An Example of Customer Experience Mapping: This experience map is a visual representation of our target persona Zach’s journey as he tries to figure out how best to cut costs quickly.

Customer Experience Mapping: The Parker LePla Approach

Parker LePla’s method for customer experience mapping is more targeted to business goals and looks at customer experience through the lens of the customer and their relationship with the brand—seeking to understand how the customer influences the brand and the brand influences the customer along the way. This approach highlights the many elements of a customer experience that are more important from a customer’s perspective than a company may think. It also uncovers opportunities for the company to create moments that turn a simple event such as a post-purchase confirmation, or how a package is wrapped and shipped, into brand-defining experiences.

Customer Experience Mapping in Practice

Here’s how customer experience mapping might work in practice. Let’s say we are working with a company that provides high end shipping and project management services for trade shows and other events. And, let’s say their business goal is to acquire 10 new customers over the next two months. Rather than trying to break down and analyze their entire customer experience from end to end, we help them understand how their existing customers learned about them and what process they went through to make a decision to work with them—how did they frame their need or business problem, what did they need to know, who was involved in the each stage of the process, what barriers existed and how were they overcome?

We start by doing some customer experience research to understand customers’ baseline impressions of the brand, how it impacts their decisions and what they associate with the brand. Then, we talk to the company’s internal teams (business development, marketing, communications, PR and sales) to understand how they deliver their services and what channels they deliver them through. Then, we get to mapping—facilitating a team discussion that walks them through the experience from their customer’s point of view—mapping each and every aspect of the experience on a white board so that the team can see, in real time, what the process looks like from their customer’s point of view.

Let’s also say that during the process they realize that the way most of their customers are finding them is not through Google, but through the event management grapevine. This realization makes them think about whether they should reduce their Google AdWords budget and put more money towards a customer referral program and directory listings on key event management sites. It also makes them think they should boost their brand promotions in these event spaces. During the process, they discover the opportunity to turn their sales force into “event logistics consultants” that provide an hour of free consulting to help potential clients see the benefits of their approach—all because they were able to see that their clients needed more education on why their customers should choose their approach over others. The end result: a clear understanding of their customer’s experience and a strategic plan to help them meet their business goal of acquiring 10 new customers over the next two months.

Customer experience mapping is a very enlightening process that helps companies take a new look at what they do through the eyes of their customers. It helps managers and executives emerge from ruts and inspires creativity and innovation in everyone in the organization. It’s powerful work that transforms brands and turns customers into champions.

Learn more about how customer experience mapping can help you increase brand loyalty and sales and learn about a complimentary customer experience mapping offer from Parker LePla here.

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So, I recently went on vacation. I was staying at what appeared to be a fairly nice hotel/timeshare. The website was professional, the pictures were beautiful, the listed attractions and activities were titillating and the overall reviews were quite good. I couldn’t wait to get there.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the experience wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great. And it definitely wasn’t an experience that wowed.

Upon my arrival, the lobby was overflowing; I was rushed through, told to come back in a ½ hour because my room wasn’t ready, sent on my way without any resort map or information and, upon my return, a set of keys that didn’t work. My shower didn’t drain properly, two requests for a repair resulted in nothing. The garbage disposal wasn’t working and my screen door, which was barely on the track, went whipping across my patio and woke me up at 3 am during a wind storm. As I lounged by the pool in the sunshine, the bartender on duty stayed in his shaded bar cage, never once coming by to offer me a nice cool beverage—and I would have gladly ordered one. And, when the concierge found out I wasn’t inclined to purchase a timeshare, well, helping me book activities wasn’t really worth his time. In short, my expectations, needs and wants weren’t fully met.

Now, I know it’s challenging to keep everyone happy—myself included. But, it’s also why I believe customer feedback (and by customer feedback I mean truly understanding what your experience looks like through your customers’ eyes), is key if you want your business to achieve continued success.

But, it seems like many of today’s feedback mechanisms—like the online survey I completed after my vacation—aren’t designed with the customer in mind and seem like little more than a default gesture. As I chronicled my visit, I found that there wasn’t enough room to type; the questions were generic and didn’t really get to the heart of my experience; and, aside from the “thanks for completing our survey” email, I am left with no idea as to what happens to all this rich feedback I took the time to share? If I go back, will my experience actually be any better?

