Use journey orchestration to transform your customer experience

What is the meaning of customer journey orchestration

Customer journey orchestration is the process of designing and managing customer journeys across multiple touchpoints and channels. It applies all the collected data to understand, map out and optimise customers' end-to-end experiences as they interact with your business.

Rather than you reaching out to a customer about a certain campaign that is relevant to your organisation right now, you switch the roles around and deliver campaigns relevant to the customer at this moment in time. In order to do something like this, you need to track relevant data to understand where your customer is in their journey and use automation to deliver the corresponding campaigns or information at the right time. This results in recognising your customers' needs at any given stage in that journey, making it easier to deliver relevant content to move them further down their customer journey.

Example of Journey Orchestration

Imagine two individuals:

• Sarah, who has just bought a brand-new car
  
  

• John, who is still contemplating a purchase, while his current vehicle is already 8 years old.
  
  

  As Sarah embarks on her journey as a new car owner, she expects a tailored communication experience that acknowledges her recent purchase and focuses on post-sales support, such as maintenance reminders, warranty information, and exclusive offers for new accessories. She looks forward to receiving proactive updates relevant to her specific vehicle model.
  
  

  On the other hand, John, with his aging car, anticipates a different kind of communication. He seeks information on the latest car models, financing options, trade-in opportunities, and practical advice on extending the life of his current vehicle. He is particularly interested in content that highlights the advancements and benefits of newer models, helping him assess when it might be the right time to consider an upgrade.
  
  

  Recognizing these distinct trigger points, journey orchestration plays a pivotal role in delivering personalised communications that cater to the unique needs and preferences of each customer, ensuring a relevant and engaging experience throughout their automotive journey.
  
  

  
  
  

Journey orchestration and real-time data

An important component of customer journey orchestration is real-time data. To orchestrate the ideal customer journey for each customer, each step needs to inform the next one. Hence, you need the real-time data to know how, where and when your customer interacts with you.

The difference between journey orchestration and hyper personalisation

Journey orchestration and hyper personalisation are two related concepts. However, customer journey orchestration focuses on managing the end-to-end customer experience across multiple channels and touchpoints. It considers the entire customer journey. By doing so, it delivers contextual relevance by understanding the customer’s needs at every stage. Journey orchestration makes sure that customers have a consistent experience regardless of the channel or device.

Hyper personalisation on the other hand underlines personalising specific touchpoints or individual interactions, rather than keeping in mind the entire customer journey.

The importance of journey orchestration for businesses and marketers

Is journey orchestration relevant for you as a marketer or your business? Absolutely. Look at it as a fundamental piece of your business strategy that will:

• improve customer experience. Thanks to the deeper understanding of your customer’s needs, preferences and pain points, businesses can optimise their marketing actions that enhance the overall customer experience.
  
  

• improve operational efficiency. Mapping out the customer journey can reveal inefficient processes or unnecessary interactions. It keeps your entire team focused on the same objectives, reducing repetitive or redundant tasks and streamlining processes.
  
  

• increase engagement and conversion. Journey orchestration allows companies to identify and optimise critical touchpoints. Thanks to the deep understanding of the customer journey and the disengagement points, businesses can deliver relevant, personalised content or offers at each stage. It gives you a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Customers find the information they need on the channel they want, making their lives easier by offering the right solutions in real time.
  
  

4 fundamental steps to orchestrating a great customer experience

We established that customer journey orchestration is an essential part of your business strategy. But where do you start?

1. Pick one customer journey to start with

Think about an interaction that has a very clear transition for your customer. It helps to start with a journey that has a very clear trigger, e.g. when a customer buys something or shows clear intent by engaging with certain topics. Talk to customers or use historic data to map their journey and understand what they need from you throughout their (post-)decision process.

2. Gather and analyse customer data

Collect data from various sources (website analytics, transactional data, customer feedback, …). This data will give you insights into the behaviour, preferences and pain points of your customers throughout their customer journey. Be critical about what you track and focus on the data that is relevant for the customer journey you are looking to support.

3. Pick a Journey Orchestration Platform

Choose a customer journey orchestration platform that suits your needs. Consider features like data integration, automation, real-time decisioning and so on.

4. Test, test, test…and optimise!

After the implementation of the platform, test the orchestrated journeys on specific customer segments. Journey orchestration relies on real time data, so be as efficient as you can in comprehending the data. Connect the dots and orchestrate a great customer experience.