Customer Journey Mapping Research Articles

Customer journey mapping framework for SMES: Enhancing customer satisfaction and business growth

Customer journey mapping (CJM) is an essential tool for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to understand and optimize their interactions with customers, thereby driving satisfaction and business growth. This review outlines a customer journey mapping framework designed specifically for SMEs, aiming to enhance customer experiences through a structured approach to identifying key touchpoints, pain points, and opportunities for improvement across the customer lifecycle. The proposed framework involves systematically mapping out every stage of the customer journey, from initial awareness to post-purchase interactions, highlighting moments that significantly impact customer satisfaction. By leveraging customer data, feedback, and analytics, SMEs can gain valuable insights into customer behavior, motivations, and preferences. This framework emphasizes the importance of personalization, using data to tailor the customer experience and foster deeper connections. Additionally, the framework integrates feedback loops, allowing SMEs to continuously gather and analyze real-time customer data. This iterative process helps businesses to proactively identify emerging trends, address customer concerns, and adapt to evolving market demands. By aligning customer needs with business objectives, SMEs can create more targeted marketing campaigns, improve product or service offerings, and enhance customer retention strategies. The implementation of this customer journey mapping framework can lead to several key benefits for SMEs, including improved customer satisfaction, increased brand loyalty, and greater operational efficiency. It also enables SMEs to compete more effectively in their markets by delivering personalized and seamless customer experiences. The framework supports scalability, allowing SMEs to refine their customer engagement strategies as their businesses grow. In conclusion, the customer journey mapping framework serves as a critical tool for SMEs looking to enhance customer satisfaction and drive sustainable business growth. By focusing on data-driven insights and continuous improvement, SMEs can deliver more value to customers, strengthen brand loyalty, and achieve long-term success.

Interactive Customer Journey Maps for Complex Services

Customer journey maps often assume linear and uniform customer experiences, limiting their effectiveness for complex services. In this article, an interactive customer journey mapping approach is proposed and evaluated in the context of a smart energy sharing platform project.

Improving Performance of Customer Relationship Management to Leverage Customer Loyalty (Case Study: MILKY CRM Loyalty Program)

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) plays a crucial role for businesses as technology advances and consumer demands continue to rise. However, CRM implementation faces challenges from both external and internal factors within an organization. Ineffective CRM implementation can lead to customer dissatisfaction, decreased loyalty, reduced profitability, and missed business opportunities. This research aims to improve the MILKY CRM loyalty program by identifying the key root causes and proposing alternative solutions, ultimately determining the best alternative to enhance the program. The methodology includes in-depth interviews and analysis using the Kepner-Tregoe framework, which involves problem analysis, decision analysis, and potential problem analysis. Supported by external and internal analyses such as Porter’s Five Forces, Customer Journey Mapping, and an Integrated CRM Scorecard, the results are then utilized for a SWOT analysis. The problem analysis identified 21 attributes as the root causes affecting MILKY CRM loyalty program performance. These attributes include Consumer Behaviour Change, Aggressiveness of Competitors, CRM Agency Capability, Healthcare Apps Strategic Partnership, Potential New Segments generated by New Entrants, CRM Differentiation, Strong Brand Reputation, Content Management, Ability Services Program, Customer Engagement, Customer Experience Improvement, Win Back Lapsed Customers, Incomplete metrics tracking on CRM scorecard, Financial Budget Constraints, Personalization Services & Rewards, Digital Acquisition Transition, Segmentation & Tiering Review, Balancing Strategy on Customer Acquisition & Retention, IT System Capabilities, and Human Capability on CRM. In the decision analysis section, alternative solutions were generated through TOWS analysis, and the best alternative was determined using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) tool. The top chosen strategy, Strategy #2: Optimizing CRM & Organizational Strategies for Enhanced Customer Engagement & Operational Efficiency (W/O Strategies), is recommended for future improvement. Focus areas include communication, resources, technology, and KPI metrics to mitigate potential problems. Overall, this research provides valuable insights and recommendations for enhancing the performance of the MILKY CRM loyalty program, ensuring its effectiveness in meeting customer needs and driving business success.