Do they analyze this data? Will they apply this information in ways that help improve their brand experience? Will they use it to redesign the customer flow during check-in so it’s less chaotic?  Will they consider changing how concierges are incented so booking activities becomes a more rewarding and enjoyable experience for both the staff and the customers? Will they create training programs that help staff identify sales opportunities, like selling a tray full of margaritas to a pool full of thirsty people? Will they develop staff reward programs for keeping the grounds well-maintained and addressing customer issues efficiently?  Well, they should, but who knows!

My advice:  whether you’re a big corporation or a small business, as you develop your voice of the customer program, make sure it too is a rich and rewarding experience for customers AND that your truly listening and integrating your customers’ great feedback and ideas into the experience. Because it’s the experiences that we remember and that keep us coming back for more.

- Rachel Olmsted

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Consumers these days are clearly favoring experiences over messages. Think Apple’s interface. Think warm chocolate chips cookies from Double Tree.  Think of the scent of a Singapore Airlines airplane.  These are what we’d call brand defining experiences. They’re memorable, unique and emotionally resonant. And they demonstrate the promise of the brand without having to actually say it. This is where brand and marketing are heading and for good reason. Saturated marketing channels are making us deaf. Instead, give us a test drive of what we can expect from you and then we’ll decide if it’s something we want or not.

When I saw Ann Taylor, Gap, and Urban Outfitters announce their quest to beautify fitting rooms it also occurred to me that focusing exclusively on these types of experiences can be dangerous.

There is real risk in creating experiences that are disconnected from the rest of your customer experiences. If a customer has a fantastic experience in your dressing room but then waits too long in line at the check-out counter, your effort could be lost.  Inconsistency breeds confusion, and it’s hard to build a brand amidst confusion.

To help safeguard your investment in your brand defining experience, follow these three rules:

1)      Make sure these experiences are well rooted in your brand, not just a gimmick designed to garner attention. This means the experience will feel authentic, like a natural extension of you. It will also help ensure that over time the experiences themselves build on each other and all contribute back to the building of the brand.

2)      Look at the entire customer experience, not just one piece, and from the customer’s perspective. How does this fit in? Is it consistent with what the customer expects or needs? Is it helpful or does it get in the way? How does it relate to the rest of the experience we provide.

3)      Examine all the potential roadblocks, especially those related to staff, in your ability to deliver this experience. If this experience requires you to have super smart staff who are prepared to answer any question, but you’ve consistently underinvested in training, then this might not be the experience for you. Experiences are harder to deliver than messages because they take serious training, investment, and the right people to pull them off. Be honest with yourself about what you’re team is capable of doing.

Taking these three steps will help ensure your brand defining experience is more than window—or dressing room—dressing.

- Bianca Abate

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Frito-Lay made a big splash the other week when they suspended a replica of their “Flavor Kitchen” over Times Square. The “Flavor Kitchen” is Frito-Lay’s newest tactic in its “naturally delicious” campaign.  They used the kitchen as a place to demonstrate their promise around, “all natural ingredients,” showing the Executive Chef chopping fresh veggies for the next batch of chips.  Why did they choose to do this versus the more traditional method of telling customers about their commitment? First, it’s more transparent and therefore more believable. There’s a big difference between a company like Frito-Lay saying they’re all natural versus showing it.

But what’s also genius about this is that it’s become a brand-defining experience. They’re not just the company who pays lip service to all natural, they’re doing it, and they doing it big. The old saying “actions speak louder than words” couldn’t be more true in today’s over-saturated consumer market. If you saw this on the news or if you were a lucky passer-by, chances are you won’t forget it. If you were going to create a brand defining experience for your business, what would it be?

- Evelyn Jones

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I read a great blog from Maz Iqbal today about customer-centricity vs. product-centricity and want to expand on his thoughts a bit in the context of brand.

‘Product-centricity’ is when the company’s primary focus is on the product—making it better, producing it more efficiently and selling more of it. ‘Customer-centricity,’ on the other hand, is when the company’s primary focus is on the customer’s experience—creating the best experience at whatever cost, with the goal of creating a customer relationship that lasts.

