To implement customer journey management, business unit leaders must agree on the goals and objectives of the project and work together to create a cross-functional team. The journey begins even before the customer picks up the phone. In many instances, the customer's journey is negative, and both the customer and the agent start at the same starting point. Here are some tips for success:

Business Unit Leaders Must Agree On Goals

Achieving success in customer journey management requires business unit leaders to work together. To begin, they must establish a common goal and define expectations. The team must also have a guiding coalition of external contributors and leaders. Outside perspectives are more likely to question and challenge the status quo than insiders. The exact makeup of the alliance will vary depending on the industry, business division, and geography. Kotter reports seeing transformations succeed when union leaders and business unit leaders are invited to participate. In addition to internal leaders, business unit leaders must build a solid foundation for the journey.

The customer journey should map to business objectives. These objectives can include average revenue per user, assets under management, and cost-per-service. An excellent example of a customer journey would be how a health insurance member starts a supportive treatment plan. This process will directly impact digital containment rates, cost-per-service, and STARS ratings. Once business units are clear on goals, they can begin executing them.

Creating a Cross-Functional Team

If you want to create a high-performing environment for your customer journey management process, your cross-functional teams must be cohesive and collaborative. According to a Harvard Business Review study, 75% of cross-functional teams are dysfunctional, while only 25% of them succeed in overcoming challenges. Before creating a cross-functional team, consider your employees' strengths and capabilities.

In addition to your marketing team, you should also include information technology, a contact center, and face-to-face services, representatives. In some cases, you may need to have people from marketing, legal services, or even healthcare. Adding these people can lead to a disjointed customer journey and poorly-designed solutions. Therefore, your cross-functional team must have the necessary expertise and experience to make the customer's journey seamless.

Creating a Customer Journey Map

A customer journey map is vital for any customer relationship management strategy. This process will help you understand how your customers interact with your brand, their pain points, and how you can improve your services. Then, you can present it to your CEO or other departments and a client to share your findings. To make it more appealing, consider including screenshots or actual photos of the store to show the customer's experiences during each stage of the journey. The more visuals you can provide, the easier it will be for others to understand your customer journey map and develop improvement ideas.

When you create a customer journey map, you can include passive steps. For example, if a customer visits a billboard and waits for confirmation, they're not taking any action. In contrast, a customer may click on a Facebook ad and be directed to a landing page that offers more digital information. You can also add these "passive" steps as part of your customer journey map to capture what customers are doing to purchase your product.

Measuring the Value of the Customer Experience Journey

Measuring the value of the customer experience is crucial for businesses of all sizes. It's a powerful tool to identify the elements of the customer journey that impact the overall customer experience and make course corrections as necessary. Here are some tips for implementing customer journey measurement. Begin by defining the goals and milestones of the customer experience. Then, you should identify in-journey signals and success metrics.

Customer journey measurement reveals crucial information, such as the number of customers who abandon a purchase or the product before completing the process. The process also provides insights into drop-offs, skipped steps, and channel switches. It helps organizations prioritize improvement opportunities to deliver better customer experiences. The key to success is to make every customer feel valued. Only then can a company achieve its goals. In the meantime, customer journey measurement can help organizations focus their efforts on improving customer experience and business outcomes.