Nearly all companies that have adopted (or are pursuing) an 'omnichannel' approach to customer acquisition, sales, service, and retention would be familiar with customer journey mapping.
The thinking is that customer needs, wants, and preferences at each step of the purchase-to-consumption journey (and for each organisation touchpoint encountered by the customer during that journey) should be anticipated and deliberately designed, and the experience optimised, to make it simple and efficient for the customer.
This article rightly points out however that there is no universally ideal customer journey. For many purchase contexts, speed, simplicity, and efficiency may be the wrong approach.
The authors' research show that consumers often have unvoiced expectations for different types of purchase and consumption contexts, depending on both the product or service itself and individual purchase motivations:
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Drawing on five years of research into customer experiences across a wide range of product categories and on feedback from workshops with marketing academics and executives, we have created a framework to help managers design compelling journeys that keep customers returning many times over. We call it the customer journey matrix. It includes four archetypes:
* A routine is effortless and predictable.
* A joyride is effortless and unpredictable.
* A trek is effortful and predictable.
* An odyssey is effortful and unpredictable.
None of the archetypes is universally superior to the others; all four can be used to keep customers returning frequently. They can be applied to a variety of physical and digital goods and services (all of which we refer to as “products”). Each kind of journey can unfold at any pace—daily, weekly, or monthly—and last for any duration of time, from a few weeks to several years.
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The takeaway is that, for certain purchase journeys, adding complexity and friction can be the right thing to do to give consumers the psychological payoff or reward they didn't realise they were looking for.
#sales #experience #customerexperience #journeymapping #omnichannel #marketing #digital #design #customercentric #customerbehaviour
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