The shortcoming of many customer journey mapping exercises is that they are purely online oriented. The offline reality (for example, experience in the physical store) is therefore beyond the marketer's insight. As our world becomes increasingly digital, this problem will diminish, but at the moment the marketer must fall back on qualitative and quantitative market research to complete his insight.
Based on the knowledge of the target group and the touchpoints that has been built up, a better customer journey can be worked on in a targeted manner. It is crucial that you connect the different touchpoints to each other.
The starting point is clear: you want the brand promise to be reflected in a clear way at every point where the customer has contact with you. From website, email, customer service to physical store. For this you need 'touchpoint bridging trajectories', which aim to connect touchpoints with each other.
Also read: From exploratory to loyal customer: 11 articles to sharpen your customer journey
As an example, Luif mentions click & collect (order online and collect in store) or endless aisle (limited stock in the store, but a column with the entire range available digitally).
Another important concept is 'task hong kong mobile number search optimization': adjusting the function of the various touchpoints based on their unique properties, accessibility and connection to the target group. The trick is to take customer preferences and behaviors as a starting point and not (only) the interests of the various touchpoints.
4. Set priorities
Adjusting or improving a touchpoint is an investment. It costs money, time, blood, sweat & tears. Luif rightly emphasizes that it is essential to be able to estimate in advance what the effect of a touchpoint adjustment will be. A change, such as the introduction of click & collect , only makes sense if the target group experiences the added value of it and ultimately the organization experiences value from it (for example through increased turnover).
In addition, you need to understand the impact of the choices on the internal organization (and that of partners). There are various methods and models to get a grip on this issue. For example, the well-known 7S model from McKinsey is useful. With it, you look at the impact of a touchpoint adjustment on strategy, structure, systems, (internal) culture ( shared values ), staff , skills and style of your company. The idea is that an adjustment fits in with several of these dimensions, and in any case does not conflict heavily.