The importance of the customer journey

To explain the importance of working with the customer journey, we first need to explain what a customer journey is. 

In summary, a customer journey is a representation of a consumer's journey from having a need or problem, through the point of purchase, to experiences and interactions thereafter. In other words, a consumer's experiences before, during and after the point of purchase. 

It can then be communicated in several ways, but the most common is visually in a so-called 'customer journey map'.

Clever, isn't it?

But here's the best part: the real benefit of customer journeys is that they force you and your business to look at the buying decision through the eyes of the customer! 

It's the best way to get an overview of all interactions between customers and your company - from the first contact until a contract is signed... and beyond. 

Only by doing so can you start to create improvements in your sales, marketing and customer experience.

Want to know more about what a customer journey is? Read our post"What is Customer Journey and Customer Journey Map?".

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Why Amazon and Starbucks care about customer journeys...

And why you should too.

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Nowadays we are all so very picky. When I come into contact with a company where, for example, I can't easily find the right information on their website, I get easily annoyed. 

To be really fair, maybe I shouldn't always be. Unconsciously, I compare the experience from this often small company to what I've come to expect from industry leaders like Amazon, Apple & Uber.

But that's the reality... 

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The hard truth that the consumer doesn't care that you're not Amazon. 

Unfairly, they will still expect an equivalent experience across all touch points. 

It's simply a case of embracing the situation and rolling up your sleeves.

Providing a truly great customer experience isn't a nice-to-have option - it's a must.

If company A's service costs the same as company B's, but company A has a website that does not answer the customer's questions easily, has a poorer service level or is difficult to contact, most people will choose to spend their money with company B.

We can all agree on that. But creating a positive customer experience is easier said than done. 

The explosion of connected technologies has changed consumer buying behaviour. The shopping journey used to be more static. It was a bit more straight and narrow, businesses had more control over their relationships. And the information about the company's services and products that was shared with customers was also easier to control.

Now the terrain looks different. Consumers can get information about a company in a way that was simply not possible just two decades ago. 

Those who have grown up in this new reality will be even more demanding than you and me.

The number of touch points and pathways into the modern enterprise makes it particularly challenging to provide a high-quality customer experience. 

Company A in our previous example, without investigating, has no idea why they are losing customers! They are blindly fanning around without getting any closer to the truth. 

Another trend is affecting this. 

For consumers (and clients too, for that matter), it's no longer just about how well a product or service performs. Increasingly, its presentation, and the overallthe experience more important.

And to deliver this, you need to understand how your customers make a buying decision.

Understanding the customer journey is now more important than ever

Source: Salesforce

Think about the last time you needed something more complicated in your life than a carton of milk. Don't think about important things like meaning, friendship and love. Think about goods and services!

Maybe you read up before you knew exactly what you needed? Maybe you were looking for the nearest place to buy it... or maybe you were just looking for opening hours and the easiest way to get there. 

Whatever you were thinking about, you were going through a form of customer journey. Along the way, you had different needs, no matter how long or short the journey was.

Summary

Customer journeys are the most important tool for improving the customer experience. And in a world where brands are increasingly competing in the 'experience' arena, it's a battlefield no business can afford to ignore.

Customer journeys can also be used to:

• Plan the creation of content towards parts of the customer journey where you are now missing.
• Strengthen the brand by nurturing organic brand ambassadors.
• Lay the foundations for more effective cooperation between marketing and sales.
• Meet customers in the channel they are in.

While customer journeys are great tools, it's important to remember that they are generalizations across hundreds to millions of individuals. 

In reality, it can differ drastically from case to case (otherwise it would be incredibly boring!)

But that doesn't make them any less effective!

Like maps, customer journeys can only represent but not give a complete picture of the terrain - but that hardly makes a map a bad tool - the same is true for customer journeys. 

So think about what your company's customer journeys look like and work forward from there.

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Good luck!