How to Use the Journey Map
The value and potential of your journey maps depends on how you use them. Custellence lets you design great-looking professional customer maps without having to be a designer. You can present or share the map and insights to teams and management. Either by exporting a PDF or export into other Vector-based formats, or by sending a URL with access to the map. Here are more ways on how to get the most out of your journey mapping efforts.
1. For innovation and idea generation based on customer needs
The customer journey map supports the process of innovation in several ways. When you have mapped the Customer Journey, the needs and emotions, you will be able to map the potential opportunities. Where are the opportunities for change? Look for places where the emotional curves low. If solving or improving this customer need while also benefiting the business or solve a business need, you have a perfect opportunity to create profitable and customer centric change.
- For instance, use the customer journey map to visualise and identify the low points in the emotional curve. This is where you have an opportunity to improve the customer journey, and what problem areas your innovations and ideas should solve.
- By using the customer journey map, you will also find that it’s easier to stick to the customer point of view instead of starting to think inside-out or product-oriented.
- The framework of the journey map lets you put the idea or solution into a larger context, so that you can see if it really works there, or if there are other aspects that you need to consider.
Tip! Instead of thinking of solutions right away, try to first image the ideal vision for the customer. Imagine how it could be for the customer in the best of worlds. That is a good way to lift you problem-solving thinking to a higher level.
2. For smooth collaborating and co-creation
Customer journey mapping and the work around this is truly a team effort. And Custellence lets you share, invite and collaborate on the maps in real time. Just like Google docs! So, even if they are far apart, you can involve and engage team members to co-create and build on each other’s ideas.
By sharing your customer journey maps, you will enable everyone in the organisation to have the same view of the customer and of the prioritizations. And remember that great ideas can come from the people you’d least expect. Not only from the development team. That’s why you should build teams that are cross- functional and diverse and share your maps with as many as possible.
Tip! Ideas can come anytime, and might not only appear during a workshop or brainstorming session. To make sure that you save those untimely ideas, here is a great tip: First, share the map with your team and make everyone an editor. Then leave a few lanes in the journey map empty. Then everyone can can fill in the ideas as they come.
3. As a change plan
In addition to visualise the customer journey as it is today, Custellence also have features that will enable you to use the customer journey map as a plan for the future state.
To keep the map alive and useful as a change plan, Custellence has a feature called status-setting. That means you can define the cards that represents a customer activity, an idea or a concept according to whether it should stay, be removed, or if it is something new that is to be created. For instance, new ideas that you have chosen to develop, should have the status “create”. This way you will have a map that works as a master plan, and the actions planned can easily be transferred into the backlogs of other teams by linking cards and maps to internal tools like Trello, Jira etc. This way you will be able to continuously update and keep the map alive.
You can also connect maps to each other. For instance you might have one end-to-end customer journey connected to several shorter journeys with more details, for a whole customer centric eco-system.
