How To Transform Your Business With Customer Journey Mapping?

In the era of customer-centric business, the key to success has become understanding customers’ needs, expectations, and behavior at all stages of interaction with a brand.

Customer Journey Map (CJM) is a powerful visualization tool that improves customer experience and increases the effectiveness of marketing strategies. We will tell you further what CJM is for, how to create CJM, and how to improve your business based on CJM.

So, what is a CJM? Customer Journey Map is a visualization of the relationship between the company and the customer, reflecting their needs, motivation, and emotional perception of the brand.

Creating a map is relevant at any stage of business development. Newcomers to the market can use it to get to know their potential audience and identify primary interaction points. For companies with a long history, this tool will help to study their target audience in-depth and stimulate repeat sales.

Typically, a customer journey map is a table or infographic showing the contact points between a consumer, a product or service, and their path to purchase. Here are the main tasks that CJM solves:

• Understanding the targeted audience deeper – Developing a CJM will help you get a clearer picture of your customers: who they are, why they choose your brand, what guides them when ordering, etc.
• Identify opportunities for improvement – The map clearly demonstrates weaknesses in your customer interactions. By understanding what can be improved, you can find points of growth, like after hours call center or help desk outsourcing.
• Increase customer loyalty – Customers who are satisfied with quality and service are likelier to become loyal.
• Analyze the interaction process – By mapping out the decision-making process at different customer journey stages, you can track what prevents them from purchasing.
• Improving the sales process – By identifying the “pains” of consumers, you can solve their problems more effectively.

Building a customer journey map allows you to more accurately optimize business processes for customers’ real needs, ultimately leading to improved performance.

Now, let’s move on to the proper compilation of CJM. For the map to be accurate and effective, you need to use different sources of information. As sources, you can use CRM systems, Google Analytics data, insights of marketers and sales managers, conclusions of analysts and sales managers, results of focus groups, etc.

The more versatile the information gathered, the more accurate the customer journey map will be. To create a CJM, follow this algorithm of actions.

Before diving into the details of mapping the customer journey, start by setting specific goals. Gather feedback directly from your customers through surveys or interviews. Discuss these findings with your team and focus on both pain points and objectives.

Don’t overlook insights from your customer service team – they interact closely with your clients and can provide invaluable firsthand observations.

The second step is to create a detailed portrait of a typical representative of the target audience. Key elements of customer personas typically include:

• Demographics;
• Expectations and preferences;
• Problems and pain points;
• Behavioral patterns, etc.

CJM can be compiled either for each individual character or for a group. In the second case, the target audience is divided by interests, behavior, and other criteria.

There are several types of customer journey maps:

• Current State – It illustrates the current interactions customers have with your business.
• Future State – It focuses on how customers should experience your business after improvements.
• Day-in-the-Life – It highlights customers’ daily interactions with your brand and other services.
• Service Blueprint – It adds a behind-the-scenes view of the systems, processes, and people supporting customer interactions.

By selecting the right type of customer journey map, you gain the clarity needed to either improve the current experience, design a future state, or analyze the broader context of customer interactions.

It is important to identify all channels of communication with the customer. Customer journey can include a website, social networks, or direct communication at a personal meeting. You can track how your targeted audience acts by identifying touchpoints and channels.

SEO remains one of the most cost-effective ways to attract traffic. Analyzing website traffic and which keywords bring it, helps you understand how the audience finds your business. Use a website traffic checker by SE Ranking to create a list of the keywords users employ to find your website and know their positions in search engine result pages. A comprehensive keyword list can also help you with attracting customers via other channels, like PPC campaigns. With above-mentioned tools, compare results with your competitors and identify any gaps and opportunities to attract more traffic.

Once you have your keywords, map them out by prioritizing the terms that drive the most relevant traffic. Adding milestones ensures that these high-impact keywords align with your business goals. This way, you can build the most complete customer journey in SEO.

