suitecx©2015,  suitecx  Inc.   September  23,  2015  

Customer  Journey  Mapping:  Balancing  customer  and  company  needs  to  drive  business  outcomes  In  2013  Harley  Manning  and  Kerry  Bodine  at  Forrester  Research  released  the  book  Outside   In:   The   Power   of   Pu3ng   Customers   at   the   Center   of   your   Business.    Turning   the   focus   of   customer   experience   from   an   internal   view   based   in  processes,   resources   and   efficiencies   to   an   outside   view   grounded   in   customer  needs  and  preferences  was  a   radical   approach   to  business   strategy.    Now  many  companies  are  scrambling  to  catch  up. While   research   has   proven   that   a   focus   on   improving   customer   experience  directly  impacts  the  boKom  line,  achieving  the  organizaMonal  and  cultural  change  required  to  become  fully  customer  centric   is  not  an  easy  process.     It   is  criMcal  to  get  all  key  departments  aligned  on  your  customer  experience  strategy.   The  most   effecMve  method   to   achieve   this   alignment   is   to   conduct   a   Customer  Journey  Mapping   exercise.     Seeing   your   customer’s   perspecMve   at   every   touch  point  with  your  company  is  oTen  a  powerful  moMvator  for  change.    However,  each  department  head  who  parMcipates  in  the  exercise  will  bring  his  or  her  own  biases  and   agenda   to   the   table.   They   will   have   disMnct   assumpMons   about   what  customers   are   doing,   thinking   and   feeling   at   any   stage   of   the   relaMonship  regardless  of  the  reality.     It   is   all   too   easy   to   slide   into   complacency  when   it   comes   to   relying  on   internal  data   and   assumpMons   to   guess   at   the   current   state   customer   experience.    However,  unless  you  engage  with  your  customers  directly,  you  can  never  be  sure  whether  that  data  is  the  right  data  or  whether  those  assumpMons  are  correct.    In  fact,  despite  today’s  digital  focus,  up  to  70%  of  your  customers’   interacMons  may  not  even  be  tracked  or  visible  to  your  company! The  customer  experience  is  built  on  all  aspects  of  your  business.    Factors  include  :  product/service   quality,   reliability,   desirability,   availability,   trustability   and   brand  reputaMon,    are  all  which  are  variable  factors  in  determining  the  success  or  failure  of  a  given  interacMon.    As  the  customer  interacts  with  your  brand,  there  are  needs    

Thought Leadership

“When  you’re  in  [a]  retail  locaAon,  tell  a  fellow  customer  that  you’re  an  employee—as  well  as  a  customer–  and  that  you’d  love  to  know  if  they  found  what  they  needed  on  that  visit,  and  how  easy  or  hard  [it]  was.    Asking  might  feel  awkward  at  first,  and  some  customers  might  refuse.    But  many  will  welcome  the  opportunity  to  provide  feedback.”

-­‐-­‐  Excerpt  from  Outside  In

that   are   not   necessarily   directly   expressed,   which   can   have   a   big   impact   on   customers’   saMsfacMon   with   the  outcome.    For  example,  you  could  have   the  most   responsive  call   center   in  your   industry,  but   the  customer  might  prefer  if  your  product  performed  so  well  that  they  never  had  to  place  a  call  into  the  call  center  in  the  first  place. It   is   criMcal   that   you   find   a   balance   between  what   you   know   to   be   internal   challenges   and   what   customers   are  indicaMng  are  their  prioriMes.    The  only  way  to  achieve  this  balance  is  to  ask  the  customer  directly  what  they  need  and  value  most   from  your  company.    This  may  sound   like  a  scary  prospect,  since  usually  when  customers  provide  feedback  they  expect  you  to  act  on  it.

suitecx©2015,  suitecx  Inc.   September  23,  2015  

About  suitecx® Backed  by  over  120  years  of  combined  experience  in  customer  experience  consulMng,  suitecx  is  a  set  of  soTware  tools  that  allow  users  to  make  fact  based  decisions  and  process  improvements  that  are  grounded  in  the  customer  experience.  Customer-­‐centric  diagnosMcs,  touch  inventories,  journey  maps,  customer  storytelling  and  precision  markeMng  are  all  components  of  this  groundbreaking  soTware.

Customer  Journey  Mapping:  Balancing  customer  and  company  needs  to  drive  business  outcomes  

What  Businesses  Want:  Efficiency  &  EffecMveness  

Thought Leadership

There  are  several  ways  to  understand  what  your  customers  really  think  about  you.    You  can  observe  customers  as  they  engage  with  you  –  online,  in  person  or  over  the  phone.    You  can  conduct  Voice  of  Customer  surveys  intended  to  highlight  moments  of  truth  and  points  of  pain.    You  can  even  put  on  the  customer  hat  yourself  and  engage  with  your  own  company  the  way  an  average  customer  would.    Most  oTen,  customers  are  quite  happy  to  tell  you  exactly  how  they  feel  about  doing  business  with  you  and  what  they  would  like  to  experience  in  the  future. You  need  to  invest  your  valuable  human  and  financial  capital  in  improvements  that  are  meaningful  to  your  customers  and  beneficial  to  your  boKom  line.  Use  customer  and  employee  facing  input  to  fuel  your  journey  map  at  each  phase  of  the  customer  lifecycle.  Be  sure  to  look  across  the  enterprise  to  include  everyone  who  impacts  the  customer:  supply  chain,  legal,  training,  HR,  billing,  delivery,  service,  etc.  Each  needs  to  be  involved  in  creaMng  a  beKer  customer  engagement  plan.     Customers  want  what  they  want,  when  they  want  it  and  via  their  preferred  channel.    Moreover  they  want  it  to  be  easy  to  do  business  with  you.  They  expect  to  be  treated  as  valuable  individuals  regardless  of  actual  spend.      It’s  important  to  ensure  that  you  engage  with  your  customers  in  a  coordinated,  thoughful  and  organized  fashion,  with  the  intent  to  act  on  their  feedback.  Doing  this  regularly  enables  you  to  walk  the  walk  and    help  transform  your  enterprise  into  a  truly  customer-­‐centric  culture.

Supply  Chain       Product  Delivery    

Analy6cs  Security    &  Fraud  

BUSINESS VALUE

LURE  AEracFve  Desirable  High  Quality  

OPPORTUNITY  Ease  of  Purchase  Price/Value  Reliability  

SERVICE  Hassle  Free  Simple  Painless  

VISCERAL  IntuiFve  DelighRul  Habitual  

CUSTOMER  NEEDS

What  Customers  Want:  L.O.V.E.