{"id":49059,"date":"2024-09-06T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dhblog.dream.press\/blog\/?p=49059"},"modified":"2025-05-21T18:36:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T01:36:14","slug":"customer-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www-dev.dreamhost.com\/blog\/customer-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Key to Building a Winning Customer Journey Map"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What\u2019s your craziest detour story?

The half-day round trip to see the world\u2019s biggest ball of yarn that a roadside billboard made sound really<\/em> exciting?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or perhaps the decidedly less exciting excursion on a half-flat spare tire to find an open mechanic shop in the middle of the night?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever it is, detours are a universal truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that even extends to the information<\/em> superhighway \u2014 aka the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small business owners, managers, and marketers must understand this is the new reality of the online customer journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the non-linear nature of consumer interactions, it can be hard to figure out when to engage with shoppers, when to let them take the wheel, and how to encourage conversions, retention, and even referrals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the guide, we bring order to the mayhem and introduce a step-by-step process for building a customer journey map. We also cover the psychology of modern shoppers so you know how to optimize that map no matter how your goals or customers change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ready to hold your own and drive? (Obligatory Incubus reference<\/a>!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the Heck Is a Customer Journey?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

OK, OK, it\u2019s probably not that<\/em> mystifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The customer journey<\/strong> is the flow a person takes that begins with them becoming aware of your brand, product, or service online and ends with them making a purchase, completing an email list sign-up<\/a>, or converting in some other way. Some businesses may take it a step further and add post-conversion touchpoints to the journey to make sure they\u2019re nurturing their audience and creating loyal customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"7<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In this instance, touchpoints<\/strong> are where you interact directly or indirectly with a customer or potential customer throughout their journey. We\u2019ll talk about these a lot more shortly, but common touchpoints include ads you run, blogs on your website<\/a>, your checkout process, interactions with your customer service team, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like your road trip to visit family every holiday season, the customer journey is rarely completely linear. Different reasons for a detour crop up all the time \u2014 just like construction, snack breaks, and that flat tire that put you on the road four hours later than expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customer journeys have become more complex mostly because of how the internet has connected everyday consumers to a vast world of knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google\u2019s consumer insights team has dubbed the area where linearity goes out the window as the messy middle<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this middle is what they refer to as a \u201cweb of touchpoints\u201d that change from consumer to consumer, influencing the decisions they make between awareness and purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While you can\u2019t really control which touchpoints consumers engage with anymore, that doesn\u2019t mean the whole journey is chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is<\/em> something you can approach methodically \u2014 your understanding of the customer journey and the steps you can take to improve it. In the next section, we\u2019ll show you a step-by-step process (yay for our linear thinkers!) for building and optimizing your customer journey map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And stay tuned because we\u2019ll wrap up by circling back to the psychology<\/em> behind consumer decision making in the messy middle, which will help you improve the customer experience map you\u2019re about to build right\u2026Now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How To Create a Customer Journey Map in 7 Steps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A customer journey map is a visual tool that illustrates how consumers engage with and experience your website, products, or business across various touchpoints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"the<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By mapping out the motivations and actions of your target shoppers, you gain a deeper understanding of customer satisfaction and what you can do to influence it in a favorable way for your brand. A thoughtful map is crucial for making the most informed, customer-centric, and eventually profitable decisions throughout the overall customer journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Determine the Goals of Your Customer Journey Map<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Every successful journey starts with an endpoint in mind. Otherwise, how will you know if you\u2019ve made progress?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So rather than creating a customer journey map just because you think you\u2019re supposed to, determine what you aim to achieve and the specific experiences you want to highlight. Maybe you don\u2019t want to overhaul your entire online presence but instead hope to hone in on a few quick-fix website issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with any project, ensure your goals align with your company\u2019s broader objectives, such as increasing revenue or improving customer retention. No point splashing out on a big customer journey reroute to generate new customers if your guiding business principle is building loyalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, at this stage of the customer journey mapping process, you\u2019ll want to establish relevant metrics to track progress. Like the mile markers along any road trip, these will tell you how fast and accurately you\u2019re moving toward your goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Research How the Current Experience Works<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Time to really dig in. Gather quantitative and qualitative data from internal and external sources to identify what\u2019s actually<\/em> happening during the customer journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This research should reveal insights into the types of buyers you attract, how they move through the buyer\u2019s journey both off and on your website, and their feelings about their experiences. Bonus points if you can unveil how this compares to competitors\u2019 flows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where does this information come from? Actual customer and shopper interviews, customer journey analytics from your website, feedback from customer support, surveys, social listening, and usability testing software with features like click tracking and heat mapping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t already have a large base of active consumers who offer their feedback, consider creating a reward program to encourage engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Profile Your Ideal Personas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The above research gave you insight into your real-life shoppers. From this, you can identify which customers you want to target and begin to develop realistic descriptions of them \u2014 aka, customer personas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n\t\n\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/svg>\n\t<\/a>\n

