There is no definitive right or wrong way to create a customer journey map, however, many people create the map only to see it sit as a decoration. In order to gain any return on investment from a customer journey map, it has to be implemented and constantly updated in order to have any success with improving the customer experience. In her recent article, Nancy Porte discusses how creating a visual customer journey map of necessary touchpoints is only the beginning; the real work comes after the map is complete. The article offers three ways to make your customer journey map work for your company.
1) Map Your CX Future, Prioritize Improvements
Build two maps: one for how your customer experience currently operates, and one for how you’d like it to operate in the future. Once you have both maps, you can have your executives compare and contrast the key differences and organize the items by priority and greatest impact on customer experience. Porte says the goal of this exercise is to determine the goals the customer experience teams should accomplish within an allotted amount of time. It also gains agreement from executives on the most important goals by involving them in the decision-making process.
2) Leverage Your Map To Motivate CX Teams
Utilize the customer journey map as often as possible with your team. This makes it easier to explain difference aspects of it to different departments and enables people to see the big picture instantly. This allows for inspired brainstorming sessions and better results when thinking of solutions. Teams will be able to see how the customer experience programs affect everybody in the company, not just their sections.
3) Use It To Help Employees Know Your Customers Better
Porte recommends bringing in real customers to discuss the customer journey map and gather their needs and thoughts on the customer experience. This allows employees to learn from their customers and better understand their perspectives. Companies often focus on how they think customers would like to be treated in the customer journey, and as a result, it can be easy to lose sight on the real expectations of the customer. Since the goal is to ultimately benefit the customer experience, there’s no better way to learn and understand their needs than by asking them for their point of view.
Customer journey maps can be a great tool to gain approval from executives and stakeholders. These maps can also benefit the customer experience program by enabling companies to gather information from the customers themselves. Porte’s main point is that journey maps can provide great value when used as a storytelling tool to properly convey the goals and big picture to all involved. Companies that use these customer journey maps creatively and frequently will accomplish their goal of creating a better customer experience.
This blog post is based on an article from CustomerThink. To read the original article, please click the link below:
Still Just Upgrading Touchpoints? Create Future Journey Maps for Real Value – Nancy Porte
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