Feb 1, 2021
Losing Customers Daily? 6 Ways to Reverse It
Step 5 — The Vote
We have all been there — we had a business idea, we thought of how to execute it, went through all the necessary processes, and it finally went live.
But, it’s not working.
The expected clicks, customers, sales — are just not there.
What went wrong? In most cases, it’s the customer mapping exercise which most organisations fail to do.
Before diving into the customer journey mapping , there is a simple trick that you can follow to make things easier for your customers and also to improve the customer satisfaction factor.
Top Task Analysis
Often, we assume there is a specific order of items in the flow and the customer would prefer but it tends to go wrong.
For example, back in the day, Microsoft wanted to make a knowledge database that would consist of all questions and answers about their product. This was aimed at reducing the time taken to respond to each customer query.
But, their customer satisfaction rate dropped after the knowledge base was implemented. They thought it’s because there were only a few questions in the base. So, they doubled down on it and increased the number of questions in the base.
The result? Their customer satisfaction rate dropped further!
They brought in an expert and implemented the Top Task Analysis approach. After this, the questions were rearranged and they were arranged in the order of priority (according to customers, not Microsoft).
Once implemented, the customer satisfaction rate improved drastically.
How to perform a Top Task Analysis?
- Brainstorm on possibly all the questions that the customer can ask
- Combine all similar questions
- Remove hyper specific questions
- Reach 60–100 questions
2. Simplify the questions — group similar questions
- Pricing questions together — will be called Pricing
- Product features and specification will be combined — will be called Features
3. Rank categories from 1–5
(5 being top priority and 1 being the least)
- Let people perform the ranking and they can also leave it blank after they have chosen the top 5
- Collect the data, and have the most popular 5 categories on top and the remaining categories can follow
The Top Task Analysis can be used in advertising — to check ads, landing page content, emailers etc.
Sample:
Customer Journey Mapping — How, What, Why?
In simple terms, customer journey mapping is a visual representation of how customers interact with your website.
It is important to do this exercise for your website to understand what type of messaging, ads, offers, features would benefit your customer in each step of the customer journey.
How to conduct a Customer Journey Mapping workshop?
Step 1 — The Participants
To begin with, invite as many employees as possible to the workshop. The main reason for this is that people feel more connected to the process when they’re associated in its making.
That way, the results will not be left in a drawer and never used. Your team would be more than willing to refer and use the results from the workshop.
The mandatory departments — customer support, sales, social media management team, IT support etc.
Bonus — invite a few users too, they might have a completely different perspective.
Step 2 — The Objective
Ensure that you know the beginning, and the end of the journey. This needs to be well defined to ensure that the necessary steps are covered in the discussion.
Step 3 — The Section
Divide the larger group into smaller groups. It is easier to divide and conquer than hundreds of people talking about the same topic.
Step 4 — The Beginning
Once the groups are split, let them shoot questions about each step in the customer journey. For example — “What is the first section the customer should notice on the homepage?”, “How can they make the payment quicker?”, “Are there any up-selling opportunities available?”.
As they’re asking the questions, make sure that all questions are written on post-it sheets and stuck on a wall.
The wall will soon be filled but this way, you will know the exact questions that are vital to the customer.
Step 5 — The Vote
Once all the questions are on the wall, ask the audience to vote for each question. Each person gets only 3 votes. They can either give 1 vote to 3 questions or place all three votes to a single question.
Step 6 — The Results
Once you have the most important questions, figure out the accurate answers and make a visual representation.
You can also work with the design team for this as they are proficient in breaking down complex data into a simple consumable representation.
It is also important to focus on the important details only — maximum 5 to 6 points.
How to get the most out of your user research?
As mentioned earlier, in most companies the senior management team will come up with an idea and the employees would get busy executing it.
Once done, they might see that customers are not purchasing the product and that it is not a success. They label it a failure and move on to the next project.
The main issue here is the lack of data backed analysis and research. If done properly, the idea could have been properly evaluated before deployment. If it failed in the evaluation, it would save the company a lot of money and work hours.
Also, have you noticed that your office walls are filled with either your product or senior executives of the company shaking hands with a celebrity? It is almost always not about the customer!
You can get posters made out of your customer journey mapping data and hang it on the walls so that everyone is always reminded about the customer details and the needs of the customer.
Recap:
a) Perform Top Task Analysis and Prioritise
b) Conduct a Customer Mapping Journey — 6 Steps
c) Involve users and maximum employees
d) Use the results at the workplace
These lessons are explained in detail in CXL Institute’s Growth Marketing Minidegree. The lessons are crafted nicely with tons of additional reading material that enabled me to understand the concepts in depth.
