Customer Journey Mapping: 9 Key Steps for IT Service Success

In today's digital age, where customer experience reigns supreme, companies are increasingly aware of the importance of understanding and optimizing every customer touchpoint. Customer Journey Mapping (CJM) has become a powerful tool for representing and scrutinizing the customer experience, from initial awareness to post-purchase interactions. In the IT services industry, where customer satisfaction and loyalty are critical to success, implementing effective CJM practices can be essential to delivering exceptional service and remaining competitive.

Overview of Customer Journey Mapping in IT

What is a customer journey map? A customer journey map is a graphical representation of how a customer interacts with a company. It also includes taking into account the customer's perspective, emotions, and pain points and provides insight into the prospect's needs at each stage of the journey and the circumstances that directly or indirectly support or hinder their development.

Understanding your customer base can be a very challenging task. Each customer's journey from awareness to purchase will always be somewhat unpredictable, even if you are well acquainted with the customer and his desires. Despite changing buyer behavior and the fact that it is impossible to predict every experience with 100% accuracy, customer journey mapping is a handy tool that lets you keep track of each customer's important steps. In the IT services industry, where customer experience is of paramount importance, customer journey mapping plays a key role in shaping service delivery and improving customer satisfaction.

In 2022, a Hannover Research report found that 94% of companies find their customer journey maps useful in creating new products and services that meet customer needs. Another 91% of companies said their cards increase sales. How to create a customer journey map? Creating a customer journey map allows companies to:

• Optimize channels to increase customer engagement.
• Identify and optimize moments of truth in customer service.
• Remove touchpoints that don't work.
• Move from a business to a customer-centric approach.
• Target specific customers with marketing campaigns that match their identity.
• Gain valuable insights into how customers perceive and interact with their offerings.
• Streamline processes and offer personalized experiences that satisfy their target audience.
• Find ways to improve.
• Identify opportunities for innovation.
• Make it possible to evaluate ROI (Return On Investment), return on future investments in UX (user experience)/CX (customer experience).

In this article, we’ll talk about what you need to know about creating a customer journey map: what it is and how to do it. We will also share the best practices for IT services for customer journey mapping.

Understanding Customer Needs and Expectations

Need is a feeling of lack, or of the necessity for something, that is fulfilled through purchasing some product or service. The path to understanding the needs and expectations of the buyer lies in identifying his pains and necessities.

Understanding customer needs and expectations is essential to delivering exceptional IT services that resonate with target audiences and improve customer satisfaction. This process includes several key steps:

• Determining the target audience

The first step in understanding customer needs and expectations is to identify the target audience for your IT services. It involves research and analysis of demographics, behavior, and preferences in order to identify specific groups of customers who are most likely to benefit from and engage with your offerings. Understanding your target audience's unique characteristics and requirements lays the foundation for effectively meeting their needs and expectations.

• Collecting customer feedback and ideas

To gain a deeper understanding of customer needs and expectations, actively collect feedback from existing customers through surveys, interviews, and other feedback channels. Respond to both qualitative and quantitative data, including customer preferences, pain points, problems, and desired results. Analyzing customer feedback and ideas provides valuable recommendations for improving your IT services to meet customer needs and expectations.

• Determining the client's identity

Developing customer personas is a valuable method for segmenting and understanding your target audience on a deeper level. Customer personas are fictional representations of your ideal customers based on demographic, behavioral, and psychographic characteristics. By creating detailed customer personas, including factors such as job roles, goals, objectives, and preferences, you can better understand the diverse needs and expectations of your target audience segments. This allows you to tailor your IT services to meet specific customer needs and provide personalized experiences that suit different customers.

Overall, understanding customer needs and expectations through identifying target audiences, collecting feedback and ideas, and defining customer personas is essential to shaping IT services that meet customer requirements, increase satisfaction, and ultimately contribute to business success.

Customer Journey Mapping

Mapping the customer journey for IT services is a process that consists of specific steps and involves understanding and analyzing the stages that customers go through when interacting with IT service providers. Customer journey analysis helps identify touchpoints, interactions, emotions, and pain points that customers encounter along the way. Here's how customer journey mapping can be applied to IT services:

Stages of the Customer Journey

There are typically 5 stages of the customer journey that customers go through when interacting with IT services: awareness, research and consideration, decision, implementation, and support. However, many customer mapping journeys also include important steps such as feedback/evaluation and renewal/buyout. Below, you can find a description of each stage of mapping the customer journey for IT services.

• Awareness

Customers identify their IT needs and begin looking for solutions. They can contact IT service providers by searching online, getting advice, or participating in marketing campaigns.

• Research and Review

Customers evaluate various IT service and solution providers based on prices, service offerings, experience, and reputation. They can seek advice or read reviews on providers' websites.

• Solution

Clients select an IT service provider and enter into a contract or purchase. This stage may include negotiations, contracting, and finalization of service agreements.

