Step-by-Step Customer Journey Mapping

A customer journey map is a graphic illustration of the journey of a customer (also known as the journey of a buyer or the journey of a user). At all touch points, it lets you share the story of your customer's encounter with your company. Visually charting customer journeys helps ensure that customers do not fall through the net, whether your customers interact with you through social media, email, Live support, or other channels.

Design the Structure of a CJM

In order to create the effective customer journey, you need to define, identify, and build all the necessary elements. In particular, touch points and channels are crucial but often confused when it comes to customer journey maps.

The customer touch point is the point of customer contact for the brand from start to finish. For example, customers may look up your business online or in ads, view ratings and reviews, visit your website, shop at a retail store, or contact your customer service. This may seem like a long list, but these are just a few of your touchpoints! Identifying touch points is an important step in creating a customer journey map and ensuring that the customer is satisfied with each step.

• Channels are the communication channels provided by the company to customers. Not every channel supports two-way communication (such as infographics on your website or social network, or Google ads in content search). Channels can be analog (local storage) or digital (home page).

• Touchpoints are customer interactions that are clearly defined throughout the customer life cycle. Touch points follow clear goals set by the customers. If a customer wants to learn more about a product, sign up for a new member, purchase a product license, or leave feedback in a user forum, they can identify the contact point by interacting with the company.