Terms

Customer Journey Mapping

Customer journey mapping is the process of creating a visual representation of a customer's complete experience with a company. This map documents every interaction and touchpoint—from initial awareness to post-purchase support—to understand a customer's actions, motivations, and pain points. By visualizing this entire path, businesses can identify key opportunities to improve their products, services, and overall customer experience.

Key Components of Customer Journey Mapping

A comprehensive customer journey map is built from several essential elements that work together to provide a holistic view of the customer experience. These components help businesses step into their customers' shoes and understand their journey from their perspective. The key components include:

  • Personas: Fictional characters representing your target customers, based on research and data.
  • Stages: The distinct phases a customer moves through, from initial awareness to long-term loyalty.
  • Touchpoints: Any point of interaction a customer has with your brand throughout their journey.
  • Emotions: The feelings, frustrations, and motivations a customer experiences at each stage.
  • Goals: The objectives the customer is trying to achieve at different points in their journey.

Benefits of Customer Journey Mapping

Customer journey mapping offers a visual storyline of every customer engagement, helping businesses understand their needs and perceptions. This process uncovers critical pain points and opportunities for improvement. It allows companies to establish empathy and gain a deeper understanding of the customer experience.

The map serves as a tool to align teams toward shared customer experience goals. This customer-centric approach can increase retention and lift revenue. It provides a data-driven blueprint for strategic changes and continuous improvement across the company.

Customer Journey Mapping vs. User Experience Mapping

While often used interchangeably, these two mapping methods serve distinct strategic purposes.

  • Scope: Customer journey mapping visualizes the entire customer lifecycle across all touchpoints, both online and offline. It's ideal for enterprises seeking a holistic view to align marketing, sales, and service teams. While comprehensive, it can be time-consuming and requires data from multiple sources to be effective.
  • Focus: User experience mapping concentrates on a user's interaction with a specific product or service, like a website or app. It excels at identifying usability issues and improving product design. This narrower focus is preferred by product teams for targeted enhancements but overlooks the broader, multi-channel customer relationship.

Tools and Techniques for Customer Journey Mapping

Effective customer journey mapping combines practical tools with strategic techniques to visualize the customer experience. These methods help gather and organize data, ensuring the final map is both accurate and actionable. Key approaches include:

  • Personas: Creating detailed, research-based profiles of target customers to guide the mapping process.
  • Surveys: Using feedback tools like NPS and CSAT to gather direct customer insights at key touchpoints.
  • Templates: Utilizing spreadsheets or dedicated software to structure and visualize journey stages and interactions.
  • Workshops: Facilitating cross-functional team sessions to brainstorm and gain diverse perspectives on the customer experience.

Common Challenges in Customer Journey Mapping

Mapping the customer journey presents several common hurdles for organizations.

  • Data: Building maps from assumptions rather than real customer feedback.
  • Complexity: Accurately capturing multiple journeys and all relevant touchpoints.
  • Silos: Lacking cross-functional collaboration, leading to an incomplete view.

Frequently Asked Questions about Customer Journey Mapping

How often should we update our customer journey maps?

Journey maps are living documents. They should be reviewed quarterly and updated annually or whenever you introduce significant changes to your product, service, or marketing strategy. This ensures they remain relevant and accurately reflect evolving customer behaviors and market dynamics.

Can we create a single map for all our customers?

A single, generic map is rarely effective. Different customer segments, represented by personas, often have unique paths, motivations, and pain points. Creating separate maps for each key persona provides a more accurate and actionable understanding of their distinct experiences with your brand.

What's the biggest mistake companies make with journey mapping?

The most common mistake is treating the map as a one-off project. A journey map is a tool for action, not just a deliverable. Failing to use the insights to drive tangible improvements across the organization means the entire effort goes to waste.

Other terms

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Signaling

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Sales Enablement Platform

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Inbound Sales

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Account-Based Advertising

Upsell

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Customer Retention Rate

Customer Retention Rate (CRR) is the metric that measures the percentage of customers a company has kept over a specific period of time.

Customer Retention Rate

Sales Forecast Accuracy

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Sales Forecast Accuracy

CI/CD

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CI/CD

Sales Territory

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Progressive Web Apps

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Progressive Web Apps

Digital Rights Management

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Digital Rights Management

Cost Per Click (CPC)

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Cost Per Click (CPC)

CRM Data

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CRM Data

Voice Broadcasting

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Voice Broadcasting

OAuth

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Revenue Forecasting

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Revenue Forecasting

Trigger Marketing

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Trigger Marketing

Lead Scrape

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Lead Scrape

BAB Formula

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Marketing Qualified Account

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Marketing Qualified Account

Messaging Strategy

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Messaging Strategy

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is the emotional commitment an employee has to their organization, motivating them to contribute to the company's success.

Employee Engagement

Request for Proposal

A Request for Proposal (RFP) is a formal document that outlines a project's needs and invites qualified vendors to submit bids to complete it.

Request for Proposal

Interactive Voice Response

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Closing Ratio

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Closing Ratio

AI-Powered Marketing

AI marketing uses artificial intelligence to analyze data, automate decisions, and deliver personalized customer experiences at scale.

