Customer journey

* For confidentiality reasons, the name of the brand in question will not be mentioned in this case history.

Why a customer journey?

During my time at Sintra Digital Business, I was involved in the analysis phase for the launch of a new brand producing high-end skin care products. The launch strategy included the creation of an e-commerce (and some mini-sites on specific skin care topics) and a structured marketing plan.
I gave my contribution by defining the customer journey of potential users who would approach this new brand.

Why a customer journey? Because this tool would allow the managers of the new brand to make an accurate prediction of the time and effort needed to attract users to the new brand and to entice them to buy its products.

Defining the customer journey

The definition of the customer journey was a team effort.

First, the start-up's internal team profiled four personas that would represent the brand's target audience.

Then, the web marketing team of Sintra Digital Business carried out a thorough market analysis and defined, for each personas, all possible touchpoints (analogue and digital). In other words, we identified all possible points of contact between the brand and its potential users.

Finally, I built a customer journey for each personas identified. I divided the customer journey into stages:

• the phase before the user lands on the new brand's website;
• the consideration and conversion phase;
• the post-sales phase.

Each customer journey has the following layers:

• stage - the phase of the journey in which the user is currently in;
• user actions - the actions that the user takes;
• front-stage - the actions and activities performed by the brand and that the user sees;
• backstage - invisible contact employee actions;
• touchpoints - the points of contact between the user and the brand;
• thoughts & feelings - the feelings the user experiences during each action;
• support & processes - the processes the brand puts in place to ensure an engaging user experience.

Compared to a traditional customer journey, those built for this brand contain layers borrowed from the service blueprint tool (e.g. front-stage and back-stage, support & processes).
Adding these layers allowed me to focus more on what the brand would need to do to attract potential new customers.

Below is the customer journey of one of the identified personas.
Look at the complete file.

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What did I learn from this project?

The most important thing I learned from this project is that it is impossible to build a good customer journey without data. That's why the collaboration with the web marketing team was so important for this project: without the data from the market analysis, I wouldn't have had a solid base to work from.
In addition, working closely with the web marketing team allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics of user engagement across different channels. I realised how much effort is needed for a seemingly trivial action like bringing a user to your website.
Finally, I was able to confirm that the customer journey tool is perfect for allowing all stakeholders to dialogue around the project. it is a powerful tool that can be shared and where every participant in the project can make a contribution.