STRATEGIC ACCELERATION SERVICES
Mapping the Customer
Journey
By Donnovan D. Simon
This document examines the concept of Customer Journey Mapping and how it helps companies develop initiatives to enhance customer experience. The correlation between the customer journey,
Customer Journey Mapping
Customers engage with companies in different ways. There are however key processes that
organizations must understand with specificity in order to drive the changes, behaviours and outcomes that lead to organizational success. A customer journey map is a tool which plots the actual steps taken by a customer as they interface with an organization’s process. The journey map applies the customer’s perspective to the activities and identifies the points of interaction, the systems, processes and teams that are related to these customer touch-points. All the steps identified in a customer journey map will fall within one of the five phases in the Customer Experience cycle.
The Customer Experience Cycle
Strategic Acceleration Services defines five (5) distinct phases in the customer experience cycle. There are important moments and interactions in all these phases which will influence the way a customer applies a rating on their overall experience with an organization.
The phases are:
Figure 1: The Customer Experience Cycle
Creating a customer journey map
The process of documenting a customer journey can be daunting especially for process that have multiple input points for the same activity, e.g. getting information on a product could occur through a company website, partner website, marketing collateral, a conversation with a customer service agent or an employee in a sales office. Documenting these multiple sources is important for the authenticity of the map being created as well as being a resource the company would use to inform decisions for changing the processes.
All customer journey maps starts where the customer has their initial engagement and continues to the event that leads to a conclusion e.g. a defective product is replaced or a new product is delivered. The map would therefore start with WHAT the customer is trying to do e.g. getting product
information, paying a bill, returning a defective product or buying a product.
Once what the customer is trying to do is identified the next step is to determine WHERE can these activities occur e.g. if the customer is trying to get product information, this could be done via a company website, a channel partner website, a piece of marketing collateral or by calling into your customer service team. It is important to identify all the potential points that a customer could interface with as they attempt to complete actions along the journey.
The power of the journey map is based on the depth of the information provided. Once the WHAT and WHERE data is documented, the goal is to advance the customer to the next step in the process
towards satisfying the desire already stated e.g. if the customer wants to get information, having indentified where it is, the next step would be to actually get the item. This action could be by making a phone call, downloading a paper or simply reading information online. All are discrete options that should be noted in the journey map.
Figure 2: Customer Journey Map
Once the item required to satisfy the customer need is completed, the mapping can move to adding other important details. These details include layers of internal processes, systems and teams that impact the steps identified in the map. The process would therefore account for the use of a website, a CRM and other related systems. There would also be reference to the teams that impact the specific points along the journey. The customer service team would therefore impact the provision of
information if the customer chose to get information via the telephone system. If the customer opted to go into a partner sales office the staff in that company would be included in the customer journey.
Including systems in the customer journey map
The journey map is completed by identifying and plotting the different systems that impact the different points that the customer passed through along the journey. Systems include those touched directly by the customer and those used by team members. Examples of systems used would include websites, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and interactive voice response (IVR) systems. Knowing that there is a correlation between the customer journey and the enterprise systems is a very useful tool when discussions on resource allocation begin.
An understanding of the systems involved in the customer journey feed into the definition of the overall ecosystem that supports an organization’s customer experience efforts. In some cases, systems supporting customers and teams interfacing with customers are configured and managed in different ways. Many enterprise applications, including CRM, are software as a service (SaaS) which brings third-party software providers into the customer experience ecosystem. It also allows organizations to more accurately assess the risk factors associated with the customer journey and the actions/plans required to mitigate these risks.
Include internal teams in the process
To optimize the value of customer journey maps, it is important to include teams impacted by the customer journey into the process. This contributes to the building of a culture focused on the customer as well as creating key customer understanding within the framework of the customer experience program. Often, these same teams have process documents and other related work flows based on internal perspectives. Adding a new layer which has the customer as the primary driver of the process ensures that all teams have a common perspective (from the customer) to apply to their roles in delivering the overall experience. It also contributes to the reduction of silo effect on the implementation of solutions geared at making it simpler, more pleasurable and more valuable for the customer to interact with your organization.
Identifying customer pain points
One of the main benefits of completing a customer journey map is to graphically establish a framework which highlights customer pain points and the associated systems and people likely impacting or affecting the customer’s experience. By plotting the way the customer relates to a company’s process, all stakeholders can rely on a single customer-centric perspective to design and execute on plans to enhance the customer experience for that process. The journey map also provides a basis of quickly determining cause and effect within that process and depending on the extent of the process, the broader customer experience ecosystem.
The correlation of the pain points identified to the data gathered from measuring customer experience (see Measuring Customer Experience) should assist practitioners in creating appropriate solutions to address root causes instead of symptoms. It is recommended that metrics used to assess the
effectiveness of customer experience in an organization be correlated to key customer journeys. The journey map also allows for greater precision in applying diagnostics to situations and developing sustainable solutions that are likely to improve a customer’s experience. For organizations keen on enhancing their customer focus and applying remedial solutions based on customer feedback, aligning the intended solutions based on a customer perspective is important. The customer journey map provides that framework.
Summary
The mapping of a customer journey is one of many tools available to support organizations as they attempt to optimize the benefits of investing in enhancing customers’ experiences. The keys to building a journey map are:
- clearly identifying the process.
- capturing all activities from the customer perspective.
- including the teams related to the customer touch-points.
- identifying and including the systems related to the customer touch-points.
There are many benefits to be derived from plotting a customer journey. The identification of customer pain points, the establishment of the related ecosystem and the application of a consistent model to establish cause and effect are a few of the benefits. Understanding the path customers take, or are likely to take, is an important part of building customer-centricity into the culture of an
organization. Once this is done, the organization can more easily implement changes that will deliver desired results and enhance customers’ experiences.
About Strategic Acceleration Services
Strategic Acceleration Services is a Canadian training and consulting practice focused on Customer Experience. The company assists companies in assessing the state of their customer experience and implementing solutions to achieve desired results from investment in customer experience initiatives. The principals utilize over 25 years of experience in customer facing management roles
complemented by strong academic qualifications to deliver programs, ideas and solutions that help teams and companies achieve, and exceed, desired results. Check our site for more information
