Customer Experience Mapping: Music to My Ears!

You’ve probably heard the term “Customer Experience Map” being touted these days in the business world.  So, what is it?

A Customer Experience Map is a diagram, or several diagrams, that illustrate the stages customers go through while interacting with a business, from buying products directly or online, to engaging customer service by phone or email, to handling complaints, shipments, change orders and so on. The PROCESS!

Of course, the “experience” we all want to provide our customers is one that gives them a strong sense that they are important — that “warm, fuzzy feeling,” one customer called it — which prompts them to say, “WOW, that company really GETS quality and service… and I would recommend them to anyone!”

I’m always happy to hear about new business terms and technologies through our clients who attend seminars and conferences throughout a wide variety of industries.

One of our clients (“Robert”), energized after attending a conference on Customer Experience Mapping, called me to share what he had learned: “Philip, I was excited to realize… we had this ‘Customer Experience Mapping’ already in place for the past several years, and it’s gone a long way to separate our company from the competition. I guess you know, the quality control systems we implemented with your help IS a Customer Experience Map!”

It’s music to my ears when a business owner gets the big picture like that!

Robert said he had picked up a few extra tips at the seminar, had simply updated his various control systems and “Viola,” he said, “the new ideas became part of our system, our map to providing our customer with that warm, fuzzy feeling about our company.”

He added, “The question I ask myself and my employees is, how do we produce a job that produces MORE jobs?”

I loved this business owner’s simple, down to earth explanation of why systems work!

You see, a diagram of a Customer Experience Map is a great document to have in your Operations Manual. However, if the map is not put into action through a series of prompts in a written control checklist, the experience you are hoping to provide will NOT happen on a consistent basis.

Did I mention? Great Systems Work!