There are a lot of things that go into the making of a flourishing business, and one of the primary factors is a loyal customer base. When you have a business that caters to the demands of the customers and holds true to the promises regarding the quality or customer support, you would be on the customer’s favorite list. If you wish to know your customers better and keep track of the experiences the customer had with you, then a customer journey map would be the perfect tool for this purpose.

What is a customer journey map?
As mentioned earlier, a solid customer base is an indispensable part of any business. So, it would be in your interest to keep a record of the customer’s experience with your organization for future purposes. A customer journey map records the customer’s interaction with your business, right from the initial contact to the different points of engagement. The sole purpose of this customer journey map is to create long-term relationships with the customer and enhance it further. There are various templates available for you to choose the right one for your organization.

The perfect customer journey map consists of the following aspects.

• The customer is the center of the business – When you are about to devise the perfect customer journey map, you would have to ensure that the customer is the focal point of your business. The customer journey map must primarily be meant for recording the customer’s perception and not your business views. The map must be an unbiased record of customer’s journey with your organization.
• Purposeful and actionable – The customer journey map must be equipped with the ability to identify with the customer’s positive and negative experiences through their interaction with your business, especially their goals, expectations, and their behavior. The customer journey maps should be purposeful, as simply maintaining a record isn’t enough; you can strengthen the brand–customer relationship by being more proactive towards their demands.
• The presence of performance indicators – An ideal customer journey map must contain performance indicators. It is imperative to incorporate performance indicators to understand the customer’s perceptions and expectations from your company. Certain performance indicators are used to gauge the customer’s emotional highs and lows, whereas certain visual indicators are used to indicate positive, negative, or neutral responses from the customer.
• Safeguard your future – A customer journey map is a powerful tool that ensures that your business would flourish by retaining the old customers and making new ones. By recording the experiences customers had while conducting business with you, right since the contact to the end, it leaves little hints about how you perform as a business house. Moreover, this proves beneficial in making changes in your business strategies, if necessary.
• Serves as a benchmark – The right customer journey map would work as a benchmark against the promises made by your brand. It would be an unbiased judge of how well you are faring on your promises made to the customer. It is an undebated fact that customer experience serves as a yardstick in measuring your success on both business and customer-relation fronts. It is an established fact that as long you have loyal customers on board, you can continue reigning the market. A disgruntled customer would not be conducive to the company’s growth.