Design thinking: Executing your organization's commitment to customer centricity

This paper discusses the concept of design thinking as an approach for organizations to become more customer-centric and elevate experiences. Design thinking involves understanding user needs, continuously iterating solutions, and embracing ambiguity through rapid experimentation. It places the customer at the heart of problem solving and innovation. The paper outlines five key steps of design thinking: 1) Empathize – Deeply understand user needs and expectations through ethnographic research like interviews and observations; 2) Define – Clearly identify problems or opportunities based on research, using tools like customer personas and journey maps; 3) Ideate – Brainstorm creative alternatives, drawing solutions from diverse sources of input including customers, employees, competitors, etc; 4) Prototype – Rapidly develop inexpensive prototypes for users to experience and provide feedback on to facilitate continuous improvement; 5) Test – Place prototypes into real-world environments and use co-creation by collaborating with users to further refine concepts. Successfully utilizing design thinking requires an organizational culture valuing customer-centricity, embracing continuous change, and failing fast to pivot quickly. The paper discusses applying design thinking to both external customer interfaces and internal operations and processes to elevate experiences across the board. This human-centric approach transforms businesses by keeping user needs central and enables the continual adaptation necessary in today's world to offer memorable engagements that foster lifelong customer relationships.

A Research on Analysing and Improving the Auditory Experience of Visitors in Museum Using Customer Journey Maps: Focusing on the Seoul Museum of Korean Folk Music

A Research on Analysing and Improving the Auditory Experience of Visitors in Museum Using Customer Journey Maps: Focusing on the Seoul Museum of Korean Folk Music

Mapping Temporal Experience: accounting for felt time in service design

A key aspect of service design practice is the utilization of diverse mapping methods to comprehend and depict service architectures. While a consensus exists regarding the importance of considering temporal experience as an aspect of service designing, the prevalent methods—customer journey maps, service blueprints, and system diagrams—fall short in capturing vital temporal dimensions. Contemporary tools spotlight physical touchpoints rather than address intricate narratives of more spontaneous customer/provider interactions. The task of documenting evolving temporal experiences necessitates a profound reorientation toward kairotic time, a dimension underrepresented in current discourse. This study explores alternative methodologies that elucidate time within the context of depicting evolving service experiences. Preliminary ventures into service design mapping attuned to temporality are also introduced.

Design strategies to facilitate second-hand clothing acquisition

AbstractExtensive research found many barriers and drivers in second-hand clothing (SHC) acquisition. This study explores their relationships and the role of design in enhancing SHC experiences. 16 semi-structured interviews revealed insights into personal experiences and emotions. Customer journey mapping highlighted 5 design interventions: a. effective branding and marketing, b. appealing clothing presentation, c. facilitating garment search, d. aiding quality inspection, and e. optimizing price-quality balance. Future, quantitative, research is needed to confirm the findings for a wider public.

Online Review Analysis from a Customer Behavior Observation Perspective for Product Development

Observing customers is one of the methods to uncover their needs. By closely observing how customers use products, we can indirectly experience their interactions and gain a deep understanding of their feelings and preferences. Through this process, companies can design new products that have the potential to succeed on the market. However, traditional methods of customer observation are time-consuming and labor-intensive. In this study, we propose a method that leverages the analysis of online customer reviews as a substitute for direct customer observations. By correlating a customer journey map (CJM) with online reviews, this research establishes a verb-centric analysis that produces a CJM based on online review data. Various text analysis techniques were utilized in this process. When applying online retail site review data, our method of customer observation required one week. This proved to be more efficient in comparison with traditional customer observation methods, which typically need at least one month to complete. Additionally, we observed that the customer behavior-based VOC (voice of customer) identified during the CJM mapping process offers broad insights that are distinct from traditional product feature-centric review analyses. This behavior VOC can be effectively utilized for product improvement, new product development, and product marketing. To verify the usefulness of the behavior VOC, we asked product development experts to evaluate the quantitative analysis results of the same reviews. The experts evaluated the CJM as useful for product conceptualization and selecting technology priorities.

