Understanding Customer Journeys: Navigating and Analyzing Customer Experiences

In the hustle and bustle of business, it's crucial to understand the customer experience, much like nailing down the user experience for a product. The customer experience, however, is a broader term, encompassing not just UX, but the perspectives and needs of those actually shelling out cash for the product or service.

To get a high-level grasp of the customer experience, consider creating a customer lifecycle map, a nifty diagram outlining the various stages a customer passes through, starting from pre-customer stage to post-departure. Customers don't follow a linear path but instead move between the stages, looping back and forth like a wandering traveler.

This customer lifecycle map serves as a high-level tool for an organization to analyze groups of customers. It's not meant to replace the customer journey map, which deep-dives into the specific, intimate journey taken by customers through their interactions with the business or brand. As Steve Jobs, the legendary Apple founder, once said, "You've got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology - not the other way around."

Now, let's break down the phases in a customer experience map:

Awareness: This is when a potential customer first learns about your brand, either through marketing campaigns, word-of-mouth, or simply stumbling upon it online.
Consideration: Once they become aware of your brand, when they face a problem your product or service potentially solves, they'll start evaluating your offerings and those of competitors. At this juncture, they're still uncertain about what brand they'll engage with.
Selection/Purchase: After doing their research and when their need becomes pressing enough, they make a decision and opt for a vendor, hoping it'll be yours!
Product Experience: Post-purchase, the customer (or user) digs in to learn and familiarize themselves with the product. Their satisfaction at this stage is crucial as it determines whether they stick around for the long haul or quit immediately.
Loyalty: If they remain satisfied with their product experience over time, they'll eventually become loyal to the product (and possibly the brand, too).
Advocacy: Some loyal customers will eventually become brand ambassadors and recommend your products to friends, colleagues, families, and more.
Engagement: Engaged advocates feel emotionally connected to the brand. They love and trust the product and the company. They feel 100% at home in your overall experience.
Raving Fanatics!: These die-hard fans will tattoo your logo on their bodies, spend hours on user forums, and attend trade shows just to talk about how fantastic their experiences are.
Exit: Customers come and go. But you have control over how many depart, and those who leave can always return.

The goal of mapping the customer experience is twofold: to help transition customers to the next phase or prevent them from leaving. Customer lifecycle maps, usually presented in a circular format, highlight the possibility of transitioning between any stage and any other. (Keep in mind that some people get hooked from the start, while some never will.)

Finally, remember that customer lifecycle maps help keep track of the overall customer experience, complementing customer journey maps for a high-level overview. Sales and marketing often find these maps incredibly useful, and for user experience design, they serve as the starting point for ideation and understanding your customers. The customer lifecycle map is a valuable strategic tool in the ongoing battle for customer satisfaction and loyalty.

References:

http://customerthink.com/whats-the-difference-journey-map-or-lifecycle-map/
http://www.cx-journey.com/2011/12/customer-experience-lifecycle.html
http://glenburnett.blogspot.com/2013/01/customer-lifecycle-mapping-helps.html

The customer lifecycle map, a high-level tool for an organization, complements customer journey maps and is particularly useful for sales and marketing. By understanding the various stages a customer passes through, from pre-customer stage to exit, a business can aim to transition customers to the next phase or prevent them from leaving, ultimately fostering business growth and customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the finance department can analyze groups of customers using this map to make informed decisions that align with the business's financial objectives.