Crafting Exceptional Experiences: The Art and Science of Customer Journey Mapping

Imagine being able to predict your customers' next move before they make it. Customer journey mapping provides this superpower. By mapping out each step, you gain insights into what motivates your customers, what challenges they face, and what delights them. Armed with this knowledge, you can tailor your marketing, sales, and customer service strategies to cater to their exact desires. But what exactly is customer journey mapping and when is it best used?

What is it?

Customer Journey Mapping is the visualisation of the process a customer goes through in order to get from the first stage of the buying cycle, all the way to post-purchase. The goal of the map is to determine all the potential pain points or issues that customers may be encountering. The outcome of this exercise is typically a linear diagram demonstrating the various stages a customer moves through, and the subsequent emotions they feel as they go through these stages of interaction with the company.

What can it inform?

One key feature of a customer journey map is that it can show you the exact path a customer took to get to your product, including which messages they received that were useful, and on what channels, which can no doubt be used to inform future marketing decisions. Another benefit, if not the main benefit, of a customer journey map is that you end up with a complete breakdown of how customers move through the sales funnel for a particular product/service, providing a valuable insight into where inefficiencies lie within each stage of the buying cycle. This allows the company to make small changes and tweaks, based on real evidence, and maximise the efficiency of each of these stages that the customer travels through.

When is it best used?

Customer journey mapping can be used anytime you want to put yourself in a customer’s shoes, whenever you want to know what they experience when interacting with your company or product. These are generally best used when you have a specific goal in mind, or a specific issue that you are aware of that needs to be solved. Journey maps are used when you want to zero in on a specific type of customer or persona and get a better understanding of one particular element of your business. Put simply, a customer journey map is best used if you know where you want to focus; you know where the problem lies, you just need to find out how to solve it.

Customer journey mapping is not just a buzzword; it's a game-changer. By understanding your customers' journey, you unlock invaluable insights that inform your strategies, boost customer satisfaction, and drive business growth.

Freestyle has the expertise and capabilities to help businesses create and implement successful customer journey, experience and assumption mapping. If you’d like to know more about how we can help you, get in touch.?Drop us a line: [email protected]