RETHINKING THE SERVICESCAPES OF NEW GENERATION BANKS: EVIDENCE FROM TÜRKIYE

Retail banking is evolving from functional touchpoints to experiential touchpoints. The role, purpose, size & format, location and density in retail banking is changing especially with the effect of pandemic and changing consumer expectations. The primary aim of the study is to explore the new role and concept of servicescapes in retail banking with an inclusive and participatory approach. The secondary aim is to find out the ideal servicescape dimensions of a retail banking branch and reposition them. Türkiye İş Bankası (TİB), is the chosen brand due to its dedication to establishing a unique identity through the ages. The data is collected through in-depth interviews with 28 employees and 20 customers. Subsequently, idea-generation workshops and branding sessions were conducted. Finally, customer journey mapping for three target profiles were created. The findings demonstrate the proposed modular approach's flexibility and scalability, enabling customization for various locations, sizes and formats. This ensures a consistent and ideal spatial experience across different branches.

Do Business Growth and Technology Maximation Help SMEs Sustainability under Uncertainty?

This research is motivated by the large number of developments in digital start-ups and large digital-based companies that are starting to understand customers. This research aims to analyze Customer Journey Mapping (CJM) and examine what instruments are involved in digital-based start-up companies to finally develop a process model for CJM in digital-based start-up businesses. This study uses the qualitative case study method on digital-based start-up companies in Magelang and Yogyakarta, Indonesia by conducting in-depth interviews with 5 start-up owners/CEOs. The results of this research show that CJM has three stages that customers will go through and the company will respond to. In the form of prepurchase, purchase, and post-purchase stages, all stages simultaneously relate to creating a unique experience. For practical implication, this model can be maximized in start-up businesses to acquire loyal customers.

The Development of Customer Journey Mapping in Digital-Based Start-up Businesses


 
 
 
 This research is motivated by the large number of developments in digital start-ups and large digital-based companies that are starting to understand customers. This research aims to analyze Customer Journey Mapping (CJM) and examine what instruments are involved in digital-based start-up companies to finally develop a process model for CJM in digital-based start-up businesses. This study uses the qualitative case study method on digital-based start-up companies in Magelang and Yogyakarta, Indonesia by conducting in-depth interviews with 5 start-up owners/CEOs. The results of this research show that CJM has three stages that customers will go through and the company will respond to. In the form of prepurchase, purchase, and post-purchase stages, all stages simultaneously relate to creating a unique experience. For practical implication, this model can be maximized in start-up businesses to acquire loyal customers.
 
 
 

Process mining and customer journey mapping in healthcare: Enhancing patient-centred care in stroke rehabilitation.

Patient-centred care and enhancing patient experience is a priority across Australia. Stroke rehabilitation has multiple consumer touchpoints that would benefit from a better understanding of customer journeys, subsequently impacting better patient-centred care, and contributing to process improvements and better patient outcomes. Customer journey mapping through process mining extracts process data from event logs in existing information systems discovering patient journeys, which can be utilized to monitor guideline compliance and uncover nonconformance. Utilizing process mining and variant analysis, customer journey maps were developed for 130 stroke rehabilitation patients from referral to discharge. In total, 168 cases from the Australasian Rehabilitation Outcomes Centre dataset were matched with 6291 cases from inpatient stroke data. Variants were explored for age, gender, outcome measures, length of stay and functional independence measure (FIM) change. The study illustrated the process, process variants and patient journey map in stroke rehabilitation. Process characteristics of stroke rehabilitation patients were extracted and represented utilizing process mining and results highlighted process variation, attributes, touchpoints and timestamps across stroke rehabilitation patient journeys categorized by patient demographics and outcome variables. Patients demonstrated a mean and median duration of 49.5 days and 44 days, respectively, across the patient journeys. Nine variants were discovered, with 78.46% (n = 102) of patients following the expected sequence of activities in their stroke rehabilitation patient journey. Relationships involving age, gender, length of stay and FIM change along the patient journeys were evident, with four cases experiencing stroke rehabilitation journeys of more than 100 days, warranting further investigation. Process mining can be utilized to visualize and analyse patient journeys and identify gaps in service quality, thus contributing to better patient-centred care and improved patient outcomes and experiences in stroke rehabilitation.

