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Customer journey mapping has become a bit of a trend lately, and you might be wondering whether it’s worth investing in or not. Take it from us – it is. As someone who cares deeply about the quality of your brand and your customer experience, knowing the buyer journey from end to end can be incredibly powerful. In fact, it can boost your customer satisfaction and retention in big ways.
Here’s why we recommend renewing your customer focus around their journey, along with how to get started.
Does Journey Mapping Matter?
The answer is a resounding ‘yes.’ Aberdeen’s research group conducted a research study and concluded that the companies “that do journey maps right drive top-and bottom-line value in measurable, significant ways.” The firm also found that the businesses that understand, and cater to, their buyer journeys enjoy:
- 54% greater return on marketing investment
- 3.5 times greater revenue from customer referrals
- 18 times faster average sales cycle
- 56% more cross- and up-sell revenue
- 200% greater employee engagement
So, why does something as seemingly simple as knowing your customer journey carry this much weight? It has to do with the fact that, when you understand your customer’s interactions with your brand better, you can personalize and optimize them. It allows you to give them what they want and need, when they want and need it.
How to create a customer journey map?
The key to a useful customer journey map is making it operationalized. Start by actually mapping out the entry point in which your customers typically come to you, and then map out every single touchpoint they may have with your brand all the way through the point when they’ve made a purchase. Review your customer satisfaction survey results, if you have them (and if you don’t, we can help you get those started), and drill down to see if there are any points of the journey that customers commonly complain about.
Then, review the entire buyer journey and prioritize the importance of each touchpoint. Remember to focus on the interactions and steps that your customer would actually see, rather than those actions that take place behind the scenes in your company. Beginning with the most important touchpoint you identify, brainstorm how you can make it faster, easier, and more enjoyable. Also consider what pain points a customer may have at that time, and what content you can provide them to help them through it or answer their questions.
Repeat this process with all the most important touchpoints, so that by the time you’re done, you should have identified numerous ways you can streamline and improve the customer journey. This will help align your entire company around what matters most to the customers at each stage of their relationship with you and give you the insight you need to move them through the journey in a smooth and productive way.
Assess and Adjust
Once you’ve finished your journey map, make sure you regularly conduct customer satisfaction surveys (like NPS and CSAT). These will help you determine if the changes you’ve made have improved the buyer journey as much as you hoped they would. If you find out they have, great. And if not, you can then adjust the course and work to revamp even more of the journey until those satisfaction numbers climb.
So, what about you – do you like the sound of getting a 54% greater return on marketing investment and 3.5 times greater revenue from customer referrals? You absolutely can achieve results like this, as other businesses have, by investing time and intentionality into creating and understanding your customer journey maps.
