Have you ever planned out your entire customer buying cycle? It's what we (many of us in marketing) refer to as customer journey mapping.

You’ve probably noticed that the internet is a pretty saturated place. There are a million different messages flying around about how to create the best journey possible. 

At the core, you need to ensure you are communicating with the right people at the right time, making sure that no one falls through the cracks.

So, how do you do this? Well first things first, you need to know where your customers might be, and where they will come into contact with your business so that you can optimise each touchpoint. 

This is where the power of the customer journey map comes in!

It’s a crucial tool for visualising the entire journey, highlighting gaps in your strategy and knowing what areas could be improved. 

In this blog, we’re going to explore customer journey mapping and help you understand what it is and why it’s such an important part of the marketing automation puzzle. 

What exactly is the Customer Journey?

So, your customers find out about your product or service and immediately buy... right?

Mmmmm...probably not. 

While that might be the dream for most businesses, the reality is a little less straightforward and represents a game of snakes and ladders more than a straight line. 

Customers need to come into contact with your business multiple times before buying. Exactly how many touchpoints are required before a potential customer buys from you varies, however, most evidence suggests that it is around eight. 

What is a touchpoint?   A touchpoint is any contact that a potential customer (or current customer) has with a business. It could be anything from an email campaign, to a social media post or lead magnet. 

This means that most customers will come into contact with your business multiple times before buying. 

They might find you on social media, before downloading a lead magnet,  researching on a desktop or mobile, then consuming multiple emails in your nurture series, before finally speaking to someone and making a purchase.  Or any other number of combinations available across your available touchpoints. 

Exactly how this customer journey looks will depend on your specific business and what product or service you offer. 

What is customer journey mapping?

As new technology and points of contact develop it leads to an increasingly complex customer journey. And being the inquisitive ninjas we are, we don’t like to leave any stone unturned, which is why we like to create bespoke customer journey mapping.

So what exactly is this?

A customer journey map is essentially a visual representation of the customer buyer journey.  It details the touchpoints and experiences that your customer might have with your business. Creating this map and visualising the entire process helps to ensure that you have covered all bases, and makes sure no one slips through the cracks. 

Customer journey mapping is the process of creating this bespoke plan - which might look a little something like this...

It involves mapping out all the possible customer touchpoints i.e. website, sales call, social channels etc. 

From there you can then map out a “typical” journey for each touchpoint, and for each buyer persona. For example, a GenZ prospect will likely have a very different journey from a Baby Boomer.

Why is Customer Journey Mapping important?

So, why is this important?

Well first of all, because as ninjas we love to have all the data we possibly can to ensure that we’re making the right decisions and optimising the process as much as we can. You could call us data control freaks. 

However, it goes a little deeper than this. 

By mapping the entire buyer journey out in visual format, it allows businesses to see the process from a customer’s perspective. You’re an expert at what you do, which is amazing, but your customers aren’t. So it’s a useful exercise to be able to view things from a layman’s perspective, not just for customer mapping but for your entire marketing strategy. 

In addition, it will allow you to clearly spot any customer pain points, allowing you to create solutions and optimise your potential customer’s experience. 

Ultimately it allows you to create a personalised experience across multiple touchpoints and make customers feel like more than just a number. 

Ready to create a bespoke customer journey map?

Hopefully, we’ve convinced you that customer journey mapping is a worthwhile project that you should undertake.  It will allow you to visualise the entire buyer journey, allowing you to optimise and improve to ease customer pain points. 

If you fancy some help with your customer journey mapping, then we can help. 

One of our expert ninjas will create an entirely bespoke customer journey, along with a map (flow chart) to help you communicate it across every aspect of your business. Get in touch using the link below to find out more and kick off your success project!