You can feel that something is wrong. Customers are complaining about repeating themselves, your sales team is missing opportunities, and your marketing feels…disconnected. You know there’s friction in your customer experience, but you can’t pinpoint exactly where the breakdowns are happening.
Trying to fix the problem without a clear diagnosis is like trying to fix a car engine by randomly tightening bolts. You might get lucky, but you’re more likely to waste time and make things worse.
What you need is a map. Specifically, a customer journey map.
This isn’t just a marketing exercise; it’s a powerful diagnostic tool. It’s the X-ray that allows you to see beneath the surface of your business operations and identify the precise points where disconnected systems are failing your customers.
What is a Customer Journey Map?
A customer journey map is a visual representation of every single interaction a customer has with your company, from their first inkling of a problem to becoming a loyal advocate. It details their actions, their feelings, and their goals at each stage.
Crucially, it forces you to look at your business from the outside in, from the customer’s perspective. It’s not a sales funnel that shows how you see them, but a timeline that shows how they experience you.
Why Map the Journey to Find System Gaps?
For our purposes, we’re adding a critical diagnostic layer to the traditional journey map. We aren’t just looking at the customer’s experience; we’re looking at the internal processes and technologies that power that experience.
The goal is to answer one fundamental question at every stage: “Does the information we learn here successfully follow the customer to the next interaction?”
When the answer is “no,” you’ve found a gap. You’ve found a data silo. You’ve found the root cause of your inconsistent customer experience.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Diagnostic Journey Mapping
Ready to find the cracks in your system? Follow these steps.
Step 1: Choose Your Persona
You can't map the journey for every type of customer at once. Start with one of your primary buyer personas. For example, if you’re focused on improving marketing and sales alignment, you might choose a persona like "Functional Frank" in a marketing manager role. This focus ensures your map is specific and actionable.
Step 2: Define the Stages of the Journey
Outline the key phases of your customer’s lifecycle. While this will vary by business, a typical B2B journey includes stages like:
- Awareness: They first realise they have a problem and begin searching for answers.
- Consideration: They are now actively evaluating different solutions and vendors.
- Purchase: They make the decision, sign the contract, and become a customer.
- Onboarding: They are getting set up with your product or service.
- Support & Service: They interact with your team to ask questions or resolve issues.
- Loyalty & Growth: They are a happy, long-term customer with the potential to buy more or advocate for you.
Step 3: List the Touchpoints at Each Stage
Now, brainstorm the specific actions and interactions that occur within each stage. Be as detailed as possible.
- Awareness: Reads a blog post, sees a social media ad, downloads an eBook.
- Consideration: Attends a webinar, requests a demo, has a discovery call with a sales rep.
- Purchase: Receives a proposal, signs a contract, pays an invoice.
- Onboarding: Attends a kick-off call, receives training materials.
- Support: Submits a support ticket, uses a chatbot, calls the support line.
Step 4: Ask the Critical Diagnostic Questions
This is where you uncover the gaps. For each touchpoint you’ve listed, answer the following questions:
- Customer's Goal: What is the customer trying to achieve in this moment? (e.g., “To get an answer to my question quickly.”)
- Team Ownership: Which internal team is responsible for this interaction? (Marketing, Sales, Support, Finance?)
- System Used: What software or platform powers this interaction? (HubSpot, Salesforce, Zendesk, Xero, etc.?)
- The Million-Pound Question: Is the data from this interaction seamlessly passed to the team handling the next logical touchpoint?
Step 5: Identify the Gaps and Points of Friction
As you go through Step 4, the gaps will become glaringly obvious. Every time you answer "No" to the final question, highlight it in red.
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Example 1: The Marketing-to-Sales Gap
- Touchpoint: Prospect downloads a "Pricing Guide" eBook (Awareness/Consideration).
- System Used: HubSpot.
- Next Touchpoint: A sales rep calls the prospect for a discovery call.
- Diagnostic Question: Does the sales rep, working in their CRM (e.g., Salesforce), know that this specific prospect just downloaded the pricing guide?
- Answer: If not, that’s a GAP. The sales rep is flying blind, unable to tailor their conversation.
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Example 2: The Sales-to-Support Gap
- Touchpoint: A customer signs a contract for "Service Package Pro" (Purchase).
- System Used: CRM / E-signature tool.
- Next Touchpoint: The customer calls support with a question about their new package.
- Diagnostic Question: Does the support agent, working in their helpdesk software (e.g., Zendesk), have immediate access to the customer's purchase history and know they are a "Pro" user?
- Answer: If not, that’s a GAP. The agent can't provide fast, context-aware support.
From Map to Action Plan
This completed map is more than just a document, it's your action plan. The gaps you’ve identified are your integration priorities. They show you exactly which systems need to be connected to ensure data flows as smoothly as your customer does.
Instead of guessing where the problems are, you now have a clear, evidence-based roadmap for fixing your inconsistent customer experience at its source.