Organize keywords into clusters based on search intent (informational, navigational, or transactional) and topical relevance. Grouping these keywords will help optimize your website’s structure and align your content strategy with the customer journey.

By analyzing how customers feel at different stages of interaction with the brand, you can understand what causes negative reactions and eliminate this problem. At the same time, understanding positive emotional triggers will help build loyalty and create a stronger bond between the customer and the brand.

Also, understanding emotions can be used to personalize offers. By knowing which ones a customer is experiencing at a particular moment, a company can offer them exactly what they need.

At each stage of a customer’s interaction with a company, the following major obstacles can be identified:

• Low brand visibility on the Internet;
• Insufficient information about the product or service on the website;
• No after hours call center to solve acute problems;
• Complicated checkout process or lack of convenient payment methods;
• Long customer support response waiting time at an inbound call center.

These are just some of the obstacles a consumer may face. And they will be different for every business. Your goal is to find what causes customers to have difficulty. You can do this by conducting surveys, analyzing NPS metrics to gauge overall satisfaction, and monitoring reviews on different platforms.

With all elements in place, analyze the complete customer journey. Are there gaps between customer touchpoints? Do customers experience delays or confusion? Adjust your customer journey map, refine your keywords, and improve touchpoint interactions to ensure a smoother, more successful customer experience.

Here are 7 ways to improve your business based on CJM.

The customer journey mapping process reveals where exactly at important stages your clients are falling off during their respective journeys. These several moments, through which a customer leaves without placing an order or making a purchase, identify opportunities that need improvement.

For example, when one finds that a certain number of users drop off at checkout, it’s time to figure out why. Maybe there are too many steps involved, or the payment method is too confusing. According to Statista, the top 5 reasons for cart abandonment among online shoppers worldwide in 2024 are:

• Delivery fees are too expensive – 41%
• Unexpected costs at checkout – 30%
• Found items cheaper elsewhere – 30%
• Customer was just browsing – 26%
• Delivery is too slow – 20%

Once you find out what those pain points are, you’ll be able to streamline your website or service in such a way that customers can go through each stage smoothly. These improved points will directly enhance the chances of leading prospects through to buyers. Some steps for you to optimize conversion:

• Simplifying the check-out user interface, including guest check-out options.
• Adding customer testimonials at every key point.
• Make fewer form fields and unnecessary steps.

By the way, according to Statista, the online shopping conversion rate in all verticals worldwide in 1st quarter of 2024 was 1.6%.

“I believe in the power of recognition and empowerment leading to great employee engagement. And employee engagement is critical to guest engagement. Employee empowerment and recognition is the core of our culture and how we achieve outstanding customer service.” — Herve Humler

Pinpointing problems then allows you to employ measures in retention that keep your current customer base happy. For example, after hours call centers, loyalty programs, personalized follow-ups, or exclusive discounts at key touchpoints keep your brand at the forefront of their mind and encourage repeat orders. Retainment strategies:

• Design a loyalty program for returning customers.
• Automate personalized email follow-up after purchase.
• Offer exclusive benefits/discounts to long-serving customers.
• Create feedback loops with customers for continuous improvement.

According to G2, a 5% increase in customer retention is cheaper than acquisition.

Inbound marketing is consumer-oriented and deals with consumers’ attraction through valuable content, targeting the needs and interests of such consumers. According to Sender, Inbound tactics generate 54% more leads than traditional outbound practices.

If you understand the target audience’s needs, developing content that speaks to their interests and challenges will be very easy. This boosts your brand’s credibility and draws customers organically to you. Inbound marketing actions:

• Create blog posts answering common customer questions.
• Create how-to guides around pain points uncovered throughout the customer journey.
• Offer free resources like eBooks or webinars that align with your customer goals.
• Set up email marketing campaigns to nurture leads according to the customer journey stage.

You can automate your inbound marketing to achieve the highest effectiveness. According to the GlobeNewswire, the expected CAGR for the worldwide marketing automation market is over 9%. The market size is forecasted to reach $9.5 billion by 2027.

