Whilst Sydney landscapers may think of a map as it relates to a layout of a large, landscaped garden they are building, there is another kind of map they should be aware of. That is the map of the customer’s journey and what it identifies is the journey that a customer takes from their first inkling that they might want a landscaped garden, to the point where they are sitting in it.
The reason why landscaping business owners should be fully aware of this customer journey and the map that plots it is that it can allow them to enhance how their business operates at every stage. This ultimately helps make the customer journey a better one which leads to more sales and more satisfied clients. Let us look at these in more detail and what should be included in a landscaping business’s customer journey map.
Customer Journey Map Defined
We must stress that a customer journey map is not just conceptual but should be real and created using words, symbols and diagrams based on what is easiest for you and your team to follow. It will provide you with a better understanding of what the needs and wants of your customers are, what motivates them, and what may prevent them from taking action, such as agreeing to a sale.
A customer journey map will unlikely be a straight line because customers will not always go directly from point A to point Z in the sales process. Instead, they will go backwards, repeat steps, take detours, and jump forward some steps until they reach their final destination, which is to purchase what you are offering them.
Importance Of Customer Journey Maps
Customer surveys indicate that customers regard the experience they have when dealing with a business as important to their overall satisfaction, as the product or service they bought is. In other words, no matter how good your landscaped gardens are, all the interactions with your customers are every bit as crucial to their opinion of you.
This is important to know as those client opinions are what will influence review, testimonial, and referral levels and whether they are positive or negative. Knowing your customer’s journey allows you to identify each milestone within the entire process and ensure that it is not just the end-product that gains the customer’s approval, but every step that took them there.
Five Key Elements Of A Customer Journey Map
- Buying Process: This will indicate each of the steps along the path that you want a customer to pass through from when they first contact you, through your first visit to their property, design agreement, quotation creation, and purchase.
- Customer Actions: This shows what the customer will do at each stage of the process. Examples are speaking with their family, asking to see other completed gardens, requesting design changes, and making payments.
- Customer Emotions: An important part of this process is gaining an insight into what emotions customers can have. This is especially useful if you can identify negative emotions that could occur.
- Customer Pain Points: Those negative emotions are caused by pain points on the customer journey, so by identifying these you can take mitigating action to remove or reduce them.
- Solutions: Your last task is to think of solutions to improve the entire customer journey as a whole and the individual destinations within it. This should be a continuous process as your business evolves and expands.
