Without data about our customers, it is impossible to build a customer journey. To map customers' journey, companies need several specialised tools for data integration and analysis, visualisation, customer experience management, etc. We list the 10 essential tools to build an effective customer journey.
Customer experience has become a priority for companies, as it is already one of the most influential elements for consumers when deciding which company to trust when purchasing a product or service.
Customers, who are at the centre of everything, have more and more decision-making power and their expectations are on the rise. In this context, organisations must strive to empathise and understand their customers better in order to offer them personalised customer experiences which better satisfy their needs, requirements and preferences.
In our previous blog post we discussed customer segmentation and the Buyer Persona model, two of the main techniques to start developing a customer intelligence & analytics strategy and laying the foundations to build a customer-centric culture.
However, another of the essential methodologies for designing a value proposition that is better adapted to the needs of each customer profile is the customer journey method.
Exploring the customer journey allows us to know in detail each of the interactions and actions carried out by our customers at each stage of the conversion funnel and the purchasing process. The customer journey, therefore, is a very complete procedure that allows companies to obtain valuable insights about their customers, identify areas for improvement and optimise the customer experience.
What is the customer journey and how is it built?
The customer journey is a method for studying our clients' experience. It includes each of the actions and interactions that a customer carries out when interacting with a brand. This approach allows companies to explore in depth the journey that their customers go through from the moment they discover the company until their last action —whatever it is— and the reasons why they have not moved further along the conversion funnel.
In this blog we have previously explained what the customer journey is and how to build one. Find out everything you need to know about customer journey in:
However, there are multiple ways to create a customer journey. At Kale we have our own methodology that integrates both the most relevant quantitative and qualitative aspects and performance indicators for each organisation.
Discover our customer journey methodology in our E-book: Customer Journey!
What tools do you need to built a customer journey?
Evidentemente, un customer journey no se construye solo y precisa de una cantidad importante de datos sobre nuestros clientes. Al tratarse de un método de investigación multidimensional —en la medida en que explora diferentes facetas del comportamiento de los clientes— suele requerir de datos que están almacenados en diferentes fuentes de origen propias de distintos departamentos y que rara vez se ponen en común. El fenómeno de los silos fragmentados puede suponer un impedimento a la hora de construir nuestro customer journey o cualquier otro tipo de perfil de cliente —un Buyer Persona, por ejemplo—. No obstante, los repositorios de datos de cliente único se posicionan como una solución eficiente para resolver esta problemática que existe en la mayoría de corporaciones.
Obviously, a customer journey is not built on its own and requires a significant amount of data about our customers. As a multidimensional research method —it explores different layers of our customers' behaviour— it often needs data that is stored in different sources across different departments and that is rarely shared. Fragmented silos can be an impediment when building our customer journey or any other type of customer profile —a Buyer Persona, for example—. However, a single customer view can be an efficient solution to this problem that most corporations are faced with.
In addition to needing customer data, a fundamental factor when designing a customer journey is to be able to map it. In this sense, in addition to data integration and analysis tools, organisations also need data visualisation tools and CX and UX software.
Below we list the 10 essential tools for building a customer journey.
10 essential tools to build an effective customer journey
1. CRM
Un sistema CRM (Customer Relationship Management) es todo el conjunto de acciones, estrategias, sistemas y tecnologías utilizadas por las empresas para gestionar la relación con sus clientes. Los sistemas CRM se suelen materializar en softwares de gestión de la relación con los clientes 360º que incluyen tanto gestión de marketing, como de atención al cliente y de cada punto de interacción o touch point.
A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system is the entire set of actions, strategies, systems and technologies used by companies to manage their customer relationships. CRM systems usually take the form of 360º customer relationship management softwares that include actions for marketing, customer service and touch points management.
CRM systems are both data integration systems —they capture information about our customers, both existing and potential— and strategic, since they allow professionals to use this information to generate leads, create sales opportunities and design better campaigns, among many other things.
