Imagining My Own Business | Part 5: It’s a Journey

When I go on vacation, I create a categorized checklist before I dive into the packing extravaganza. It’s kind of ridiculous and my friends make fun of me for it. So, why do I go that silly extra mile? Because I have a map that guides my packing efforts to ensure I’m not the idiot who’s freaking out because I forgot my swimsuit and now have to buy a hideously unflattering version at the gift shop for about a million dollars. And lists just make my little organizational heart happy.

The same goes for businesses. Quality products matter, but customer service is everything. As customers, we go through a journey of experiences throughout our relationship with any company we encounter. How that journey trucks along determines our loyalty to that company. (And, if you recall, word of mouth is a critical aspect to your marketing efforts. It can literally make or break a business – especially a small one just starting out.) The goal is to keep us coming back by creating experiences that build satisfaction, trust, and loyalty at every step. Similar to my successfully packed suitcase thanks to a detailed checklist, businesses often build a customer journey map to ensure they can visually represent (and understand) the entire customer experience. The kicker is to create a map of every touchpoint between your company and the customer from the customer’s perspective (not an assumption that you know what’s best).

For this assignment, I’ve been tasked to create a customer journey map detailing how a customer would obtain a product from a competitor of mine. I then need to create a map of my own on how I could improve the value to both the customer and my business. Let’s get this party started, shall we?

We’ll call my competitor Yonder Cakes for the sake of discretion since I’m about to lovingly rock their world when it comes to technology being a friend to your business and customers alike. Below is their fun little map. Except it’s not very fun because it’s laced with missed opportunity. When you google bakeries in the area, Yonder Cakes comes up (which is great!), however the search results only provide a name, address, and phone number. No reviews, no website, no social presence, no nothin’. Instead, you must reach out by phone to learn about their business, what they offer, their pricing structure, their process, etc. Once it’s time to order, you do so over the phone, however you then pay with cash or check after receiving an invoice via email or snail mail. Upon completion, the customer must pick up the order during business hours. And that’s where it ends.

Below is Sugar & Nice’s customer journey map. We would appear in several online searches, including Google, Bing, Facebook, Instagram, and Yelp. We’ll have a detailed website and customer-friendly online ordering system that allows the customer to pay with a variety of options. The customer can have as little or as much interaction with me as desired. I’m totally here for you, but I’m happy to let you live your life while I’m over here in the background making that life a little sweeter. This includes an optional automated tracking system via online, email, or text that shows the progress of your order. (If you’re like me, you like to check in online and make sure things are moving along when the product’s deadline is critical.) We then personally deliver all orders with a handwritten note and follow up via email, monitor reviews, and engage via social media. I’m all about online services to avoid talking to people on the phone (no offense to people or the phone), so if I can do the same for my customers and make them happy while streamlining my time and being as efficient as possible business-wise, then fabulous!