How To Create a Customer Journey Map

Have you ever wondered what your customer experiences from the moment they discover your brand to the point of purchase and beyond? Visualizing the customer journey is key to understanding their needs and crafting a more memorable experience. A customer journey map acts as a roadmap and guide, revealing the key touchpoints, interactions, and emotions that customers encounter when they interact with your business.

boostCX is a leading provider of customer experience solutions and we understand the value of a customer journey map. We hope this overview will give you the tools and insight you need to learn how to create a customer journey map that will help you gain valuable insight into the customer experience, identify areas for improvement, and design a customer journey that builds loyalty and drives business growth.

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Step-By-Step Guide to Mapping the Customer Journey

Understanding the customer journey is like putting together a puzzle — once you have all the pieces in the right places, the whole picture comes into view. Mapping the customer journey for your business is a step-by-step process that unlocks valuable insights about your customers and their experiences with your business.

Customer Journey Map on Chalkboard with Blue and Red Figurines
  1. Define Your Objectives – The first step is to define the purpose of the customer roadmap. What are you hoping to learn about your customers and your business? Are you looking for specific pain points in the customer journey? 
  2. Define the Customer Persona – Who are you trying to reach? Determine the audience you hope to reach — customer demographics, goals, and pain points. This process can help you predict customer behavior.
  3. Identify Customer Touchpoints – When you create a customer roadmap, it is important to take into account every touchpoint a customer may have with your business, online or in person. Touchpoints include online discovery, social media engagement, and post-purchase services. Where do you need to put more emphasis for your company?
  4. Map Emotional Touchpoints – This step in the process is more about the how than the what. When you understand when and where customers interact with your business, it is important to map out how they feel about each touchpoint. Are they happy with their experience? Are they frustrated? 
  5. Do Your Research and Collect Data – This may be one of the most crucial steps of the process. The more information you have on the customer experience, the more accurate your analysis will be. Collect customer data that includes feedback, online analytics, sales data, customer service notes, and more via a variety of platforms that provide a comprehensive view of the customer experience. Analyze that data to better understand the customer journey.
  6. Take the Customer Journey – The best way to truly understand your customers is to take the same customer journey. Walk through the process step by step, taking into account the customer feedback you have collected, and using the tools at your disposal to improve each customer touchpoint.
  7. Analyze and Update – The customer journey is always evolving and changing, making it important that you continue to analyze and update your customer journey map to ensure that you are always delivering a memorable customer experience.

What Data Do You Need to Map the Customer Journey?

Mapping the customer journey requires two data sets — customer feedback and unsolicited customer data. Customer feedback may be gathered through surveys, social media comments, and even support interactions, and has the potential to reveal customer perceptions, needs, and pain points within the customer journey. boostCX provides businesses with a wide array of innovative solutions that can help you collect customer feedback on a variety of platforms. Unsolicited customer data is the hard metrics your business already collects and does not require customer feedback. Examples of unsolicited customer data include purchase history, website analytics, and even abandoned cart rates that combine to paint a picture of customer behavior. A combined analysis of these data sets can help identify hidden patterns and areas to optimize on your customer roadmap.

Why Should You Map the Customer Journey?

Did you know an estimated 80% of customers believe the customer experience is just as important as the products or services they purchase? This highlights the critical role of crafting a  memorable customer journey, one that fosters loyalty and drives business growth. Mapping your customer journey acts as a roadmap, revealing the touchpoints, interactions, and emotions customers experience as they interact with your business. This visual representation of the customer experience allows you to gain additional insight into each step of the process, identify potential pain points, and make the changes you need to drive success. 

READ MORE: What Is the Inside-Out Strategy for Customer Experience?

Unlocking the secrets of the customer journey isn’t just about creating a flowchart — it’s about understanding the key to business success. Creating a customer journey map provides a roadmap to understanding your audience, identifies opportunities for improvement, and ultimately designs experiences that resonate with your customers.

Ready to transform your customer experience? Contact boostCX today and learn more about how to create a customer journey map with our innovative customer experience solutions!