A Contact Center’s Guide to

Customer Journey Mapping to

Improve the Customer Experience
Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

What Is Customer Journey Mapping? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Why Is Customer Journey Mapping Important?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Use Customer Journey Data to Identify Customer Experience Deficiencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Use Contextual Data to Improve Customer Interactions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

How to Create a Customer Journey Map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Understanding Buyer Personas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Establishing Buyer Goals and Understanding Emotions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Customer Touchpoints, Timelines, and Communication Channels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Appreciate Customer Pain Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Applying Customer Journey Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

About Five9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Five9 A Contact Center’s Guide to Customer Journey Mapping to Improve the Customer Experience 2
Introduction
Customers won’t hesitate to switch loyalties after a single poor
experience with a brand’s contact center. That’s because customers
have numerous options, and they’re often well informed.

Mapping each customer’s journey is a data-gathering task that defines

customer expectations, goals, interactions at different times across
various channels, and hidden pain points.

This is why your customer service team must monitor each customer’s
journey to maintain a competitive edge. You need to know where your
customer has been so you can guide them along the way.

Mapping a customer’s journey also helps you meet your customers

where they are so you can communicate with them accordingly.

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 What Is Customer
Journey Mapping?
Customer journey mapping Customer journey mapping tells the story of customer motivations, experiences,
and interactions with your company.
tells the story of customer
This is often accomplished through an infographic that includes both major and
motivations, experiences, and
minor touchpoints across the customer-brand relationship.
interactions with your company.
Customer journey maps uncover strategies for creating more connected and
personal customer experiences that encourage consumer success and engagement.

Five9 A Contact Center’s Guide to Customer Journey Mapping to Improve the Customer Experience 4
Customer journey mapping
captures contact center data
and uses it to improve genuine
customer engagements across
all channels of communication.

Why Is Customer Journey

Mapping Important?
Customer journey mapping enables your business to better identify inconsistencies
between touchpoints in the customer experience.
For example, there might be conflicting deliverables or gaps in communication
across social media platforms, customer devices, or departments. These gaps inhibit
effective customer service, which frustrates customers.
Customer journey mapping is a valuable diagnostic activity for any business that
wishes to improve quality standards and increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Above all, customer journey mapping captures contact center data and uses it to
improve genuine customer engagements across all channels of communication.

Five9 A Contact Center’s Guide to Customer Journey Mapping to Improve the Customer Experience 5
 Use Customer Journey
Data to Identify Customer
Experience Deficiencies
Many factors can contribute to a decline in customer retention. For example, if a
prospective customer is on your website and can’t find the information they need,
they’re likely to seek help via chat, email, or phone.
Each channel is more expensive than the last in terms of agent cost.
Real-time dashboards and historical customer journey data indicate customer trends
of communication between channels. In the past, you may have used the traditional
call transfer analysis or first call/contact resolution reports to uncover training gaps
or agent needs.
The customer journey map uncovers specific problem areas and helps identify how
to better help customers connect to your brand.

The customer journey map

uncovers specific problem
areas and helps identify how
to better help customers
connect to your brand.

Five9 A Contact Center’s Guide to Customer Journey Mapping to Improve the Customer Experience 6
 Use contextual data to compare
customer engagement over time
and uncover trends enabling you
to predict next best actions.

Use Contextual Data to

Improve Customer Interactions
Increase Personalization
In a mobile world where likes, views, and shares often determine validity and drive
the latest trends, the human connection is often forgotten. Genuine customer
engagement hinges on personalization to nurture a relationship that benefits both
customer and business.

How to Get the Next Best Action Right for Your Customers
Use contextual data to compare customer engagement over time and uncover trends
enabling you to predict next best actions. This information offers opportunities to
meet your customers at the right time in the buying journey so you can be proactive
in avoiding customer frustrations.

Five9 A Contact Center’s Guide to Customer Journey Mapping to Improve the Customer Experience 7
 How to Create a
Customer Journey Map
Customer journey maps aren’t one size fits all, however, there are fundamental
components to consider:

Buyer Personas
• Who are your customers and what do they want?

Buyer Goals and Emotions

• How do they feel about their experience?

Customer Touchpoints, Timelines, and Communication Channels

• When are they interacting with your site?

