TMI: Detangling the Customer Journey

“Customer journey” and customer experience (CX) are intricate concepts that require thoughtful and holistic marketing lifecycle planning. And, many brands and companies are invested in the understanding the process. But what exactly is the customer journey and why does it matter so much?

According to SurveyMonkey, the customer journey can be defined as: the complete sum of experiences that customers go through when interacting with your company and brand. Instead of looking at just a part of a transaction or experience, the customer journey documents the full experience of being a customer.  

There’s a lot to unpack there. So, let’s take a multifaceted view of what it takes to define, refine and optimize the customer journey (and thus, experience!) in this month’s Top Marketing Info roundup:

• Develop a Customer Journey Strategy: Examples and Tips: There is no better and more critical place to start developing your customer journey than with the onboarding process. Defining goals and corresponding KPIs will help you assess what needs to be developed or implemented to move your customer from product/service introduction all the way through renewal and beyond.
• The Best Way to Map the Customer Journey – Take a Walk in Their Shoes: There are many interactions that occur before your prospective customer makes a purchase. When creating your perceived customer journey map, best practice is to view it from the customer’s perspective. Put yourself in their shoes as you walk through their interactions to identify what (and how many) touchpoints affect their decision making and what may prevent their “buy-in”.
• How the Customer Journey Will Evolve in the Next 5 Years: As a solution and/or concept evolves, the more tools emerge to help refine the process. The near-future outlook for continuing to nurture the customer will rely on an increased focus on visual journey mapping to account for the digital shift (read: automation-focused) that incorporates personalization and a seamless, AI-centered approach.  Speaking of seamless personalization …
• Seamless Personalization Beyond the Web: Practical Tips for Creating Contextual Cross-Channel Customer Experiences: Using data to deliver the right experience at the right touchpoint gives organizations the ability to bridge channels in order to provide customers with relevant and engaging next steps. Mapping the customer journey truly is a “one-step-a-time” approach. But capturing data across all customer touchpoints will help you to better visualize and assess where there may be gaps in giving you a full view of your customer interactions.
• 88% Of Retail Marketers Satisfied with Their Customer Journey Optimization Efforts: The retail-scape may be one of the more tangible examples of continuous improvement for perfecting the customer experience. There are some interesting metrics (A-ha! Data!) on challenges for retailer marketers as well as their confidence in defining customer journey optimization.

What other pain points have you experienced in mapping or implementing your customer lifecycle journey? Do you consider post-sale part of your customer journey? Let us know in the comments, message us directly or follow us on our channels: LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram – we’re happy to help!

Author: Veronica Chaidez, Senior Account Manager