Imagine you’re on a trip in a place you’ve never been before. An accurate and updated map
would be handy, wouldn’t it? Growing business works in the same exact way. A customer
journey map helps you understand the purchasing process and customer needs. Let’s dig a
bit deeper.
A customer journey map (CJM) depicts everything that happens between your company
and your customers, from the brand discovery stage (when customers find out about your
brand or products that you offer) up to the retention stage (when they return to place more
orders). It’s usually in the form of an infographic, a presentation or a flowchart.
With a CJM, you can get an in-depth view of your purchasing process and all the
interactions with customers that take place along the way (so-called touchpoints). With
this input, you can optimise every single element to get more customers and provide them
with top-notch CX (customer experience). The same is true if you work in the B2B sector
(although here, CJMs are more complicated since the process is rarely linear).
Our experience shows there are four essential reasons why mapping a customer journey can be beneficial to your business. Let’s have a closer look at them.
Why do you need CJM – four reasons
Focus on the best marketing channels
You cannot be with your offer everywhere; it’s expensive and ineffective. A much better strategy is based on discovering the major channels customers use to discover your brand and grow your presence in them. That’s, partly, what CJMs are about. Thanks to this tool (as well as some research and analytics activities), you can find out what channels your customers use and concentrate your efforts on them. As a result, you grow visibility exactly where it’s needed, and your revenue goes up.
Streamline customer decisions
If you want to encourage your customers to buy more products, you have to know what drives them to do so. You need to understand the reasons and problems behind each purchase. Again, with a customer journey map and some research, you can organise your knowledge about customer needs and expectations. Based on this input, you can create a marketing message highlighting all the important benefits and reasons to buy. Thanks to a compelling marketing message, you will be able to get more customers.
Optimise costs
No company wants to waste its marketing budget. A CJM can help you spot elements and stages in the purchasing process that aren’t effective or maybe even excess. As a result, you can cut them from the process and, consequently, save money and some time, too. It’s a similar story with elements that ARE necessary. Thanks to a well-designed CJM, you can discover which stages in the selling process are crucial and focus on optimising them to drive more revenue.
Grow customer loyalty
A regular, loyal customer is the holy grail of every company. If you want your customers to stay loyal to your brand and purchase more products, you have to learn how to respond to their needs and problems. The better you are at helping your customers, the more likely it is many of them will frequently go back. In effect, your customer base becomes more stable, and your business is profitable.
Learn more about customer journey maps
In this post, we’ve just scratched the surface of customer journey maps and their significance in the modern business landscape. Designing such a map is a complex project that requires good analytics and some experience in analysing and fulfilling customer needs. But it’s definitely worth every effort – a well-designed CJM will help you sell more products and get more loyal customers. And isn’t this your goal as an entrepreneur?
We invite you to find out more about CJMs. Take a look at this comprehensive guide that will help you understand how CJMs work and what to do to make them effective (especially in B2B): How to create an effective B2B customer journey map.
The NoA Ignite team will also help you with creating such a map for your business – just reach out or book a free consultation.
