My leadership is allowing me to create our first customer journey roadmap. Any advice?

Kevin Mitchell Leonor

we just never got around to it and my leadership is leaning on me since I have experience building one organically.

My plan is similar to before:

take customer relevant features and group them according to quick win, key differentiator, essential, and difficult to adopt.

order those features with time to value, rapport prerequisites, and customer confidence in mind.

create mutliple journeys based on notable segmentation and requested outcomes

what is different?

i now work with a much more robust product with more features than the last time.

i am keeping in mind that adoption on this product may be a 18-24 month journey before cross sells. Previously, my journey map was 12 months with option to extend based on cross sells

 

any advice?

Willow Moellering

Start by defining your objectives for the workshop and deliverables.  Here are some examples that we have used in the past for a Customer Journey workshop:

Objectives	Deliverables
Align the customer journey toward client outcomes Improve client engagement consistency and scalability Align on cross-departmental roles and responsibilities	Visual Customer Journey Map RACI framework Groundwork for Account Health

Also, you need to think about if you want to define the desired customer journey and the current then create a list of Gaps based on current vs ideal.  Once you have that list, you can use the Impact & Effort Matrix to prioritize.

Jeff Breunsbach

@Jeremy Donaldson I think you mentioned going through this exercise recently. Any ideas you can offer Kevin? 

Kevin Mitchell Leonor

Ill check that matrix out. Thanks

Kevin Mitchell Leonor

@Jeremy Donaldson would love your insights on this

Gautam Sawhney

@Kevin Mitchell Leonor  - Any examples or insights you can share that you learned in this process? 

Kevin Mitchell Leonor

That there needed to be a methodical way to alter the journey based on customer needs

that there needed to be a consistent progression of value creation

that features should be grouped effectively and relationally to build value

Kevin Mitchell Leonor

As a result, I am building a concept that I am testing with some colleagues

Ed Powers

A good first step, @Kevin Mitchell Leonor, is to understand the true purpose the mapping process. It's not a documentation exercise, but a method to build a common understanding, a common vision, and a common commitment to improve the customer experience across the organization's silos. It's one tactic that should be part of an enterprise-wide transformation driven by the CEO. 

With that context, I use an 8-step process with my clients:

1.  Form the right team--7-9 influential people with first-hand knowledge representing all functions that contribute to CX (Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, Pro Services, Support, Accounting, etc.) 
2. Segment and define personas--identify key market segments and specific customer personas (economic, technical, and user buyers), including how they are alike and different
3. Define experience phases--using the customer's perspective and language, ideally through customer observation and interviews, articulate the 8-10 major phases they say are part of their journey (e.g. Recognize Need, Investigate Solutions, Decide, Purchase, Implement, Learn, etc.)
4. Analyze effective and affective needs--define and validate what customers are trying to achieve in each phase (effective needs) and ideally how they should feel at key points (affective needs), whether they articulate their emotions to you or not. (Ultimately all decisions are made by our brain's emotional system. Our logical system simply justifies the decisions we've already made.)  
5. Map business processes--brainstorm, affinity, consolidate, flow, and clarify owners (roles and responsibilities), ensuring the customer's effective and affective needs are addressed during each phase.
6. Refine controls, measures and UX--examine reinforcing mechanisms that ensure quality, consistency, and continuous improvement.
7. Analyze and prioritize gaps--review gaps that pop up throughout and determine what to do and in what order. 
8. Execute improvements--this is the step organizations struggle with most. The context described above is crucial for follow-through, execution and meaningful change. If there is an initiative leader designated by the CEO and supported by commitments of people and money from his/her staff, then the exercise becomes a roadmap for improving results.  

I hope this helps. Happy to discuss it more and share what I've learned after 25 years mapping customer journeys in companies large and small. 

Ed