As companies seek to understand the gaps, barriers, and processes that customers experience in navigating websites, seeking customer support, or making an in-store purchase, customer journey mapping is increasing in popularity in B2C environments. However, we aren’t seeing these trends in business environments.
This is puzzling, because business environments are complex! Before a sale occurs, there are many decision makers involved in the buying experience and layers to navigate.
Sounds like the right place for a customer journey map, right?
What is revealed by customer journey mapping in B2B?
Customer journey mapping in B2B environments addresses a variety of tasks that facilitate a sale. Of course, you’ll learn more about your B2B customers, which will assist you in filling their needs with better-designed products and solutions. We take a two-pronged approach to the customer journey mapping process in B2B: we conduct the journey mapping with a company’s internal teams, and then we expand to customers and prospective customers to run through the process with them. This way, we obtain greater insight into a company’s organization, highlighting areas for growth and increasing customer connection. With the perspective of the customers and prospects, you’ll be left with a complete view of your B2B selling process.
In particular, customer journey mapping in B2B:
Illuminates the experience of the customer: Customer journey mapping in B2B is a way to get up to speed on the “current” and “ideal” experiences of your customers in interacting with your company. In addition, it provides your customer listening programs with crucial information to ensure you are connecting with key points in their experience.
Emphasizes the most critical interactions: In customer journey mapping in B2B, the process that identifies the path you follow when working with customers aids in pinpointing defining moments and best practices, which are valuable going forward in all sorts of customer interactions.
Makes your brand personalized: The customer journey mapping process will provide you with firsthand information about the perception of your brand from both customers and employees. This insight will breathe life into your branding, and in turn help to identify your strengths, which relates to how you communicate value.
Is an awesome method for educating and training employees:The first component of customer journey mapping for B2B environments is walking through the mapping process with your own employees, which will help you gain an understanding about your team expansion and training processes really work. This will give you the space to improve!
Increases visibility: When you and your staff go through the customer journey process, you will begin to see silos break down. Working with employees, going through a variety of questions and themes, allows us to uncover how departments work. The employees gain an understanding of their roles and the effect their job has on not only on the customer, but other organization staff. The mapping process enlightens everyone to customer pain points and a increasingly complete view of the way other departments work with customers.
There’s a lot to be gained here!
Nowadays, customers in B2B buying environments have lofty expectations of the companies they purchase from. The one-size-fits-all approach is a thing of the past; they want their complex needs to be reflected in the approach they are presented with. Taking the time to analyze a customer journey mapping process with your B2B customers will allow you more clarity and visibility, which will help you serve their needs better and provide you with an edge in competition. In fact, the insight the CRM provides does not even begin to compare to the customer journey mapping process!
