Using Customer Journey Maps to Improve Experiences (Part 1)

A Customer Journey is the term given to the complete experience that a customer goes through when interacting with your company and brand.

While many companies spend time reviewing parts of the experience (for example, onboarding or transaction-based experiences), it’s just as important to unpack an experience from start to end and take the time to review a customer’s entire journey.

In this 3-part series, you’ll learn how to visualise the customer journey, we’ll look at why talking to current customers is key, and I’ll show you a few tricks to help you prioritise improvements to your processes.

 

Part 1: Visualise the Journey From Start to End

Awareness

The first step to understanding a customer’s journey is to detail, map and visualise the steps they could take on their journey to becoming your customer. Your potential customer is aware that they have a problem or need (let’s say, they need to hide Christmas presents – like a new bike, from the kids) and your company offers the solution – but how will they know to buy from you, if they don’t even know you exist yet? After all – a small storage locker for a few dollars a week would be perfect for this!

 

Research

Begin by putting yourself in their shoes and ask yourself what they might do next. Do they ask a friend? Do they look at storage ideas on Pinterest? Do they Google options? Regardless of where they head during this research stage, they are likely to perform at least some of their research online – and it’s at this stage where your brand can potentially come into the picture.

 

Attraction

While in the research stage, the customer may have not even considered self storage to fix their problem, so this is the perfect opportunity to attract and engage the customer with content such as a list of handy storage tips, ideas on how to make the most of space around the home, and so on. This gets them thinking about something they may not even have previously considered.

 

Consideration

At this stage of the journey, it’s also a great idea to take advantage of Google and Facebook ‘remarketing’ technologies which will help you serve advertisements to these users on other websites they frequent. These advertisements will help keep your brand front of mind and help associate ‘space’ (and cleanliness, less clutter, etc) with your brand. You may also like to extend offers to the customer via these ads – be it flash sales, discount coupons for self storage and so on.

 

Purchasing

In this stage the user, now hopefully fully versed in self storage and the benefits of choosing your brand, decides to go ahead and rent a storage locker from you. Ensure your website has online sign-up or move-in options (like Storman Online Reservations) that’s easy to navigate, uses a slick checkout process and accepts online payment.

The sale’s been made – congratulations! That’s it, we’re done and we move on to the next customer, right? Wrong! Just because they’ve purchased your product or service, it doesn’t mean their journey has come to an end.

 

As Long as They’re Using Your Product, They’re Worth Caring About

Are they making the most of their storage space? Is there more they could consider storing (eg. their boat or caravan, perhaps?) in order to free-up space in & around the home? Do they need some boxes or bubble-wrap to protect their items?

By correctly nurturing the customer during the sign-up phase, you can add value and keep your brand front of mind. Not only does this create an ongoing connection with your brand, but it also ensures the customer is happy, becomes a promoter of your brand – and minimises warranty issues due to incorrect use.

 

The Right Advice at the Right Time

One example I love mentioning at this point are the fantastic educational pieces that Fitbit provide during the first few weeks of use. When my Fitbit watch battery drops to <20%, I get an email reminding me to charge it – which includes details on how to connect the charger.

Armed with this useful, detailed information, I won’t get grumpy when I miss the stats from my bike ride and I won’t damage my device by connecting the charger incorrectly. It’s a seamless customer-centric process that sends me the right reminder at the right time. It’s not bothersome and it’s useful.

 

Coming up next…

Stay tuned for the next post in this 3-part series, when we’ll take a look at how existing customers can inform improvements, and help you find new ones! PS: If you liked this post, please leave a comment below. I’ve also got a bunch of similar posts!