Please, Not Another Buzzword…
The number of buzzwords in digital marketing is growing at an exponential rate, causing many marketers to question whether keeping is possible/worth it in the long term. However, customer journey mapping isn’t just another layer of complexity added to an already over-complicated world. It actually takes us back to the basics of marketing, all the way to the most powerful tool marketers have ever had – storytelling. Tell a compelling and engaging story, and the sky’s the limit.
What Does Storytelling Have to Do With Customer Journey Mapping?
Since the dawn of time, people want to be enveloped in a narrative. Customer journey mapping is the basic process of defining all the touch-points that a user crosses as they interact with your brand. In other words, it represents all the opportunities you have to weave a compelling story – one that not only informs customers but elevates them, engages them and makes them see deep and meaningful value in what you offer.
Where Does This Journey Take Place?
If you are in retail, then the story has a lot to do with a person’s physical journey through your store. If we’re talking about the online space, then the journey is defined by a user’s path through an app/website. More often than not, the story you tell crosses between offline and online channels before it comes to a (hopefully successful) finish. How successful the finish is depends on how well you’ve throught through each touch point, as well as the different sequences of touch-points a user may go through, regardless of channel or medium.
Where Does This Leave Me?
Before executing on your next-level digital strategy, focusing on things like User Experience, Conversion Rate Optimization, Personalization, etc., take a step back and ask yourself these questions:
- What is the narrative I want to tell to each of my marketing personas?
- Do I have a solid and complete understanding of how each of my marketing personas interacts with my brand?
- What are some of the obstacles within/across channels and media?
- Is each touch-point optimized beyond its function as a single experience, and instead as part of a sequence of steps?
- Do I have the right metrics/KPIs to keep track of how well my touch-points are doing in engaging people in my narrative?
For any further information on customer journey mapping, and perhaps a quick workshop – get in touch below. Happy CJM-ing!
