Customer Journey Mapping

The seven steps are: Identify objectives, create personas, list touchpoints, gather feedback, map the current state, analyze gaps and opportunities, and develop an action plan.

The four stages are Awareness, Consideration, Purchase, and Post-Purchase.

The 5 A’s are Awareness, Appeal, Ask, Act, and Advocacy.

A good map is a visual representation of the customer journey, providing insights into customer needs, perceptions, and emotions at each stage, based on thorough research and including detailed personas, touchpoints, and channels. It also evolves with changing customer behaviors and market conditions.

Welcome back everybody for another deep dive. This time we’re digging into customer journey mapping. And you guys sent in some awesome stuff for this one. Yeah, you were kidding. Articles, reports, even some of your own personal notes. Oh yeah, for sure. Lots to unpack. We’ve got a ton to cover. And hopefully you guys are gonna be able to put all this knowledge into practice after this deep dive. And that’s what I love about these deep dives. We’re not just like defining a concept. We’re thinking about how we can use this strategically. Exactly. Like how can we actually put this into action? Absolutely. So before we even get into the specifics, maybe we can start with the basics. What exactly IS customer journey mapping? So it’s basically a visual representation of every interaction a customer has with a brand. Okay. So from the moment they first become aware of it, to the point where they achieve their desired outcome. Okay. And I think what makes it so powerful is that it’s not just about individual touch points. Right. It’s about understanding the entire experience. Okay. Like the flow, the emotions, the highs, the lows, as one complete journey. So it’s like creating a story. Exactly. You’re plotting out the narrative arc of the customer experience. Yeah. And just like any good story. Yeah. There are key elements that make it compelling. Right. You have the setting, the characters, the conflict, the resolution. Okay. And so in the customer journey, these translate to touch points, channels, emotions, and ultimately the desired outcome. All right. So we’ve got this roadmap, this customer journey map. Right. But why is it so crucial? Oh, yeah. What makes it such a game changer? Well, the most impactful benefits that was highlighted in all your research is gaining a truly holistic view. Yeah. Of the customer experience. Okay. So instead of just focusing on like isolated interactions, you’re seeing the bigger picture. Got it. Understanding how each touch point influences the next. So it’s not just about fixing individual problems, it’s about optimizing the entire experience. Exactly. From start to center. Precisely. And this leads to another key benefit, which is team alignment. Okay. Yeah. So when everybody in the organization, from marketing to sales to customer service, Okay. understands the customer journey. Yeah. It creates this like shared vision and a more customer centric culture. Right. Everyone’s rowing in the same direction, so to speak. Makes total sense. It’s like giving everyone the same map so they can all navigate towards the same destination. Exactly. Okay. So we’ve got the big picture. Right. Everyone’s on the same page. Yeah. What’s next? Well, this is where we start to get really practical. Okay. Customer journey mapping helps you pinpoint those frustrating moments. Yeah. You know, those bottlenecks that can like derail the customer experience. You mentioned a specific example in your notes about a time when you were trying to buy a laptop online. And the checkout process was so confusing that you just gave up. Oh, for sure. That’s a perfect example of a pain point. Yeah. That could have been identified and addressed. Totally. With a well-crafted customer journey map. Oh, absolutely. If they had mapped out that process, they would have seen how many people were abandoning their carts. Exactly. At that specific point. Exactly. And they could have streamlined it. Exactly. And by addressing those pain points, you not only improve the customer experience, but you also boost your bottom line. Right. It’s a win-win. So customer journey mapping can help improve sales. Absolutely. One of the reports that you send over found that companies that actively use customer journey mapping, see on average, a 20% increase in customer satisfaction. Wow. And a 15% increase in revenue. Nice. It’s not just about warm and fuzzy feelings. Yeah. It’s about tangible business results. OK. I’m sold. But let’s get practical here. What are the core components of a customer journey map? OK. Where do you even begin? I would say there are like three crucial elements. OK. Touchpoints and channels. OK. Customer emotions and actionable insights. OK. So touchpoints and channels. Those are like the wheres and the hows of the interaction. Right. Touchpoints are any instances where the customer interacts with your brand. OK. Whether it’s online or offline. Right. Think of it as any point of contact from seeing an ad on social media to visiting your website to having a conversation with a customer service rep. OK. So the touchpoint is the what and the channel is the how W. Exactly. That’s right. And each touchpoint needs to be like carefully considered and optimized to ensure a positive customer experience. Right. But mapping out the interactions is only half the battle. OK. We also need to understand how customers feel at each stage. OK. This is where it gets really interesting. Yeah. We all know that emotions play a huge role in how we experience brands. Absolutely. And your source material actually highlights this point quite effectively. OK. There’s an article about a retail company. OK. That used what are called empathy journey maps. Oh, yeah. To really delve into the emotional nuances of their customers’ experiences. Empathy