Take outs:

• Understanding your customers experience can spark deeper innovation
• Understanding the friction your customers encounter at each touchpoint is the key to identifying where you can innovate
• Customer journey mapping is a simple way of making every customer interaction count 

The days of getting to know your customers across a desk are long gone. Today customers connect with businesses in so many different ways that it’s easy to overlook the significance of each interaction.  

Simple techniques exist to identify key interactions with your customers. You just need to know where to find them. One of them is Customer Journey Mapping, and it’s an exercise in the Netwealth Innovation Toolkit.

Understanding in-depth a customer’s experience with you is vital to growing your business. Their experience is more than just one interaction, it’s many; first with your brand and then online or face-to-face with your customer service team or yourself.

The challenge lies in knowing which customer segment you are focusing on, predicting their route and interacting with them in a meaningful way along it.

Customer journey map

Each customer interaction can be mapped visually using statistical or anecdotal evidence. 

Step 1:  Selecting your customer

Start first either with a generic customer or with your primary customer segment, and then as you get familiar with the mapping process you can develop journeys specific to your other customer segments. 

Step 2:  Map the high-level journey

A Customer Journey Map gives you a strategic view of the touchpoints where a customer interacts with you or your business. 

When you start mapping, avoid getting bogged down in the detail by first grouping interactions into identifiable stages.   

At this point in the exercise, you will need to define the high-level adviser customer journey. Before a person becomes your customer, they are a prospect. At this stage of their journey they are exploring, comparing and researching the advice solutions available to them so they can make an appointment. Once they make that first appointment, they then progress to the next stage in their journey. And then they may become a client having their discovery meeting.  The journey then continues.

Learn more above the high-level stages of an advice practices’ customer journey.

Step 3: Touchpoints

An important step when creating any customer journey map is identifying the various touchpoints a customer can have with your business. This allows you to see how the different points of interaction can shape their experience.

Touchpoints may be physical or virtual channels, and at each stage of the journey there can be multiple touchpoints. Think back to the customer who is a prospect. At that stage there are numerous touchpoints that can apply. They might find you via Facebook or a ratings and review website, like AdviserRatings.com.au. Alternatively they might have been referred by a friend or a partner. Most likely they will review your website and social media pages. List interactions under each high-level stage of the customer journey.  It is important to capture the details.

Step 4: Pain and delight points

Understanding the friction your customers encounter at each touchpoint is the key to identifying where you can innovate.

Do your touchpoints delight, or are they moments of pain and frustration? Are your customers’ needs exceeded, or did you miss the mark? The key to knowing the nature of each touchpoint lies in understanding how your customer might feel as a result of that interaction. What are their expectations of the service as well as the product?

The way they feel at each touch point can and often will change depending upon your level of focus. A pain point is important to uncover so you can turn it into one of delight.

Customer Journey Map Workshop

Exercises and activities to help you see your customer journeys in a different light

Download workshop

Turning pain points into highlights

So, are there different ways to delight a customer? The short answer is yes. The key lies in understanding where your customer may be feeling frustration, and then thinking outside the box for solutions.

These days meeting expectations isn’t always enough to delight a customer. Customers expect good and consistent service no matter where they interact with you. Furthermore in this industry they also expect you to provide reputable advice, protecting their wealth wisely and ethically.

So how can you wow them?

Using innovation

Understanding your customers experience can spark deeper innovations.

Enhancing pain points with an innovation mindset is not only a way of mitigating the risk of customer loss, but also of improving all aspects of your business. 

Make customer journey mapping part of a bigger, broader innovation strategy, and discover how knowing your customers can not only enrich their experience, but also grow your business.

Are you ready to map your customer journey and identify areas of opportunity? Let the simple-to-use exercises in the Netwealth Innovation Toolkit give you the inspiration to begin now.