The why and how of the Customer Journey Map

When we try to define what empathy means, we can think of putting ourselves in the shoes of our clients; However, it is not so easy for everyone to have the opportunity to deeply understand the reasons for certain behaviors.
For this reason, resorting to research tools such as the Customer Journey Map can help us discover how the user interacts and understand the why and how of their actions, choices and decisions.

A Customer journey allows you to visualize the user experience as a path or sequence of steps, which continues until he get what he wants from your business

The idea is to find ways to refine this process and offer the customer an optimal journey, improving their experience from start to finish.

Why creating a customer Journey map?

The Customer Journey map helps you understand your customers’ perspective to lay the foundation for meaningful interactions and achieve successful business results.
In addition to providing a tangible framework for Customer Experience initiatives.

Mapping the customer journey is a critical step for any business

Without a Customer Journey map we cannot identify what the users’ needs are, what information they are looking for from us and how they want us to deliver it to them. Knowing and solving user problems is the best way to help them achieve long-term success with our product or service.

Here is a list of the benefits of creating a Customer Journey Map in your business:

• • Foster better customer relationships:
    The Customer Journey Map allows you to identify the touchpoints where the customer interacts with your business. In this way, we will be able to know if the experience has been positive or negative at each point of contact, in order to improve and avoid the vanishing points of each buyer person, generating a long-term relationship.

• • Make” Zoom Out” in your business:
    By using this tool, you will be able to leave your organization’s perspective and see your services or products from different points of view .You can do different customer journeys, from the experience of customers, employees or Stakeholders to depthly understand what is the real problem you are trying to solve.

• • Create a customer-centric mindset across the enterprise:
    Sometimes it can be difficult to focus all departments on the customer, due to the different sales or marketing objectives of each one.

    With a Customer Journey Map you can trace each step of the customer’s journey from the initial attraction to the support after the purchase, allowing to identify and define common objectives in all sectors on the organization.

• • Highest return on investment (ROI):
    With the Customer journey map you will be able to understand better the context and the customer’s intention, which will allow you to optimize each channel based on real and quality data, offering more personalized messages according to specific customer interactions.

    As a consequence, consumer satisfaction will be reflected by publishing and sharing their positive experience with others, offering a profitable ROI to your business.

How to make a Customer journey map?

Now that you know the importance of a Customer Journey map, it’s time to get down to work.

Visualizing the customer experience is quite a challenge

Initially, it can be difficult to decide how to illustrate important moments in the customer journey. For this reason, we provide you with our Customer Journey Map work template and guide you with the key steps you must take into account to create an effective CJM:

1. 1. Define the scope of your map
      When creating a CJM it is important that you define the scale or scope. You can map the entire customer experience, from start to finish, or focus on a particular journey step, taking into account micro-interactions and making a much more detailed map.

1. 1. Define your Persona
      Choose a persona you want to understand in depth. You can combine a group of actors who are related at different points in the experience, but always being clear about the focus persona we want to understand.

      Start by defining very well who your person is, what their expectations, objectives and needs are, in this way you will be able to better interpret your CJM and identify value opportunities.

1. 1. Define the steps of the customer journey
      The CJM consists of different steps that the client performs. It is important that you define the steps that your persona follow during the experience, whether it is to line up,, paying for the product or contacting an advisor. The level of detail of each step depends on the scope or scale that you have defined for your map

1. 1. Identify Touchpoints and Pain Points
      The. touchpoints are the direct or indirect points of contact that the customer has with the company in the stages before, during and after the purchase. Pain points are basically touchpoints that have been negative or represent a problem in the consumer’s experience with the company.

      Identifying these points of contact and in which we are failing is essential to understand the reason for customer dissatisfaction, to create a value solution.

1. 1. Identify why
      Finally, adding the possible emotions and feelings that the client has during each step can help us identify the reason for the problem. Understanding what is happening at each step gives us a guide to correct Pain Points or improve the experience in micro-interactions that do not represent value for consumers.

Example of a Customer Journey of an Oncology patient

In this way, we can create one or more Customer Journey Maps, which help us understand the complexity of interactions and enhance a customer experience to
build customer loyalty and attract new clients.

Increasing expectations for personalized experiences means that the Customer Journey map is essential for the success of today’s companies

For this reason, from ThinkersCo, we give you examples of the Customer journey map and practical application cases that will help you to focus on your user and measure actions to identify the areas where the experience is causing pain and to improve and exceed expectations. Now it’s your turn to create your own Customer Journey map!