Four important considerations for successful member journey mapping

Journey mapping is the process of understanding the experience of loyalty program members, identifying barriers, and focusing on solutions.  For instance, many retailers or merchants are surprised to discover that members have issues with managing their accounts or completing the onboarding process.  Or reward redemption might be much more problematic than realized. 

But journey mapping itself can be a challenge so it is critical to clearly outline objectives and goals ahead of time.  Here are some key points to help ensure success:

1. Define the project scope: Journey mapping can quickly become overwhelming with the number of member touchpoints and interactions.  While all of these are important, start with just a few.  As they say, you can’t boil the ocean.  Which area has the highest amount of member complaints?  Is there a channel with an unusually high abandonment rate or lack of full member engagement?  Or perhaps there are near-term plans to update the web or mobile experiences.  Outline what will and, perhaps most importantly, will NOT be part of this initial mapping. 
2. Focus on the most critical areas first: As a follow-up to #1, as you look to priority channels or touchpoints, focus on the most critical first.  You know your pain points – so address them first.  Try to figure out which areas could have the greatest impact on customer satisfaction or transactions.
3. Talk to people: One of the biggest errors in journey mapping is assuming you know everything that happens.  Avoid the “ivory tower” syndrome and go out and talk to members and employees on the front lines.  Meet with store operations or call center management.  Spend some time with agents and store associates.  Or even drop a few questions into an upcoming member survey.  Listen to this feedback and incorporate it.  Most people skip this and so their journey mapping never really solves the critical issues.  You might discover entirely new barriers or problems that your members are experiencing.   
4. Consider your different member personas: Different members are going to have different experiences so be sure to look at how ALL personas interact with a touchpoint or channel.

Don’t only consider your best members or frequent shoppers.  It could be that your less engaged members are encountering more problems and therefore are less engaged!  Or members that are not frequent users of your online or mobile platforms, might have more challenges than those that are more involved.  By looking through the eyes of each persona, you can begin to see how the same experience might differ greatly.

Journey mapping can be an extremely effective project in improving your member experience and, in turn, your member revenue.  But don’t let it overwhelm you.  Taking time at the onset to plan and to communicate these plans and objectives across the organization can help ensure success!

Brierley offers FAST Track modules such as CX/MX Journey Mapping to help your organization improve your engagement points with members.  Additional modules include Program Health Assessment, Demographic Profiling, and many more.  To learn more, contact us or call 214-743-5454.