Customer Journey Mapping

Have you ever been in a car with someone who is lost but refuses to ask for directions? After seeing the same landmark multiple times, you scream, “turn on your GPS!”

Similar to the driver who refuses to ask for help to get to their destination, organizations that fail to understand, document, and build strategy around the customer lifecycle struggle to achieve the desired outcome.

The answer: a customer journey map.

The customer journey map visually represents the customer’s interactions when doing business with your organization. Every organization should leverage a customized guide to understand and capture the customer experience. It is an effective tool for identifying gaps and implementing processes that drive wow moments. 

This article will provide a framework for creating a customer journey map and considerations for improving your customer experience. 

What problem are you trying to solve? Are you trying to communicate the buyer’s journey to create internal awareness and build customer centricity? Are you experiencing churn and need to understand the driving factors? Do you want to build a low-touch engagement model?

Start with your problem, then assemble your team.

Customer Journey Team

The first step to mapping the customer journey is creating a project team. The team should include at least one person from every team that touches the customer's journey. Each team member should have enough experience to speak about the process from their perspective. Consider team members who have diverse views-you’ll want both critics and evangelists for this exercise. 

An executive sponsor is also a critical part of the team. They will keep the team focused on the project's vision and how it ties to the overall company strategy, help guide critical decisions, and serve as a role model for the required new behaviors. 

 Once you’ve assemble your team, make sure you complete the following steps:

• Document and communicate the roles and responsibilities of each person on the team. Avoid unnecessary confusion and inefficiency by clarifying how they best contribute to the project.

• Confirm the time commitment: how often do you need to meet, and what is the project deadline? In a lean environment time and resources are limited; make it easy by avoiding meetings that are too frequent, too long, and not worth their time.

Document, Document, Document

Once you assemble your team and everyone understands their roles and responsibilities, it is time to start documenting. Your end goal should help guide where you start within the buyer’s journey. If you want to bring awareness to internal teams to give everyone a better understanding of how they impact the overall customer experience, you could start with the presales phase. 

Journey Phases to Consider:

• Buyer Awareness

• Buyer Consideration

• Decision/Purchase

• Onboarding/Implementation

• Adoption

• Maintenance

• Renewal

Each team member should speak to their current process within each phase of the journey. 

Tip: this exercise should be completed by each team member between meetings to save time.

After each process is documented, identify gaps and critical milestones. Ask the executive sponsor to help identify which gaps need to be minimized now and which can be delayed to later versions.

Tools
If you have the budget to invest in sophisticated journey mapping technology, kudos- Invest away! Most companies operate on a lean budget, so you will need to utilize free or low-cost platforms to get started.

The CX Lead published a great article that includes a comprehensive list of the best customer mapping tools. Free options include a physical whiteboard or Excel, and more sophisticated options include Appnovation. Start with a budget and what an ideal finished project looks like, then select the best tool that fits your needs

Considerations

The hard part is done! All processes are documented, gaps have been minimized, and the team is excited to publish. Don’t stop there. Are there ways you can create moments of wow within the journey? Personal note of thanks when the contract is executed? Celebration when a key milestone is achieved? Personalization goes a long way and most CRMs or Customer Success platforms have journey automation capabilities. 

Capture the voice of the customer. Partner with a small group of long standing customers to provide feedback on ways they would like the journey to improve. 

Keep it simple. Journey mapping can be complex but the first version should be simple and completed in a reasonable amount of time. You risk internal adoption if you start with a complicated new process. Make a commitment to review and revise on a quarterly basis and socialize updates via town halls, newsletters, and/or team meetings.

Rochelle is the Senior Director of Customer Success at Medrio focusing on enablement, experience, and expansion. She is known for creating simple repeatable processes that drive internal productivity and momentum and as a result optimizes the customer experience. Her happiness tends to include food, champagne, travel, and family.

Rochelle Is a Success in Black contributing writer and member, come join Rochelle and others as part of the SIB Community. Apply to Join SIB