Importance of consumer mapping and feedback

The ability to record and act on customer feedback is at the forefront of most, if not all, businesses large and small. A businesses reputation is key for future growth and vital for improvement and customer experience. Without it a company has no way of monitoring customer journeys, emotional experience and habits. It allows businesses to quantify, visualise and optimise patterns giving managers and teams an opportunity to pin point, discuss, act on and prioritise their actions.

Customer journey mapping (CJM) is a way of telling a story of the customers journey at every stage, whether that be paper questionnaires, online feedback forms or software that has the ability to track habits. It has been reported that less than a quarter of all dissatisfied clients will not make a formal complaint, either because they can’t be bothered, don’t feel they can make a difference or don’t know the right channels to go down. For a company to build good relationships with their clients and to make them feel their opinion matters, businesses must make it easy for customers to provide both positive and negative feedback.

For sales and customer service teams feedback and mapping provides valuable insight into buyer personas, habits, customer experience and can pin point which marketing channels are proving effective and can, in turn, be very cost-effective in terms of wasting money on expensive marketing campaigns. Its benefits include the ability for teams to prioritise their actions and to reduce negative experiences. In todays, large corporate business world, clients and customers feel that the personal touch has been lost, feedback and mapping allows a targeted, individual approach to negativity and generates growth and improves communication between customers and in-house teams.

Setting up a customer journey map can prove difficult and there are many parts to consider. Doing your research can pay dividends and can give you real understanding of your target audience, what makes them tick and provides valuable insight into buyer personas. Consider what their motivations and purchasing habits are, do they buy online, walk-in purchases or postal? One of the most effective means of gaining an honest and current perspective is by talking to your sales and customer service teams. They are at the forefront of your business and will give honest, valuable knowledge on what the most common cause for complaints are, who makes these complaints, why they make them and how often. They will also be keen to react to complaints and act on them, after all, they are the ones at the end of the phone who have to deal and explain negative comments. Listening to your teams is key to the growth of a business.

Different methods of consumer mapping will depend on a business size and finances. Larger organisations with bigger pockets will be able to invest in CJM systems, which can be constantly monitored, analysed and updated, whereas smaller businesses may benefit from a paper form of record keeping method, such as a guest or comments book, or by email or customer feedback links on their website. Social media applications such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, have their own analysis tools and can give valuable insights into your social media reach and website hosts can provide analysis on how well a company’s website is performing.

Research Runner offers guidance and advice to sales teams that are looking to increase their pipelines and improve productivity in terms of lead generation and sales advice in all sectors. Please visit our website www.research-runner.com and contact us for further information and guidance.

01/02/2018 – Heidi Bryant