By: Sandra Greene, CCXP

Customer journey mapping is a proven tool for businesses to visualize and understand the end-to-end experiences of their customers. When done right, they uncover pain points, highlight opportunities for improvement, and ultimately enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. Do most companies do it perfectly right out of the gate?  The short answer is “no”, and that’s ok.  Let me explain.

Don’t you love the analogy of first efforts being akin to the first pancake of the batch? Even though everyone is eager for pancakes, there is no expectation that the first attempt will be perfect.  The messy first one just helps us learn more about the heat of the pan, the thickness of the batter, and the ideal flipping time.  It’s meant to be a step in the right direction, giving us clues to make the rest of the batch better.  We don’t throw out the whole bowl of batter if the first pancake falls a little short. We simply adapt, learn, and continue getting better.

I am passionate about helping businesses unlock the full potential of their customer experience programs. So, if you’ve created Journey maps that haven’t yielded the promised outcomes yet, consider these recommendations:

1.       Are you clear about what you have so far?  Are they truly Customer Journey Maps?  I can’t count the number of people who’ve told me they’ve “already done customer journey mapping", as though it could be checked off a list as complete.  When they share their maps, I find one of 3 things: they’re not journey maps, they’re not actionable enough or they’re stale/dated.  If not customer journey maps, then what are they and what purpose do they serve?

• Path-to-purchase Maps often focus on idealized acquisition steps. Some organizations believe that once they persuade a prospect to buy, they will inevitably become advocates.  I think we can acknowledge that is an unrealistic leap of faith that misses all the in-between nuances and realities. They tend to map the frictionless customer lifecycle that the organization wishes existed, where customer needs are met. This may be because they know and don’t want to single anyone out, or they actually aren’t aware of challenges and don’t want to dig deeper at this time. 

• Touchpoint Maps are typically viewed from the organization’s perspective; listing all the channels through which they communicate with customers and prospects. This inside-out view can inform a journey map but cannot replace the customer’s critical perspective. 

• Process Maps document the company’s sequential steps in a given process and which department is responsible for each.

• User Experience Maps tend to be used to optimize the usability and accessibility of digital experiences, often starting and ending with an online experience. Again, these are great inputs for journey mapping but lack a holistic omni-channel experience.

• Persona-less Journey Maps are similar to regular journey maps, but because they consider customers in a generic sense, they miss important insights/nuances of diverse personas.  When you consider journeys in the shoes of your Personas, you’ll find it far easier to create relatable stories that drive action.

• Current State Journey Maps leverage data and insights to travel through specific journeys in each persona’s shoes.  They include their story, what they’re doing, thinking, feeling & saying at each stage.  They identify all the people & things involved (within the organization and outside of it). They narrow down what they need right now, what’s getting in their way, how they feel about it (& pinpoints moments of truth - where the stakes are so high that they impact business outcomes in disproportionate ways).

• Future State Journey Maps take all the learning from Current State Maps and marry them with design-thinking to map out idealized journeys customers want, and that the organization can aspirationally work towards.

2.   Have you aligned your maps with strategic objectives and organizational goals?  Identify high-priority KPIs and where in the journey the greatest impacts lie.  When people’s goals (and let’s be honest, bonuses!) are at risk, they tend to take more care in paving the way to more impactful business results.

3.    Have you stayed open and curious? This is a valuable exercise to challenge assumptions and unconscious biases.

4.     Have you leveraged Experience Data and Customer Data to uncover insights? Identify what, other than your NPS score, is tangible. What are customers telling you?  Include verbatims to bring issues to life. Find out where in your organization you can get data to back up a hypothesis. Validate assumptions and make informed recommendations that drive momentum towards your customer experience vision.

5.     Have you encompassed the whole experience? Rather than focus solely on individual moments, step back and consider the journey as a cohesive narrative, encompassing every interaction, touchpoint, and emotion experienced along the way. For instance, gather all the communication materials that the customer will encounter.  What might get in the way of completing their task in a way that is effective, easy, and enjoyable?  This tends to be an eye-opener as it’s unlikely that any single person has seen all the content in context. 

6.      Have you fostered collaboration? This work thrives on collaboration and diverse perspectives. Invaluable insight is readily available from collective wisdom. For instance, one of my clients has seen remarkable success with an Employee Dialogue Series.  That’s where I facilitate workshops with 15 – 20 employees at a time.  I gather candid feedback and anonymize it by group so that leadership gets the information they need, while staff don’t need to worry about being identified for sharing truths. Employees (both front-line and behind the scenes) identified opportunities for streamlining workflows, improving communication channels, and enhancing cross-departmental collaboration… and it’s really paid off!  The client increased employee engagement +9%, enablement +8% & inclusion scores +11% vs the prior year and have been independently recognized as a top employer.  After our most recent Series, 90% of staff rated the workshop as high/very high.  Most importantly, taking decisive action on employee feedback has become part of their DNA, creating a rich picture to use in future Customer Journey mapping.

 7.  Have you shared your insights with the right people?  I’ve witnessed clients’ chins on the ground when they learn facts they clearly did not know.  It fires them up to see what it is really like to deal with their organization. Along these lines, transform content into digestible stories that clearly indicate the emotions and actions that impact reputation, revenue and other KPIs.  Share these stories, even if what you have is less than perfect.  Show it as a work in progress and ask for help with any missing pieces. Inevitably you’ll find them more vested in the CX Team’s momentum.

8.     Have you embraced iteration and growth? Keep your maps current, with your company’s progress and customers’ changing expectations. Welcome new insights and feedback as catalysts for growth, and don't be afraid to iterate, refine and share your maps based on new insights and learnings. 

Given all these considerations, where is your organization in the process? It may seem counterintuitive to go back to basics (and perhaps more tempting to follow shiny tech objects that sound cool!) but approaching customer journey mapping as a path to continuous improvement gets CX Teams noticed, and business cases approved.  

You don’t need to navigate this on your own.  Roll up our sleeves with curiosity, collaboration, and a commitment to continuous improvement. I’m here to help you go from wherever you might be - like your first pancake - to where you want to be - a heap of influence and impact! I’ll be by your side every step of the way, with expert facilitation and guidance, backed by years of expertise. 

It’s incredibly gratifying for me to witness my clients succeed. Here’s what one had to say that had me all choked up: 

“Sandra Greene is a truly gifted Customer Experience (CX) professional. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Sandra on a number of Journey Mapping projects - her expertise in persona development, journey mapping and root cause analysis is exceptional, as are her skills in marketing and communications. Sandra is strategic, flexible, and creative in her approach to her work. And she’s just so incredibly lovely! When we shared that we were looking to fill a term position on our team, Sandra reached out to her network and introduced us to precisely the right candidate. I highly recommend Sandra if you are looking for Customer Experience or marketing consulting expertise!”

Reach out today if you’re ready to uncover valuable insights and hidden opportunities that turn your vision into reality.