Did you know that 96% of customers say that customer service is important and plays a big part when it comes to brand loyalty?
Statistics also show that businesses that focus on customer experience are likely to have higher revenue. Make sense right, you choose businesses and brands that you can trust and that want to help you.
Read on to learn all about customer journey mapping, including what it is and what the benefits of a customer experience map are.
What Is a Customer Journey Map?
The customer journey means the interaction between the customer and the business. This involves the first time the customer learns about the business and follows all the way up to them making a purchase.
But the journey doesn’t stop there. When done correctly, businesses that implement customer journey maps also think about returning customers.
A customer journey map is a visual illustration of the journey your customers go on. This map allows you to learn about your customers and familiarize yourself with the types of journeys each customer experiences.
Different customers might interact with your business in different ways, known as touchpoints. For example, one customer might check out your website through word of mouth, another might find you on social media, while another might see your in-store campaigns. Every touchpoint in your customer journey should be planned and mapped out.
What Are the Customer Journey Mapping Benefits?
Customer journey planning takes an investment of time and money, so you want to be sure that you’ll see a fruitful return on investment. One of the key benefits is that you can expect an increase in sales. Customer journey mapping allows you to optimize your sales and marketing practices.
You’ll also benefit from:
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Loyal Customers
Customers who are put first through the planning process of a customer journey map have greater customer experiences. Meeting or exceeding customer satisfaction often leads to brand loyalty. Loyal customers who keep on using your brand can help to increase your profits and spread brand awareness.
You might also want to think about ways to keep the customer bond strong, such as offering rewards and incentives for when they shop with you.
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Satisfied Employee’s
Customer journey maps not only help improve customer satisfaction, but they also help to improve employee satisfaction. This is because your employees are able to better understand your customers and how to improve their experience.
A clear customer journey map can also be used across the teams in your business and ensures everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals. Team collaboration is also improved with customer journey maps because all departments can work together.
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Cost Reductions
Increasing your sales is important to any business, as is reducing your costs, which is something journey mapping can do. Customer service can be costly, which is why when brands implement customer journey mapping they can save money.
Due to satisfied and loyal customers, your brand might also benefit from word of mouth referrals. This means that you’ll be able to save money when it comes to your marketing campaigns as you won’t need to find new customers.
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Understanding Your Customers
Using a journey map, businesses can better understand their customers and find out what they enjoy and don’t like about the brand. For example, customers can provide feedback during their journey, so you know what is working and what isn’t. Then your business can make the necessary changes to be what your customers need.
The relationship between you and your customers is a two-way street, so make sure you’re always learning from them. Implement tests to see whether one process works better, for example, mobile users prefer transactions with fewer steps. In the long-term, gaining a better understanding of your customers will save you a lot of money and time.
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Predict Future Success
Another benefit of customer journey mapping is that it can help predict future success. Most businesses launch new products or services in a similar way, which means you can predict the success of your business. You can also use the maps to develop best practices and create content that is most likely to resonate with your customers.
You might also be able to create new products and services from existing ones, based on the customer journey map. Once you’ve identified what your customers enjoy about your product/service, you can combine these into the perfect customer experience.
For example, if you sell shoes and your customers keep saying how they rub when the shoes are first worn, you might ask your supplier for a different material. Or you might choose to stock insoles or devices to help your customers wear their shoes in and include an offer when the customer buys the shoes and the insoles.
Put Your Customer First With Customer Journey Mapping
Customer journey mapping is all about putting your customer first. Their experience matters which is why you need to ensure your process is designed around them. Designing this process means you need to deliver relevant content across different touchpoints and be accessible to all your customers.
In return for putting your customer first, your business will increase sales, decreases costs, improve customer and employee satisfaction, develop long-lasting relationships, drive brand awareness, and help you launch future products or services. So, what are you waiting for? Get mapping your customer’s journeys now.
If you found this article insightful, be sure to check out our other marketing and business articles.
