Customer centricity has become an essential focus for companies today. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to achieving this is the fact that departments in most organizations operate in silos. They are unaware of how or, in some cases, when each department has interacted with a customer which prevents the organization as a whole from providing a single seamless journey.
Most people, at some point, have experienced the frustration of trying to work with a company where one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing.
Today it has become more important than ever for a company to invest time, money and energy in properly developing journey maps and then integrating them into their organization’s systems so every department is in sync with each customers’ journey which will in turn provide a great customer experience.
Journey Mapping: a quick explanation
To recap, the process of journey mapping is all about mapping out the steps that a customer takes from the start to the finish of their experience when interacting with your organization.
At first glance journey mapping may appear to be just an exercise in gaining information, understanding and tracking the behaviour of customers. But it’s also about nurturing and winning the customer’s business and on-going loyalty by creating and delivering better, different and, many times, unique experiences.
The keys to - successful journey mapping
The best journey maps are ones that are thoroughly developed and insightful. Only then can they be truly useful. So what should your journey mapping include? Here are key elements:
Journey Mapping is a big commitment
As you can see, to get journey mapping right it takes a significant commitment by a company and its people. There’s no way around it. It’s a lot of work and it takes a cultural change, organizationally, if it’s going to prove effective. But ask any company that has done it and they will tell you…it’s worth it. Without question customer journey mapping is a critical ingredient for ensuring great customer experience outcomes.
And remember…things have changed
Digital technology has changed the way customers shop and interact with companies, forever. The customer has the power – to educate themselves on the company and its products, the channel they will use to engage with the company and the power to share their experience with others.
According to eMarketer this newfound power has made it difficult for marketers to nail down their customers’ journeys. In fact, in a survey more than a third (35%) of marketers worldwide said that defining the online customer journey is the greatest barrier to using marketing attribution more effectively, up from the 27% who said so the previous year.
This power shift is the most important reason why before you begin designing or redesigning your customer journey maps, you need to remember this: design for your customers not you. Make sure that your journey mapping is based on what your customers need and desire, not how your company is structured or the products that you sell.
Want to fine-tune your journey mapping process?
Download a complimentary copy of the “Getting More Out of Customer Journey Mapping” report by clicking here: https://de.quadient.com/resources/getting-more-out-customer-journey-mapping
