In both marriage and CX, it is the little things that make a big difference.
A commonly known figure for the past couple of decades is that nearly 50% of all marriages will end in divorce. A sad statistic for sure, but the main causes for this, as noted in numerous articles and studies include basic elements of relationships such as:
- Lack of communication
- Feeling constrained
- Lack of trust
- Expectations not being met
- Not being understood
Imagine for a moment that you were able to map out the journey of your marriage from the blissful courting stage, to the honeymoon stage, to the reality of real life together, maintaining a home, raising children, job stress, etc. As you create this visual representation of your marriage you would be able to note the most important moments of truth in the marriage, what the real pain points are, what your goals are, how you measure success, where you are strong, and even note the thoughts and emotions of your partner. This could include everything from how many kids you want, the importance of religion, and even the critical daily tests such as how you like your coffee or how you should/n’t squeeze the tube of toothpaste. While one may argue that a strong marriage will figure this out through careful listening, paying attention and even the ability to weather some rocky moments, the success rate of marriage would suggest not enough of this happens.
To learn more about financial service journey mapping click here.
Now take these same reasons listed above which lead to the failure of marriage and apply them to the relationship you have with any organization which provided you with a product or service that left you disappointed and leaving in search of something better and ask yourself if these are not the same reasons. I could certainly add price as a reason for leaving as well, but I omitted financial concerns above, so even money holds true.
All relationships, whether human or with a product or service have a honeymoon period where the blindness of the rose colored glasses makes us step into relationships potentially unprepared for the reality of what awaits. Whether we were influenced by persuasive advertising, unrealistic expectations or something else, product and service loyalty has a success rate at the same level as marriages. According to a 2013 article in Bloomberg, 8 out of every 10 entrepreneurs fail within the first 18 months. In a related Forbes magazine article by Eric Wagner, the number one reason cited for these failures is that business owners are “not really in touch with customers through deep dialogue”.
Now take the same mapping exercise noted above and consider the power it would provide any customer-oriented organization. Imagine aligning the organization around a common view of the steps a customer takes with your product or service. Envision the ability you would have if everyone knew what the moments of truth in the customer journey are, what are the pain points to improve, what are the customer’s objectives, their thoughts, attitudes, and emotional needs. Knowing, understanding and acting upon these types of insights is a roadmap for customer experience success. If you haven’t figured it out by now–this is what customer journey mapping is, one of the most popular solutions in the customer experience space today.
Having spent most of my career running customer experience efforts for major companies I would frequently read about new and established research and customer experience efforts. I always wondered how applied versus theoretical they were and what the solution would look like if I decided to invest my organization’s time and money resources in such a solution. Through the years I experienced many successes, and some failures, trying out CX and research approaches. If you have not had engaged your organization in customer journey mapping yet I would highly recommend it whether you are just starting your customer experience efforts or feel like your program needs re-alignment.
Learn more about how to map the experience your customers have with you and how you can use this to create a common customer view for the organization and advance down the road of customer experience maturity. To learn more specifically about financial services journey mapping click here.
