What is Customer Journey-Based Design?

Customer journey-based design refers to voice of the customer (VOC) solutions that are aligned with the customer journey and can provide insights about the many different paths customers can take as they interact with a business. This means software that uses customer journey-based design principles can aggregate and analyze data from multiple sources and channels to identify what is happening at each touchpoint and highlight sources of friction that need attention.

Having a good grasp of the customer journey is critical to business success. With so many touchpoints these days – ranging from social media presence to contact centers to store front experiences to company apps and more – organizations need to take a structured approach to optimizing journeys that can be both horizontal and vertical, and seldom linear. Customers tend to wander around en route to accomplishing their objectives with a company.

VOC software that uses customer journey-based design can help corral all these moving parts and make sense of them so businesses can have a holistic view of what their customers experience while transacting with them. These solutions typically incorporate best practices into their designs that enable end-users to effortlessly customize and analyze customer journeys. They also produce interpretive and predictive insights in real-time that organizations can leverage to assess performance at the journey, interaction, and behavioral levels.

Businesses that use VOC software based on customer journey-based design principles can turn this into a competitive advantage by acting on insights and continuously measuring results. A majority of companies compete mostly on CX, as opposed to price and product, and that trend is expected to grow. A deep understanding of customer journeys and the ability to make ongoing refinements to them will position companies that use industry-leading VOC solutions to perform well in the "experience economy".