How do you know what your customers really want? How do they experience your brand? How do you turn a great customer into a loyal brand advocate? These are some of the questions that drive organizations to the process of customer journey mapping.{{cta('982d6b33-cf83-4b38-9c03-fb18084b1070','justifycenter')}}
The basic concepts of customer experience (CX) journey mapping are fairly simple:

1. Identify the touchpoints of the customer journey from first to last interaction with your brand.
2. Document the full experience of the customer and possibilities at each touchpoint.
3. Identify the internal processes that support each touchpoint.
4. Then, challenge each of those paradigms.

However, sometimes what seems simple at first can often become quite a challenge to execute. For many organizations, challenges arise when questions are raised about why things are the way they are and how they could or should change. What needs to be corrected, built or rebuilt? Is there a need to break down an entire section of the journey and start from scratch? Or can we look at the whole and clearly see where a few simple changes will be all that’s necessary to make a big impact? 

These answers are revealed through successful journey mapping with engagement from the entire organization and each team member who interacts with or supports the customer along their journey.

Before beginning a journey map, it helps to pre-identify each touchpoint along your CX journey. A “touchpoint” means any point at which a customer comes into contact with your brand before, during and after a purchase. Touchpoints can be in-person, online, over the phone, through marketing channels or events, etc. Some touchpoints may have a bigger impact than others. We call these “moments of truth.” These are the most critical points at which the customer has an interaction that can make the difference between recommending your brand in the future or denouncing their experience to family and friends.

At each touchpoint and moment of truth, the following simple framework can be used to ignite proactive discussion and lead to real changes that make a big impact: 

• WHO is performing this action? Is this one role or does it involve a team of people? How is their success at this touchpoint measured?
• WHAT is happening at this point with the customer? What are they experiencing, what is needed from them and what are they feeling?
• What is also happening internally to support the customer at this stage? What challenges does the team face? What are new ideas to improve the journey up to this point and remove any common hurdles that arise?
• WHEN along the customer journey map does this touchpoint take place? When do we pause to measure success up to this point in the journey? And what are we measuring — emotion, effectiveness, ease?
• WHERE is the physical space(s) that this touchpoint takes place? Where does the customer tend to get hung up? Where and when do we ask the customer for feedback about their experience?
• WHY does the customer run into any identified obstacles? Why does the internal team face challenges at this touchpoint?
• HOW could we “wow” the customer at this touchpoint?

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By really diving deep into these questions, we can spark ideas and ignite new discussions that may have never surfaced before. This is really what CX journey mapping is all about — creating a customer-centric culture and focus in an organization. A culture that continues to question what is and what could be.