Sosyal Müşteri Yolculuğu Haritası: İletişim Ajansları Üzerine Bir Araştırma

The aim of this study is to obtain in-depth information about the knowledge and experience of communication agencies regarding the concept of social customer journey. Based on a phenomenological research pattern, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven experts working in communication agencies operating throughout Turkey. Then, the themes emerging throughout the study were subjected to descriptive analysis. The findings revealed that agency-brand cooperation is extremely important in the planning process of social customer journey. It was determined that the agencies visualized the process by creating a customer journey map at the planning stage. In addition, it has been determined that all the problems that customers may encounter during the planning stage have been foreseen and solutions have been produced. Findings also reveal that communication agencies tracked customer movements on social media to provide a better experience to customers. Utilizing various online tracking and reporting software, these agencies monitored websites and received reports about consumer behaviour. Findings also demonstrate that it has become a necessity for agencies and brands to invest in Artificial Intelligence- powered automation systems in order to provide a better experience to customers and maximize interaction.

Improving service quality at universities through student journey mapping

Abstract: The aim of the pilot study was to determine whether student travel mapping can be an effective method supporting the improvement of services at a university in the context of creating value for students and their participation in creating this value. In-depth qualitative research was carried out, consisting in conducting semi-structured interviews with students. The study used the customer journey mapping (CJM) method. Students’ experiences related to their interactions with the university were identified from the moment of making the decision to start studying at the university to the moment of formally obtaining student status. The experiments covered the period during the restrictions related to the covid-19 pandemic were in force. Research has shown that journey mapping can be a useful method supporting the improvement of processes related to student service during the recruitment process. It allows for an in-depth analysis of experiences, which shows not only the problems arising at the points of contact, but also feelings and emotions. The use of CJM can help University employees understand students and better adapt service-related processes to their real needs and expectations.

장애인 관객의 공연장 접근성 향상을 위한 연구

This study employs universal design principles to enhance the house management strategy of theater venues, aiming to bolster accessibility and service delivery for vulnerable groups. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, encompassing in-depth interviews with disabled audience members, Customer Journey Mapping, and Focus Group Discussions with house management experts. The research underscores the critical role of house management in rectifying venue accessibility challenges faced by vulnerable groups due to financial constraints and lack of awareness. Furthermore, it introduces a novel framework based on the seven principles of universal design, serving as a guide for enhancing in-venue services. This research uniquely situates universal design within the realm of theater information services, highlighting house management's pivotal role in offsetting facility access shortcomings.

Using Mixed Method to Understand Customer Experience With Digital Banking Services

The purpose of this study is to employ a novel mixed method to better understand the differences in the customer service experience of the digital banking services in South Korea and the Philippines. Data mining techniques and customer journey mapping analysis were utilized to understand the proposed issues. The results indicate that there are four critical significant points of digital banking services between South Korea and the Philippines including the number of touchpoints, speed of results, registration requirements, and touchpoint deviations. Potential causes and implications are discussed in this article. The contribution of this study is using mixed approach to understand the issues which related to bank marketing in the digital era. Additionally, this study also enriches the investigations of customer service experience in banking across different countries. Overall, the findings of this study benefit the development of digital banking services, especially in the Asia Pacific countries.

