Importance of understanding the customer’s journey

In just the first month of officially taking the helm of customer success at my startup, I was stopped three separate times by three separate people in three separate coffee meetings.

“Jen — stop what you are doing and map out the customer journey. If you don’t map out the customer journey, you won’t have a clear picture of what to do next or what to work on.”

“Jen — what do you mean you don’t know what happens before they come to you? What material have they already seen? Where are these customers coming from — marketing wise and emotionally?”

“Jen — you can’t figure out the later stages until you figure out the earlier ones. Set those up properly first, otherwise you’ll have a leaky bucket problem.”

They were all completely right; to start off on the right foot, I needed to understand my customers’ journey.

As Russel Lolacher, Host of the CX Storytime Podcast, said, “You’re not ‘customer-first’ if you don’t understand their paths to you.”

Why does this matter? Customers no longer just buy things, they require an experience.

• Almost 3 out of every 4 businesses named customer experience and success as their top priority. (Forrester)
• 86% of buyers would choose a better customer experience, even if it meant paying a bit more. (Walker)
• In 2020, customer experience will surpass price and product as a key brand differentiator (Walker)

From the moment your customer hears about your product to the time they renew (or move on), comprehending your customer’s full journey is important. It is also imperative the company as a whole — and not just customer success — understands the mindset, the emotions felt throughout the customer journey, and the hoops they make the customer jump through.

Therefore, by understanding the complexity of your customer’s user experience — in conjunction with understanding your Product and User Complexity — you will be better informed about your decision to create a customer success function.

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The above was an excerpt from my book The Startup’s Guide to Customer Success, available now on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Startups-Guide-Customer-Success-Champion/dp/1641371889

What’s interesting is that this posting coincides with when my team at work just updated our customer journey map to reflect some recent shifts in company strategy. Putting this post together was a great reminder of the power behind taking the time to look at the big picture.

I hope to help push the conversation around what customer centricity means for our businesses. No more talk — we need action!

If you’d like to get in contact with me, feel free to message me on LinkedIn. Always down to nerd out about customer success :)