What needs are customers looking to meet with your product or service? What interactions are they having with your brand and your competitors? What is influencing their final purchase decisions?
Knowing the answers to these questions will help your company close more business and increase customer satisfaction and retention.
One effective way to uncover these insights is through customer journey maps, which offer a detailed view of customer needs, motivations, and behaviors.
To help you gather the data you need and draw actionable insights, we are breaking down the basics of customer journey mapping including what it is, what you can learn, potential benefits, and how to get started.
Companies use customer journey maps to:
Source: Hanover Research
Learn how leading companies leverage customer journey maps to overcome challenges and achieve their goals.
The customer journey is the series of interactions customers have with a brand, from their initial need and discovery to purchase and retention. This includes numerous actions, like customer research, website activity, sales conversations, product use, and more.
While the customer journey focuses on tracking the various touchpoints and behaviors throughout the customer lifecycle, customer experience focuses on customers’ perceptions and opinions of your company based on the interactions they have had with your brand.
It is important for companies to evaluate both to spot gaps and untapped opportunities as well as assess the strengths and weaknesses of their offerings and services.
Get actionable insights with our customer experience measurement framework.
To understand customers’ behaviors, needs, and preferences, many companies develop a customer journey map. These maps provide a visual representation of customers’ path to purchase and analyze the five key phases of the customer journey: awareness, consideration, purchase, retention, and loyalty.
By evaluating the various elements and interactions throughout the customer journey, companies can measure success and identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.
Customer journey research analyzes the various stages and touchpoints of the customer journey to gather targeted insights into key stages of the customer lifecycle, including:
To navigate complex buyer journeys and ensure a high-quality omnichannel experience, 47% of all businesses identify and enhance the various touchpoints and interactions throughout the buyer experience with a customer journey map.
Customer journey maps are used by companies of all types and sizes, though some leverage them at higher rates. B2B2C companies have the highest adoption rate, likely due to their complex business model (selling to retailers who, in turn, sell to customers). It is also used by a majority of mid and enterprise businesses who use these maps to analyze customer interactions across their larger markets.
Source: Hanover Research
Learn how Mermet leveraged customer journey data to develop targeted strategies to engage potential customers.
While you may already have an idea of how customers interact with your brand — or have even created a map once upon a time — as customer needs and actions evolve, you will need updated insights into their behaviors and motivations. That’s why 75% of companies who have customer journey maps have not only previously refreshed their maps but have plans to do so again in the near future.
Build actionable customer journey maps with expert guidance and support.
The value of customer journey mapping is how its targeted insights can uncover and enhance customers’ interactions and relationships with your company. By leveraging journey mapping data, 76% of companies say it has increased the ROI of their business investments and allowed them to become more customer-centric.
Discover the potential revenue boost you can achieve with custom market research with our free calculator.
Create a customer journey map by assessing customers actions and motivations during the five distinct phases of the customer lifecycle.
Before you analyze the customer journey, you need to segment your customers into distinct groups. This allows you to build multiple customer journey maps that track how customers who may have different needs, are from separate industries, are shopping for different products, and more, move through the five key lifecycle stages.
Build effective customer experiences and develop targeted customer journey maps by segmenting your customers.
In the awareness phase, customers have realized they have a problem or need and are looking for companies that can provide a solution. Evaluate this stage by collecting data on customers’ initial thoughts and behaviors when addressing a new goal or challenge.
During the consideration phase, buyers are evaluating the different companies and offerings against their needs and budget. Evaluate this stage by collecting data on how customers research and compare different companies and products.
At the purchase phase, customers have gathered the information they need about what your company and your competitors can offer, and they are actively evaluating a purchase. Potential outcomes can include purchasing your product, deciding to purchase from a competitor, or not making a purchase at all. Evaluate this stage by collecting data on customers purchase decision-making process.
At the retention phase, customers are using the product and are looking to validate that they made the right purchase decision and assess whether or not they would like to become a repeat or loyal customer. Evaluate this stage by collecting data on customers’ engagement and feedback on your products and services.
At the loyalty phase, customers have a favorable view of your brand and product value but are not fully invested. They may have repurchased the initial product or expanded to additional services or offerings from your portfolio but are still open to other brands. Evaluate this stage by collecting data on customers’ opinions of your products and services and any unmet needs.
Gauge customer satisfaction to develop products and services that match customer demand.
Here is an example of a customer journey map that depicts the actions, touchpoints, and KPIs and provides summary insights into what influences customers at each stage.
Get in-depth insights into the customer lifecycle
Learn how to develop your own map with our step-by-step guide and customer journey mapping template.
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