• Implementation

Customers begin using the IT services they have chosen, such as installation, configuration, training, and deployment. During this phase, they can interact with project managers, technical specialists, and IT support teams.

• Support and Maintenance

Clients who use IT services receive ongoing service support. Troubleshooting, installing updates, and solving any problems that arise are part of this.

• Feedback and Evaluation

Customers provide feedback based on their experience with IT products or services. Through this feedback, satisfaction levels are assessed and areas for improvement are identified.

• Renewal or Buyout

Depending on the nature of the IT service, the client can renew the subscription, upgrade to a higher level, or repurchase the product if necessary.

Points of Contact and Interaction

Points of contact and interaction in the IT services customer journey mapping stages refer to the various touchpoints at which customers interact with IT services or products throughout their journey. These touchpoints are critical in shaping the overall customer experience and can occur at different customer journey stages. What are touchpoints in customer journey mapping? Here are examples of touchpoints and interactions at each stage:

By identifying and optimizing these touchpoints and interactions, IT service providers can improve the overall customer experience, increase customer satisfaction, and foster long-term customer relationships.

Customer Emotions and Pain Points

By mapping the customer journey, IT service providers can gain insight into customer behavior, preferences, and pain points, allowing them to optimize their processes, improve the customer experience, and build long-term customer relationships. Customer emotions and pain points include:

• Disappointment

Customers may be frustrated by technical problems, delays, or inefficiencies in the implementation or support process.

• Confusion

Customers may have difficulty deciding about different service options, understanding complex IT solutions, or technical jargon.

• Satisfaction

Customers may be more satisfied and confident with IT service providers after receiving positive results such as prompt support, practical solutions, and smooth implementation.

• Confidence

Building trust for IT services is critical as consumers rely on providers to protect their data, provide security, and provide reliable solutions that meet their needs.

9 Successful Steps to Create a CJM

Having analyzed the stages of the customer journey, identified points of contact and interaction, and considered all possible emotions and pain points of customers in IT services, you can finally begin to create the customer journey map. This section will consider nine successful steps to create a customer journey map for IT services.

1. Use Customer Journey Map Templates

Start using existing templates or frameworks to structure your customer journey map effectively. Templates will help you cover all essential touchpoints and stages of the customer journey. Save your time and download free customer journey map templates. Tons of templates describe the buyer journey, lead generation, ways of assessing customer expectations, service plans, and more.

An excellent example of templates for IT services in the hosting industry is a template for a customer service plan when ordering and using a VPS service.

2. Set Clear Goals for Creating the Map

Before you start exploring a customer journey map, consider the purpose of creating the map. How are you planning to use this map? In whose interests is it? What experience is this idea based on? It is also helpful to create a fictitious customer persona with all your real customer's details. This image will help direct each element of the customer journey map to a specific target group. Define the goals and results you hope to achieve with your customer journey map. Whether it's improving customer satisfaction, identifying pain points, or increasing conversions, having clear goals will guide your mapping process.

3. Profile Consumers and Determine Their Goals

To create a target audience profile, conducting research to obtain ready-made customer journey analytics using various customer journey tracking tools is beneficial. User testing and analytics questionnaires are also great ways to get helpful customer feedback. It is essential to interview existing or potential customers and communicate with those interested in purchasing your products and services and those who have ever interacted with your company or are planning to do so. Creating customer personas and identifying their needs, preferences, and goals will help you understand your target audience and align your customer journey map with the specific needs of your audience segments.

4. Identify Your Target Customers

Identify the key segments or customers you want to focus on in your customer journey map. Tailor your map to meet the unique needs and challenges of each segment. This means that after you've learned about the different types of customers interacting with your business, limit yourself to one or two types. As a customer journey map tracks how a group of customers chooses a specific path within your company, the map will only accurately reflect a few people on the same journey. When creating your first map, it's best to identify a customer type and determine the route they typically take to reach your business. You can use the marketing dashboard to compare each and choose the one that best suits your travel map. Don't worry about those you missed because you can always go back and create a new card for those customers.

5. List All Points of Contact

Map out all the points of contact or touchpoints where customers interact with your brand, including online and offline channels. This could include visiting a website, interacting on social media, calling customer service, and more.

Because any IT service or brand is not promoted only on its marketing materials and website, it is necessary to consider the different touchpoints in the customer journey map. Based on your research, list all the touchpoints your customers currently use, as well as the ones you think they should use. Having a ready list of customer touchpoints and interactions with IT services is essential for creating a customer journey map because it provides insight into how your customers operate and provides opportunities to improve the buying process.

6. Identify Available and Desired Resources

The benefits of customer journey mapping are that it is expected to touch almost every part of the IT service delivery process and highlight all the resources needed to create a positive customer experience. Identify the resources and capabilities needed to support each touchpoint along the customer journey. This may include technology, personnel, budget, and other resources needed to provide a seamless customer experience and more.

