So you've successfully put yourself in your customers' shoes and documented their journey in detail . Now what?
Obviously, you won't hang this work of art on your wall. And just as obviously, it's not set in stone. So how do you use a customer journey map efficiently to the benefit of your company?
Gartner found that 30% of marketing executives have created a customer journey map but don't know how to successfully use it to identify and prioritize customer experience (CX) measures (the full article is available to Gartner clients).
With this article, we want to make sure that you are not one of those 30%. Because your customer journey map is not just for looking at. You are supposed to use it - to your advantage.
The next logical step is customer journey management. So let's look at how we can use the map to uncover challenges and problems, so-called pain points, link them to internal processes and ultimately improve the customer experience.
6 steps to effectively use your Customer Journey Map
Have you looked at your customer journey map and wondered what you should do next? We have a few tips.
In the following, we differentiate between the customer journey map that you have already created and a company journey map, which also takes into account the processes within your company.
For this purpose, we take a fictitious customer-business scenario between Niklas Haas (a customer who wants to buy a bus trip) and Heller Reisen (a bus company that Niklas would like to win as a customer) as an example.
1. Validate your customer journey map
First, we validate your customer journey map, i.e. we ensure that a customer experience really takes place as described there.
Hopefully you were able to incorporate both quantitative and qualitative information when creating the map. If not, then consider any additional data now to get the most comprehensive picture possible.
Surveys, interviews and focus groups provide valuable information to help you ensure you don't miss or misinterpret any steps in your map. But make sure the participants are representative of your existing and desired customers.
No matter how you proceed, the validation process should help you identify or verify the following:
Any touchpoints that are still missing in the map
What customers want to achieve or feel at any given time
How successfully customers achieve their goals at each point
What customers perceive as the most important moments
Once you have confirmed that your customer journey map is complete or after you have added additional information from the validation process, you are ready for the next step.
2. Identify pain points that occur during the customer journey
The most meaningful journey maps don't just show the individual stages that customers go through from start to finish. Rather, they illustrate the emotions and actions during their journey.
Be happy about the points where your customers are happy and satisfied. However, you should pay special attention to the points where they are dissatisfied or feel frustrated.
Do your customers always call customer service with the same questions and problems? Is there a feature or product on your website that isn't working optimally? Do long wait times for a particular service lead to frustration and customers switching to the competition? Is there a seamless transition when
Let's turn to our example: Niklas Haas and his customer journey with Heller Reisen belgium telegram data While booking his bus trip, a few pain points arose that the company is already aware of thanks to its customer journey map.
Haas had difficulty finding the trip he was interested in on the website. There was no good filter to sort the results by country, cost or number of travel days.
After finding and booking the trip, he expected to receive an email with the itinerary and key information, but he never received it. Instead, he had to log into the website to find out these details himself.
Pain Points: Customer Journey vs Company Journey
customer journey map graphic
Look closely at your qualitative data and listen to your customers. They will tell you when they were unable to achieve their goals at certain points or where their experience could be improved.
Once you have identified the pain points and determined the ones you want to solve first, you can link them to your Company Journey in the “Internal Processes” area and tackle the solution to these problems.
3. Link the customer journey with internal processes
Remember that the customer journey map is about your customers ' experiences , not your company. Essentially, you're taking an outside look at your product or service.