One very often used topic, a topic which is mostly taken over just for own benefits and making the own business a bit more easy.
Companies define the customer journey as “journey maps”, other rename campaign solutions to journey solutions. In truth the customer defines the journey which means that it is the “customer managed journey” and not the “managed customer journey”.
Why do we have the “customer journey”? It is a topic we use very long and which has his origin in the area of attribution which was used to measure the success of the different channels.
There are two ways of a journey:
- Reading a newsletter >>> visiting the company site >>> joining the social channel >>> clicking on a banner >>> ….
- Getting interested in a new TV technology for example >>> reading articles about the technology >>> … >>> developing a need (from the interest before) >>> the old TV has technical issues (the need becomes a pain)
We don’t know which channel will be used at which time, we just can assume it. We can see target group directions, sure… but this can be different in the individual case. That’s why the channel focus isn’t the right way.
If we focus more on the 1:.1 approach, we can better understand and develop the journey. At the end of the day, the channel is transport medium and is a mean for the purpose. There is too much coincidence in it and it doesn’t tell us anything about the interest-need-pain phase were a customer / user is at the moment… which means we don’t know what information he needs.
If we don’t know what the customer / user needs, we can just transport our information and what we think which could maybe interesting for him.
Drawer thinking makes it more easy to understand and handle things. This is why we think in target groups, buyer personas, (marketing) channels, etc. In the past this was the only way to act, because we couldn’t handle a 1:1 level. Meanwhile we have the technology to do so. What we need now is the change in mindset and a different approach.
The “customer journey” is great if we focus on the why and the phase behind, not on the channels. But to be honest, we should focus more on the customers, interests, needs and pains and don’t think about marketing channels… the customer doesn’t care about the channels.
