5 Common Pitfalls to Avoid When Implementing Customer Journey Mapping

Even though Customer Journey Mapping (CJM) has become a popular tool among customer experience (CX) professionals, many organizations are still not utilizing it to its fullest. Oftentimes, the cause of this is a lack of knowledge about how internal operations and data are related to the customer journey. To gain a better comprehension of the customer experience, CX experts need to comprehend the entire process customers navigate when interacting with an organization. This includes not only their dealings with the organization’s products and services, but also the processes and systems that underpin those connections.

Overview

Earlier this week, I released a short video about Customer Journey Management and its benefits for organizations, with examples from Amazon, Starbucks, Uber, Netflix, Apple, and the Financial Sector. (see the 4 minutes on YT: https://youtu.be/an5tNYXXzHo)

Wow, what a response. I didn’t expect that.
Many folks have tried and failed to deploy Customer Journey Map approaches effectively.

Here’s a summary of some of the five most significant challenges. In another article, we will discuss how to avoid them based on the best practices of those who have delivered success.

Some significant drawbacks can affect a company’s ability to provide a great experience to its customers.

🤝Customer Needs

One of these issues is a need for insight into the customer’s needs and desires. This can create an inconsistency between their services and products and the customer’s expectations, leading to disappointment and exasperation.

💖Personalization

Furthermore, not offering a personalized experience make customers feel disregarded and unappreciated.

🎸Co-ordination

Additionally, a failure to properly coordinate and integrate different channels and touchpoints can lead to an incoherent journey for the customer, making it difficult for them to get the assistance or data they require.

🏢Structural challenges

A hindrance is silo-based thinking; when a business has several separate systems and processes, it can take time to get a comprehensive outlook on the customer’s experience and to determine their path.

This can make it challenging to find and address any issues or areas that need to be improved.

✍️Connecting the dots

Understanding the link between internal operations, data, and customer experience is essential. By being aware of the overall process customers go through when interacting with an organization, and the systems and processes that back them, CX professionals can pinpoint pain points and chances for optimization within the customer journey.

Additionally, it is essential to remember that CJM is not a single-time task but rather an ongoing effort to be evaluated and updated routinely. It calls for the participation and collaboration of all levels of the organization. It serves to align initiatives from various departments to upgrade the customer experience and positively affect the business.


Conclusion:

Several specific actions will reduce the risk of poor CJM implementation. We will discuss those shortly by reviewing the best practices of companies that have delivered success.

If you want the inside track on that, subscribe and share this blog.

RECOMMENDED QUALIFICATION:
The Accredited Customer Experience Professional® (ACXP):
https://bit.ly/GCCACXP

If you want to check if your colleagues are already qualified do a search with #ACXP on Linkedin.

Learn more about CJM plus as practiced within the CEMMethod: https://www.cemmethod.com

Connect with the author: https://linktr.ee/SteveTowers


CX is a Team Sport. Are You Ready To Win Big?

Successful CX outcomes are akin to preparing for a major sporting event. Operating without a playbook or preparation dooms your efforts to be perceived as “wishful thinking.”

Accelerating CX adoption relies on your ability to connect strategy, organizational design, process management, people concerns, and digital/technology.

CX is a Team Sport – Play It To Win

Senior leaders are fiercely competitive. Many enjoy competitive sports in general. Many view their organizations as part of a highly competitive team sport. It is perplexing, then, that Customer Experience (CX) adoption has not been more rapid and widespread[RN2]. Great CX requires every player on the team to understand how their role contributes to success, and play within the system, adapting quickly to evolving customer needs.

Too often, CX efforts are relegated to reliance on fragile subjective metrics like NPS. So much so that the original inventor of NPS, Fred Reichheld, says ‘I had no idea how many people would mess with the score to bend it, to make it serve their selfish objectives’. This has led to leaders’ belief that #CX is disconnected from the reality of daily business, the product of people great at talking but not walking.

