Updating Your Journey Maps

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Thank you to Amit Asamwar for posing a question to me on LinkedIn, after I shared a post about journey mapping. His question is one that I am frequently asked.

“One query that I wanted to ask about Journey Mapping is that how long can these be considered valid once created. Let me provide an example so that its more clear. Say for example a company like Uber does it and then they go live with their app after they have completed all the necessary design, development, testing activities. Now say its been 5 or 10 years since they did journey mapping so what would be your suggestion? Would it be that they should relook into it?”

My short answer was this:

“Your journey maps should always reflect the most current state of the customer experience. This means that the future-state map becomes the current-state map—with a few tweaks and some input from customers.”

Here’s my longer answer, and it comes from one of the chapters of my bookCustomer Understanding: Three Ways to Put the “Customer” in Customer Experience (and at the Heart of Your Business).

One of the most popular questions I’m asked when I speak about journey mapping is, “When should I update the maps?” Or “How frequently should I update the maps?” There are several scenarios that are catalysts for updating the map:

  • Any time the experience is improved, the maps should be updated to reflect the new current state.
  • If you get feedback that the experience has new pain points or that it no longer meets customers’ evolving needs, then you need to map again and identify where things are breaking down and how design a better experience.
  • If the product has changed, how the product is delivered has changed, or if you are offering new products and services, you’ll want to map again.
  • If your company has merged with or acquired another business, you should map or re-map because a lot of things will have changed – for both employees and customers.

 

Ultimately, when to update your maps really depends on your customers, your business, your industry; as each of these evolves, so will the experience. But the number-one deciding factor for when it’s time to map again is whether the experience has changed, e.g., improvements were made, feedback was received that something is broken.

Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still. -Chinese proverb

Annette Franz is an internationally recognized customer experience thought leader, coach, speaker, and author. She recently published her first book, Customer Understanding: Three Ways to Put the “Customer” in Customer Experience (and at the Heart of Your Business); it’s available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle formats. Sign up for our newsletter for updates, insights, and other great content that you can use to up your CX game.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.

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