What is a Customer Journey Map?

Getting into the minds of your customers isn’t easy, but it’s crucial to the success of your business. Have you ever heard of a customer journey map? If not, it’s time to get familiar. If you have heard of it and you’re reading this, I’m guessing you’re looking for tips on how to take any hurdles out of that journey. Either way, you’ve come to the right place. First things first, let’s delve into what a customer journey map really is…

What is a Customer Journey Map? 

A customer journey map is a tool that allows you to visualise the experience of interacting with your brand, from your customers point of view. Without this map, you won’t truly understand how customers actually experience your brand. You might have an idea of what their journey looks like, but without the map, it’s almost impossible to know exactly what happens along the way. If you can better understand your customers, you’ll know how to cater to their wants and needs or improve the experience. 

What Are The Benefits? 

Understanding your customer’s journey will only strengthen your brand, here is why: 

• Give Better Experiences – As you get familiar with your customer’s journey, you’ll soon realise what’s working and what’s not. With this inside knowledge, you can tailor your experience so that it better meets your customer’s expectations and gives them the customer journey that they truly desire. This will result in faster sales cycles, and more satisfied, loyal customers who make follow-on purchases.

• Meet Customer Goals – It’s important to remember that if your customers succeed, so do you. Your customer journey map will present you with the opportunity to adjust and enhance any key touchpoints that enable a more efficient and effective journey. As a result, your customers will be better able to achieve their goals with your brand. 

• Give Your Company Clarity – If you don’t understand your customer journey, do you really know your customers? How can you even be sure you’re targeting the right people? Nowadays, personalisation is unmatched when it comes to impressing your customers. A superficial understanding of your customers will no longer suffice. A customer journey map will give you an invaluable and essential view of your potential/existing customers and equips everyone in your company to better engage with them. 

• Set Yourself Up For Better Results – If you understand your customers and know exactly what to give them on their journey, there’s less chance that they’ll have a negative experience with your brand. Therefore, you’re likely to see an increase in customer satisfaction and better results for your brand. 

Creating Your Journey Map 

We’ve explored the benefits of a customer journey map, but how do you actually go about creating one? Here are a few tips for getting started…

• Research Is Key – The one thing to remember is, you can never do enough research into your customer. To conduct your research, you need to actually talk to your customers. It’s useful to “interview” a mixture of prospects and customers, but only if they fit your ideal customer profile, otherwise their input could put your journey on the wrong track. 

• Be Your Own Customer – You need to walk a mile in your customer’s shoes and capture the journey through their own eyes. It’s crucial that you gain an understanding of the WHOLE journey and identify any make or break moments that influence the decision of your customer. A customer journey map gives you the ability to see what leads to a sale and what leads them off the path. This information is invaluable. 

• People Aren’t Projects – Whilst creating your customer journey map, it’s crucial to remember that your customers are people, not projects. Just like you, they experience emotions that could influence their buying habits and decisions. In order to create an accurate picture of their experience, how could they be feeling whilst taking this journey? Ask yourself, what emotions could crop up for you? 

Now that you’ve got a better understanding of what a customer journey map is, it’s time for you to get a better understanding of your customer. Remember, this map is invaluable to the success of your business and sales. It’s not going to be an overnight process, but the results will be worth it. The chances are, your map will have to adapt as buyer behaviours change and technology advances. But, once you know your customer, you’ll know how to keep up. Good luck!