According to Emplifi, 86% of customers would leave a brand after as few as 2 poor experiences. A truly customer-centric business puts its customers’ needs, interests, and desires at the heart of every decision it makes.

A customer journey map is an effective tool for establishing a truly customer-centric approach by allowing you to walk in your customers’ shoes and understand the experience from their perspective.

This will enable you to make strategic decisions to ensure the customer has a better experience at every touchpoint – from launching after hours call center to redesigning product packaging or improving customer response times; all business activities will be justified with value addition for the customer.

Key activities towards a customer-centric approach:

• Launch after hours call center to continuously be in touch with your clients.
• Ensure that each department is well-versed in a customer’s journey, from marketing to support.
• Continuously iterate on products or services based on customer preference and behavior.
• Base every business strategic decision on customer experience.

Harvard Business Review says that customers who trust a brand are 3 times more likely to stick with it through a mistake. 88% are more likely to buy from them again. 62% will buy almost exclusively from the brand.

Customer journey mapping does more than identify pain points where the customer needs assistance. It also reveals pain points. With this knowledge, businesses can transition from offering merely reactive customer service to the proactive type, where the business waits for customers to encounter a problem and then complains.

For example, if customers are always confused at a certain touchpoint, proactive service would require you to provide assistance before they can even ask for it. You could launch after hours call center, create FAQs, or send automatic emails that answer problems frequently encountered.

Qualtrics XM Institute says nearly 80% of consumers will forgive a bad experience if they rate the service team as “very good.” Predicting what your customers need forms the basis of loyalty and trust.

Some ideas for proactive customer service:

• Live chat feature at critical touchpoints.
• After hours call center solving critical issues.
• Chatbots that help customers through the checkout process.
• Recorded video tutorials that address common questions.
• Set up automated follow-up emails to check on customer satisfaction.

A staggering 93% of customer service teams concur that customer expectations are climbing skyward. It isn’t surprising when you consider that eight in ten people frequently encounter less-than-stellar service experiences. By the way, after hours call center is an awesome idea to keep up with customer expectations.

As your business expands, so will the potential need to enlarge your reach to target new segments of customers. A customer journey map aids in refining the existing customer experiences but may also present new chances to target newer audiences.

How to target new customers:

• Analyze existing customer data to find new audiences with similar needs.
• Tailor messaging to connect with this new customer.
• Update marketing to include information that will engage this larger-scale audience.
• Rethink product/service offerings based on identified needs.

Knowing your current customer data allows finding new demographics or industries with similar pains or needs. You’ll then be able to pitch your marketing to attract more customers. This can be through the development of new products or simply re-wording messages. A customer journey map allows you to get the insights you’d need to do so.

Today’s consumers are calling for a personal approach. General approaches no longer speak to a world where data can delve deep into individual tastes and preferences. A customer journey map can help a business deliver relevant experiences underlined by each customer’s unique path and needs.

You can launch after hours call center or customize your messaging, product recommendations, and offers to show different stages of your customer’s behavior. For example, sending a personalized discount or showing personalized content related to what the customer was engaging with will greatly improve engagement and overall satisfaction.

How personalized experiences can be delivered:

• Leverage customer data to send personalized product recommendations.
• Run personalized email campaigns based on previous customer behavior.
• Tailor website content based on the browsing habits of the user.
• Offer tailored discounts or promotions based on their purchase history.

According to Sender, 76% said personalized messages were essential in enhancing their consideration of a brand, and 78% said such communication made them more willing to repurchase.

By incorporating a business transformation framework into your business practices, you can improve the customer experience and gain an edge in a competitive environment. CJM allows you to:

• See your product or service through the eyes of the customer.
• Identify hidden needs and barriers.
• Focus your efforts on key aspects of customer interaction.
• Find growth points like call center outsourcing.

CJM is an investment in the future that helps businesses become more customer-centric and successful. Of course, it requires investment and time, but it leads to better budget utilization and increased profitability in the long run.