All businesses need a constant assessment of customer success as a guide to their daily operations. Companies prioritize the satisfaction rate they get from their clients since this primary business goal equates to profitability. Research has revealed that a company that earns a billion annually could expect to gain an estimated $700m more if there is an investment in improving the customer experience.
Customer
success happens when people leverage an organization’s products and services to
achieve their individual goals. One of the ways to identify the core problems
and solutions is through the use of a customer success journey map, which visually illustrates the journey of client
development and engagement. It also helps in the creation of long-term
strategies to enhance customer value, thereby impacting operational
sustainability.
The
Advantages of Creating the Map
Your
clients need to feel that you’re always there to support their changing needs
at every level. A customer success journey map defines major players like
tasks, events, and activities that will help the management align their
services with the client’s needs. Specifically, here are some reasons why it’s
essential in all businesses across industries:
1- This process constitutes an in-depth understanding of your target market. The map, which depicts their journey, will provide you with the knowledge on how people utilize and connect with your services. Thus, you will be able to draft the best marketing and sales strategies that will attract more clients.
2- You can determine the issues that they encounter and you will know the steps needed to solve them.
3- With optimized solutions, you can provide the best experiences for your market. Your tried and tested services will be valuable to them, consequently increasing your company’s customer retention rate.
4- The retention rate prevents you from spending more on acquisition costs, which will spontaneously shoot up the company revenue.
5- The map also produces a seamless client-employee relationship. This approach helps the management set appropriate improvement metrics while encouraging customers to express their demands and needs.
Best
Practices in Making the Map
Helping
customers succeed should always be the goal in every initiative and program
that the company undertakes. Drafting this map requires maximum collaboration
among team members. Here are some basic guidelines that you need to follow in
the process:
1- Dig into the mindset of the clients by viewing everything from their perspective. In other words, use the outside-in approach to determine which factors they value the most, so you can integrate them into the products.
2- Identify every journey stage, which includes brand impression, evaluation, purchase, product usage, adoption, and renewal. For each of the steps, the management should develop a plan for each department that will improve every stage.
3- Enhance your company’s touchpoints through the data given by the map. These include maintaining interactive channels like websites, social media accounts, marketing, press releases, and more.
4- Define successful periods in the journey where the clients achieve milestones because of your services. It will inform you about the factors that help clients progress and succeed.
5- Share the map with the clients and gain feedback. Their opinions will validate your points and will help you learn more insights for development.
The
journey map is a constant need for the organization because there are always
changing needs that your company needs to address. Ultimately, reiterate among
the team members the importance of customer success in your organization so
that they will be more encouraged to draft the map as their guide regularly.
