Five Questions You Must Ask for Successful Customer Journey Mapping

Understanding the Importance of Customer Advocacy In this episode of the Feedcast podcast, Tricia interviews Jim Tincher, CEO of Heart of the Customer, as they explore the journey from a product-focused mindset to prioritizing customer experience. Jim emphasizes the need for companies to advocate for customer needs and build products and services around them. By sharing real-life examples, he highlights the pitfalls of designing for oneself and the importance of understanding the customer journey. Overcoming Challenges and Maintaining a Customer Focus Jim and Tricia discuss the common challenges that companies face in maintaining a customer- focused mindset. They address the tendency to prioritize growth, cost management, and other business objectives over the customer experience. Emphasizing the need for executive buy-in, they stress the significance of incorporating customer experience into decision-making processes and aligning all departments to understand and meet customer needs. The Key Elements of Successful Customer Journey Mapping The conversation delves into the key elements of successful customer journey mapping. Jim outlines the five questions that organizations should address: identifying the right business problem, determining the appropriate journey and customer, selecting the right approach, and assembling a capable team. By focusing on these aspects, companies can gain valuable insights into their customers' experiences and identify areas for improvement. Companies Getting Customer Experience Right Jim highlights companies that are excelling in customer experience, going beyond the traditional examples. He shares inspiring stories of organizations such as Dow, Hagerty, and UKG, who have successfully prioritized customer-centric approaches and revolutionized their respective industries. These examples demonstrate the significance of measuring enjoyability and trust in B2B interactions and emphasize the importance of emotions in shaping customer experiences. Moving Beyond Traditional Metrics Tricia and Jim explore the limitations of traditional metrics, such as net promoter score (NPS), in truly understanding and improving customer experiences. They stress the need to listen to customers' actions and words, as well as to measure and address emotional factors. They also discuss the growing role of AI and chatbots in enhancing customer interactions and the importance of keeping the customer at the center of the experience. Closing Thoughts The episode concludes with Jim sharing insights from his book and the research he conducted. He underscores the need for organizations to connect customer experience to their financials and explains how successful companies create a customer-centric culture. By embracing change management and aligning all departments, businesses can ensure that the customer experience becomes part of their DNA. Overall, this episode provides valuable insights into the shift from product-focused thinking to prioritizing customer experience. It offers practical strategies for maintaining a customer focus, enhancing journey mapping efforts, and leveraging metrics that truly measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. Key Points [01:56] From product design to customer experience [06:22] Advocating for customer needs [11:46] Why do companies shift away from customers? [22:10] Where does the customer journey start? [27:29] What companies are doing it right? [30:06] Jim’s book and the research he found [34:15] Closing statements