Customer Journey Mapping isn’t a new process. It’s a trusted research and insights tool. eCommerce companies routinely use journey maps to analyze shopping cart abandonment. Financial Services companies live in the digital world. In both cases, they want to know when a prospective buyer is delighted, dissatisfied, or lost. Did you know that Journey Mapping can go beyond understanding consumers in the eCom or Digital Worlds?
The Garage Group’s has used Journey Mapping as a key strategic insights tool for years. But, we knew journey maps could work harder for our clients. Thinking like entrepreneurs, we could apply more rigor, discipline, and action to the process. So, we created a new approach by infusing the thinking from “Jobs Theory.” We call it Jobs-Based Journey Mapping.
When anchored in Jobs to be Done (i.e., “Jobs Theory”), a Customer Journey Map can be used to analyze nearly any customer challenge in nearly any industry.
Jobs-Based Journey Mapping Unlocks Rigor, Discipline & Actionability
Over the past 5 years we have iterated on the build-out of Jobs-Based Customer Journey Maps. We’ve used it with Financial Services, CPG, Food & Beverage, QSR, and Retail clients. We have proven that Jobs-Based Journey Mapping introduces an entirely new level of rigor, discipline, and actionability to the age-old framework.
At The Garage Group, we are multi-method by design. We put our Lean Growth Playbook to use in every engagement. But, we have grown to love Jobs Theory – and its breadth of application across strategy and innovation challenges.
By uncovering Jobs to be Done available for solving, you can unlock a new level of rigor and discipline that can’t help but inspire action. By weaving Jobs into the process of Customer Journey Mapping, actionability is palpable. Nuances between consumer segments can’t be avoided. The who, why, how, when, and what details are organized in a disciplined, structured format.
No stone goes unturned. You will end up with a clear matrix. Each consumer step is outlined comprehensively. You see the Job(s) they are seeking to solve and the core competitive offering or solution used today.
Five Reasons To Build Jobs-Based Customer Journey Maps
Here’s five reasons why Jobs-Based Journey Mapping is powerful.
- Flips Your Perspective – We tend to focus on the company’s problems, and your consumer’s journey with your product or service. You flip the script with Jobs-Based Journey Mapping. Focus shifts to the buyer’s most important steps in accomplishing an important task. Customer Journey Mapping focuses on understanding what resonates most to get them to buy your product. The problem: This makes your product the hero in the journey vs. the consumer.
- Widens Your Lens – Oversimplification is common. You’ve scraped social media. You’ve highlighted the top problem with your product. Once you solve it, sales will soar, right? Reframing your focus with Jobs-Based Journey Mapping helps you see the full picture. It helps you weigh the importance of solving one Job over another. With a wider aperture, you may even find that your product is not the most effective solution to solve your consumer’s Job to be Done. In the end, you’ll see opportunities to future-proof your business, reframing existing products and providing a roadmap into the future.
- Powers Innovation – A significant number of new products don’t “work out.” The stronger your understanding of the problem you are solving, the tighter and more effective ideas you can generate. When we ideate with Jobs as our focus, The Garage Group leads more thorough ideation sessions with our Fortune 1000 clients. By prioritizing the Jobs that represent the biggest pain for consumers, it highlights the strongest areas of focus for ideation. Sometimes innovation looks like a new product, stronger customer service, claims, or new marketing/communication.
- Forces Big Strategic Choices – Innovation and strategy is about choosing where to play, how to win. You must choose a path that has opportunities versus your competitors. Using Jobs-Based Journey Mapping forces a framework for data informed decisions. When done right, you will see an expansive end-to-end consumer experience. You will better understand context, clearly understand the highest priority pains and desired gains, and the competitive offerings relative to your own at each step. Last, you will see which steps are “more valuable” for the consumer. The sum total is a full landscape. It makes it easier to see “white space” and make bold choices.
- Tactically Actions Your Strategy – Last, it allows you to action your strategy. You can more easily action your company’s resources in a cohesive plan. Strategy can sometimes be too high level. We talk about driving trial or loyalty. But, we miss the critical Job to solve at each step. A Jobs-Based Journey Map will illuminate each tactical step to address for your marketing plan. This will be your roadmap for customer retention and loyalty. You’ll use it to rally the team around internally and celebrate as you make progress.
Is Jobs-Based Journey Mapping for You?
Any team can do this. We’ve worked with dozens of Fortune 1000 companies on Jobs-Based Journey Mapping. Your consumers have never had more options than they do today. This approach will help you identify new ways to reach them.
It’s an ideal process for any company looking to expand their field of vision and to develop more robust strategy and innovation plans. Here’s a list of companies / industries this can be perfect for:
- Financial Services
- B2C or B2B Food & Bev
- Consumer Healthcare
- Consumer Packaged Goods
Need a Jobs-Journey Mapping Partner?
This is snippet of the power of Jobs-Based Journey Mapping. We’d love to help you put this tool to use in your company. We know it will help bring clarity to the big innovation and growth challenges you face. We’d love to help you take action! Reach out at marketing@thegaragegroup.com to continue the conversation.
