How can you use customer journey analysis to improve the experience for customers with disabilities?

1 Why it matters

Customers with disabilities are not a homogenous group. They may have different types of impairments, such as visual, hearing, cognitive, or physical, that require different accommodations and solutions. They may also have different levels of familiarity and comfort with technology, such as voice assistants, chatbots, or screen readers. If your call center does not take into account the diversity and complexity of your customers with disabilities, you may be losing their trust, loyalty, and revenue. According to a study by the American Institutes for Research, people with disabilities have an annual disposable income of $490 billion in the US alone, making them a significant and influential market segment.

2 How to do it

Using customer journey analysis to improve the experience for customers with disabilities requires five steps. First, you need to conduct research and understand who your customers with disabilities are, what challenges they face, what goals they have, and what preferences they have. You can use surveys, interviews, focus groups, or observation to gather data from your customers with disabilities or their representatives. Additionally, you can use secondary sources such as reports or articles to supplement your data.

Second, create customer personas and scenarios to capture their characteristics, needs, motivations, and behaviors. These tools will help you empathize with your customers with disabilities and visualize their journeys. Thirdly, map out the customer journeys using a visual diagram that shows the stages, touchpoints, emotions, and expectations of your customers with disabilities as they engage with your call center.

Fourthly, analyze the customer journeys and identify the pain points and opportunities. Look for patterns and trends in the customer journey maps and ask questions such as: where are the customers dropping off or switching channels? What are the main sources of dissatisfaction? What are the moments of delight or satisfaction? How can you reduce friction and increase value for the customers? How can you differentiate from competitors? Lastly, prioritize and implement improvements by evaluating impact and feasibility of potential solutions. Consider costs, benefits, risks and resources involved in each solution before selecting the most effective solution. Test, measure and refine solutions while monitoring results.