• What are their interactions throughout their journey?

• Which communication channels do they prefer?

Customer Pain Points

• What problems are they facing?

Combine these components in a customer journey map to identify service

Combine these components opportunities and improvements that can benefit everyone through savings
in time, money, and aggravation.
in a customer journey map to
identify service opportunities
and improvements that can
benefit everyone through
savings in time, money,
and aggravation.

Five9 A Contact Center’s Guide to Customer Journey Mapping to Improve the Customer Experience 8
 Understanding Buyer Personas
Buyer personas offer insights A buyer persona is a data-driven profile of your ideal customer.
of your customers’ needs Buyer personas offer insights of your customers’ needs and wants, and they help
and wants, and they you project their purchasing behavior. To accurately map your customer journey,
you need to know your target audiences and their emotions, touchpoints, and
help you project their communication channels.
purchasing behavior.
Personas and customer journey maps help you understand your business from
the customer’s point of view. Prospects at different buying stages will behave
and interact in different ways, so it’s worth distinguishing between:

Someone who has only

recently begun to think about
solving their challenges

Someone who has been

researching solutions for
a few months

Someone who is ready to

purchase your products

Five9 A Contact Center’s Guide to Customer Journey Mapping to Improve the Customer Experience 9
 Establishing Buyer Goals
and Understanding Emotions
Customer goals also may After determining your buyer personas, buyer goals can help you understand what each
customer hopes to achieve as they go through the customer journey. You should do this
change throughout the buyer
by thinking through your customers’ ultimate goals in each phase of the buyer journey.
journey, so it’s essential to
Examples can include researching different options and ensuring they pay a fair price.
identify all paths customers
Customer goals also may change throughout the buyer journey, so it’s essential to identify
may follow on your website. all paths customers may follow on your website.

Five9 A Contact Center’s Guide to Customer Journey Mapping to Improve the Customer Experience 10
Tracking communication across
all channels helps you meet your
customers where they are at the
appropriate time.

Customer Touchpoints, Timelines,

and Communication Channels
A touchpoint refers to an occasion when a customer encounters your brand — before,
during, or after they purchase something from you. Touchpoints can traverse your website,
social media, events, sales teams, email, chat, CRM, and voice.
Tracking communication across all channels helps you meet your customers where they
are at the appropriate time.
Recognizing all potential touchpoints that occur between your customers and your
organization opens the door to more opportunities to minimize and even eliminate critical
customer pain points.
Leveraging reporting tools such as omnichannel reporting can bridge your digital and
physical channels to better recognize customers, collect data, and fully comprehend the
customer journey.

Five9 A Contact Center’s Guide to Customer Journey Mapping to Improve the Customer Experience 11
 Appreciate Customer
Pain Points
A pain point is a specific problem that prospective customers experience from
interacting with your business.
There are four major types of pain points:

Financial Productivity Process Support

These pain points can relate to issues customers face during the buying process,
such as lengthy hold times, channel disruptions, limited agent knowledge,
transfers, or repeating information.
Identify and resolve these breaks in communication to minimize customer
frustration and improve the overall effectiveness of your contact center.

Identify and resolve these

breaks in communication
to minimize customer
frustration and improve
the overall effectiveness
of your contact center.

Five9 A Contact Center’s Guide to Customer Journey Mapping to Improve the Customer Experience 12
Once you begin applying your
customer journey map, you will
improve customer experiences,
drive organizational change, and
push innovation throughout your
business processes.

Applying Customer Journey Maps

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to creating a customer journey map, but a clear
customer-brand connection effectively boosts your bottom line.
Net Promoter Scores (NPS) collected through a properly executed customer journey
map can give you clear insight into how to strengthen connections with your customers.
By continually collecting information and data about your buyer personas and their
pain points, you can craft a business strategy aimed at increasing ROI and conversions.
Once you begin applying your customer journey map, you will improve customer
experiences, drive organizational change, and push innovation throughout your business
processes. Your customers will be better connected, more loyal, eager to engage, and
more likely to recommend your brand to their referral networks.

Five9 A Contact Center’s Guide to Customer Journey Mapping to Improve the Customer Experience 13
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