A Comparative Study of Coffee Marketing Strategies Taking Starbucks and Luckin Coffee as Examples

Coffee is becoming more and more popular due to the influence of a series of factors, such as economic level, cultural life, social activities, and so on. Therefore, the coffee industry is becoming more competitive in China. In order to get more market share, the coffee company uses different marketing strategies. Among those strategies, co-branding has become a very popular marketing strategy in recent years, and a lot of research has proven its effectiveness. In this paper, there will be a discussion about the different views of Starbucks and Luckin Coffee, which are two very famous coffee companies in China, on the marketing strategy of co-branding based on available research papers. The article will use market segmentation, product value, and a customer journey map to analyze why Starbucks and Luckin Coffee have different opinions about co-branding. The result of the analysis in this paper suggests that because Starbucks and Luckin Coffee have different market positions and other influence factors, the former does not focus on co-branding in its overall operation, while Luckin Coffee takes co-branding seriously. This paper provides some valuable suggestions for coffee companies on how to find accurate marketing strategies according to their characteristics and whether they could use co-branding in the Chinese coffee industry.

Smart Tea Utensil Design for Improving Beginners’ Tea Brewing Experience

In Taiwan, people who enjoy traditional Gongfu tea are becoming older and older, while the younger generation has many alternative beverages to select from. In order to sustainably pass down traditional tea-drinking culture, this study has incorporated concepts and methodologies of the peak-end rule, customer journey maps (CJMs), quality function deployment (QFD), fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP), and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation based on entropy, resulting in the development of a set of tea utensils tailored for a novice or beginner tea maker with the purpose of improving the tea-drinking experience of the younger generation. In this study, the ranking of the importance in regard to six design requirements turned out to be: enhancing the sniffing experience (0.240); having ergonomic designs that facilitate a smooth process of pouring hot water into the cup (0.205); increasing the ease of storing tea utensils after brewing (0.162); enabling users to more precisely determine the strength of the tea (0.144); increasing fun while pouring tea leaves into the teapot (0.143); and having clearly designated space for placing each tea utensil (0.107). Through the experts’ evaluation, 66.6% of them rated the design outcome as “good” or “very good”, indicating that the innovative tea utensils developed in this study can effectively satisfy users’ needs. This study can be the supplement to the innovation shortage of tea-culture-related studies, establish the research framework in the academic field, and bring more innovation and potential to the field of the tea culture.

Effectiveness of using a customer journey map: practical case of a Kazakhstani SME company

The article considers a practical case, using the example of an SME company, which shows the effectiveness of using the customer journey map (CJM) tool. The purpose of this study is to obtain confirmation of the effectiveness of CJM as a tool for customer analytics in the context of the activities of a Kazakhstan company a representative of SMEs. A company operating in the market of Almaty was chosen as the object of study. The subject of the study is the process of applying the customer journey map. The authors of the article obtained data confirming the impact of CJM on the company's performance level, including indicators of marketing activities and the return on efforts to organize and execute marketing activities focused on the client and using client analytics tools, as well as financial indicators. The article's content focuses on the fact that customer analytics is of particular importance in digitalization including because digitalization provides new opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses to use such tools. When conducting the study, a case study methodology was applied, which, in combination with the method of indepth interviews, allows for obtaining qualitative information about the subject of the study. The study results allow us to conclude that it is expedient to implement the customer journey map in the company's processes the object of study. The positive results and practical experience of testing CJM in the conditions of a Kazakhstani SME company indicate the possibility of replicating both the CJM tool itself among Kazakhstani small and medium-sized businesses and the experience of the article's authors in this direction.

Digital Transformation and Innovation Strategies for Traditional Retail Stores

Due to the global pandemic and world economy recession, the passenger flow of the retail industry is still relatively weak. Many countries have strengthened measures to prevent and control the epidemic, and then temporarily closed their stores. This reminds businesses that COVID-19 is still an ongoing challenge. This paper aims to identify the possible digital solutions for traditional offline retail stores to embrace digital innovation to become more smart and efficient. This research theme is to explore the feasibility of introducing a digitized business model into traditional retail stores using JD sports as the case. Business Model Canvas is used to identify the existing business model of JD retail shops, while Innovation Ambition Matrix is designed for making the innovation plan. The latest business model is presented with the help of the Customer Journey Map. By implementing the model, JD's traditional retail shop will reduce labour costs and increase operational efficiency, strengthening its competitive advantages.