to more tailored, frequent comms, which ultimately helped boost customer renewal rates by 12%.

Using needs-based customer profiles helps define audience groups so you can address different audiences’ needs and connect with them more meaningfully, delivering an even bigger business impact. And unifying all the data into one consolidated platform, to create a single customer view, is key for an efficient process. Take Feld Entertainment. The company had a wealth of customer data for its Disney On Ice show, but it wasn’t connected. Pulling it all together into a single data hub made it easier and quicker to interpret, which ultimately helped the company quadruple its in-show spend value on merchandise, food and beverage per order.

3. VISUALISE AND SHARE

Key points to include on a map include brand touchpoints, messages, business goals, customer actions and emotions at different stages and friction areas. The map can tell a ‘current state’ story, identifying moments of truth which help improve the customer experience, whether that’s a tone of voice or brand partnership. Or it can tell a ‘future state’ story to help redesign operations and experiences going forward. For furniture retailer DFS, we did both. We compared stakeholder insights with user experience stories to create a current state, action-based customer journey plan. This helped the company increase customer satisfaction, repeat business and brand advocacy. And it also provided a roadmap for future growth.

Either type of map can be visualised in a variety of ways, from post-it notes on a whiteboard or wall, to Excel spreadsheets, to infographics or mapping software. The most important thing is that the map makes sense and is shared with everyone who will be using it. So that it acts as a collaborative tool for the business, connecting teams around a customer-centric focus, adding even greater business value. Or, again, it’ll just sit, unused, on a shelf.