The customer journey program represents the entire experience that a customer has with a company. It encompasses all customer interactions across all channels, devices and touchpoints during every stage of the customer cycle – from brand awareness to loyalty.
With the combination of tools used in consumer behavior research, the (dis)satisfaction, brand weakness and effort that consumers feel during the purchase process or post-service can be shown.
The customer journey program should first begin by mapping the path that the customer has in relation to your company and includes:
- Finding and recording the cycle that the customer has during each interaction with your company – consumer journey ;
- Identifying company and customer touch points;
- Gap analysis between existing strategies and expectations. (source: https://www.superoffice.com)
It is important to note that the discovery phase of the cycle that the customer goes through must be taken from the perspective of the customer and not from the perspective of the company and how the company perceives it. This is the only way we can get the correct data.
Collecting Voice of Customer (VOC) data is a great start to mapping the experience your customers have when interacting with your company.
According to Aberdeen Group research, companies that have implemented customer journey programs experience growth and development that includes:
- 56% more revenue from cross-selling;
- 54% higher return on marketing investment;
- 18 times faster average sales cycle;
- 5 times the income from customer referrals.
The same study found that only 36% of companies have a process for mapping the customer journey, making this a huge opportunity to create a competitive advantage for your business.