journey maps. I’m intrigued. Tell me more. So in this specific example, the company was struggling with high return rates for online orders. OK. And so they created an empathy journey map focused specifically on the return process. OK. And what they discovered was that customers felt incredibly frustrated when they had to print out their own return labels. Oh, interesting. They perceived it as an unnecessary hassle. OK. Which negatively impacted their overall experience and ultimately their brand loyalty. That’s a fascinating insight. So by mapping out the emotional journey, they were able to identify a seemingly small thing that was actually having a huge impact on customer satisfaction. Exactly. And it allowed them to make a simple change, which was offering prepaid return labels. Oh. And that significantly reduced their return rate. Wow. And increased customer satisfaction. It’s a great example of how understanding and mapping emotions can lead to tangible business improvement. Totally. So we’ve got the touch points, the channels, the emotional roller coasters. Right. What’s the final ingredient in this customer journey mapping recipe? Insights. OK. Turning all of this information into action. Right. Because a map is only useful if it helps you navigate. Exactly. It’s not just about creating a pretty picture. Right. It’s about using that picture to make informed decisions. Exactly. So how do we go from mapping the journey to actually improving it? That’s where we’ll pick up in the next part of our deep dive. All right. We’ll explore the steps involved in creating a customer journey map, the potential pitfalls to watch out for, and how to translate those insights into actionable improvements that will elevate the entire customer experience. Can’t wait. OK. So we’re back and ready to map out these customer journeys. We talked about the what and the why. Right. Now let’s get to that. How? Mm-hmm. How do we actually create one of these maps? It might sound kind of daunting, but it’s actually a very structured process. OK. First, you need to define the scope. OK. What specific customer journey are we mapping? OK. Are we looking at the entire customer life cycle? Right. Or just a specific stage, like the onboarding process? Makes sense. You need to know where you’re going before you can map out the route. Right. Exactly. So once we have the scope defined, what’s next? Then it’s all about gathering data. OK. And the more diverse the data sources, the richer our understanding will be. OK. We can tap into customer feedback surveys, analytics, even social media comments. OK. And you mentioned in your notes that you use a platform called Monday.com to manage your projects. Yeah, it’s great. Well, it turns out that Monday.com can also be a really useful tool for creating and managing customer journey maps. I had no idea. Yeah. I’m always looking for ways to streamline my workflow, so tell me more about how Monday.com can be used for this. So it’s super versatile. OK. You can use its customizable boards to visually represent each stage of the customer journey. OK. You can add notes and attachments to capture key details. Right. And even assign tasks to team members to ensure that insights are translated into action. Gotcha. Plus, it integrates with other tools you might be using, like email marketing platforms or CRM systems, so you can bring all your customer data together in one central location. This sounds incredibly efficient. It is. Definitely going to have to explore that feature. So we’ve got our scope defined, our data collected. What’s the next step in building this map? Now we start to identify the touch points. OK. All those points of interaction between the customer and your brand. Right. And here’s where those channels come in, the different ways that those interactions occur. Right. So we might have a touch point like customer browsers products on website, and the channel for that touch point would be website. Exactly. OK. And as we map out those touch points and channels, we also want to start thinking about the emotional journey. OK. How are customers feeling at each stage? Right. What are the motivations, their pain points, their expectations? And going back to those empathy journey maps. Yeah. Is there anything specific in the research that stands out to you in terms of how to effectively capture those emotional nuances? Absolutely. One of the articles you provided suggests using a technique called emotional storytelling. OK. Essentially, you gather real customer stories, anecdotes about their experiences with your brand. OK. And use those stories to bring the emotional journey to life. I love that idea. Stories are so powerful. They help us connect with the human experience on a much deeper level. It’s one thing to see a data point that says, x% of customers abandon their cart at checkout. But it’s another thing entirely to hear a customer story about why they felt frustrated and left without completing their purchase. Exactly. Those stories can provide incredibly valuable insights that you might not glean from data alone. Yeah. And once you have those stories, you can integrate them into your customer journey map using different colors or symbols to represent different emotions. OK. So you can visually track the emotional highs and lows of the experience. So we’re essentially creating a visual representation of the customer’s emotional roller coaster ride, which, let’s be honest, can sometimes be quite a wild ride. Indeed. But that’s the beauty of customer journey mapping. It helps us understand those ups and downs so we can smooth out the bumps and create a more enjoyable ride for our customers. Right. And speaking of smoothing out the bumps, that brings us to the next crucial step. OK. Analysis and improvement. All right. So we’ve got our map. Right. It’s beautifully visualized, full of insights. Now what? How