A whiteboard showing a line of circles in three phases, one of them orange

PropositionCustomer journey

How does your customer experience your organisation as a whole?

Customers judge you on the entire journey, not on a single department. The Next Organization maps the customer journey for each target group, from the first need to the exit. That shows you where you add value and where things go wrong.

Sound familiar?

Each department only improves its own part
Complaints are often about hand-overs
Customers leave without anyone knowing why
Your customer tells the same story to several people
New customers drop out before the relationship gets going
The standard route runs smoothly, but exceptions generate a lot of customer contact

What is a customer journey?

A customer journey describes, step by step, what a customer does and experiences with your organisation. A customer journey map lays out those steps at a glance. We work with three fixed phases, so that the journeys of different target groups stay comparable.

Three phases, with moments of truth

The line shows how the customer experiences the journey; the diamonds are moments of truth.

1 Becoming a customer

What happens

The customer discovers a need, explores the options and chooses

The question

How does the customer find us, and why do they choose us?
Moment of truth
- The tour of the venue
- The follow-up call after the quote
2 Being a customer

What happens

The customer uses the offering and is in touch with you

The question

Does it work as promised, and where does friction arise?
Moment of truth
- The event itself
3 Staying and buying more

What happens

The customer renews, buys more or leaves

The question

Why does the customer stay, and what happens when they leave?
Moment of truth
- The personal debrief

Example: the customer journey of a venue for events. The line is illustrative only.

Every phase contains moments of truth: moments when the customer forms a judgement. They are often small, and that is exactly where you win or lose trust.

The customer journey builds on your Target groups and tests whether your Value proposition holds up in every phase.

What you get

For each target group you get a customer journey with the steps in every phase. For each step you can see what the customer does, what they need and through which channel. You know where the journey goes wrong and which improvements come first.

Frequently asked questions

How do you create a customer journey?

Choose one target group and set out the three phases. For each phase, fill in the steps from the customer's point of view: what do they do, what do they need, which channel? Mark the moments of truth and test the result with real customers.

What do you do with the customer journey afterwards?

You use the customer journey to choose improvements and to focus departments on the same customer. The journey shows whether your Service model and communication deliver on the promise. In a change programme, it is a starting point for Processes and systems.

What is the difference between a customer journey and a funnel?

A funnel follows the customer up to the purchase and mainly measures conversion. A customer journey continues after the purchase, up to and including renewal or leaving. That way you see why customers stay or leave, not just why they buy.

Where are the biggest improvements in a customer journey?

Look at where customers get in touch when they would rather not have to. That is often around exceptions, such as a rejection or a delay. Solve those, and much of the contact disappears by itself.