What if there was one thing that could help you understand the buyers completely? And no- it’s not mind-reading. All you need is customer journey mapping.

The past few years have proved overwhelming for businesses and customers. Given the rapid changes digital transformation has prompted, marketplace patterns and demands have taken a 180-degree turn.

And there’s been one significant casualty: customer experience (CX).

Every marketing campaign is curated to capture prospective buyers, but the bull’s eye is the experience. It’s oftentimes the main selling point.

But the gaps are more vivid than ever before due to digitization.

Digital transformations proved to be both a bane and a boon for businesses. On one hand, these help businesses optimize customer interaction. On the other hand, it’s a means for customers to hold companies accountable.

The cracks in customer experiences are all too visible, and many business leaders are aware of why they exist in the first place.

It’s the lack of customer understanding.

Modelling a solution or a marketing message based on a customer base isn’t complex. It’s the questions that precede it. On what basis is an offering personalized? Are there any prerequisites for a ‘resonating’ message?

Data could help answer these particular types of marketing queries, especially when it comes to understanding or engaging a potential customer.

And technology has granted marketers crucial access to it. Not only has modern tech become an avenue to gauge clean and accurate data, but afforded the means to leverage it smartly.

But most businesses fail to do so successfully. The frequent error they make is misaligning data-powered solutions with customer-focused ones.

This is why customer journey mapping is paramount.

According to HBR, a customer journey map is:

“A diagram that illustrates the steps your customer(s) go through in engaging with your company, whether it be a product, an online experience, a retail experience, a service, or any combination.”

Think about this: The nucleus of marketing is storytelling. Across B2B marketing, stories are propagated through data, but most strategies prioritize alignment with tech infrastructure. It’s the customers who should occupy the front seat, not only as data points but as humans infused with diverse emotions.

A customer-centric approach is more about building confidence that they, the customers, are making the right choice. What do they think as they engage with the brand, partners, employees, and products?

A conventional framework would work through the following components:

• Actions/Behavior: What actions is the customer undertaking to move to the next stage?
• Underlying motivations: Why does the customer care enough to go on to the next step? What emotions are they feeling, and if it’s inclined towards delight or frustration?
• Uncertainties: What prevents the customer from moving on to the next step?
• Obstacles: Do any external factors stand in the way of progressing further – cost or structural process?

The customer journey, however, is not linear.

Owing to digital transformation, customer journeys haven’t retained their linearity. Instead, it’s become unpredictable, non-linear, and complex.

Imagine the difference. One customer goes through extensive research and convincing, while the other jumps directly from awareness to purchase due to a strong recommendation.

To pierce the cacophony of noise, marketers are meeting prospective buyers at multiple touchpoints. They have more opportunities to influence the consumers. And consumers themselves wade through distinct paths as they progress down the multitouch marketing funnel.

No two customer journeys are similar.

But, outlining a “typical” customer journey offers insight into the current interaction points and a potential roadmap. From breaking down organizational silos, the map administers customer-centric communication, from sales to logistics. It’s not just advantageous for marketing but also influences cross-departmental functions.

Modern marketers have drastically come to understand the complexity of the buyer’s journey.

It’s not about what’s on paper but about reading between the lines. Customer journey mapping doesn’t always require a storyboard, but visualizing each stage is a good way to begin.

But customer journey maps have to be comprehensive.

A customer’s journey isn’t merely a business offering a product, and a consumer buys it. It’s way more nuanced and intricate.

Every touchpoint the consumer interacts with, even competitors, impacts how they perceive a brand.

“Your customer doesn’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” says the customer service expert, Daniel Richardson.

And this is quite true- 80% of customers don’t just value the offering but also the experience.

Marketing teams make a severe mistake in understanding the customer- they think the customer fits in a tidy little box. This force-fitting has marred the efficacy of marketing strategies and misconstrued the messaging.

However, through customer journey mapping, effective marketers have outlined a more flexible approach.

Customer journey maps consider that each consumer behavior isn’t confined to just one funnel stage. These behaviors are often overlapping and affect multiple stages.

For a 360-degree customer journey mapping, specific ingredients have to have a central space in the recipe, or it’s insipid. These are:

1. What is the user’s story? The historical and behavioral data will reveal this, so build a user persona for all the accounts.
2. A journey could extend from days to years, so what’s the timeline chosen for this specific map?
3. Highlight the active touchpoints and channels to gauge what the customers are actually doing.
4. Figure out if any external stimuli influence how the customers feel about the brand.
5. Find out how your customers feel and think at every touchpoint and build an empathy map of relevant emotions.
6. Regroup categories and aspects that affect each other and influence customer experience together.
7. Sketch the journey through a timeline, video, or any other diagram style. The point is pinning down the motion of the customers through the journey, irrespective of the canvas.
8. Leverage the journey map. What’s the use of the file remaining on your hard drive? Understand why the mapping was significant in the first place and use it to modify customer experiences.
9. Define relevant KPIs, and as you modify the touchpoints and channels, update the metrics. This will potentially help mark the road for the business’s potential growth.