do we actually use it to make things better? This is where we put on our detective hats. Right. And start to look for patterns, trends, and most importantly, those friction points. OK. The areas where customers are experiencing frustration, Yeah. confusion, or even just a lack of engagement. So it’s like those crime dramas where they have the map of the city. Right. And they’re connecting the dots, trying to figure out where the criminal is going to strike next. Exactly. Except in this case, we’re trying to figure out where the customer experience is going to break down next. I love that analogy. You’re exactly right. OK, cool. We’re looking for those weak spots, those moments where we can step in and make things better. Gotcha. And one of the reports you shared highlights a really interesting framework for analyzing customer journey maps. OK. It’s called the PEEP framework. PEEP. OK. You’ve definitely peaked my curiosity. Break it down for me. So PEEP stands for pain points, expectations, emotions, engagement, and patterns. It’s a systematic way to analyze each stage of the customer journey and identify areas for improvement. So you’re basically taking those key elements we talked about earlier, touch points, channels, emotions, and using them as lenses to analyze the entire journey. You’re already getting the hang of this. OK, great. So you would look at each touch point and ask questions like, what are the potential pain points here? Right. What are the customer’s expectations at this stage? How are they feeling? Are they engaged? Are there any patterns emerging across multiple touch points? That’s a great way to approach it. Really methodical and comprehensive. And once you’ve identified those areas for improvement, what’s next? Well, that’s where the real magic happens, turning those insights into action. And this is where it’s crucial to have clear ownership. Who is responsible for addressing each specific pain point? What resources do they need? What’s the timeline for implementation? So it’s not just about identifying the problems. Right. It’s about having a plan to fix them. Exactly. A map without action is just a pretty picture. Totally. And one of the articles you sent over had a really insightful section on how to effectively prioritize those improvements. Oh, tell me more. Prioritization is definitely something I struggle with. There are always so many things that need to be done, it’s hard to know where to start. This article suggests using a simple matrix that plots the impact of each improvement against the effort required to implement it. So you would list out all the potential improvements you’ve identified and then place them on this matrix based on their impact and effort. So high impact, low effort improvements would be at the top of the list. Well, low impact, high effort improvements would be at the bottom. Exactly. It’s all about working smarter, not harder. And remember, customer journey mapping is an iterative process. It’s not something you do once and then forget about. Right. It’s like any good map. It needs to be updated as the terrain changes. Precisely. Customer behaviors are constantly arriving, so you need to keep refining your map to ensure that it remains relevant and insightful. Yeah. And that brings us to one of the key challenges of customer journey mapping. OK. Keeping up with those ever-changing customer expectations. Yeah. It’s like trying to hit a moving target. Yeah. What are some strategies for staying ahead of the curve? Well, one thing you mentioned in your notes was your use of LinkedIn Insights and LinkedIn KPI. Yes. Those tools have been invaluable for tracking conversions, retargeting, and just getting a better understanding of how people are interacting with our content on LinkedIn. Right. But how can they be used in the context of customer journey mapping? Well, LinkedIn Insights, for example, can give you really granular data on your audience demographics, interests, and behaviors. You can use this information to create more targeted and personalized customer journey maps. So instead of creating one generic map for all customers, you can create different maps for different customer segments. Exactly. Tailoring the experience to their specific needs and preferences. Exactly. And LinkedIn KPI, which stands for Conversion API, can help you track conversions that happen off of LinkedIn, like website visits or purchases. This data can be incredibly valuable. For understanding the effectiveness of your LinkedIn campaigns and how they contribute to the overall customer journey. OK, this is all making sense now. By combining those LinkedIn tools with our customer journey maps, we can get a much more complete picture of how customers are interacting with our brand across different channels. Absolutely. And that’s really the key to creating exceptional customer experiences. Understand that journey from start to finish and optimizing each touch point along the way. This has been incredibly insightful. I’m already feeling like a more strategic and customer centric thinker. But before we get too carried away with all of this mapping and analyzing, I think we need to take a moment to talk about the elephant in the room, analytics. Yes, the data driven heart of it all. Exactly. You’re right. We can’t talk about customer journey mapping without talking about the crucial role that analytics plays in the process. I’m eager to hear your thoughts on how analytics can be used to take our customer journey mapping to the next level. For sure. But before we jump into that fascinating topic, let’s give our listeners a chance to catch their breath. Yeah, totally. Process all of this amazing information. For sure. We’ll be back in a jiffy to explore the world of customer journey analytics. Yes. And wrap up our deep dive into the art and science of customer journey mapping. Stay tuned. Sounds good. And