While you may say these aren’t mutually exclusive, it turns out…they may be. What I mean is, they each require a different leadership mindset (and, frankly, it’s rare to possess both). Customer-centric leaders consistently use the brand promise as a guide to ensure that it is kept at every customer touch point, making compromises in profits where necessary to uphold that promise. These are leaders that choose to:

a) Invest in customer service over
b) Outsourcing it

a) Invest in customer experience design over
b) Product design

a) Invest in building up and supporting their employees over
b) Status quo management

Unfortunately, there are relatively few brands out there doing this today. But, the movement is afoot. Because, in this digital age where customers define how products are used and what brands mean for them, the experience is king. So why not make it a brand-defining experience? Brand-defining experiences are experiences that demonstrates your brand promise in a way that emphasizes your distinct value, or values, as the case may be…

–Jen Travis

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We call these brand-defining experiences: experiences that clearly and compellingly demonstrate the meaning behind the brand. In very strong brands, those experiences go on to serve as an expression of the customer’s personal identity. (e.g. I have an iPad because it says that I am hip, smart and I like to be connected to anything and everything around me).

A lot of the time these brand-defining moments are supported by some kind of digital experience or technology (think Apple, Amazon, Facebook etc.), but they can also be seemingly simple gestures that showcase human sentiment and fulfill deeper emotional needs. We think this example is particularly great because it illustrates just that:

In this new year, we challenge all brands to think about how they can win a role in their customers’ lives and what their brand-defining experiences might be. And, as consumers, think about those brands that have won a role in your life. What experiences did they provide that sealed the deal for you?

–Jen Travis

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Just caught wind of kulula.co via this snopes.com article. What a hoot! This regional airline out of South Africa makes a bold promise and a big splash with their visual brand. From airplanes with engaging designs to their on-time performance website page (5 years worth of stats) to their coordinated travel options that get you from your door to your destination spot and back again, this company sets clear expectations for its customers (known as “jetsetters,” if you join their loyalty program).

Kulula’s mission is around “safety first,” ease of planning and travelling at “the easiest price,” “no bullshit” (their own term – really!) and having fun. They seem to be pulling all of this off nicely. Their challenge will be to keep it up and not let the brand slip into boring. Can they create new designs when they buy new planes? Will they meet their on-schedule goals? Will employees continue to provide a fun experience even as people get accustomed to their approach?

What does it for me is that this company has tapped into the way we consumers want to be treated and engaged, with honesty and a sense of humor—and as long as they stay on top of that, they’ll be in great shape.

Any other examples out there of companies taking a more down-to-earth approach to meet customers where they are? Please share!

Beth Woolley

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I was catching up with some industry blogs and found one on user experience design for the entire customer experience–not just the ones that happen on a website or on the phone, but all experiences a customer WANTS to have with you no matter what form they take. This caught my eye because this is something we’ve been talking about for years–the concept of integrated branding. The only difference is, today we are dealing with more devices and more ways for people to experience an organization (their people, their products, their stores, etc).

By looking at customers’ experiences through the lens of a device-less world that is technology agnostic, then, and only then, will we see the world through our customers’ eyes. People don’t shop at Target because they have a mobile app, they shop at Target because they want something they have and will use whatever device or mode is most convenient for them at the time to get it. We, as brands, just need to make sure we allow them to get it they way they want to.

This requires you dive into your customers’ shoes and figure out all the ways you can help them achieve their goals (which first assumes you know your customers and their goals). So, rather than first jumping on a specific device or platform’s bandwagon (iPad, iPhone, Facebook, Twitter…), start by asking yourself, “what is my customer trying to achieve and what are all the ways I can help them achieve it?”. It is both an eye opening and liberating exercise that helps you get beyond the technology of the moment to the technology solutions yet to come.

–Jen Travis

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There’s exciting stuff going on with my Vitamin Water.

Allow me to set the scene: Seattle’s annual Capitol Hill Block Party showcases over 60 indie bands. It’s a summer weekend that turns a downtown neighborhood into a huge party with 3 stages of music, big crowds, and lots of sun.