2. Google Analytics
Google Analytics is an essential data analysis platform used by the vast majority of organisations, especially in digital marketing. This software allows marketers to monitor and track customer behaviour in the digital environment and obtain insights on many issues such as user behaviour on the website and social media, lead acquisition, content monetisation and campaigns, etc.
The major advantage of Google Analytics is that it is a free and relatively easy to use tool that allows us to know the most relevant aspects of user behaviour in each of our communication channels.
3. Semrush
Semrush is another ideal analytics tool for digital marketing and one of the most widely used platforms by organisations, as it enables more in-depth analysis than Google Analytics.
Self-described as an "online visibility management platform", Semrush is an indispensable tool for SEO strategy. It allows you to explore the positioning of all your keywords on Google and other search engines, identify positioning opportunities, compare your digital presence with that of your competitors, study your linkbuilding strategy, etc.
4. UXPressia
UXPressia is one of the most specific and complete tools for creating a customer journey. It is a software specialised in customer experience management that allows you to map and visualise your customer journey.
UXPressia integrates with a large number of data sources, incorporates pre-designed templates, enables collaborative and online work and allows companies to identify points of improvement in their customers' customer journey.
5. Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio is a data visualisation tool that allows you to design diagrams and flowcharts from your clients' data.
The purpose of this platform is to make diagramming easy for non-technical users (such as customer relationship management professionals). The platform also incorporates objects, shapes and pre-designed templates that simplify the creation of diagrams.
6. Power BI
Power BI is another must-have tool to easily create data visualisations and to track our customer relationship performance indicators.
One of the strengths of Power BI is that it is specifically designed to meet companies' business needs. It enables the development of visually attractive corporate dashboards and reports that facilitate the reading of data and performance indicators and KPIs.
Power BI also integrates with a wide range of data sources, platforms, APIs and software such as CRM systems, Google Analytics, Semrush, Salesforce, etc.
Take a look at our example of a Customer Journey Map designed with Power BI:
7. Smaply
Smaply is a software created to map the customer journey. Specifically, it allows companies to manage their customers' experience and interactions with the brand and then represent it visually in a customer journey map.
It includes three main services: Journey Maps, Stakeholder Maps and Personas. Thus, in addition to mapping the customer journey, through "Personas" companies can also create customer profiles.
Smaply also enables the visualisation of the ecosystem of a specific product or service so that companies can analyse the impact elements related to one of their products or services.
8. CFN Insight
CFN Insight is another customer journey mapping tool that allows organisations to analyse each touch point individually to draw conclusions and improve the customer experience.
On the other hand, this tool allows an owner to be assigned to each business area or stage that needs to be improved. This person will be responsible for implementing and monitoring the measures that will improve the customer journey.
9. Touchpoint
Touchpoint is a specific tool to explore in depth every touch point between a company and a customer. With this specialised touchpoint software, companies can analyse each of their touch points and even identify touch points that were not being considered.
The great virtue of this tool is that it allows to work collectively to design a collaborative customer journey map and assign tasks to the different members of the team.
It is the ideal platform to identify areas for improvement in the touchpoints and decide which are the most important when it comes to attracting customers, generating conversion or building customer loyalty.
10. MaritzCX
MaritzCX is both a data integration, analytics and customer experience management tool. This platform can capture data from multiple channels, touch points and data sources to get a 360° picture of who our customers are. It is the ideal tool to apply the Voice of the Customer (VoC) method and to analyse the main pain points that affect our customers throughout their journey.
On the other hand, MaritzCX has a data analysis system that can even perform predictive analysis to anticipate customer needs. It also has a function to create surveys and obtain more information about consumers, as well as to create visualisations of the touch points and interactions within the customer journey.
In this article we have mentioned some of the essential technologies to build an effective customer journey. However, regardless of the tool we use to build or map our journey, it is essential to put the customer at the centre of the organisation and design the customer journey from a customer-centric perspective.
What tool do you use? Take part in our survey!
