How to Build Customers Journey Map The right Way

If you happen to sell a great product or service, pause for a moment and ask yourself what’s your customer's experience like! For some businesses, it’s by chance people buy their products or services, but for great businesses, there is a map behind all the purchases and we call it the customer journey map. If you want to learn more about this great map and how you can apply it to your business, stay put this article is meant to teach you that more!

Customer Journey Map!

Let’s start by defining a customer journey map, this is a visual representation of your customer's experience as they interact with your business online or offline. Customer journey maps help brands understand what their customers are going through at each stage of the buying process. This marketing tool also gives you opportunities to make improvements to your customer's experience when they come to your website. Think of it this way a customer journey map gives you an overview of all the touch points a customer comes into contact with your brand. This gives you the superpowers to look at your brand and customer's experience from your customer's perspective. Amazing right?

What Goes Into A Customers Journey Map

There are 5 stages in the customer's journey, these help you get a better understanding of what your customers are going through from initial awareness to post-purchase. Let's dive into each one of them.

Buying Process

This one can be split into broad categories like awareness, consideration, and decision. At this stage, you need to ask yourself questions like what the customer is thinking or feeling in relation to each stage. What is the customer’s action in the awareness stage, consideration stage, or decision stage? Ask yourself what and where the buyer is researching. Lastly, you need to know how you can take the buyer to their next step with you in mind. The goal here is to understand your customer and find opportunities for them to keep you in mind in their decision stage.

Now that you understand your customer's personas, it’s time to go through the customer’s touchpoint with your business. Did they find you on social media posts, website visits, advertisements, brick, and mortar visits? You need to identify each touchpoint for you to create a seamless experience. Did your customer download an ebook, or did they click on a paid ad, did they see a poster on the street? Knowing this also helps you know which touch point to invest more time and resources in.  

Let’s Build A Customer’s Journey Map

1. Define your goal - what do you want to achieve with this map? Keep in mind your customer's goals and your business goals.

2. Describe your customer’s personas - This is where you deep dive into details of what your customer’s persona looks like from all aspects of their lives.

3. Determine where your customers engage with your brand - Identify where exactly your customers come in contact with your brand on your road map. 

4. Layout your customer journey map - Make a diagrammatic representation of your customer journey map every step of the way.

5. Designate - Document your customer's milestones, this includes their motivation, frustration, and turning points.

6. Decide - Take note of the areas that require attention and fix any errors.

7. Deploy - Assess, analyze, adjust, and optimize your processes for a smooth experience.

With this marketing tool, you become equipped with an understanding of who your customer is in general and what they go through buying your product or service. You will make data-driven decisions and kiss goodbye to the guessing game.