What is a customer journey map and why is it important?

Every day, your customers are interacting with your brand. Do you know how that experience is framed? Do you have a strategy in place to monitor engagement to ensure optimal brand connection? That’s what a customer journey map is all about. A customer’s experience is the standard of doing business. Consumers are getting smarter each day and the brand experience is an important element in their consideration of brands. 

A customer journey map is a visual representation of the experience your customers have while interacting with your brand. Creating a journey map shouldn’t be daunting but looked at as an opportunity to gain a better understanding of your customer. Here are essential steps to consider while creating a journey map:

#1: Choose your target customer: Each target persona will have a different journey and touchpoints. Understand who they are and how they consume information.  

#2: Establish your goal: What makes the journey map successful? What action are you leading your customer towards? This will help guide your measurement phase and allow you to innovate along the way if your goals aren’t being met. 

#3: Audit the current journey: List out the ways your customers interact with your brand through the different stages (Awareness, Consideration, Decision, and Loyalty).

#4: Inventory your current content: Compile all your assets and align them to the different stages. Assess the gaps in content that you will need to create to complete the journey.

#5: Map it out: When you have all these details established, you are ready to draft the desired journey you would like your customer to experience. When drafting, keep in mind the current state of the customer, how we want them to feel or the desired action, and the content associated.

#6: Continually re-invent: Your customer journey is not a one-and-done activity. It should be monitored and maintained regularly. Something that works now, might not work a couple of months from now. A step in the journey may not be converting your lead to the next stage at the rate you expected. The beauty of the journey is that it can be re-iterated to meet your customers where they are.

Creating a customer journey gives you an opportunity to better understand your audience. In return, this allows you to reach your audiences and create the best experience allowing you a greater chance of conversion. Don’t stop by only looking at the customer journey from a content lens. The more touchpoints and departments you involve in your mapping process, the better your customer’s experience will be!