7. Follow the Consumer Journey

Until you try out the customer journey yourself, creating a journey map remains theoretical. Walking through the customer journey lets you see first-hand where customers may deviate or encounter problems. Follow the customer's journey from initial awareness of IT services through online searches to purchase decisions and post-purchase support. Capture the emotions, behaviors, and pain points that customers experience at each stage.

8. Evaluate Your Results

A completed customer journey map example results from multifaceted work on the interaction process between customers and IT service providers, but this does not mean that the work is completed. Analyzing the results is the most essential part of the process. Once you've created a customer journey map, evaluate its effectiveness in achieving your goals. Identify improvement areas and optimization opportunities based on customer feedback, data analysis, and stakeholder feedback. This way, you can provide a valuable service, and people can solve their problems with the help of your company.

9. Update the Map Over Time

After analyzing the results, you can understand what changes can be made to achieve certain goals. This could include, for example, introducing more specific call-to-action links or more detailed descriptions of each IT service. No matter the size of the change, it will be effective because it directly relates to customer pain points. Now, you can ensure that these needs and pain points are always met with a visualized example of a customer journey map. How often should the customer journey map be updated? Customer journey mapping is an ongoing process. Continuously monitor changes in customer behavior, market trends, and business goals and update your map to ensure it remains relevant and effective over time. Your map should be continually refined, identifying gaps and potential opportunities to optimize the customer journey further.

Customer Service Quality Analysis and Improvement

Research shows customer service is as essential to consumers as products, services, and prices. This is especially pronounced in the field of IT services. Consumers will not do business with a company that provides poor service. Conversely, the expansion of the customer base is stimulated by positive interaction experiences.

If we imagine two buyers who bought identical goods from the same supplier:

• The first one encountered problems with the product, contacted technical support, received quick help and a solution to the problem.
• The second one had no issues with the product and only communicated with the supplier upon purchase.

The question arises:

Which of them is more likely to become a regular customer and return to purchase again?

The answer is simple:

Despite the issues with the order, the first customer is now familiar with the product and knows he will always receive help if necessary.

Building a CJM helps you look at your product through the eyes of the user. Analyzing CJM stages and customer behavior is critical to improving the customer experience, especially when identifying and addressing product gaps.

The IT Services Quality Analysis

Analyzing and improving the customer experience is essential for any business.

Analyzing IT service quality helps you better understand successes and failures by identifying gaps and opportunities in customer service processes. Also, by conducting thorough data analysis, collecting customer feedback and surveys, you can gain valuable insight into areas that need attention.

After identifying gaps and opportunities, the next step is to prioritize areas for improvement. By assessing the impact of each potential improvement and considering factors such as customer feedback, resource availability, and strategic goals, you can determine which areas will provide the greatest return on investment. This allows you to focus efforts and resources where they will significantly impact customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Finally, implementing change and improvement is critical to a sustainable customer success journey map. This includes developing action plans, assigning responsibilities, and setting clear timelines for implementation. Regular monitoring and evaluation are also necessary to track progress, identify any problems, and make adjustments as necessary. Only through continuous improvement and optimization of customer service processes can we guarantee the highest quality services to our valued customers.

Improving Customer Experience

Improving the quality of IT services not only affects key performance indicators (KPIs) and sales growth, and, accordingly, profit growth, it also helps improve indicators such as:

• Audience loyalty degree.
• Customer’s retention rate.
• Repeated calls frequency.
• Company reputation.
• As a result, new buyers' influx.
• And as a result, increased sales.

Therefore, it is essential to improve the level of service by the following methods:

• Automation of business processes: receiving incoming requests, technical support, analyzing employee productivity, collecting contacts and reviews, etc.
• Using service improvement tools (chatbots, virtual assistants, etc.).
• Promptness of feedback: consultations on services, sending commercial offers, reminders about registration, reservations, events, about answers to frequently asked questions, assistance in placing orders, collecting user contacts, conducting surveys, and transferring the conversation to an operator.
• Convenience by connecting a variety of communication channels.
• Professional qualities of employees: communication, reaction, conflict resolution.

Conclusion

In conclusion, integrating customer journey mapping into IT service delivery is a powerful strategy for organizations looking to improve customer satisfaction, streamline processes, and achieve business success. By aligning service offerings with customer needs, improving user interfaces and experiences, and optimizing service processes, organizations can deliver superior customer experiences and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Looking ahead, future trends in customer journey mapping solutions for IT services could include:

• Advanced personalization. Using data analytics and artificial intelligence to deliver personalized experiences based on individual customer preferences.
• Integration of new technologies. Incorporating augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to create an immersive and engaging customer experience.
• Cross-channel consistency. Ensuring a consistent experience across all channels and touchpoints, including online, mobile, and in-person interactions.

Overall, customer journey mapping will continue to evolve as organizations strive to meet their customers' ever-changing needs and expectations in an increasingly digital world. Organizations can achieve long-term success in the IT services industry by staying ahead of these trends and adopting customer-centric approaches.