i just found this amazing articel....read and share and try next time...ARTICLE 10 STEPS TO CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAPPING To stay competitive and survive the changes organisations are presently facing, they need to reassess the way they are structured, function and build relationships with customers. Closing the “reality gap” between organisations and people (employees and customers alike) should be the number one priority. And for this we need a new set of skills, methods and tools. People-centred approaches like Design Thinking, Social Design and Service Design have emerged because it provides us with useful methods and tools to bridge the gap. One of the tools is customer journey mapping. And in this article I’ll explain what customer journey mapping is, and how it is used to improve quality and foster a culture of innovation. But first I’ll explain why tools like customer journey mapping emerged and are needed. (Written by Arne van Oosterom, published on mycustomer) 10 Steps to Customer Journey Mapping A product or service is merely a means to an end. The real deeper value lies in the story attached. I don’t want to own a coffee maker – I need to wake up early with a little help from a cup of coffee. I don’t want to use a train – I want to get home to my wife and children. I don’t want to go to a store and buy a stereo set – I just want to listen to my favourite rock music when I’m home, it makes me unwind after work. Unfortunately, most organisations are not capable of listening to stories. And this is why the gap between “inside and outside” has grown too wide. To stay competitive and survive the changes organisations are presently facing, they need to reassess the way they are structured, function and build relationships with customers. Closing the “reality gap” between organisations and people (employees and customers alike) should be the number one priority. And for this we need a new set of skills, methods and tools. Change causes friction Thinking in journeys can be very helpful. Change is a constant. And thinking in journeys takes this into account and puts more emphasis on quality of the whole experience. Dwight Eisenhower said it like this: “planning is everything, the plan is nothing.” Only those who are adaptable survive. That’s just one of those inconvenient evolutionary things. But generally speaking, companies and governmental organisations are not designed for adaptability. They are organised in static, pyramid shaped, top-down-broadcasting models and not organised to receive feedback from the outside or the bottom of the pyramid or to use this information for change and continuous improvement. Most organisations are incapable of having real and meaningful (two-way-street) conversations with their customers. And it’s exactly in this area where the biggest business opportunities lie. We need to design and implement systems that will allow our organisations to have meaningful and ongoing conversations with our customers, using the insight we gain to improve and innovate in an ongoing iteration. And this all starts by taking a good look at the organisation from the outside. There are no magic tricks. But it’s just common sense to start with the people you work with and your customers. Customer journey mapping builds a mirror and enables us to question why we do the things we do. It makes things visible, which might have been right in front of us, but were so familiar we did not notice them or question them. It never occurred to us we could change them. It brings knowledge, already embedded in the organisation, to the surface and makes explicit what is implicitly already there. It allows us to take a step back from where we are, away from our internal targets and agendas and lets us be open-minded and put our creative energy to good use. And the beauty of it: there is no lengthy report, which no one actually reads. Customer journey mapping is a creative tool and works with visualisations. It is meant to inspire, energise and kick-start good conversations and ideation. And it’s the conversation that matters – and the opinions and ideas it brings to the surface. A quick guide to customer journey mapping This allows us to step into the customer shoes. It shows us the customer’s perceptions and the larger context in which we play a part. It lets us be emerged in their world, their reality. Get a deeper insight into customer needs, perception, experience and motivation. It will answer questions like: What are people really trying to achieve? How are they trying to achieve this? What do they use and in what order? Why do they make a choice? What are they experiencing, feeling, while trying to reach the desired outcome? A customer journey map is built up layer by layer. We start ‘above water’, with the customer and slowly dive deeper and deeper into the organisational structures and context. The tool can be used with customers or management, employees and other stakeholder or, even better, in a mix. A customer journey map (e.g. used by front-office employees) in its simplest form will contain the following: 1. Context or stakeholder map. We list all stakeholders and we order the hierarchy in circles of influences around the centre, where you are. When working with customers you’ll have the customer in the centre. Describe all relationships on the map by answering the question: what do we do for them; what do they do for us? This map shows you the landscape or force field you are dealing with. And you can discuss how this influences the quality of your work and how a customer benefits or suffers from it. 2. Persona. We need a rich customer profile or persona. Describe his/her personal and business situation now (present situation) and in the future (ambitions). 3. Outcomes. A description of his/ her desired outcome – what is he/she trying to achieve? 4. Customer journey. We list all actions (as far as possible) the customer has to take to reach the outcome (placed in a horizontal line). Don’t start listing actions when the customer uses your service the first time. Start before the moment he/she decided to use your product or service. This way we visualise behavioural patterns. 5. Touchpoints. Underneath every action we list all channels and touchpoints services the customer encounter. Not just yours! This way you’ll discover the landscape you are in form the customer’s perception. 6. Moments of truth. Then we identify the moments the customer encounters your touchpoints and channels. We start focus on those (you can move them down a bit). Identify the most important ‘moments of truth’. 7. Service delivery. Underneath every touch point, we write down who delivers the service. Who is directly responsible for it (e.g. front office personal)? 8. Emotional journey. Then give every vertical line a grade for the experience (Actions -> touch point -> who delivers the service -> grade). Don’t grade the functionality, grade the work. For the emotion, how do you think the customer felt at that moment? Use a scale from 0 to 10. The higher the number, the better the experience. This can be visualised (e.g. by a line going up and down), and is very effective as a conversation starter. It can often be a real eye-opener. 9. Blueprint. Now, to make a long story a bit shorter, we can go on listing the organisation underneath, writing down who supports the people delivering the service (backoffice), and in turn who influences the back office (we link back to the stakeholders map), until we have a complete organisational blueprint, a complete picture of the working of an organisation and emotional journey, from the outside in. 10. Improve and innovate. Use creative, brainstorming and any other ideation techniques for the service opportunities you identified (low grades) and/or design complete new and ideal journeys or services. This usually is the moment people have the most fun. I have been surprised many times by the talent and eagerness of people to engage in this creative process. People are usual a lot more creative than you think. We just need to put them in the right situation and mood. Don’t wait until the end to collect ideas. Write down all ideas and insights during the building of the customer journeys. These insights will be a rich source for improvements and innovative ideas. And all you need to start are some large sheets of paper, markers and a lot of sticky-notes. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY OF THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP ——————————————————————————————————————— Contact us For more information please contact us at info@designthinkersacademy Herengracht 265 1016 BJ Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 (0)20 471 00 70 Initiated by DesignThinkers Group, one of the leading ‘design driven’ innovation agencies helping organisations around the world making the transition from being strictly product orientated and sales driven, towards being service orientated and human centered.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 21:03:00 +0000
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