Paolo Nutini once put some new shoes on.
In the world of customer journey mapping, he had the right idea. Our own pair simply won’t do.
Whether they are well-worn Doc Martens, mud splattered wellies, sun-cracked flip-flops or polished brogues, it’s the shoes of our various customers we need to walk in.
And this isn’t a case of trying shoes on in the shop. To fully hone and understand a customer journey map, we need to go the distance in their clogs. This means choosing the right shoes in the first place by refining the customer persona and their specific needs. Then, it means wearing out the soles like a kid at the end of summer term. That involves buying the customer’s products, making their phone calls, sending their emails, and talking to their agents. It means being them, every step of the way.
It sounds like a lot of leg work, doesn’t it? It is.
But that’s what we’re here for.
What a Customer Journey Map ISN’T
When constructed in-house by businesses, we’ve noticed that Customer Journey Mapping is often confused for mapping the internal processes of the company. For instance, some maps might highlight which department takes a particular call, which template an agent might be using or how quickly they email the customer back. But what is the customer feeling during those blind spots? We can let you know as we’ll live it in real time. Time you probably don’t have.
That’s not to say the internal map isn’t important, of course it is. But we’d describe it as more of an ‘internal process map’, than a customer journey. The former can be very useful in constructing the second, but we’re keen not to confuse them. What we map is the CFO: The Customer Facing Output.
We believe you can’t draw a map until you’ve done the route. A birds-eye overview is very different to a journey itself. Notably, it looks a lot simpler than it feels.
For instance, if you booked a 15-hour flight with 3 layovers you might wince slightly, but you’d also shrug that your holiday will be worth it. But in reality, the jetlag and triple trip to security might be enough to send you back home crying.
We’re interested in closing that gap between projection and reality. And stopping anyone from crying.
How do we do this?
As we live and breathe as your customers do, we map their every move. That includes their perception of pain points, their time spent at each stage in a journey and their reactions to specific triggers. We compare your business’ desired response to anything from an IVR message to a social media post or automatic email, against the reaction these really provoke. We feel as your customers do, and in turn understand their decisions. The endgame is we can help you adjust your content and journey to influence those reactions positively.
This authentic account of customer emotion, motivation and decision processes is what we consider a Customer Journey Map. Something which constantly keeps that customer in mind, through every channel, device and department.
Customers dragging their heels can easily kick those same heels back in satisfaction. You just need to let us try on their shoes.
Given a few miles, we’ll make them comfy as pie.
