Customer Journey Workshops A Brief Manual
Why Customer Journeys are important at HH The modern ‘lead agency model’ focuses on the big idea of today, but as important is how the customer engages with any given brand across different touchpoints Being a modern lead agency means that we need to own this journey. We work closely with clients and with partners as necessary, because: • • •
As a strategic planning-centric agency, are closest to consumers We see the consumer mindset, attitudes and behaviors across multiple channels – not just one or some We are the brand stewards who are concerned with whole brand health – not just the health of a piece of the brand
To that end, we are best suited to be the keepers and facilitators of the customer journey.
What is the Customer Journey? The customer journey is a map that spans all the potential touchpoints with the customer as they move from brand awareness to engagement and advocacy. The ultimate goal of mapping the customer journey is to identify: • • • • • •
How consumers navigate the category and brand(s) Knowledge gaps – what do we and don’t we know, and what research do we need and have in order fill the gaps Key triggers along the way that could move folks forward along the journey or even deter them from advancing Opportunities and threats for the brand experience – but critically, business opportunities are found along the way The key ‘moments that matter’ along the journey that will most efficiently engage consumers using the right messages, ideas and media channels Mindsets and contextual insights that help us be more relevant and add more value for customers at specific points along the journey
Ultimately this should help create seamless and interconnecting brand experience across the entire journey.
Sample journeyS Customer Journey: Car Financing
Customer Journey: Car Financing
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Preparing for the Journey Workshop
1. Identify the goals and objectives of the customer journey with clients and partners and share these – ask for feedback and share it 2. Most importantly be, clear about 1. Who the core audience is for this journey and 2. Which journey approach will be most important to help meet objectives. Is it a ‘whole category navigation’ journey or is it over one day, one transaction, or one brand experience? 3. Be very clear about the limitations of a customer journey. It isn’t a holy grail – and it won’t solve every marketing issue. But it will create a benchmark roadmap which will be revisited time and time again 4. Identify clear roles – who is leading the project, who is facilitating, and who is participating. Also, who is responsible for producing the final customer journey scroll (it should be HH) 5. When this has been done, send examples of past unbranded journeys to be shared 6. Identify clearly if the journey is in the current scope of work or if this is out of scope, and work with account management and finance to cost this out (ask about previous journeys we have done – we have some under our belt) 7. Pick a date for the customer journey workshop – it should be about 2 weeks out — and send out an invite with objectives laid out 8. Ask people to do homework as necessary – review research/look at sales data, etc. — and share materials before the journey starts 9. You may not complete the journey in one workshop – be clear about this – but typically, 4-6 hours is enough to complete the first draft 10. Now congratulations – you are prepared!
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Who leads?
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At least one senior planner should ALWAYS lead the journey workshop (at least for now) However, Katherine Schilling and Dana Jordan are the MANAGERS of each customer journey. They will decide, with the team, who the right attendees are – client, agency and partner agencies Work with admin to set up sessions and internal meetings, confirm invites go out, and make sure everyone is clear about objectives and has completed all relevant prep work They will often scribe the journey while the planner leads the session They will be responsible for working with designers to put the final journey together into a file/scroll and distributing it They will make sure that the action points from the session are distributed, allocated and delivered on If other agencies (media/CRM/digital, etc.) want to lead the journey, we tell them that this is our process and that we need to lead it – but we will be fully transparent and collaborative (unless it is a channel-specific journey and it is part of their process; if they initiate that, then they of course lead) with them – all opinions matter Keep in mind that collaborating with partners means that they are being given access to our proprietary process – this is something that we will have accept if we are the lead agency/brand stewards, and we are truly going to have a successfully completed journey. Lastly, know that there is not one journey template or style — each situtation is unique, so each journey will look and be unique
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THE JOURNEY WORKSHOP ITSELF
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Use a room with a huge whiteboard, or better still, an idea-paint wall; everyone should walk around or sit close to this board if possible rather than sitting around a table You can write directly onto the wall or board, or put Post-It notes up (the latter is easy as things can be moved around) ALWAYS start with how the customer CURRENTLY navigates the category or brand – not how they could. You want to define the current state so you can find the gaps and opportunities Redefine your core audience and objectives Depending on which customer and which journey (category, brand, or timeline, for example) you are covering, it often helps to start in the middle – the pivitol moment when a decision or transaction is made – and work back and forward from there A typical journey will include phases, so your headlines may be Discovery/ Research, Purchase, Delivery, After Sales, etc. Creating phases may help organize the journey, which WILL appear messy If you want, at the beginning, you can split the group into segments and ask each to brainstorm a segment before you start the journey session As moderator, ask for input throughout the journey. Generate lots of conversation, but ask folks to take sub-conversations offline that aren’t productive to the journey — it’s easy to get distracted! When you have a good journey outline, have people work in small groups to identify knowledge gaps, opportunities, threats, and ideas and put them on Post-Its. Then get everyone together to present their ideas and stick them onto the journey Ask the group to pick the few that ‘matter most’ – maybe ask folks to vote on them by putting stickers on them as a group’ Brainstorm ideas as smaller groups, or as one large group that works to resolve these gaps/opportunities/threats/ideas, and capture these on the journey Finally, and critically, prepare an ‘emotional index’ at the foot of the page – how the customer feels as they navigate each part of the journey. Often this is the most important insight of all Agree on action points/responsibilities and who leads each — you will need to set up more meetings after this to share plans, progress, and successes Keep the energy up! This stuff should be fun — and filled with ‘aha’ moments!
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AFTER THE Workshop
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When everyone has left, the Journey Manager will create a draft of the journey map and work with design to turn it into something attractive and meaningful The journey should be circulated to all internal audiences for feedback, then to clients for the same Make sure people give continued feedback on the journey as it is being refined Most importantly, follow up on the action plan that defines who is doing what, in order to resolve/take advantage of the gaps/opportunities facing the w brand – otherwise the workshop was just an exercise If it helps, create another meeting or two where the journey team can get together to brainstorm these actions and share developments Hold people accountable for delivering – your manager will help with this Keep revisiting and refining the journey as you learn more about how the customer navigates the brand Do another journey when things start to change – there’s always room for improvement and new opportunities Enjoy – this is the fun stuff!