Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business. You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)

Three steps to an effective Customer Journey Map

What you need are strong governance and oversight

Gartner defines customer journey mapping as a collaborative process of gathering qualitative and quantitative data to understand customers' desired journeys and identify gaps between their expectations and their perceptions of the experience delivered by a brand at steps along the journey. The main goal of journey mapping is to determine the challenges and opportunities a brand faces in improving its CX and improve satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy.

According to Gartner, the main objectives of a customer journey map should be to (a) identify specific CX problems and opportunities, and (b) gain alignment and consensus on how to address those problems and opportunities. To execute on this effectively, and establish the appropriate governance and oversight, CX teams should follow three key steps:

1. Master the Foundational Elements First
   The same attention paid to laying the groundwork for journey mapping initiatives should be given to the actual creation of the journey map itself. Before building a journey map, CX leaders should consider the following: affirm leadership and key stakeholder support, build a cross-functional team composed of representatives from all departments who support the CX, assess data sources and needs, and know the audience for whom you are mapping the journey.
2. Focus on the Actionable and Accurate
   Determining and building successful customer journeys requires clear communication among the team and a strong understanding of the entire journey the customers take. CX leaders should start with aligning team goals and expectations. Next, the customer journey map should include the following criteria: it should be created from the customer's perspective and reflect the customer's entire journey - from evaluation, purchase, use through to loyalty, satisfaction and/or advocacy.
3. Lastly, CX teams should consider validating the data included in the journey to ensure it accurately reflects the experience, feelings, thoughts and actions of the customers.

Cultivate Value from Journey Maps: When journey maps fail, research shows it typically happens following the design phase. To get maximum value from customer journey maps, CX leaders must turn the insight derived from journey maps into action and experiences, ensure those journey maps are current, and develop a communications plan to reinforce progress toward realizing the customer's desired journey.

"While CX leaders have long understood the value of customer journey maps and the impact they have on an organization's ability to exceed or meet customer expectations, many still struggle to utilize them effectively in their CX initiatives," said Jane-Anne Mennella, senior research director at Gartner.

"There are a number of reasons why this happens, from stakeholders who don't understand their role, to using incomplete or incorrect data sources," added Ms. Mennella. "Essentially, many fail because they don't incorporate the governance and oversight needed to realize the journey map's true ROI."

Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business.

You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy. Grab this goldmine of easily adaptable and up-to-date strategies, walk-throughs, trends, technologies, research, suppliers and partners, plus all the supporting arguments you need to build a solid CX strategy.

While most marketers could list maybe a dozen key points for improving their brand's Customer Experience (CX), the researchers and writers at The Marketing Factbook have identified FORTY main 'CX Keys' which will help you drive your customers to new levels of delight, loyalty, advocacy and profitability.

The areas in which customers have direct contact with your organization are perhaps the most obvious places in which CX improvements can be made, and this report addresses all 24 of these 'Direct CX Keys', applicable to offline and online businesses alike.

At the same time there are many other areas that indirectly affect CX (such as the supply chain, policies and processes) in which every business can make simple but far-reaching improvements. This report guides you through the problems and solutions for all 16 of these 'Indirect CX Keys', many of which are often forgotten or under-played even in the best CX strategies.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)