The Customer Journey Map: A GPS system for lean branding

As a former writing teacher, I'm well aware that the process of creating is every bit as important as the final product.  So when I read books aimed at helping fledgling entrepreneurs--which I've been doing a lot lately--I'm often drawn to the parts where the authors talk about processes that unfold over time. Recently, I ran across a process-oriented tool, the Customer Journey Map, that struck me as a useful way for entrepreneurs to think about their relationship with customers.

In her book Lean Branding: Creating Dynamic Brands to Generate Conversion, Laura Busche writes, "We are in the business of taking customers from A to B, where A is who they are today and B is who they want to be tomorrow" (p. 25). The Customer Journey Map is Busche's model of that process.

She points out the obvious but sometimes overlooked fact that a customer's product experience goes through three stages: pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase.

• Pre-purchase: During the pre-purchase stage, when consumers are deciding whether or not to buy a product, a company has two important tasks: first, making consumers aware that it exists; and second, showing customers how it differs from the competition.

• Purchase: In the purchase stage, a company needs to make the consumer's decision to buy its product as simple and rewarding as possible.

• Post-purchase: In the post-purchase stage, a company must be responsive to consumers' need to communicate about the product. It's important to deliver on pre-purchase promises and help consumers integrate the product smoothly into their lives, in order to reinforce their conviction that they made the right decision and to avoid cognitive dissonance in the form of buyer remorse.

These three stages are "brand touchpoints" that entrepreneurs can use to their advantage. Throughout all three stages, brand message (story), brand visualization (symbol), and brand communication strategies (channels) are critical; but they play different roles in each stage.

The Customer Journey Map is just one piece in Busch's thorough treatment of what she calls the "Build-Measure-Learn" process of branding.  Her pithy advice resonates with me, partly because it tends to emphasize not only process but story, and I'm a big believer in the narrative paradigm.

At this writing I am still in the process of reading Busch's book.  I've learned a lot from it so far, and I recommend it for anyone who is starting a new business (or trying to rebrand an existing one).