Creating a customer journey map should be a cross-functional activity because the customer’s journey goes across all functions.
“But that’s that should word again”.
A phrase I use when I catch myself saying something that I know might have a few gotchas in it. Should is a red flag. It usually highlights what we think is the ideal, yet we know doesn’t really happen that way in practice. Otherwise, why not just say it is rather than it should.
Customer Journey maps reflect the various touchpoints a customer may encounter as they increase in awareness and commitment to our brands. A journey told from the perspective of the customer.
The trap to watch out for when creating it as a team is not to forgo this external view in exchange internal alignment. To write it in terms stages in the buyer’s journey, rather than our internal teams’ perspective.
So, it’s not marketing, sales, and support as top categories. A better framework is the one that Gartner uses – buy, own, and advocate.
Yes, each of the functions need to be aligned in a common point of view of the customer. If they aren’t then you may miss out on something. And sadly, in a lot of organizations the various customer-facing teams are siloed. As well, depending on the size of the organization and the business model, some of the functions are possibly shared or not represented. For example, a digital product might not have a sales team seeking orders yet have a customer success team seeking renewals.
One particular team doesn’t own the map. Even if one team may champion the effort to create it. By looking at it from the point of the view of customer, we also create this final phase in the customer’s commitment. Advocacy. Though marketing will often create programs to enhance it, advocacy is something the customer does, not an internal team. It happens when the customer decides to commit to that level of involvement.
Considering this, I would rewrite the first statement a little differently.
Customer journey maps details the touchpoints a customer engages with our company as they increase in awareness and commitment to our brands. From first impression to raving fan. To create that picture, we need representation from the various people inside the company with knowledge of individual touchpoints. And finally, have it confirmed by customer input as well.
This way we focus on creating a customer journey map that is frankly a better map. And a better map makes for a better tool to identify where we can strength that journey.
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