The 6 biggest Customer Journey Mapping mistakes and what to do instead

Mistake no 1: to focus on touchpoints instead of the customer activities

If you focus on mapping the touchpoints, i e the points where the customer have an interaction with your company, its’ products or services, then you are on thin ice. By doing this you will miss the customer’s reality and perspective. And you will end up with a false map. Instead, start by mapping the customer’s activities and situations, and be aware - many if them happens outside your company. Once you have done that, then you can add your organization´s touchpoints, channels and everything else that happens on the inside.

Mistake no 2: to wait until you have collected enough customer insights

To wait until you have collected enough insights from field studies, interviews and other customer research, before you start mapping, might be the kosher way of doing customer journey mapping. But the drawback is that you loose precious time, and it will make it harder to get started.

So, instead of stalling, just start mapping the assumptions that you have about what the customer goes through. By doing so you will not only get a good starting-point for further mapping, you will also help your colleagues to get into a customer mindset, which is of great value.

Mistake no 3: mixing up and acting on the wrong stuff

As you know by now, It’s ok to put customer true insights and assumptions side by side in a journey map. It can be of good use when you need to visualize an overall journey. But make sure that you know what´s what. Otherwise you might fall into the trap of acting on and investing money in a problem or a solution that is not true customer centric and based on reality.

Also, remember that there are two important aspects of the customer journey mapping. One is obviously the experience and needs of the customers, but equally important is the business challenges you want to solve. Therefore, make sure that you put your mapping efforts into the areas that are important to your business. And in those areas, it is crucial that you have true customer insights. In other areas, you might well go along with a few assumptions, as it will save you time and lets you focus on the more critical areas.

Mistake no 4: getting stuck in between the ASIS and TOBE

Avoid getting stuck in between the ASIS-map and the TOBE-map. Many professionals start by creating a customer journey map that visualises the current state, the ASIS-map. To achieve change, you also want to create a future scenario, i e the TOBE-map. This map is also called Service Blueprint. But as you can imagine, having to juggle two maps, and updating them and adding insights can be confusing. It´s very easy to get lost.

Instead, for you to be able to act on the insights and to drive the change, it is better to create a journey map that works more like a change plan: still firmly based in customer and business insights and needs, but more actionable and agile. So instead of creating two maps, stick with one map that functions both as an ASIS- and the TOBE- version. That way you have map that will give you an overview of where you are today, and where you are heading. In this combined map, it is both easy to visualize the progress and to change and update the map when change has been made.

Mistake no 5: keeping the Customer Journey Map exclusive to a small group

A mistake we see frequently, and one that is sure to hold you back, is to keep the customer journey map exclusively to a small group of people. And this is another sure way to fail, especially when trying to implement changes.

Success will come to you much sooner if you share the map with as many as possible. Be transparent and encourage collaboration and remember to start by implementing the Customer journey Map before you start implementing the results of the journey map. By doing so, not only will you create the customer centricity that’s crucial, you will also be able to spur engagement, acceptance and co-operation. Try it, it will work as rocket fuel for your transformation!

Mistake no 6: treating the Customer Journey Map as a project delivery

Some professionals think of the Customer Journey Map as a project delivery, something that finishes off a project. Nothing could be more wrong. If you have this mindset, the customer journey map will surely end up in a folder somewhere, and all your efforts will be wasted.

Instead, as we have written earlier, the journey map should be seen as a starting-point for a customer centric change, and as a tool for implementing the changes founded in customer insight and business needs. So pick up that map and start using it right away. And make sure to keep the change plan updated and current in your daily work!