Customer Journey Mapping John Sabatino, CEO, TMI Australia Pty Ltd Native American Indian proverb quotes To understand the man you must first walk a mile in his moccasins. What is a Customer Journey Map? Customer journey mapping is a tool that is used extensively in the customer experience field whereby someone shadows a customer so as to observe what they experience at each step along their interactions with your company. At different times, customer expectations when interacting with your company may be low, more often than not it is caused by specific issues at certain points rather than the whole service offering. By drilling deep to understand what a customer experiences at each place they interact with the company, we will be better placed in creating positive solutions. Who do we map and how do we recruit customers? Customer journey mapping is a tool.. used extensively in the customer experience field whereby someone shadows a customer so as to observe what they experience at The journey will be different for different segments within your customer base. each step along their Is it business class passengers or family vacations? Is it people applying for a interactions with home loan or a business relationship customer? The segments of choice should be based around strategic decisions such as a segment where there is an your company unusually high number of complaints, or a segment that is losing business or perhaps a segment with a high potential for growth. Once we have determined our segment it is important how we choose or recruit which customers to focus upon. When recruiting customers to shadow it is important to remember that these customer need to understand what to expect, hence we need to have their permission and cooperation. This all needs to in place before we start a journey map. This is achieved by having a meeting or some type of conversation beforehand. Identify touch points Based upon our target segment and selected customers, it is important to move through the process and select each individual point where the customer may have some interaction along the product/service lifecycle. Imagine a trip on a high speed train between major capital cities in Australia. The journey would involve many interactions such as: searching for tickets and prices, arriving at the station, finding out where to board, waiting in the waiting area, boarding, finding your seat, travelling, buying food, going to the amenities etc. Some may go to a business lounge whilst others may Page 1 of 5
Step by step, map out what customers are likely to do, where they may go, what sort of steps they need to take to achieve an outcome, who they may simply arrive and board - it can vary significantly. It is important to understand what each customer experiences from start to finish and break it down step by step. The best way to identify touch points is to have different people in your organisation go through the process of understanding a typical journey. Step by step, map out what customers are likely to do, where they may go, what sort of steps they need to take to achieve an outcome, who they may interact with and so on. Look for potential hot spot areas and know when to intercept your customer during the journey in order to get their feedback. interact with and so on. Look for Start Mapping potential hot spot The process involves someone shadowing a customer from a discrete areas distance. As the customer moves through each touch point the observer should intercept the customer following the interaction to assess the experience. It is important to understand how the process performed both functionally (how it worked) and emotionally (how they felt). We often begin by asking customers to score it both functionally and emotionally on a 5 points scale (5 very high and 1 very low) and based upon the score understand the reason for the score. We may ask Can you tell me why you gave that score and how you would have preferred to be treated? or What was it about what happened at that point that pleases you such that you gave it a 5? All of this should be covered with the customer before the process begins so that the customers know what to expect. Record as much information as possible, and where possible take as many photos as you can. There is nothing more powerful than seeing eight staff at a counter where only one is serving, and there is a very long line of waiting customers. A photo says it all. Also it is important for the researcher to observe as many activities as possible. Was the area clean? Were the staff engaging enough with customers? Did the customer look lost while looking for something without anyone asking? etc. Completing the Process? Once we have gathered and recorded all the information (with possible photos) we need to create the map. On a large chart (as shown in the picture below), we should attach all the comments as notes and any associated photos. It is important to be able to visualise the score and to quickly gain an understanding of where the experience is positive (and why it has been such a good experience) and the areas that may require attention. With areas where the scores were low, it is vital to be able to drill deeper to understand how the experience can be improved. If we are now clear as to where potential Record as much information as possible,. take as many photos as you can. On a large chart attach all the comments as notes and any associated photos Page 2 of 5
problems may occur, we will be better placed to address these before they become an issue with customers. Furthermore we could use this information to train our staff to better handle these complaints as they arise, as we now know what the likely cause of that complaint will be and are able to better prepare our staff to deal with the situation. Co Creation of a Solution? Based upon the voice of customer at various touch points we are now better equipped to provide a solution. Are there any quick fixes? Are there areas where the customer experience can be enhanced based upon what we now know? Are there any Involve your staff Moments of Truth - a particular point where the customer can be won or lost? Knowing that there are areas where the feedback has been negative we can (those who provide either rectify the situation or be prepared to deal with the feedback more the service) alongside effectively. Once we complete the map, we can then work out how best to move your customers forward through creating solutions. This can be done by our people internally or in an ideal scenario we can involve our staff (those who provide the service) (those who alongside our customers (those who experience the service) and together cocreate a solutions that will provide a high level of customer satisfaction. By giving experience the all stakeholders a voice, we will be able to provide insights into how to improve service) and together the overall experience as well as potentially avoiding complaints. co-create a solutions that will provide a high level of customer satisfaction Input of data and putting it all together Page 3 of 5
What a base Journey map template may look like with various touch points Page 4 of 5
Example of a finished report Page 5 of 5