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 The User Experience Mapping during the Pandemic Improves Customer Experience

Customer experience changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. More importantly, it continues to change as life slowly begins to return to the new normal.

The User Experience Mapping during the Pandemic Improves Customer Experience

The challenge for businesses is to react to these changing customer expectations. User experience mapping is a powerful tool. It can ensure your business is ready to act during and after a pandemic.

The pandemic refined the way business works. The physical boundaries of the workplace were redrawn. This also spilt over to the customer experience. Services moved online and businesses had to rethink how to operate.

Many businesses didn’t just move online but also adopted new concepts. Traditional brick-and-mortar stores had to digitalise their concept overnight.

Your business had to respond to an entirely new world and your old customer experience map wasn’t going to help.

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The Move to Digital Spaces

If early customer experience mapping during the pandemic is to reveal something about the current state of business, it’s the growth in business digitalisation.

Digital adoption increased in a few months more than it had in the previous year. Necessity and new customer behaviours were the driving forces of this growth. Consider the findings by McKinsey that show how:

  • 30% to 40% of consumers are switching brands or retailers. They cite value, purpose, quality and novelty as the top reasons to do so.
  • Consumers are also investing more money in the homebody economy. This means spending money on home renovations and the like to adjust to remote work.
  • E-commerce sales continue to grow, with shoppers preferring to shop online.

While traditional brick-and-mortar stores won’t disappear, hybrid models are becoming more popular. People are looking at digital solutions as part of their shopping experience.

Rapid Adaptation Is Necessary

Businesses also have to become more attuned to customer behaviours. The shift to digital happened fast during the pandemic. But customers didn’t just go online, they also started looking for more value and meaning.

The pandemic got many people thinking about their choices. Businesses realised that customers should be at the centre again.

Customer experience mapping is a great tool for focusing on customer-centricity. It can help propel a more innovative and empathetic way of supporting customer relations. You can understand your customers better.

This can not only improve the current experience but also help you adjust to upcoming changes faster. The ability to react quickly to changing customer expectations will differentiate your business from the others.

3 Keys to Good Customer Mapping Experience

The pandemic has created changes to the business model. Your business needs to better understand its customers and how they experience your product or service. This allows you to respond to changing needs and provide further value.

So what does good customer experience mapping look like? You should focus on the following three steps:

1. Identify Your Customers and Their Journeys

You need to begin by identifying the different types of customers you have. It’s important to look at individual customers and their journeys. Keep in mind that not all customer interactions with your brand are the same. You need to answer questions like:

  • Who are your customers?
  • What makes them engage with your business?
  • At what point in life do they engage with your business?
  • How do they engage with your business?

You should also examine past, current and future iterations at this point.

2. Track Customer-Centric KPI’s

You need to use technology to your advantage. Customer experience mapping should focus on tracking and analysing customer-centric KPIs. These are things like your customer service KPIs. You need to understand things like:

  • First Response Times
  • Resolution Times
  • Customer Retention Rates

These give you a better understanding of current problems in connecting and supporting your customers.

3. Pivot to New Models

Good customer mapping experience shouldn’t focus only on the current situation. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that everything is possible. You should use the customer experience map as a way to pivot and innovate.

It can help you identify new ways to serve your customers. You should look into new digital venues and how technology might impact your business model. You could even use it to market for new prototypes, whether in terms of product or services.

Improving the Customer Experience

Customer experience mapping has the potential to transform your business. It allows you to understand what makes your business successful. It can also identify the problem areas you have in your customer engagement and brand reputation.

Conclusion

At a time when customers are looking for value and quality, putting your customer at the heart of your business is important. The ability to improve your customer experience can be the key to surviving in the new normal.

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