It’s sort of a story crafted by marketers on where the customers are in their journey. This outlines a ‘day-in-the-life’ approach to customer journey mapping.

It accounts for every little interaction and influence the customers would have felt or had – from their own to stakeholders and employees.

Journey mapping means stepping into the customers’ shoes.

The core purpose behind this tactic is – these maps help modulate the marketing funnel through the customer’s perspective.

Brands understand at what point in the journey customers desire what sort of experience and how. It’s about gauging which specific interaction delights or frustrates them and why.

Spotlighting this starts with leaning towards more customer listening.

As customer needs and patterns constantly evolve, marketing is experimenting with multiple innovative software, especially AI-driven ones. But more than jumping on the AI bandwagon, adapting to customer needs should be given more heed. Many preach, but few have actually incorporated this strategy into their core marketing functions.

Building customer journey maps is the fundamental step. Although tech plays an integral role here, it’s a customer-first and technology-second approach.

It provides a view of the necessary balance between customer situation, intent, and objective, and how it aligns with the organization’s goals.

From a marketer’s perspective, data is a true reflection of this.

It pinpoints where the customers are in the funnel and offers a 360-degree view of their progression.

Even if paired with the most advanced technology, any approach is ineffective unless rooted in customer understanding.

It’s paramount for a compelling CX.

Journey maps are the best methodology to translate marketers’ empathy into a structured and comprehensive design. It’ll not only accommodate users’ needs but also remove as many pain points as possible.

Each brand understands how significant customers are to them. They develop digital and physical communication channels to offer panoramic experiences.

What they are missing out on is, rather than perceiving the customer journey as a whole, looking at it as an amalgamation of atoms (journey points).

Brand awareness is just the beginning of a customer’s journey with your business. How can you create a positive customer experience in the long run?

Whether you are trying to increase your client base or improve brand awareness, customer experience is essential. It attracts the target audience to your company, thus influencing their buying behavior. If you can improve the CX, it can help you establish brand loyalty and create lifetime value.

Customer experience demonstrates the impression customers form about your brand throughout their buyer’s journey. It impacts the brand positioning and overall sales cycle. According to Forbes, 76 percent of business leaders consider customer experience an asset for gaining a competitive advantage. Measuring CX is paramount for strategizing and improving outcomes.

Customer experience analytics offer the following insights:

• The ideal client base for your business and how you can reach potential loyal customers
• Client feedback through surveys, reviews, and more
• An overall report of the customer journey and pain points or roadblocks along the way

Performance and success of current offerings and gaps that require attention

Significance of CX Analytics

You can achieve better CX by implementing strategies to improve customer engagement, purchasing behavior, and lifetime value. Integration of CX analytics allows companies to draw actionable insights that cover every aspect of the business, from sales and marketing to customer retention. With CX, you can evaluate whether you have addressed customer pain points or if there are any gaps. These also help track your interactions with the target customers on the relevant channels.

Let’s dive into the best CX metrics.

The key ways to measure customer experience

CX metrics help you apply numerical scores and touchpoints to analyze buyer’s response. You can visualize the specific parameters with the scores and figures. We have compiled a list of the top 7 metrics for evaluating customer experience with your brand.

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

NPS is an indicator of whether your customers like your brand. You can calculate the NPS score by sending your customers a survey with a relevant question, such as how likely are they to refer your brand to others, on a scale of 0-10. The interpretation follows as

• 0-6: detractors
• 7-8: passives
• 9-10: promoters

Customer Effort Score (CES)

This metric determines how much effort your customers invest in interacting with your brand. It provides holistic data on supreme customer experience and what does not work. CES compliments NPS, where a combination of these two offer a quick glimpse into business progress and customer retention.

You can estimate the CES by preparing a survey in a particular format, where the customers are asked to give a score from 1 to 5 or 1-7. Here, 1 represents ‘strongly disagree’ and 5 or 7 refers to ‘strongly agree’. The higher the score, the better. A low score denotes the need to improve certain customer touchpoints. 

Make sure you can access these surveys in real-time, appearing on your brand’s website soon after the customer gives a score. An alternate way to go about it is to email the CES survey to the customer right away.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

It measures the quality and worth of a client for your brand. A customer’s lifetime value enables informed decision-making. These components are required for calculating the CLV: average transaction amount, number of transactions, and length of customer relationship. Once you have these details, multiply the average transaction amount by the number of transactions, followed by multiplying by the retention period. Monitoring CLV takes you closer to better customer retention and effective decisions that accelerate the sales cycle.

