Customer journey mapping is becoming more prolific in B2C, as companies realize that to understand how customers interact with their websites, products, and utilize customer support, they need to conduct deeper research into all of their brand’s touch points. But interestingly, in B2B, customer journey mapping isn’t nearly as popular.
Which is interesting.
In B2B, there are layers of decision makers involved in the buying experience, channels to navigate, and complex steps that need to be taken before the sale will ever happen.
Sounds fitting for a customer journey map, doesn’t it?
What does customer journey mapping in B2B actually accomplish?
In B2B, customer journey mapping opens up new avenues to help drive sales. You’ll get an in-depth view of your B2B customers’ needs, which ultimately, helps you match your solution to their business type.
The customer journey mapping process in B2B should be a multiple-step process: It first begins by doing a mapping workshop with your internal teams. The second step is with your customers and prospects, where a similar customer journey mapping process is conducted. With the two-pronged approach, the research company will have fuller visibility into your own organization, helping uncover new areas for growth. When combined with the customers’ journey, you’ll get a 360 degree view of your B2B selling process.
Specifically, customer journey mapping in B2B accomplishes the following:
Gives insight to the customer experience:
Customer journey mapping in B2B helps you understand the “current” and “ideal” experiences your customers face with your sales team and process. Furthermore, it provides your customer listening programs intel that will help ensure you are measuring and capturing key touch points in their experience.
Illuminates the key interactions:
B2B customer journey mapping identifies the process that you go through when working with customers, and it identifies essential moments and best practices, which you can then use as a standard for all customer interactions.
It provides a personalized touch for your brand:
In the customer journey mapping process, you’ll get reliable, real-time input on your brand from your customers and employees. Their perspective will add life to your branding, and help you understand where your business really shines, which translates to how you communicate value to your prospects and current customers.
It’s a tool to educate and train employees:
B2B customer journey mapping starts with your employees. Through this process, you’ll get firsthand knowledge about the effectiveness of your on-boarding and training process, which will help you define where and how you can make improvements.
The B2B customer journey process gives visibility:
When your team goes through the customer journey mapping system, you’ll see silos break down. As employees go through questions and themes, the research team will uncover how departments work, and the employees themselves will gain a better understanding about their roles, and how their job affects not only their clients, but others in the organization. Everyone going through the mapping process will have better visibility to
customer pain points, and have a more complete view of other departments and their role in the sales process.
You can’t afford not to understand the complete B2B journey
The buyers today in B2B expect a lot from the companies they purchase from. They have complex needs, and they don’t want a one-size-fits-all approach. When you invest in a customer journey mapping process with your B2B customers, you’ll have more visibility and clarity, which ultimately helps you serve your clients better, in addition to giving you a competitive edge. In fact, the insights you’ll gain from the customer journey mapping process will be far more insightful than anything you’ll extract from your CRM data.
Source: https://www.themarketingscope.com/is-customer-journey-mapping-effective-in-b2b/
