COVID-19 has changed the lives of everyone around the world. It has affected us from the way we conduct our daily lives through essentially every aspect of society and interaction. Experts predict there may not be a vaccine until at least 2021 and that a second wave of the corona virus could occur in the fall (Fay Cortez).
Considering that this will be with us for a while longer, now is the time to review how your customers are interacting with your business. Reviewing the article, “How to Create an Effective Customer Journey Map [Examples + Template],” (https://blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-journey-map) what can you do to improve your customer’s experience? In physical locations and interactions there is no question that customer experiences have and will continue to change because of COVID-19. However, even in the corporate world, there is much to consider. Is now the time to target new customers? How will you market to customers during this crisis? Have touch points changed drastically throughout their experience because of COVID-19?
Thinking about the company that I work for, there are different customer journeys to consider. My team and I work on the corporate website. Our internal customers still work with us in essentially the same way they did prior to COVID. Our team communicates and assists various departments nearly 100% of the time through digital interactions. After COVID, their experience did not change. Thinking about the company as a whole, a decision was made to convert all employees to a remote work experience. In this case employees can be considered the “customer”. In this transition to remote work, the company had to take a look at the journey to identify obstacles and pain-points. One example of the customer journey the company looked at was if the employees had the appropriate resources to accommodate working from home. After an assessment of this situation, the company provided additional monitors to many employees. Finally, another example of a customer journey related to our company is the change in testing environment for external users needing to take proctored exams. Prior to COVID, users would signup and take tests at designated testing locations that are secure and proctored. With the closing of many facilities, this testing situation has become extremely challenging for users, the company and the testing vendor. Our firm should review a day in the life of these testers to collect new pain-points of the online process and make adjustments as needed.
To summarize, take a new look at your customer’s journey and see if it is still right for them. Use the template below to capture a day in the life of your customer. See if it is still working to meet your business objectives.
Fay Cortez, M. (June, 2020). We Will Be Living With the Coronavirus Pandemic Well Into 2021. Retrieved from: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-06-18/we-will-be-living-with-the-coronavirus-pandemic-well-into-2021
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