Infinite Customer Journey Map and Service Blueprints

I found that it comes from a piece by Accenture in 2015 referred to as their ‘nonstop-customer experience model.’ The orange refers to “content channels” as touchpoints, and they’re always in the evaluation process as they continually compare and with such low friction to shift to an alternative. They cite an example of how customers go in-store and end up buying in a different channel — which is seen as unexpected behavior. Much of the content that is out there is out of the service provider’s control, and it’s available anytime. All touch points are “always on” and thus the journeys are continuous.

A customer journey is the complete experience a customer has with an organization. It encompasses all customer interactions across all channels, devices and touchpoints throughout every stage of the customer lifecycle – from awareness to loyalty.

The difference between the customer journey and customer experience is this:
—The customer journey is what they do at each stage of the customer lifecycle
—The customer experience is how they feel about the entire customer lifecycle
Searching for a new pair of trainers in Google, making a purchase online and then wearing them the next day is part of the customer journey. Finding the website easy to use, being surprised with overnight shipping and feeling appreciated with a hand-written thank you note from the brand, is an example of customer experience.
superoffice blog

Then you eventually butt up against service blueprints.

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If you have a hammer, everything is a nail. If you have a service blueprint, everything is a detail to be nailed down, even if those details don’t contribute to your ultimate goal. To design and deploy services, it’s crucial to have both journey maps and service blueprints in your tool kit. This post will help you determine which tool is right for the job.

What’s the difference, anyway?
A customer journey map is a detailed visual document that captures the customer experience across touch points, including what the customer is doing, thinking, and/or feeling. A service blueprint is a detailed visual document that captures the service delivery process across touch points, including the back stage and front stage of the service delivery.

To say that another way: Journey maps contain fewer process details, but more information about the customer experience; Service blueprints contain fewer experience details, but more information about the processes that deliver the service. At their most extreme, journey maps are more experience-centric and service blueprints are more process-centric.

The right tool for the job: The tool you choose should be a direct outcome of your intended goals. If you want to improve customer experience, a journey map probably makes the most sense. If you want to operationalize a service vision, a blueprint probably makes the most sense. Here are a few examples of common situations.

The blueprint is best when your goal is:
—to identify process breakdowns and opportunities for process improvements
—to inform an implementation plan for a new service
—to examine service metrics in the context of service delivery processes
—to define a vision for how a service or touch point(s) could become higher or lower touch

The journey map is best when your goal is:

—to identify customer pain points and service gaps
—to design a new service with customer experience at the core
—to examine the customer experience across touch points of a service
—to define a vision for how a service or touch point(s) could change the customer experience
Cooper

They summarize that customer experience = some combination of journey maps (that speak to what the customer feels and goals you have there) and service blueprints (that speak to how you want to deliver the service as a repeatable process).

What’s interesting is that in the age of AI and software, service blueprints can be delivered through computation. But the journey maps and how you want the experience to feel itself is best planned with human sensibilities because computation has no feelings. There will be experiences you can automate, augment, and need to deliver by old-fashioned via humana.

Adaptive Path’s Service Blueprinting 101 is guide is over here, and I also found their early guide to Experience Mapping.

A-Guide-to-Service-Blueprinting Download

Adaptive_Paths_Guide_to_Experience_Mapping Download

In reference to CSPs (Communication Service Providers)

In addition, CSPs need to support the customer in a seamless way across all their business functions. The marketing, sales, service, training, product management and supply chain functions must work in conjunction as a unified entity, meeting customers’ demands by providing what they want, when they want, and in the channel that best suits their needs at any given moment.

Operationally, this can work effectively only by driving customer centricity from the top down: clearly designing, communicating and delivering structured reward structures, including alignment of organization and employee KPIs to incentivize delivery of seamless omni-channel experiences. Marketing and product management, which for service providers includes devices and accessories groups, will need to work in tandem, with the customer experience considered just as important as product and price.
Accenture 2015