There has never been a better, more pressing, time to get more scientific about CX.

To build long-term success, CX programs must deliver business results by catalyzing forward-facing, objective, and connected measurement systems. CX leaders must help organizational decision-makers to “connect the dots” and appreciate the role everyone has to play in delivering successful customer outcomes.

The BP Group’s North Star is indeed this upskilling of practitioners, professionals, and masters of Customer Experience. We teach an underpinning approach that has been tried, tested, and deployed in leading global corporations which aims to educate, inform and deliver immediate results that both charm senior leaders, excite customers, and consistently deliver growing shareholder value.

CX is indeed a team sport – let’s play it to win.
You can Review the program here: https://bit.ly/ACXP2022.


Do you want to embrace advanced Customer-Centric thinking and become Outside-In?

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👉 Step #1 – Review the upskilling options to become an ACX Professional & ACX Master: https://lnkd.in/dANgYX59

👉 Step #2 – Get The Book: Outside-In The Secret *FREE*  https://bit.ly/OI2021now

👉 Step #3 – Connect With The Community: https://linktr.ee/SteveTowers

👉 Step #4 – Keep Pace with Change: Recent Keynote – The Hard Benefits of XM | https://cemnext.com/xmroi2023

👉 Step #5 – Review the Testimonials Accredited Customer Experience Professional – BPG (bpgroup.org)

CX POWER Hour webinar

In just 60 minutes we will evaluate the 4 elements of a Customer Experience Management Ecosystem and how they can provide your organization with a company-wide ecosystem of CX management that focuses all of your team’s efforts and resources on delivering amazing customer experiences.

We are doing a CX POWER Hour this coming Wednesday 1 PM EDT/ 10 AM PDT Expert hosts include James Dodkins aka CX Rockstar, Doug Bell, Mitch Belsley (The Experience Manager) and Steve Towers BP Group.

Register here: CX_POWERUP_2019

Why you should attend

In just 60 minutes we will evaluate the 4 elements of a Customer Experience Management Ecosystem. We will review how the 4 elements can provide your organization with a company-wide ecosystem of CX management. This then focuses all of your team’s efforts and resources on delivering amazing customer experiences.

What we will cover

1. Operationalizing Experience Designs

(How do you create and socialize simple experience designs that everyone in the organization will be able to understand?)

2. Measuring successful customer outcomes instead of business outputs

(Are you still relying on subjective NPS and VOC data to drive your CX analytics program?)

3. Focus every employee in the company every single day on CX innovation and improvement

(Are you harnessing the power of feedback and ideation from your employees?)

4. Evolve and improve your experiences in days not months.

(How long is it taking you to go from idea to implementation?)

Register Now: The CX Power Hour 2019

James Dodkins, one of the hosts, has keynoted in the USA, Argentina, Mexico, UK, Australia and Germany in the last six months.

You will Win the Triple Crown

When you align your business around an understanding of your customer, you can increase your ability to grow revenue, significantly reduce cost, radically boost customer loyalty and engagement, tighten controls – and increase your competitive strength.

The Panel of Global Experts

Meet and discuss with our world-renowned team of Customer Experience Management innovators including… Doug Bell, James Dodkins, Mitch Belsley and Steve Towers will share proven strategies, tactics and tips to help position your customer ‘front and center’ – while addressing your real-world challenges of limited resources and competing priorities.

I very much hope you can join me and my colleagues!
Here is the registration link

All the Very Best!
Steve


Your team in Colorado

  • Doug Bell, CEO The Experience Manager
  • Steve Towers, Chief Evangelist, BPG
  • Mitch Belsley, CEO The Experience Manager

P.S. I suggest you follow The Experience Manager on LinkedIn and stay up-to-date on how to radically improve your customer and employee experiences. We focus the ‘next practices’ of the world’s leading CX companies that will help your organization do a better job designing, developing and delivering great customer and employee experiences.