Persona<\/h3>\n

In marketing, a ‘persona’ is a fictional customer representing your target audience. Businesses use personas to understand ideal customers, tailoring strategies to improve sales approaches.<\/p>\n \n Read More <\/a>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Personas are detailed representations of your customer groups based on market research, website journey analytics, surveys, interviews, and other data sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal with personas is to understand the humans behind each touchpoint, so you can use marketing to solve their pain points and hit their motivational triggers to inspire conversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"buyer<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Luckily, there are lots<\/em> of online guides to creating powerful personas. Here\u2019s<\/a> just one of many we found useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Detail All the Touchpoints You\u2019ve Discovered<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Time to start fleshing it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point, you\u2019ve probably identified the areas where consumers interact with your brand \u2014 and even places you want to see interactions but don\u2019t yet. These are what we\u2019ve been referring to as your customer touchpoints. You\u2019ll have a set of touchpoints for each customer group (aka persona) you target with your map. If you\u2019re new to this, we recommend starting with just one persona \u2014 you can add others later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These touchpoints will make up the skeleton of your customer journey map. They represent key times for your sales, marketing, and support staff (even if you\u2019re the one who fills all of these roles at your small business!) to engage with and influence shoppers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider all possible interaction points, including indirect ones like social media, review sites, etc. Right now, you\u2019re not quite<\/em> mapping out the customer journey, just putting each interaction on paper. Tactically, this could look like sticky notes placed on a whiteboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Map the Customer Journey: Current vs. Ideal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After identifying your target customer group and listing out all touchpoints, we\u2019re finally ready to map the customer journey!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time to arrange the above touchpoints in a logical order, based on your research, from awareness to purchase. As we mentioned, the entire customer journey is often not linear, so some touchpoints may overlap, repeat, and be hard to place. That\u2019s OK; it\u2019s more important that your map is functional than perfect looking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you went with the sticky notes route, draw a left-to-right timeline on your whiteboard (awareness > purchase) and place the notes along it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As soon as your realistic customer journey map is complete, you\u2019ll probably start to notice things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may observe repeated touchpoints, ignored touchpoints you want shoppers to hit, too many touchpoints in some areas (like the purchase process), and too few touchpoints in others (like the customer support flow).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a picture or otherwise copy the actual<\/em> journey, and then rearrange your sticky notes until they reflect a customer experience that\u2019s more ideal for both your company and the customers you\u2019re trying to convert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Put a Plan in Place To Go From Current > Ideal Journey<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s about to get exciting \u2014 you\u2019re going to turn that theoretical map into a real experience for customers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This process will look different for everyone and depends on team size and business complexity. Because of that, we can\u2019t tell you precisely how to implement your changes. What we can<\/em> say is that it\u2019s probably best to start at the axis of easy + impactful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, for an individual selling on an e-commerce site, the most impactful and approachable journey may be the one that starts with the \u201cAdd to Cart\u201d button. What touchpoints happen next, and what can you add or remove to make it faster and smoother?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often, we find that businesses inject too many fields on the checkout page. Or, they\u2019re not using this space to tap into innate biases many shoppers have (more on these next). So, adding badges of authenticity and free shipping for a limited time on this page could increase conversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make a list of action items that will transform your customer journey map, and then order it by factors such as priority, attainability, and outcome. Assign due dates to each project to keep yourself accountable, and reach out to any design or development support you may need to make the bigger swings a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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