Customer journey maps are essential to having a global view of your brand’s customer service expectations. A comprehensive map may identify all the interactions a customer is expected to have along the way, as well as the motivations behind each step and the questions that may arise. No matter how thorough your brand may be during the mapping process, there are several essential points to remember for creating a truly seamless customer experience for all. Here are 8 points to consider when creating customer journey maps.
Among your customers, millennials and baby boomers may have different tastes, leading to different needs along the customer journey. For example, millennial customers may prefer your brand’s social channels, whereas older generations may comprise most of your voice service calls. The same is true among contact center employees: Adapting training sessions and professional development opportunities to their preferences is critical to helping them deliver their best. Make sure your customer journey map accommodates the different needs of your customers and agents alike.
As your brand makes continuous efforts to improve the customer experience, do the same for your customer journey maps. Revise different touchpoints as you learn new information about your customers and enhance technologies over time. Keeping the map updated to reflect current practices is always important.
Asking employees for feedback is essential to improving customer service, but never underestimate the value of direct customer comments. Any feedback provided via surveys, service case notes, blogs, or social media are vital to understanding what your customers truly need from your brand.
Paying attention to all channels your brand uses is important, but also understand how these channels are being used and managed. Are agents proactively engaging with customers on social media? Are marketing campaigns running more successfully on one channel over another? Are any channels seriously understaffed? Understanding the performance and profile of each channel helps your brand develop a solid global strategy to plot on your customer journey map.
A seamless customer experience should be a goal for every brand. However, it often requires advanced technologies that need to be tested regularly for efficiency. Make sure that functions such as IVR menus, callback systems, and even CRM databases are working correctly and delivering the quality experiences you are aiming for, among employees and customers alike.
When considering the customer journey map on a global scale, it’s easy to forget the basic metrics that are important to a customer service team. Looking out for KPIs such as average handling time, first contact resolution, and net promoter score are still critical for understanding if and when customers have trouble getting a case resolved and if certain departments need assistance. But don’t lose sight of the whole picture: Your brand may decide that longer handling times ultimately mean greater first contact resolution, so adjust your map accordingly.
Direct customer feedback is important for recognizing brand weaknesses, but employee feedback is essential when actually revising practices. Ask employees across departments who are directly involved in the customer journey to offer insights into revising service practices, from call scripts to social media tone to better communication among agents.
As you create your customer journey map, always ask yourself if each touchpoint represents the brand image you wish to deliver. Does it reflect brand values? Is it truly as seamless as your brand strives to be? Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and see if the experience is truly measuring up to your standards. Customer journey maps are rich guides for delivering great customer experiences, but it’s essential to recognize the evolving nature of the journey and your brand’s need to keep up with these changes over time. With these tips, your values, practices, and feedback may align to help you create the best customer journey map, and experiences, possible.