The Customer Service Journey: Does It Lead Customers Back to You?

This is part 2 of our dis­cus­sion on Cus­tomer Jour­ney Map­ping that we’re fea­tur­ing this month.

The ulti­mate goal of cus­tomer ser­vice is to deliver a pos­i­tive expe­ri­ence every time con­sumers reach out to your prod­uct, brand or ser­vice. Whether it’s a phone inter­ac­tion, web– or social media-based com­mu­ni­ca­tion, store­front encounter, or prod­uct expe­ri­ence, these “touch­points” add up to what is known as the cus­tomer ser­vice journey.

Map­ping the Jour­ney: Before, Dur­ing and After the Sale

Do you know what path your cus­tomers take when they do busi­ness with you? Are there road blocks or is it clear sail­ing? Is there pleas­ant scenery or junk piled in the alley­ways? Do peo­ple along the way pro­vide help­ful guid­ance or are they too busy to be both­ered? Is sig­nage up to date?

To get a clear under­stand­ing of the cus­tomer jour­ney, you’ll need to map the process. Depend­ing on the size and com­plex­ity of your com­pany, it might include dia­grams that take up a whole wall, or sim­ply sketches on the back of a nap­kin! Just remem­ber, any­time a cus­tomer comes in con­tact with your brand—before, dur­ing or after the purchase—it’s a touch­point. And the goal is to deliver a pos­i­tive expe­ri­ence every step of the way.

Ÿ Before: New Aware­ness, Research and Con­sid­er­a­tion. A first-time cus­tomer is learn­ing about your com­pany and prod­uct offer­ings. They may research and com­pare options before mak­ing a deci­sion, uti­liz­ing ads, a retail out­let, online tes­ti­mo­ni­als, your web­site, cat­a­log, FAQs, social media, blogs, or inter­ac­tions with a cus­tomer ser­vice agent.

Ÿ Dur­ing: Selec­tion and Trans­ac­tion. This is where the cus­tomer com­mits to and, if all goes well, fol­lows through on the pur­chase. This could hap­pen at a phys­i­cal store, through your web­site, by phone con­sul­ta­tion, or mail-in/fax form.

Ÿ After: Sat­is­fac­tion. Cus­tomers may inter­act with billing, prod­uct sup­port, ship­ping, returns, etc. They may receive follow-up sur­veys, prod­uct newslet­ters, a thank you, and follow-up offers.

Ÿ The Return Jour­ney. This is where a cus­tomer is so sat­is­fied that he or she decides to make future pur­chases with your com­pany and share pos­i­tive expe­ri­ences with oth­ers, either face-to-face or through social media. Follow-up reminders and spe­cial offers nur­ture loy­alty and help con­tinue the relationship.

Eval­u­ate the Itinerary

In addi­tion to out­lin­ing each step in the jour­ney, it’s impor­tant to under­stand the consumer’s emo­tional response at each touch­point. Con­sider the following:

Ÿ How do cus­tomers feel and react at each interaction?

Ÿ Where do they get stuck? What are the obsta­cles? Does any part of the process lack infor­ma­tion or get too com­pli­cated? Is there any point at which cus­tomers are dis­cour­aged from mak­ing a pur­chase or re-engaging your business?

Ÿ What can be done remove the obsta­cles and make the cus­tomer jour­ney a plea­sure from start to finish?

Brand-wide Ben­e­fits

When you under­stand the jour­ney your cus­tomers are tak­ing to engage with your brand and how they’re respond­ing at each touch­point, you can begin to address any nec­es­sary changes. Insights gained from map­ping and eval­u­at­ing the cus­tomer jour­ney can improve your entire orga­ni­za­tion, includ­ing dis­tri­b­u­tion, prod­uct devel­op­ment, mar­ket­ing, brand­ing, and ship­ping as well as cus­tomer ser­vice. You may dis­cover, for example:

Ÿ Cus­tomers are thrilled up to the point they receive their prod­uct, only to find that the set-up instruc­tions are unclear and frustrating.

Ÿ A lot of money is spent on small gift items to accom­pany each pur­chase, how­ever they’re get­ting lost in the packaging.

Ÿ A larger than expected older demo­graphic is drift­ing away at the research phase because FAQs are directed at 20-somethings.

Ÿ The shop­ping cart expe­ri­ence doesn’t trans­late well to mobile users.

Ÿ There is no follow-up after a sale, and even cus­tomers with a pos­i­tive expe­ri­ence are engag­ing other com­pa­nies for their next purchase.

See­ing your busi­ness through your cus­tomers’ eyes will pro­vide invalu­able insight for improv­ing their sat­is­fac­tion and loy­alty. And while this knowl­edge can ben­e­fit the entire orga­ni­za­tion, it’s pri­mar­ily your cus­tomer ser­vice depart­ment that will guide the con­sumer through any stum­bling blocks along the way. There­fore, under­stand­ing the cus­tomer jour­ney is the foun­da­tion for cre­at­ing a suc­cess­ful cus­tomer ser­vice strategy.