Vitamin Water went to the CHBP, but they didn’t pass out free samples from the back of a van as expected.  Instead they rented a hip loft space and set up fans, bean bag chairs and a dance floor. A DJ spun tunes as cute bartenders served Vitamin Water cocktails. And of course…refrigerators were filled with as much free Vitamin Water as one could handle.

My friends and I had such a good time, we spent over 2 hours dancing, meeting people and taking glam shots in their photo booth—that’s us above cocktails in hand.  I appreciate that they created a distinct experience for us music fans by making sure everyone had a good time as a good party host should.

This is social branding at its best.  This company went to where their customers hang out and contributed what’s important to them. And this kind of understanding is the magic that creates a special camaraderie and drives more meaningful relationships with people.

Needless to say, we all went home with purses full of Vitamin Water excited for their next dance party.

- Bianca Abate

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For my hometown Red Sox, 86 years of Wait-Till-Next-Year ended in 2004 with the team’s first championship since 1918.  However, the Red Sox brand renaissance started long before three-plus million jammed the streets of Boston for that celebratory Rolling Rally.  In fact, Fenway Park hasn’t had an open seat since May 2003, a record streak currently standing at 551 consecutive sellouts. 

While a hundred years of brand history can’t be dismissed, much of the credit can be given to the fresh blood that bought the team from a family trust in 2002.  With a renewed focus on the customer (and organizational success on the field), the Red Sox have marketed themselves into a place in baseball – and business – history. 

Here are five lessons from Brand Red Sox you can use to hit your own branding home run:

LESSON 1:  Develop your brand around something you can control.

After 2004, experts were predicting the end of the Red Sox brand.  How could the ‘lovable losers’ ever overcome their greatest success?  How could the team replace the shared purpose that 86 years of losing had lent the fan base?

Simple – they built their brand around things they could control: history and tradition.  Some traditions are old (such as Friendly Fenway) and some are new (“Sweet Caroline” during the 8^th inning).  Today’s uniforms have been largely the same since 1933; ditto for Fenway’s unique shade of green.  These elements carry the weight of brand continuity regardless of who is playing (and whether or not they win).  The brand does not strive for relevancy; instead, it has defined what is relevant and what is not.

The lesson? Establish who you are as a brand and make that your own.  Just make sure that your associations are valued by your customers, are able to be owned over time and in the competitive marketplace, and are things you do well as a business.

LESSON 2:  Sell a customer experience.

Baseball is an emotional sell.  ‘America’s pastime’ has strong associations with a shared national history.  Consumers of baseball are not just looking for a winning team, they are looking for a story, a connection – and an experience.  Red Sox Nation (a team-sponsored fan club) was launched in 2004 and offers a selection of benefits including a ‘citizenship card’ and a variety of behind-the-scenes benefits.  But most importantly, it gives fans a deeper experience and a ‘card carrying’ identification with the brand.

Even if you sell emotionless widgets, you are still in the end dealing with customers who buy (or balk) on emotion and justify with their brain.  Examine your customer touchpoints for ways you can add and improve emotional experiences.  If, like the Red Sox, you have a subcontractor (their concessionaire is Aramark) remember that your customers don’t see that distinction.  If the beer’s warm, or the service’s rude, you’re still to blame.

LESSON 3:  “Yankees Suck!”

Other than the obvious lesson here, remember that competitive differentiation is important in every industry and that a little rivalry rarely hurts.

LESSON 4:  Make a commitment to yourselves and your customers.

Your brand is your promise to your customers.  What exactly is the level of service you provide?  Is your organization aligned and incented towards achieving these goals?

The Red Sox management team has succeeded in clearly identifying what they provide.  GM Theo Epstein has openly committed to building a team to win 95 games each year.  Similarly, new ownership quelled Bostonians’ fears shortly after taking over the team by committing to renovating Fenway Park rather than a tear-down-and-rebuild scheme that had been on the table.  Eight years later, Fenway is larger, cleaner, more accessible, and every bit as characteristic as it ever was (and is still the centerpiece of the brand).

LESSON 5: Have fun.

Beyond giving you a reason to get out of bed in the morning, bringing fun into your business will come through in your brand.  There are times to be serious, of course, but the more often you can say ‘Play Ball!’ with yourself, your customers, and your employees, the stronger and more resilient your business can become.  Be your brand – but be yourself as well.

–Dan Liska

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