Hey, you. Yes, you. Would you say you’re an expert in customer journey management?
It’s not a trick question – and we’re guessing that the answer is probably “no”. Because the thing is, most brands aren’t!
It’s only natural. Keeping up and interacting with customers is getting harder and harder – because the choices are basically endless! In just a few decades we’ve moved from window displays to catalogs to websites, email promotions, SMS messages, mobile apps, a plethora of ways to engage on an ever-growing number of social media channels, WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram…how are you supposed to map every possible journey?
But we’re not here to tell you that consumer behaviors are changing – because, duh. You know that.
We’re here to tell you how they’re changing and, mainly, how you can manage those changes better to truly optimize your customers’ journeys.
Let’s start off with the basics: what is customer journey management? Of course, you know what the customer journey is – otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this blog. But the phrase “customer journey management” still might be a bit new to you. (If it’s not, kudos!)
Winterberry Group, in partnership with Microsoft, Adobe, Merkle, and Sinch, just released an in-depth research report analyzing how major companies manage (or don’t manage) their customer journeys. And they define customer journey management as “a strategic approach to understanding an individual’s need in the moment, in order to meet that need as early as possible, and in the most convenient manner for the individual.”
The customer journey isn’t just something you design or map. It’s something you can – and should – manage.
Many brands try. Most aren’t great at it. They try to interact with customers on their own terms instead of the customers’ terms. The result is a customer experience that feels disconnected – and customers that feel dissatisfied!
Ask yourself this: is your customer journey built on campaigns that the company decides? Or is it holistic – with one flow designed for the customer?
If you answered “campaigns”, again, don’t worry – you’re not alone. The latest research from our partners Adobe and Winterberry shows that, in fact, this is what most brands do. But the brands that truly excel, the brands that build customer relationships that last and grow – they’re doing something else.
The secret to optimizing customer journeys is managing these five elements:
- Customer data
- Customer journey analytics
- Decisioning and orchestration
- Engagement and personalization
- Measurement and reporting
It’s relatively easy to get one of these elements in place – but without the proper help and technology, it’s extremely difficult to succeed in all of them! How would you rank your company?
Actually, let’s take the guesswork out of it – download the report which identifies five levels of maturity when it comes to customer journey management. You can find out which level your brand is on currently and get concrete advice on what you can do to climb that ladder.
Everything from basic, trigger-based customer communications (like a notification of cart abandonment) to high-level personalized campaigns targeted at a specific customer can be managed. And in fact, it can all be optimized.
Adobe has created a platform built specifically for customer experience management (CXM). Adobe Journey Optimizer lets brands personalize customer experiences, in real-time and at scale. (And you know what else? Our very own Sinch Conversation API is built-in, providing omnichannel reach for those messages with just one API. It’s so smooth, you’ll barely notice it’s there. But we promise, it is.)
Anyway, we’re getting off track here. The point is, we know you’re probably not great at customer journey optimization. But you can be. And with all these new insights from Winterberry Group and powerful tools for managing customer journeys, like Adobe Journey Optimizer, it’s not even that hard.