AI-Powered Marketing

Data Appending

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B2B Buyer Intent Data

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B2B Buyer Intent Data

DMP

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DMP

Account-Based Everything

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Account-Based Everything

Funnel Optimization

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Funnel Optimization

Statement of Work

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Statement of Work

Employee Advocacy

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Employee Advocacy

Outbound Leads

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Outbound Leads

Needs Assessment

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Needs Assessment

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

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Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

Applicant Tracking System

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Applicant Tracking System

Net Promoter Score

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Net Promoter Score

Escalations

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Escalations

Private Labeling

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Private Labeling

Subscription Models

Subscription models are a business strategy where customers pay a recurring fee at regular intervals for access to a product or service.

Subscription Models

Site Retargeting

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Site Retargeting

Precision Targeting

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Precision Targeting

Sales Champion

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Sales Champion

Marketing Mix

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Marketing Mix

Sales Key Performance Indicators

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Sales Key Performance Indicators

Drip Campaign

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Drip Campaign

Email Verification

Email verification is the process of confirming that an email address is valid and deliverable, which helps improve campaign performance.

Email Verification

Content Management System

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Content Management System

SQL

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SQL

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

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LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Real-time Data Processing

Real-time data processing is the method of analyzing data the instant it's generated, enabling immediate actions and decision-making.

Real-time Data Processing

User Interface

A User Interface (UI) is the point where humans and computers interact. It encompasses all visual elements like screens, icons, and buttons.

User Interface

Economic Order Quantity

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Economic Order Quantity

Sales Rep Training

Sales rep training is the process of equipping your sales team with the skills, knowledge, and tools to effectively sell and hit their targets.

Sales Rep Training

Contract Management

Contract management is the process of creating, executing, and analyzing contracts to maximize performance and minimize financial risk.

Contract Management

Cloud-based CRM

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Cloud-based CRM

Email Personalization

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Email Personalization

Proof of Concept

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Proof of Concept

Request for Information

A Request for Information (RFI) is a formal process for gathering information from potential suppliers before issuing a more detailed proposal.

Request for Information

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) is the predictable income a company expects to receive from its customers over a one-year period.

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)

Inbound leads

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Inbound leads

Product Champion

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Product Champion

Ramp Up Time

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Ramp Up Time

Bottom of the Funnel

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Bottom of the Funnel

CRM Integration

CRM integration connects your CRM software with other tools, creating a unified system for all your customer data and business processes.

CRM Integration

Data-Driven Lead Generation

Data-driven lead generation is the process of using data insights to identify, attract, and convert high-quality leads into customers.

Data-Driven Lead Generation

Field Sales Rep

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Field Sales Rep

Stress Testing

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Stress Testing

After-Sales Service

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After-Sales Service

Win/Loss Analysis

Win/Loss Analysis is the process of systematically tracking and analyzing the reasons why you win or lose deals with prospective customers.

Win/Loss Analysis

Purchase Buying Stage

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Purchase Buying Stage

Content Rights Management

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Content Rights Management

Sales Intelligence Platform

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Sales Intelligence Platform

Responsive Design

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Responsive Design

Application Programming Interface Security

API security is the practice of protecting application programming interfaces from attacks, preventing data breaches and unauthorized access.

Application Programming Interface Security

Sales and Marketing Alignment

Sales and marketing alignment means both teams work in sync, sharing goals and data to boost lead quality, conversions, and company revenue.

Sales and Marketing Alignment

Sales Funnel

A sales funnel is a model illustrating the customer's journey from initial awareness to the final purchase, narrowing down leads at each stage.

Sales Funnel

Target Account Selling

Target Account Selling is a focused sales strategy where teams identify and pursue a specific list of high-value accounts.

Target Account Selling

Compliance Testing

Compliance testing ensures a product or system adheres to specific regulations, standards, or policies set by governing bodies or organizations.

Compliance Testing

Product Qualified Lead

A Product Qualified Lead (PQL) is a user who has experienced a product's value, signaling a strong potential to convert to a paid customer.

Product Qualified Lead

Draw on Sales Commission

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Draw on Sales Commission

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic, offering insights into user behavior and marketing effectiveness.

Google Analytics

Sales Partnerships

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Sales Partnerships

Rollback Procedures

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Rollback Procedures

Consumer

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Consumer

Sales Stack

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Sales Stack

Electronic Signatures

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Electronic Signatures

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

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Total Addressable Market (TAM)

Conversion Path

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Conversion Path

Application Performance Management

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Application Performance Management

Sales Manager

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Dark Social

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Dark Social

Programmatic Display Campaign

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Programmatic Display Campaign

Subject Matter Expert

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Subject Matter Expert

Cold Emailing

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Cold Emailing

AI Data Enrichment

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AI Data Enrichment

Soft Sell

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Soft Sell

Sales Presentation

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Sales Presentation

B2B Sales Process

Learn about B2B sales process, including key components of B2B sales processes, & crafting an effective B2B sales strategy.

B2B Sales Process