Every time your customers interact with your company, they embark on a journey. And without customer journey mapping, there’s no way to ensure they stay on the desired course.
Whether that journey begins at the start of a new project, recommences whilst seeking support for an outstanding issue or reignites after a long absence; it doesn’t matter.
Each touchpoint has a direct impact upon their perception of your operation.
Every single one of these engagements, naturally, sits within your existing operational processes.
And in order to enhance your processes for maximum customer satisfaction, every touchpoint must assist your client in achieving their goal.
Question is, without customer journey mapping, how can you gear your actions toward the most positive outcomes?
Especially if you don’t know precisely what that ideal journey is?
Customer journey mapping helps you plot a path to resolution, offering customers the valuable information they need, exactly when they’re looking for it.
GWI
By undertaking customer journey mapping, and visualising their path, you can identify roadblocks, pain points and, most importantly, timely opportunities.
Here are 5 key reasons why customer journey mapping matters to you and your business.
1. Tailored Experiences
As humans we want to be treated, and thought of, as individuals.
We all have our unique quirks and respond positively when those are reflected in an experience built entirely for us.
71% of people feel frustrated when an experience is impersonal.
Segment
By mapping all the potential interactions and customer touchpoints that a person may have with a brand, companies can design more appropriate customer experiences.
All whilst getting a better measurement of their relative effectiveness.
Detailed customer journey mapping also reduces the risk of overlooking individual customers, niche audiences or those who have not taken the next step of the path.
For example, if you have two new customers and one suddenly goes quiet, their customer journey should reflect this change.
Segmenting according to activity ensures that no matter how a customer journey varies, you’ve mapped the possibilities that will most likely result in a positive outcome.
2. Guide Toward Goals
As a business, your aim is to move customers from the start of a journey through completion.
The key thing, is to ensure your goals align with their own.
The best customer experiences feel collaborative, rather than the two conflicting aims of a buyer/seller dynamic.
Why Collaboration Is Key
A first time buyer may require a lot of information before they’re happy to take the next step. Whereas a well-versed industry expert will move through the process a lot quicker.
Mapping enables organisations to harness a deeper understanding of people’s minds, understanding which stage each journey is at, and what they need to move closer toward the end goal.
Not only is this critical for your own sustainable success, it ensures that each engagement has a positive outcome.
And most importantly, everyone leaves feeling appreciated.
• 5 Ways To Put Your Customer First
• Operational Transformation: From Where You Are Now To Where You Want To Be
• Implementing A Framework For Customer Experience Transformation
3. Critical Insights
Putting yourself in your customer’s shoes helps you to understand them on a personal level.
They’re no longer a number, they’re a lived experience of your brand.
Acknowledging this reality enables a business to plan its communications to match.
Effective customer journey mapping will identify which touchpoints are working, and which are absent, to help achieve those consumer-centric goals.
People want to buy from companies that make it easy to get help when they need it, that go above and beyond for them, and that make them proud to support their culture and philosophy.
Hubspot
Every touchpoint presents an important opportunity to connect. But some are more critical than others.
These moments of truth are key milestones on any customer journey.
You can have the all the best intentions and drive to revolutionise your business through data.
But even with all the will in the world, your enthusiasm is rendered as pure guesswork without the appropriate accessible insights to hand.
Through customer journey mapping, you can evaluate precisely how your team are performing when it matters most.
4. Areas For Attention
Having relevant insights is invaluable for highlighting areas for attention.
Customer journey mapping is founded on real customer data. Data which can be used to validate or create customer journey maps and establish how long each stage of a cycle takes to complete.
When you have to plot all your improvement ideas onto the customer journey, you’ll immediately see which ones address your customers’ biggest pains and frustrations.
Service Design
By using insights to identify the areas that need most attention, you can dedicate more resource to their resolution.
Therefore, not only is your customer journey now tailored for every outcome, the changes have been made in full knowledge of what wasn’t previously working.
Consistent mapping permits continuous optimisation and delivery of a customer experience that works for everyone.
5. Align Goals With Practice
Last but not least, any gaps that emerge across the entire customer journey can help to guide wider business decision-making.
The journey map creates a framework, urging colleagues and departments to work together to improve the company’s overall performance.
This helps to break down organisational silos and get the whole company focused on meeting the expectations of their target audiences.
When conducted effectively, streamlined processes can revolutionise a business, setting it on an upward trajectory to outperform all competitors.
The Problem With Inconsistency
Action without purpose will never reap the desired rewards.
By aligning each stage, of each unique customer journey, toward your ultimate business aims, your chances of success soar through the ceiling.
Updated 3/1/2023
Interested to explore how Anthill can help your customer journey mapping capabilities? Schedule a demo today.
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