“Disappointing experience.”
“Love the products but will never shop here again.”
“Terrible customer service.”
Whether this was something you’ve felt while engaging with a business or things people may feel when engaging with your business, we have all experienced this at least once. These reviews are things that can make or break your business. From an internal business perspective you may make a judgement about the quality of your product or service which neglects the customer’s experience.
Journey mapping is a visual process that identifies the key moments in which a customer engages with your business. It recognizes important drivers of success, points in the customer journey where there is a major opportunity to impact the customer experience evaluation, and opportunities to impact key business metrics. The use of this tool allows you to put yourself in their shoes and see your business from their perspective. After all, the experience is just as important as the good or service.
To put things into perspective of how important this is, let me give you an example. There are two Tim Horton’s in a plaza near my house. Although the products are the same, I choose to go to the one attached to the gas station every time. This is purely because their customer service is better. The staff is kinder, they meet my needs, and the overall experience is better. This is exactly what a journey map will help you achieve; a better experience for your customers. An experience that won’t make them look for an alternative.
A journey map helps you empathize with your customers. It will help you understand how your customers feel while identifying their pain points. This will not only assist you in improving their experience based on that data, but also identify the gaps in your own service. This is important as it is the key to recognizing why a customer may choose to go with an alternative.
Acquiring and retaining loyal customers is another benefit of journey mapping. People love to be heard; they love it when you listen to them. Meeting your customers expectations and creating a good experience for them will naturally increase customer satisfaction. Continuing to foster those customer relationships and providing them incentives to return, will help create brand loyalty as well.
Overall, using a journey map gives you a holistic understanding of your customer’s experience. It helps you empathize with them in order to modify your service in a positive way. By doing so, it will benefit you in various ways such as increased sales, customer satisfaction, and brand loyalty.
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