Our business is the sum total of an offering that we are passionate about and a need in the market that we are catering to. When these two factors shake hands, there you have it: a successful business. But is that true? Isn’t the competition in the market something to consider, too. There are others who are offering similar services and aiming for the same disposable/budgeted income of the same target audience. This audience does not differentiate on the basis of price and product anymore. They value service quality. They want service providers to value their time. And this is where you can make a lasting impression. And the thing that helps you do that is a journey map.

What is a journey map?

A journey map is one which maps the journey of your buyer and not that of your business. Many a time while talking to peers I realized that people think of journey map as a roadmap for the business. It is, in fact, the way you map how your leads are going to interact with your business at various stages thereby going through multiple touchpoint and processes to finally become a valued customer.

A journey map helps you understand their expectations and perspectives and helps you design your business processes, your app, UI etc to create the ultimate customer experience. It helps you foresee what your customers might need and help you prepare for the entire interaction process, likewise.

A journey map is not the ledger where you record real events. It is based on thoughts and perceptions how your customer’s journey is going to be like.

Following are some components that an ideal journey map should possess:

Stage: This marks the stages through which your leads pass through before becoming your customer. They are the various points at which the lead/customers interact with your company.

Actions: What are the actions that the customers take during each of these interactions? Do they click on some CTAs, subscribe to a newsletter, opt for a free consultation, make a purchase, or contact customer support?

Perception: What is the customer’s perception at each stage of the journey with each and every action they take. Are they happy about the offering? Are they confused between choices? Are they having difficulty checking out once they are done shopping? Are they looking for active offers that they can use?

POCs: What are your customer’s Points of Contact with your company? It could be a service representative, a chatbot on your website, your landing page, your personalized emails, etc.

Action Points: This is your main takeaway from this entire effort. Recognizing pain points that might not have been addressed yet which can, in turn, become a business opportunity, a new offering, a one-stop-shop for your customers. It could also be things that are hindering your growth because of certain redundancies in stages, ideas that are not being communicated well, chatbots not being able to handle service queries properly, a discrepancy between your offering and your landing page text, etc.

Once you get an understanding of how your customers/leads are going to journey through the entire process, You can address pain points and opportunities more efficiently. Here’s a journey map that we have created for you, to help you get started.

Keep an eye out for more posts and templates on journey and experience mapping here at Roars‘ Journal.