3 tips: Using digital optimization to improve customer journeys

While there’s been a lot of talk in recent years about the importance of the customer experience, many industries still struggle to make those improvements. Instead of leaping head-first into technological solutions, organizations should start with creating world-class customer journey maps. That helps businesses get a 360-degree view of different customer touchpoints with their company, leading to the development of transformative solutions that enhance the customer experience.

What is customer journey optimization?

Customer journey optimization involves mapping out consumers’ different interactions with a brand. From there, you analyze that user’s experience to get a sense of what influences their decisions and behaviors. The ultimate goal is to ensure that your customers have a seamless experience when they contact your business through any channel, whether it’s your website or a social media app.

But how can organizations use digital optimization in the development of customer journeys? It’s not as easy as buying a piece of software and plugging in some numbers. If you want to stay competitive in your industry, start by planning to use digital optimization to gain more insights from your customer journeys.

Below are some tips on how enterprises can incorporate digital transformation into their processes.

Tip #1: Review your current customer journeys

Digital transformation doesn’t mean you have to throw out everything you did before. Instead, go over your existing assets to review the steps you’ve captured about customer movements around your website or when they visit one of your social media outlets.

Look at the patterns and try to identify places where your organization can make things more efficient for the customer. In addition, you should try and find opportunities to give customers something that’s currently missing.

Start mapping out different touchpoints and break them down into different buckets. For example, you can have one bucket cover the point before a purchase, the second cover the process of making a purchase, and the third cover all possible post-purchase experiences.

Keep the following in mind as you break down your processes:

• What made the customer aware of your brand?
• Why did the customer choose your brand over another?
• What prompted the customer to complete a sale?
• What caused the customer to come back for a subsequent purchase?

Once you’ve done your breakdown, use internal data, like customer and operational KPIs, to determine what customers value at each touchpoint. In addition, review the business processes that drive each part of the customer journey.

Understanding these stages gives you a better understanding of what customers experience at each step in the process. Then, use the information from these stages to start redesigning your customer journey map or to start a new one.

Tip #2: Define your customer

Once you understand your customers’ journey when navigating each company touchpoint, start looking at who they are as individuals. As a company, what kind of audience are you looking to attract? Where are you struggling when it comes to pulling in specific demographics? As you create your customer personas, account for factors like:

• Age
• Gender
• Hobbies
• Race
• Common Interests
• Favorite social media sites

Having a customer data platform (CDP) with comprehensive information about your customers helps at this phase of designing customer service maps. Use the information to further develop each consumer profile. Look for answers to questions like:

• How long the average customer remains with your company
• Who’s more likely to refer your business to others
• Where they’re encountering the most pain points
• Using fact-based insights to inform your customer personas helps you develop a more realistic customer journey map based on actual behaviors versus assumptions.

Tip #3: Get fresh customer feedback

Before you start implementing any new strategies, go back to the drawing board with your customers to get a sense of what they’re thinking. That way, you avoid inadvertently removing something they enjoy or making a touchpoint more challenging to navigate. You can send out digital surveys and conduct online focus groups to expand your pool of information.

In addition, you can rely on analytics collected from your online channels to give you insight into how customers move around in those spaces. Adding new data feedback loops into your process keeps you from getting stuck on past assumptions, which could impact your ability to make things better for customers. Use the information collected to make any necessary changes to your customer journey map.

Build better customer journey maps with digital optimization

The Lytics platform offers brands the chance to collect key first-party customer data that helps them craft better end-user experiences. Find out more about how we can help you through the process of transforming the way customers interact with your brand, and try Lytics Decision Engine free to see the power of our software in action.