Customer CartographyARTICLE REVIEW

VIKRAM ARORA

UM14297

Customer Cartography

Molly Soat – staff writer of American Marketing Association

“Customer Cartography” is the first step in the mapping of customer journey

A “Customer Journey” is the customer’srelationship with a brand as they continue to discover new options, explore their needs, make purchases and engage with the product experience and their peers – acc to Forrester

It is also known as CX mapping or Customer Experience Mapping.

Customer Cartography – audience experience Mapping

It visualise the stages, actions, mind-set and touchpoints of the customer lifecycle, from initial awareness through to post-purchase.

There are a number of touchpoints in which the customer and the brand come into contact. These are defined as moments of truth (MOTs)

On average it takes a customer seven MOTs with a company to build enough trust to make a purchase

What is the change?

The article talks about the new terrains in the buying journey

McKinsey and Co. Inc. was the first to note this change in 2009

Factors driving this change: Social media

Mobile shopping

Online review sites

The change is that the journey isn’t linear anymore.

How is the new cartography designed?

Initial Consider

ation

Active Evaluatio

n

Closure

Post Purchase

New journey is not linear but circular

Instead of a step wise approach, it has four phases as depicted in the diagram

Active evaluation is the process of potential purchases

Closure is when the consumer finally buys the brand

Post purchase is when consumers experience the brand

Loop is closed depends on loyalty of the consumer

Loyalty closes this loop

Getting Granular

Marketers cannot rely on set points of entry Buying process is more like a web rather than path

Active buying instead of Passive Buying

Explosion in number of gateways (eg., digital) that influence buying