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

Your sales and marketing teams work diligently towards integrating strategies that amplify customer satisfaction, boosting the sales funnel. CSAT helps with understanding whether the audience is satisfied with your offerings. You can utilize this metric by following every major customer transaction with a CSAT survey, answerable between ‘very dissatisfied’ to ‘very satisfied’. This helps you get an overview of the ability of your offerings to meet the expectations of your customers. For example, you could go for these questions:

• How will you rate your overall satisfaction with our brand?
• How satisfied are you with the offering you recently purchased?
• How satisfied are you with our customer support? 
• Would you recommend our brand to others?

The plus point about CSAT is that it allows you to change the questions based on the insights you seek and the touchpoints you wish to evaluate. 

Customer Churn Rate

This metric provides an idea of the customers who are no longer involved in the business with you. It is also known as the attrition rate— the number of people who stop subscribing to your offerings. The customer churn rate is ideal to have low churn rates consistently, implying that you have a better retention rate. You must monitor your customer churn rate regularly to understand the efficacy of your existing marketing strategies.

You can calculate the customer churn rate by subtracting the number of customers you retain at the end of a cycle from those at the beginning. Divide this figure by the second number and multiply the answer by 100.

Customer Retention Rate

According to 31% of service professionals, a better customer retention rate is a goal of most brands. The CX metric dives into the number of customers a business retains over a certain period and helps to find customer loyalty. However, the downside is the complicated calculation involved. While estimating this CX metric, you will require three numbers: the customers at the end of a period, those at the end, and new customers. Once you have all the necessary information, you can arrive at an accurate value.

Customer Journey Analytics

Another popular technique you can utilize to calculate the customer experience is analytics to understand the buyer’s journey. When you create a map of customers’ journeys, it derives details, such as their motivations, needs, and pain points. It also helps to understand the touch points you should evaluate throughout the buyer’s cycle. You can begin by procuring data from various sources, such as social media channels, websites, and events. What follows next is creating a page or tab on your customer journey map dedicated to reporting metrics of your touchpoints, allowing you to evaluate customer experience.

Summing up

The main goal of every business is to retain customers. Customer analytics offers a framework to evaluate client demands and implement actions accordingly. When you utilize the seven metrics, they help foster a customer-first mindset, allowing you to increase customer lifetime value. The analytics report reveals insights into different features of customer interactions and responses, helping you deliver the ideal solutions. They are essential to help you develop the right marketing strategies, promoting revenue growth, customer loyalty and retention, and increased brand awareness.

Sales and marketing leaders believe that ‘smarketing’ is the way to go for remarkable business growth. Here are some trends to look forward to.

As businesses chart their course in 2023, a key element under their radar is sales alignment. With a drastic shift in the global economy and the unprecedented surge in digitalization, the realm of sales and marketing has experienced profound changes. This article delves into the sales alignment trends for 2023, highlighting how businesses are using sales enablement technology and tools to streamline their sales marketing processes.

To begin, let’s address the question, what is sales and marketing alignment?

Sales and marketing alignment, or ‘smarketing’, is the strategic synchronization between the sales and marketing departments. It’s about breaking down silos and promoting a collaborative and communicative environment where both teams work towards the shared objective of driving business growth. Alignment involves aligning goals, harmonizing strategies, and encouraging dialogue between sales and marketing. The focus is on a unified understanding of the target audience, the company’s offerings, and overall strategic goals.

At its core, successful alignment sees marketing generating high-quality leads and crafting compelling narratives, while sales uses this insight to understand prospects, tailor their approach, and effectively close deals. It’s about shared metrics, recognizing how each role contributes to overall business objectives and how both can support each other. In essence, ‘smarketing’ is a customer-centric approach that optimizes the customer journey, leading to a consistent, personalized experience that boosts satisfaction and loyalty, enhances efficiency, and drives revenue growth. It’s a strategic necessity for businesses aiming for sustained growth in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Why is sales and marketing alignment important?

The answer lies in the fundamental need for cohesion in businesses’ marketing strategies. When the sales and marketing teams are not in sync, it may lead to ineffective communication, missed opportunities, and even conflict. This alignment ensures that the entire revenue generation process, from prospecting to closing deals, is seamless and efficient.

A recent report by LinkedIn highlighted that a significant 87% of sales and marketing leaders believe that teamwork and collaboration between these two departments are essential drivers of crucial business growth. The report further indicated that 60% concur that a lack of alignment between sales and marketing negatively impacts the company’s financial performance. However, the challenge with ‘smarketing’ (sales and marketing) arises due to the differences in objectives, tactics, and measurement metrics of these two traditionally distinct departments.

