How to Create a Customer Journey Map that Boosts Your Business

 How to Create a Customer Journey Map that Boosts Your Business

Have you ever wondered what your customers go through when they interact with your business? How do they discover your product or service, what motivates them to buy, and how do they feel after the purchase?

If you want to answer these questions and optimize your customer experience, you need to create a customer journey map. A customer journey map is a visual representation of the steps and emotions that a customer experiences as they move from awareness to loyalty. It helps you see your business from your customer’s perspective, identify their pain points and opportunities, and design a better experience that meets their needs and expectations.

In this article, we will explain everything you need to know about customer journey mapping, including what it is, how to create one, and best practices. We will also show you some examples of customer journey maps and provide you with free templates that you can use to create your own.

What is a customer journey map?

A customer journey map is a tool that helps you understand how your customers interact with your business across different touchpoints and channels. It shows the actions, thoughts, feelings, and pain points of a specific customer persona in a specific scenario with a specific goal.

For example, if you run an online store that sells shoes, you might want to create a customer journey map for a persona named Anna, who is looking for a pair of sneakers for her daily run. The scenario would be her online shopping experience, and the goal would be to find and buy the sneakers that suit her needs.

A customer journey map can help you answer questions such as:

• How did Anna find out about your store?
• What made her interested in your products?
• How did she compare different options and make a decision?
• How easy or difficult was it for her to complete the purchase?
• How satisfied or dissatisfied was she with the delivery and the product quality?
• How likely is she to buy from you again or recommend you to others?

By answering these questions, you can gain valuable insights into your customer’s needs, preferences, motivations, and pain points. You can also identify gaps and opportunities in your customer experience, such as:

Which touchpoints are most important or influential for your customer?

Which touchpoints are causing frustration or confusion for your customer?

Which touchpoints are missing or underperforming in your customer journey?

How can you improve or optimize your touchpoints to enhance your customer satisfaction and loyalty?

How to create a customer journey map

Creating a customer journey map can be a complex and time-consuming process, but it can also be rewarding and fun. Here are some steps that you can follow to create an effective customer journey map:

Define the scope and goals of your map. Before you start mapping, you need to decide what you want to achieve with your map and who you are mapping for. You need to choose a specific persona, scenario, and goal that represent your target audience and their main use case. For example, if you want to improve your online store’s conversion rate, you might choose Anna as your persona, online shopping as your scenario, and finding and buying sneakers as her goal.

Research your customer’s behavior and feedback. To create an accurate and realistic map, you need to gather data and information about your customer’s actions, thoughts, feelings, and pain points. You can use various sources and methods to collect this data, such as:

Analytics tools: You can use tools like Google Analytics or Hotjar to track and measure how your customers interact with your website or app, such as how they navigate, where they click, how long they stay, etc.

Surveys and interviews: You can use tools like SurveyMonkey or Typeform to ask your customers questions about their experience with your business, such as how they found out about you, what they liked or disliked about your products or services, etc.

Reviews and testimonials: You can use tools like Trustpilot or Yelp to read what your customers say about your business on social media or review platforms, such as how they rate your quality, service, value, etc.

Customer service records: You can use tools like Zendesk or Freshdesk to access the records of your customer service interactions, such as what issues or complaints they had, how they were resolved, etc.

Map out the stages of the journey. Once you have enough data and information about your customer’s experience, you can start mapping out the stages of their journey. A stage is a high-level phase that represents a key milestone or transition in the journey. For example, Anna’s journey might consist of the following stages:

Awareness: Anna becomes aware of your store and your products through an online ad, a social media post, or a word-of-mouth recommendation.

Consideration: Anna visits your website and browses through your products, comparing different options and features.

Decision: Anna selects the product that best suits her needs and adds it to her cart.

Purchase: Anna completes the checkout process and pays for her order.

Delivery: Anna receives a confirmation email and a tracking number, and waits for her order to arrive.

Post-purchase: Anna receives her order, tries on the sneakers, and evaluates her satisfaction with the product and the service.

Add the touchpoints and channels for each stage. A touchpoint is a specific point of interaction between your customer and your business, such as a webpage, an email, a call, etc. A channel is a medium or platform that facilitates the interaction, such as a website, an app, a phone, etc. For each stage of the journey, you need to list all the touchpoints and channels that your customer uses or encounters. 

For example, some of the touchpoints and channels for Anna’s journey might be:

Awareness: Online ad (channel: Google Ads), social media post (channel: Facebook), word-of-mouth recommendation (channel: friend).

Consideration: Homepage (channel: website), product page (channel: website), product reviews (channel: website).

Decision: Cart page (channel: website), coupon code (channel: email).

Purchase: Checkout page (channel: website), payment method (channel: credit card), confirmation email (channel: email).

Delivery: Tracking number (channel: email), delivery notification (channel: SMS), delivery service (channel: courier).

Post-purchase: Product quality (channel: sneakers), product fit (channel: sneakers), feedback request (channel: email).

Add the emotions and pain points for each stage. For each stage of the journey, you need to describe how your customer feels and what challenges or problems they face. You can use different methods to visualize these emotions and pain points, such as:

Emotion curve: You can use a line graph to plot the level of satisfaction or happiness that your customer experiences at each stage of the journey, from low to high. 

For example, Anna might feel curious at the awareness stage, interested at the consideration stage, excited at the decision stage, relieved at the purchase stage, impatient at the delivery stage, and happy at the post-purchase stage.

Emotion icons: You can use icons or emojis to represent the emotions that your customer feels at each stage of the journey, such as 😊 for happy, 😐 for neutral, 😞 for sad, etc. 

For example, Anna might feel 😊 at the awareness stage, 😊 at the consideration stage, 😍 at the decision stage, 😌 at the purchase stage, 😬 at the delivery stage, and 😊 at the post-purchase stage.

Pain points list: You can use bullet points or sticky notes to list the pain points that your customer encounters at each stage of the journey, such as difficulties, frustrations, doubts, etc. 

For example, some of Anna’s pain points might be:

Awareness: Not sure if your store is trustworthy or reliable.

Consideration: Not sure if your products are good quality or fit well.

Decision: Not sure if you have the best price or offer.

Purchase: Not sure if your payment process is secure or fast.

Delivery: Not sure if your delivery time is accurate or reliable.

Post-purchase: Not sure if you have a good return or exchange policy.

Identify opportunities and solutions for each stage. The final step of creating a customer journey map is to analyze your map and find ways to improve or optimize your customer experience. For each stage of the journey, you need to identify opportunities and solutions that can help you address your customer’s pain points and enhance their emotions. For example, some of the opportunities and solutions for Anna’s journey might be:

Awareness: Use testimonials or ratings to showcase your credibility and reputation.

Consideration: Use videos or images to showcase your product quality and fit.

Decision: Use discounts or free shipping to entice your customer to buy.

Purchase: Use encryption or badges to ensure your payment process is secure and fast.

Delivery: Use tracking or notifications to keep your customer informed and reassured about their order status.

Post-purchase: Use feedback or reviews to measure your customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Conclusion

Customer journey mapping is a powerful technique that can help you understand and improve your customer experience. By creating a customer journey map, you can gain insights into your customer’s behavior, emotions, and pain points across different touchpoints and channels. You can also identify opportunities and solutions that can help you enhance your customer satisfaction.