we’re back ready to wrap up this customer journey mapping deep dive. Yeah. We’ve covered touch points, emotions, even some Monday.com tips. Right. But there’s one crucial piece of the puzzle left. Absolutely. Analytics. Yeah, analytics are the backbone of any effective customer journey mapping strategy. Got it. They provide those data driven insights that can transform your map from a static representation. OK, yeah. Into a dynamic action oriented tool. So I’m picturing this map coming to life with all sorts of data points flashing. Yeah. But in all seriousness, where do we even begin with customer journey analytics? OK, so. What kind of data are we even talking about here? It’s about gathering data from all the different touch points along the customer journey. OK. Website analytics, social media engagement. Right. Email open rates. OK. Customer service interactions, purchase history. Got it. All of these data points. Yeah. Can paint a rich picture of how customers are interacting with your brand. So it’s not just about collecting the data. It’s about connecting the dots between all these different data points to see the bigger picture. You want to be able to see how a customer’s experience on your website influences their engagement on social media. Or how a positive customer service interaction might lead to a repeat purchase. OK. It’s about understanding that flow of the journey and identifying those key moments that drive customer behavior. And this is where the concept of customer journey analytics comes in, right? I remember seeing that term in one of the reports. Customer journey analytics is a specialized field that focuses on analyzing all those different data points to understand and optimize the customer journey. It’s about using data to tell a story, the story of how your customers interact with your brand. OK, so we’ve got all this data. Right. We’re connecting the dots. We’re telling stories. What do we actually do with all this information? How does it inform our customer journey mapping efforts? Let’s go back to your example of trying to buy laptop online. Oh, yeah. Imagine if that company had access to robust customer journey analytics. OK. They could see that a significant percentage of customers were abandoning their carts at the checkout page. By digging deeper into the data, they might discover that the checkout process was too long or confusing. Or that customers were being hit with unexpected shipping costs. Right. So armed with that information, they could then streamline the checkout process, offer free shipping, or provide more transparent pricing upfront. Customer journey analytics allows you to pinpoint those friction points and make data-driven decisions about how to improve the experience. OK, this is all starting to click now. But let’s talk about specific tools. You mentioned LinkedIn Insights and LinkedIn KPI earlier. Are there any other analytics platforms that are particularly useful for customer journey mapping? One platform that comes to mind is Google Analytics. OK. It’s a powerful and widely used tool that can provide a wealth of information about your website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates. I’ve dabbled in Google Analytics, but I’ll admit, it can be a little overwhelming. There’s just so much data. It definitely has a learning curve, but it’s worth the effort. One of the features I find most useful is the behavior flow report. OK. It allows you to visualize how users are navigating through your website, which pages they’re visiting, where they’re dropping off, and how they’re ultimately converting. So it’s like a real-time map of how people are experiencing your website. Exactly. Cool. And by analyzing that flow, you can identify areas for improvement, like streamlining navigation, optimizing page content, or even just making sure your call-to-action buttons are clearly visible. This is all incredibly valuable information. I’m starting to see how analytics can really take customer journey mapping to the next level. But let’s shift gears for a moment and talk about the bigger picture here. What are some of the key takeaways from our deep dive into customer journey mapping? One of the most important things our listeners should remember. I think one of the most crucial takeaways is that customer journey mapping is not a one-time exercise. It’s an ongoing process. You need to constantly be gathering data, analyzing insights, and refining your map to ensure that it’s always relevant and aligned with your customer’s evolving needs. It’s like tending a garden. Yes. You have to nurture it and adapt to the changing seasons to keep it thriving. I love that analogy. And speaking of nurturing, I think another key takeaway is the importance of empathy. You need to truly understand your customers, their motivations, their pain points, their emotions, to create experiences that resonate with them on a deeper level. Those empathy journey maps we discussed earlier are a great example of how to put empathy into practice. Absolutely. And finally, I would say the most important takeaway is this. Customer journey mapping is not just about creating a map. It’s about creating a better customer experience. It’s about using data and insights to drive action and create those moments of delight, those seamless interactions that ultimately build customer loyalty and drive business growth. Beautifully put. And on that inspiring note, I think it’s time to wrap up our customer journey mapping adventure. We’ve covered a lot of ground, explored some fascinating concepts, and hopefully equipped our listeners with the knowledge and inspiration they need to create truly exceptional customer experiences. It’s been a pleasure joining you on this journey. And to all of our listeners out there, keep exploring, keep experimenting, and keep those customer journeys flowing smoothly. Until next time. See you.