So, how aligned are other businesses’ sales and marketing departments? Unfortunately, the alignment varies significantly. While some businesses have been successful in achieving tight coordination, others struggle to bridge the gap. The primary factor hindering alignment is the lack of a clear strategy that supports open communication, shared objectives, and mutual understanding.

Sales Alignment Trends in 2023

Given the stakes, here are a few sales alignment trends and sales technology trends to watch in 2023.

Integration of Sales Enablement Technology and Tools

Companies are investing more in technology to streamline their sales and marketing processes. They are focusing on unifying key platforms like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and Content Management Systems (CMS). This integration provides a centralized database for customer information, ensuring that both departments use the same, up-to-date data. Additionally, advanced analytics platforms are being employed to monitor campaign performance, track customer behavior, and make data-informed decisions.

Focus on Data-Driven Strategies

Data has become the cornerstone of marketing and sales strategies. It enables companies to develop a deep understanding of their customers, including their behaviors, preferences, and purchasing habits. In turn, this knowledge allows businesses to craft personalized marketing campaigns and predict future trends. A data-driven approach promotes the alignment of sales and marketing by creating a shared understanding of the target market, which helps teams collaborate more effectively.

Increased Adoption of AI and Machine Learning

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are becoming increasingly prevalent in the realm of sales and marketing. These technologies are automating repetitive tasks, freeing up time for sales and marketing professionals to focus on strategy and creativity. More importantly, AI and ML can analyze complex datasets, identify patterns, and generate insights that assist in creating personalized marketing messages and identifying sales opportunities.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

ABM is a targeted strategy that aligns sales and marketing teams around high-value accounts. It involves identifying key prospects or customer accounts, understanding their specific needs, and then tailoring marketing efforts accordingly. By focusing on particular accounts, sales, and marketing teams can develop a unified strategy, leading to more coordinated efforts and ultimately, better results.

Real-Time Communication and Collaboration Tools

Businesses are leveraging technology that supports real-time communication and collaboration to ensure seamless coordination. Tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Asana enable instant communication, task allocation, and progress tracking. These technologies promote transparency, ensure everyone is on the same page, and accelerate decision-making, thereby fostering alignment between sales and marketing.

Enhanced Customer Experience (CX) Strategy

Aligning sales and marketing teams with a customer-centric approach brings significant benefits. Sales provide direct contact and rapport with customers, while marketing can leverage those insights for better messaging. Collaborative tools, CRM, and analytics help track and predict customer behaviors. This alignment allows teams to understand their customers’ needs better and tailor their offerings to provide a personalized, satisfactory experience throughout the customer journey.

Social Selling and Digital Presence

Social selling involves leveraging social media platforms to connect, understand, and engage with prospects and customers. As per Forbes, a staggering 78% of sales professionals leveraging social media surpass their peers in sales performance. It’s about creating a brand presence, nurturing relationships, and driving engagement with useful and relevant content. By aligning sales and marketing efforts on social media, businesses can maintain a consistent brand voice, target their messages more effectively, and provide a seamless customer experience across platforms.

The Rise of Sales Operations

Sales operations work in the background, ensuring the smooth functioning of sales activities and alignment with marketing strategies. It involves sales planning, forecasting, territory management, incentive structures, and data analysis. Sales operations ensure that sales teams are adequately supported and equipped, reducing inefficiencies and bridging the communication gap with marketing. The rising significance of this role underlines its importance in promoting ‘smarketing’ alignment.

Advanced Training and Development Programs

As businesses acknowledge the criticality of sales and marketing alignment, there’s an increasing emphasis on cross-functional training. These programs educate both teams about the intricacies of each other’s roles, promoting empathy, understanding, and collaboration. With the help of modern eLearning platforms, interactive workshops, and real-time collaboration tools, businesses can foster a culture that values and promotes ‘smarketing’.

Enhanced Use of Metrics and KPIs

Businesses are now identifying shared metrics that equally represent the efforts and achievements of sales and marketing. By monitoring these shared KPIs, teams can better understand how their activities impact each other and the overall business objectives. The adoption of shared metrics promotes transparency and mutual accountability and fosters alignment.

To sum up, these trends emphasize the evolving dynamics of sales and marketing alignment. In 2023, it’s all about leveraging technology, fostering a culture of collaboration, adopting customer-centric approaches, and making data-driven decisions. Businesses that succeed in aligning their sales and marketing strategies stand a better chance of driving growth, enhancing customer satisfaction, and achieving competitive advantage in the increasingly digital marketplace.