The Ultimate Guide to Creating an Effective Customer Journey Map
What is the customer journey?
The customer journey is the complete experience a customer has with a brand, from the very first time they hear about a product or service to the point they become a loyal customer. It encompasses every interaction the customers has with the company, including online and offline touchpoints.
Customer Journey Stages
1. Awareness Stage
Customers become aware of your product or service through marketing, advertising, word of mouth, or other channels. They start to seek more information to determine if your product or service could fulfill their needs.
2. Consideration
Customers consider the options available to them to determine which are the best fit to fulfill their needs.
3. Decision Stage
Customers make a decision and choose the product or service that best fulfills their needs.
4. Retention Stage
Customers who have purchased your product or service start to evaluate if they want to continue doing business with you.
5. Loyalty Stage
Customers who continue to do business with you become loyal customers.
What is a customer journey map?
A customer journey map is a visual representation of the customer journey. It helps you understand what the customer is thinking, feeling, and experiencing at each stage of their journey. By putting yourself in the customer’s shoes, you can identify opportunities to improve the customer experience and increase loyalty.
What is UX journey mapping?
UX journey mapping is a process of mapping out the user experience of a product, from the point of view of the user. It helps identify problem areas and opportunities to improve the user experience.
Why is customer journey mapping important?
Customer journey mapping is important because it helps businesses better understand the customer experience. By identifying the customer needs, challenges, and emotions at each stage of the journey, companies can tailor their marketing, sales, and customer service efforts to meet those needs.
The Customer Journey Mapping Process
The customer journey mapping process involves a series of steps, including setting objectives, profiling your personas, highlighting your target customers, listing out all touchpoints, determining resources, taking the customer journey yourself, and making necessary changes.
What’s included in a customer journey map?
1. The Buying Process
The buying process identifies the stages a potential customer goes through before making a purchase, from awareness to decision.
2. User Actions
User actions examine everything customers do during the buying process, including interactions with support teams or online information.
3. Emotions
Emotions examine how users feel during each stage of the buying process, including pain points and opportunities for delight.
4. Pain Points
Pain points are the areas where customers struggle during the buying process, potentially causing them to abandon the sale.
5. Solutions
Solutions identify ways to address pain points and make the customer journey smoother for users.
What is a touchpoint in a customer journey map?
A touchpoint is a specific point of interaction with the customer during their journey. It can happen online or offline, and at any stage of the journey. Touchpoints help you identify areas of opportunity for improving the customer experience.
Steps for Creating a Customer Journey Map
1. Set clear objectives for the map.
2. Profile your personas and define their goals.
3. Highlight your target customer personas.
4. List out all touchpoints.
5. Determine the resources you have and the ones you’ll need.
6. Take the customer journey yourself.
7. Make the necessary changes.
Types of Customer Journey Maps and Examples
Current State
The current state map looks at the current customer experience and identifies areas of opportunity for improvement.
Day in the Life
The day in the life map examines the customer experience on a typical day, identifying pain points and areas for improvement.
Future State
The future state map looks at what the ideal customer experience should look like, and how to get there.
Service Blueprint
The service blueprint looks at the internal processes that support the customer experience, identifying areas for improvement to create a better overall experience.
Customer Journey Mapping Best Practices
1. Set a goal for the journey map.
2. Survey customers to understand their buying journey.
3. Ask customer service reps about the questions they receive most frequently.
4. Consider UX journey mapping for each buyer persona.
5. Review and update each journey map after every major product release.
6. Make the customer journey map accessible to cross-functional teams.
Benefits of Customer Journey Mapping
1. You can refocus your company with an inbound perspective.
2. You can create a new target customer base.
3. You can implement proactive customer service.
4. You can improve your customer retention rate.
5. You can create a customer-focused mentality throughout the company.
Customer Journey Mapping Examples
1. HubSpot's Customer Journey Map Templates
HubSpot offers a variety of templates for customer journey maps, including current state, day in the life, future state, and service blueprint examples.
2. B2B Customer Journey Map Example
A B2B customer journey map example would examine the business-to-business buying process, including interactions between decision makers within different companies.
3. Ecommerce Customer Journey Map Example
An ecommerce customer journey map example would examine the online buying process, including mobile and desktop experiences.
4. Future B2C Customer Journey Map Example
A future B2C customer journey map example would examine how technology is changing the way customers experience brands.
5. Retail Customer Journey Map Example
A retail customer journey map example would examine the in-store buying experience, including interactions with sales associates and checkout.
Free Customer Journey Map Templates
1. Current State Template
The current state template examines the current customer experience and identifies areas of opportunity for improvement.
2. Day in the Life Template
The day in the life template examines the customer experience on a typical day, identifying pain points and areas for improvement.
3. Future State Template
The future state template looks at what the ideal customer experience should look like, and how to get there.
4. Service Blueprint Template
The service blueprint template looks at the internal processes that support the customer experience, identifying areas for improvement to create a better overall experience.
5. Buyer's Journey Template
The buyer's journey template examines the entire buying process, from awareness to loyalty.