Customer Journey Mapping – some resources

Customer Journey Mapping: this follows on from Buyer Persona workshops that I’ve run with different Agency and brand clients over the last four years.

So why map out your different types of customers’ journeys (towards engagement with you)?

The maps you create ultimately exist to improve the customer experience (on and / or off line). Which means better acquisition and retention outcomes for your business.

First resource name check: Joyce Hostyn. To abridge something Joyce has on her blog:

“In the digital age, silos and organizational bureaucracy manifest themselves through your digital presence. You can bridge these silos and overcome a bureaucratic inside-out mindset by visualizing the customer (learner, elder, citizen, patient, employee) experience through a customer experience journey map that captures both actual and emotional aspects of the customer experience.’

That in a nutshell is why this is a good process to go through with your team / business. Stop thinking inside-out and start thinking outside-in.

Customer Journey Mapping moves us from pouring over isolated touch point / research data to ‘telling the story’ of our customers. We retain the lessons of those stories better when we walk in their shoes. Rooted in research and insight (Persona) work, a ‘CJM’ visually documents the customer experience through their perspective, not yours.

You’re looking for one journey map per Buyer Persona you have and it’s good to use a mixed / cross-functional team to input to the map’s creation. Customer journey Mapping can seem and look ‘all over the place’ – but doing the exercise, as much as having a neat diagram at the end, is the important thing.

We’re looking at how customers are interacting with us now and the exercise helps us identify areas for improvement and new opportunities moving forward. And with knowledge of the skills or resources available to us across the whole business, Customer Journey Maps help us prioritize competing deliverables.

You can create maps for either services or products that you have.

The Customer Journey Mapping process

Have a look at the BigDoor website for a great description of the Customer Journey Mapping process, This is a really good read.

Customer Journey Mapping formats

There are lots of formats for the visual map/s you’ll create.

I think it’s good to start with pen and paper / post-it notes, get some photos when completed then translate them into a tidied up version. You don’t need a complicated graphics package, Powerpoint (using the basic shapes) works well. That said, depending on your time, budget or intended audience, having a designer create a really engaging map could work well to get C-suite buy-in to the changes your work may catalyse in the business.

But you can also create maps with online tools. Thanks to one of my clients, Sam, MD of the excellent Blueprint Web Tech who showed me the neat uxpressia tool. You could also look at the Canvansizer CJM template.

Below are a few resources around the area of Customer Journey Mapping:

 

And a nice overview to round off with:

 

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