How important is customer journey mapping to your Agile process?
Each year, organizations try to uncover what motivates their customers to make a purchase. If you are building software, you might be asking yourself that same question and trying to understand how it can influence your work.
Good news – you’ve come to the right place.
Today I’m going to help you become an expert in customer journey mapping and how it can help you develop better products faster to meet the needs and interests of your customers. So, let’s dive in!
What is customer journey mapping?
Customer journey mapping is a visual representation that shows how your customers will interact with your business and your product. By creating customer maps, you can ultimately find out what motivates them to interact with your product or service.
Leveraging customer insights and implementing user journey maps allows you to see your business from the customer perspective. It is really the flip side of business value streams. Here are some general benefits of creating a customer journey map:
- Improved customer advocacy
- Higher customer satisfaction
- Reduced churn
- Faster sales cycles
For teams building software applications, there are even more specific reasons why customer journey mapping matters. It helps to:
- Gain insight into how customers are interacting with systems
- Identify gaps in system-to-customer interactions
- Determine how technology can streamline the customer experience
- Measure and track customer activities for better predictability and decision-making
Why & how would you create a customer journey map?
Successful organizations across the globe understand that their customers are always right. That's why more businesses are continuing to understand and improve their customer journey mapping process. There are several ways this done:
- Current state mapping - describes the journey taking place now. This type of mapping is best for identifying current pain points within the user experience.
- Day in the life mapping - is often used as a part of the sales process, helping organizations better identify and understand buyer personas.
- Future state mapping - lays out the ideal journey you would like prospects and customers to take in the future. This process is more of a checklist for future campaigns.
First, you must decide which mapping process is best for you. The type of journey map you choose will help you achieve your desired business goals.
Once you determine which mapping process best fits your needs, it is crucial you follow these steps:
- Define: Before you create anything, you need to define your business goals. This is crucial, as it will affect how you plan and execute your customer mapping process.
- Data Collection: During this step, you need to collect data from your primary audience. Your primary audience will be comprised of current and target customers.
- Pre-Work: This is where you fine-tune your ideas. Analyzing past journey maps is a great way to gain insights. Examine what has been successful and set out to improve those ideas.
- Create: Now it’s time to actually create the map. Building a positive customer journey is all about innovative ideas. The phrase “the customer is always right” should be top of mind during this step.
- Map: This step is all about execution. You’ve defined the business goal, cooked up great ideas, created the map – now it’s time to pull the trigger. The most successful journey maps provide multiple experiences. Remember, no two roads are exactly the same, but they can lead to the same desired destination.
What are the key elements?
Every customer journey map is different, but they all have key elements. Each element should be designed to help achieve your business goals.
- Timeline: You need to determine how long your customer journey is going to be. Do you want it to support the entire sales cycle? The duration of your customer journey map should be directly tied to your business goals.
- Personas: Without defining your target personas, your customer journey campaign may run adrift. Establishing customer personas is the best way to ensure that you market to the right people.
- Touchpoints: Each touchpoint should motivate customers and move them further along the buying cycle. How often customers interact with your business or your product will be determined by the number of touchpoints.
- Emotions: Every customer experiences different emotions when they interact with your brand. These emotions can be leveraged to improve the buying experience.
- Devices: This one is straightforward and speaks directly to how the customer interacts with your systems.
Conclusion:
The buying experience is unique for every customer, and it is up to you to uncover what motivates them. Improving your buying process, from the customer’s point of view, should be a top priority, as it radically influences all elements of your business – including what software your teams design and deliver. Taking the time to understand your customers opens up an endless world of possibilities.
