Reduce cognitive load on customers
Customers are inundated with choices. An overflow of information does not, unfortunately, inform them, it confuses them. For the sake of efficiency and survival, out brains are tuned to making quick decisions. We look for the best results, with minimum efforts.
In your customer experience plan, do not forget to include two things:
- The points at which a customer will perform actions.
- The points at which a customer will make decisions.
Identifying these moments will help you provide the right information, at the right time to help the customer make decisions favorable to their goal, and your objective.
Recognize the motivations, influences, and challenges
A man is about to get married in 4 weeks. He would ideally like to lose 50 pounds to photograph well. A google search ensues for crash diets.
- Upcoming wedding – The Trigger
- Short timespan – The Challenge
- Desire to look good – The Motivation
- Sleek Wedding outfits for plus-size men – The well-timed ad
- Product/brand reviews by influencers – Validation & authenticity
- …and so on and so forth
It is important to pin down the point when a customer’s journey is triggered, the instances at which they’ll need to make decisions and moments of micro-actions that go towards the end goal. Brands that understand these well, are able to recognize and influence the customer’s journey.
One Size Does Not Fit All That Well
Segmenting customers is essential to understanding them. Customer personas help you understand the points stated above. They assist you to understand that different people will behave differently and have varied goals. To be a part of their journey, you will have to customize an experience for each segment. However, if you are short on time and financial capital, you can start small. The first point, after organizational buy-in, is to understand the customer. Empathy maps could be an alternative to customer personas, to start the process.
Map the current state, along with the future state
A lot of teams will only map the future state or ideal customer journeys instead of charting the current customer journeys. Mapping the current along with the future state will help you influence customer journeys in the moment, and also recognize gaps to inform future business strategies.