Every business that sells a product or service should use customer journey maps. They allow you to see your business through your customers’ eyes and empathize with them. When you have a clear view of their experience, you can identify obstacles, inconveniences, and other things that will dissuade them from making a purchase.
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Customer journey mapping should be a priority for any business that wants to project a better image and ensure that their customers make a positive association with their brand. Thus, CX Journey mapping using contact channel touchpoints is important. Let’s take a look at how you can create a useful customer journey map for your buyers.
Get Stakeholders Involved
The first step in creating successful customer journey maps involves getting the support and input of leaders in your company. It has been estimated that 92% of customer mapping efforts produce positive effects when multiple stakeholders are involved.
Don’t assume that only people who are involved in sales or customer service can help with mapping either. Your marketing department could also provide some valuable insights. They may have inside information on how people are interacting with your brand on social media and identify pain points you weren’t aware of. So, get as many relevant people as possible involved if you want to make the whole process easier and get better results.
Go Through the Buying Process
You cannot have a real understanding of what your clients go through if you only see their experience through diagrams. You’ll need to go through the same process a customer who has never interacted with your business would go through. This means running a search for your product on Google, clicking on ads or organic search results, and seeing what happens when you get to the site. Use your site’s search function, add items to your cart, and try to check out. You need to do this through mobile, tablet and PC too.
During this time, you need to identify multiple touchpoints and the exact steps you add to take. Initial touchpoints can be social media, ads, a physical shop, or a blog. Clearly identifying the steps and placing them in a logical order is what will start giving shape to your customer journey map.
Speak with Customers
At the end of the day, the best way to know what customers thought about their experience with your business is to ask them. If you have a subscribers list, ask people on it if they would be open to completing a survey in exchange for a freebie or a discount. Ask them specific questions about the buying process and if they experienced any frustrations when purchasing products. Also, ask how they first got in contact with your business.
Collect Data and Build Personas
Use analytics tools and your CRM to identify touchpoints and patterns. If your information is scattered across different departments, use a customer service platform that has a UCV (unified customers view) function that will allow you to get all relevant information in one place. This information will allow you to create different buyer personas and develop customer journeys for each. From then on, you’ll have all the information needed to start creating efficient customer journeys maps.
Creating a good customer map should not be simple once you have all the information needed and a good template. It can take time, but it’s the only way to truly understand what your clients have to go through and what they really want.
