Customer journey mapping: the company from the customer per­spec­tive

Customer journeys are schematic de­pic­tions (usually in the form of in­fo­graph­ics) of pro­to­typ­i­cal buying decision processes. These are normally developed by different actors within a given company: in­for­ma­tion ar­chi­tects, user ex­pe­ri­ence designers (UX), product de­vel­op­ers, marketing team members, and social media managers. Customer journey mapping displays the customer ex­pe­ri­ence from the very first moment in which contact was made with a company all the way through all the relevant touch points, and finally, to the con­ver­sion. Here the focus is on the customer’s mo­ti­va­tion and emotions during the in­ter­ac­tion. Some central questions include:

• What awaits potential customers?
• Why are they in­ter­act­ing with the company?
• How do they feel during these in­ter­ac­tions?

The goal here is to design a picture of the current situation together with all par­tic­i­pat­ing de­part­ments. Next, a plan needs to be developed on how the customer journey can be ideally designed for concrete scenarios. Thus the in­fo­graph­ic acts as a template for op­ti­miza­tion processes.

The customer journey map is a valuable marketing tool that can be used for all business aspects: managers can make use of this to gain an overview on how customers move through the sales funnel, and identify chances for improving the customer ex­pe­ri­ence. Customer journey maps help clarify the ex­pec­ta­tions of website visitors, which helps improve the work of copy­writ­ers. With the help of in­fo­graph­ics, UX designers are able to develop a feeling for how users interact with a website and its available service channels and which re­quire­ments these should fulfill. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, customer journey mapping also enables marketers to implement ad­ver­tis­ing measures in a more targeted manner. The central task of such an analysis process is to put the customer at the very center of company thinking.

The goal of customer journey mapping is to find out more about customer groups and their needs vis-à-vis the buying decision process and customer surveys. To this end, there are different methods available for carrying out research on customers’ user ex­pe­ri­ences: surveys, customer diaries, and blogs as well as focus groups are all tools that marketers have at their disposal. Eval­u­at­ing user behavior through web analytics and usability tests also plays a central role in online marketing. In addition to empirical data, customer feedback stemming from social media channels should also influence the customer journey map.

The starting point of the customer journey map is comprised of so-called personas: fic­ti­tious persons that represent certain target groups as pro­to­types. A persona generally receives a realistic name and is described using de­mo­graph­ic char­ac­ter­is­tics like age, sex, marital status, location, oc­cu­pa­tion, and income. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, goals, desires, ex­pec­ta­tions, and needs are also defined. A photo of the person and quotes help bring them to life. The in­for­ma­tion on relevant target groups is obtained from reg­is­tra­tion data, online ques­tion­naires, and in­ter­views.

Based on the target group, use cases can be defined for each persona. This process involves carving out typical cases that describe why a potential customer is in­ter­act­ing with the company. Tra­di­tion­al use-case scenarios for online marketing purposes include searches for in­for­ma­tion, products, or solutions to specific problems.

Typical touch­points on which selected customer groups come into contact with the company can be de­ter­mined for each use case. A customer journey map, however, is only able to depict buying decision processes in an abstract manner. In order to obtain a clearly-arranged in­fo­graph­ic, it makes sense to pri­or­i­tize touch­points and ignore points of less im­por­tance. Critical touch­points that appear to be able to sus­tain­ably influence customers are high­light­ed sep­a­rate­ly as ‘moments of truth’. These points are where it matters the most when it comes to finding success. 

Those looking to optimize customer journeys need to be able to directly address the actors within the company that will come into contact with customers on relevant touch­points. In terms of customer journey mapping, an overview of all involved de­part­ments and employees is created. If it’s known that certain processes crucial to customer sat­is­fac­tion may be prone to delays or other problems due to un­der­ly­ing con­di­tions (e.g. lack of staff, budget), then this in­for­ma­tion should also be in­cor­po­rat­ed into the customer journey map. 

Once it’s known which touch­points a target group may come in contact with in a certain use case, then it’s time to evaluate these from the customer’s point of view. This step of the customer journey mapping process relies on both sta­tis­ti­cal eval­u­a­tions of key per­for­mance in­di­ca­tors (KPIs) gathered by tracking tools as well as customer feedback in narrative form (e.g. social media posts or product reviews). In case there aren’t any touch­points available that are able to offer sound data on an eval­u­a­tion from the customers’ per­spec­tive, in­ter­view­ing reliable employees may offer a pos­si­bil­i­ty for gathering in­for­ma­tion on the per­for­mance of a contact point. The goal here is to obtain an objective picture of the customer’s ex­pe­ri­ence during an important in­ter­ac­tion. A glossed over depiction, on the other hand, doesn’t offer any input for op­ti­miza­tion measures and is therefore coun­ter­pro­duc­tive. 

Col­lect­ing data is followed by graph­i­cal­ly depicting the customer journey map. All relevant touch­points within the in­di­vid­ual phases of the customer journey are located during this process: awareness, fa­vor­a­bil­i­ty, con­sid­er­a­tion, intent to purchase, and con­ver­sion. Often, vi­su­al­iza­tions in the form of a large-format poster with icons, arrows, and text boxes are created. The most important thing here is to make sure that both positive and negative customer feedback is taken into account for the customer journey map. 

Once the in­fo­graph­ic, a list of all involved actors, and the analysis results are all available, the coworkers involved in the customer journey mapping process have the pos­si­bil­i­ty to draw up sug­ges­tions for im­prove­ments. Customer journey mapping is able to reveal gaps in cross-de­part­men­tal work, the need for ad­di­tion­al training for service staff, or missing functions on the website. Ad­di­tion­al ap­proach­es for these op­ti­miza­tion measures include changing internal business com­mu­ni­ca­tion protocol, down­siz­ing bu­reau­crat­ic hurdles, and expanding the authority of employees working on certain contact points.