How do you take customer journey maps from theory to practice?

1 Define your goals and scope

Before you start mapping your customer journey, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how you will measure it. Do you want to improve customer satisfaction, retention, loyalty, or advocacy? Do you want to identify pain points, gaps, or opportunities in your service delivery? Do you want to align your team, processes, and systems around the customer needs and expectations? Depending on your goals, you may need to focus on a specific segment, persona, channel, or touchpoint of your customer journey. You also need to define the scope of your map, such as the time frame, the level of detail, and the data sources you will use.

2 Gather and analyze customer data

To create a realistic and accurate customer journey map, you need to collect and analyze data from various sources, such as surveys, interviews, feedback forms, analytics, CRM, or social media. You want to understand who your customers are, what they want, how they feel, and what they do at each stage of their journey. You also want to look for patterns, trends, and insights that can help you improve your service operations. For example, you may find out that your customers are frustrated by long wait times, confused by inconsistent information, or delighted by personalized offers.

3 Visualize and validate your map

Once you have enough data, you can start visualizing your customer journey map using a tool or a template that suits your needs. You can use different formats, such as linear, circular, or storyboard, depending on the complexity and the purpose of your map. You can also use different elements, such as personas, stages, actions, emotions, touchpoints, channels, or metrics, depending on the information you want to convey. The most important thing is to make your map clear, concise, and consistent. You also need to validate your map with your customers and stakeholders to ensure that it reflects their reality and expectations.

5 Monitor and measure your results

Finally, you need to monitor and measure the results of your customer journey map implementation. You want to track the key performance indicators (KPIs) that you defined in the beginning and see how they change over time. You also want to collect and analyze new customer data and compare it with your previous data. You want to evaluate the impact of your actions on your customer satisfaction, retention, loyalty, or advocacy. You also want to identify any new pain points, gaps, or opportunities that may arise in your customer journey and adjust your map accordingly.