Are you looking to improve your customer experience? If so, you should consider creating a customer journey map for your business. A customer journey map, as defined by the Nielsen Norman Group, refers to the “visualization of the process that a person goes through in order to accomplish a goal”. Creating a customer journey map for your business can not only help you develop a better understanding of your customers, it also helps you improve customer experience by highlighting different areas in your customer journey that need improvement.
If you are considering creating a customer journey map for your business, we have listed four important map components that you should know before you get started.
Persona
One of the key components of a customer journey map is a persona. A persona is a character that represents the specific group of customers you would like to focus on for your customer journey map. Personas should be as detailed as possible. Give your persona a name and specify information like their age, job title, needs, pain points, and motivations.
Phases
When you are creating your customer journey map, it is also important to incorporate the different stages of your customers’ journey. Common stages in a customer journey map include an awareness, consideration, purchase, retention, and advocacy stage.
Touchpoints
From beginning to end of your customer journey map, there are numerous different touchpoints you can include, such as social media, point of sale, and billing. As you plot out all of the touchpoints in your customer journey map, you will likely notice that some touchpoints are more impactful than others. The most impactful customer touchpoints are sometimes referred to as moments of truth, and need to be given special attention on your customer journey map.
Emotions
Another important part of your customer journey map is emotions. Whether positive or negative emotions, your map should show how your customers feel throughout the different stages of their journey. Pay attention for points in the journey where you can help ease a prospect or customer’s feelings of stress, or when you can capitalize on their feelings of joy and satisfaction by asking them for a referral.
Do you have any customer journey map ideas or tips that you would like to share? If so, share them in the comment section below!
