User Journey Map – Customer Journey Map

This is not about simple journeys, which also require detailed maps, but about the movements that the buyer makes while interacting with the product. Customer Journey Map (CJM) is a map of the user’s journey, which is known not by the buyer, but by an attentive manager, the seller of his goods. Watching the buying decision flow unfold is not only exciting, but also very rewarding. So you can understand what stages the client overcomes before making a purchase.

Perhaps your ad helps him, on which he sees calls to action. In any case, to understand how to sell more, you need to pay attention to the process taking place in the minds of customers.

What are user journey maps for?

Such cards may be virtual, ie. written in the manager’s mind. But it is better if they are real, drawn up on paper. This makes it much easier to track all the stages that the visitor went through until the moment of direct purchase.

The map will help you understand how the client feels at each stage. How he interacts with the product, what he thinks about it. Such work will remove possible obstacles to the payment process. You will be able to improve not only the product itself, but also the way it is laid out, expand the types of advertising.

CJM helps to clarify important questions such as:

• Where exactly do customers find information about your products?
• Where do they find products? For example, they find it on the site or come to stores, order through the application;
• How does your audience react to the product?
• What is the age of the CA;
• What objections arise in the way of making a purchase decision;
• How buyers react to the method of sale;
• When are customers most satisfied?
• When they are frustrated, etc.

All these points are entered into a table or graphs. Then the information is analyzed, decisions are made to improve and eliminate negative aspects, correct errors.

The map will help the manager go through the path of each client on the path of interaction with the goods.

The difference between a CJM map and a sales funnel

It is worth noting that the buyer map is different from the sales funnel. The main difference is that the funnel displays the customer’s desired steps towards the purchase. And the user journey map shows the possibility of alternative real solutions that the client actually goes through. It shows all his doubts, hesitations, questions, discontents that arise on the way to purchase.

A sales funnel is a customer journey planned by a manager.

The travel map is the real journey of every customer.

Who are CJM cards for?

Such cards are especially necessary for medium and small businesses with complex sales schemes. For example, they should be compiled by those companies that have a stationary store, an online store, a courier service, outdoor advertising and advertising on the Internet. This is considered a complex sales system.

It is worth making a travel map at almost all stages:

1. During the implementation of the business idea itself to reduce possible problems.
2. When the products suddenly stopped selling, and a lot of negative reviews appeared.
3. The previously successful business began to sag, new ideas are needed for its resuscitation.

Even for large companies, it is extremely necessary to periodically map the journeys of individual customers in order to understand how to stay afloat, find an approach to their consumers, and increase sales.

What to include on the map

It can be a graph, a drawing, an image created with the help of photographs, special editors. Here it is important to keep the structure, highlighting the stages that each user goes through. Among them are:

1. The moment the customer first encounters information about your product. For example, a banner, a billboard, an advertisement on a website, a discussion in social networks, etc.
2. Aha-points, during which the buyer finds what he was looking for. This is expressed in a more thorough study of information, a close examination of advertising or a product.
3. Conversion when moving from one stage to another. For example, when receiving information for thinking, reading reviews, then placing an order.
4. The number of clients at each step.
5. Time to make a purchase decision.
6. Emotions experienced by customers. They can be expressed with emoticons. Information about emotions can be obtained by observing the behavior of customers on the trading floor or after reading reviews.
7. Find out problem areas, understand where the client begins to hesitate, which is in doubt.
8. Consider ways to clear doubts. For example, place the product closer to the light or provide detailed instructions describing useful qualities.

Remember that a well-mapped map will help you minimize customer abandonment. After all, your information will not be based on speculation and conjecture, but on the facts that you enter into the table.

Where to get information

Of course, in order for the data to be true, it is necessary to connect tools for calculating conversions and analytics. For sites, this will be Google Analytics or Yandex.Metrica. Flurry, CleverTap, Localytics can be connected to applications.

For existing stores, this can be video cameras installed in the trading floors. You can also conduct surveys, ask for feedback, share your observations on social networks in interest groups.

Get information from sellers, consultants who directly interact with buyers. Listen to their suggestions, complaints, suggestions.

Test purchases yourself. Become a mystery shopper for a couple of days, identify the moments that annoy you.