Using Digital Ethnography as a tool for Journey Mapping research
The research context - what is Journey Mapping?
Whether it is B2C or B2B, providing a positive customer experience is integral to the success and longevity of any organisation. In order to ensure customers have a seamless experience, it is useful to undertake a start to finish review of customer journeys or processes e.g. omni-channel purchase journeys. To do this we must first develop an understanding of all the stages, touchpoints and channels they interact with, and how these interactions are experienced. The process of journey mapping allows us to accomplish this. A visual representation of the customer journey (in chronological order) is the result of this process, and is known as a journey map.
One of the core principles of journey mapping requires the business to generate insights from the perspective of the customer. Without this perspective we may not understand the true experiences of these key stakeholders, and without this understanding, we cannot fully empathise with our customers.
Designing the journey mapping process involves identifying each and every touchpoint the customer interacts with to communicate with the brand. Once all touch points and channels are mapped out, we can then begin to design and develop the best techniques to build this map - effectively, generating a story and rich understanding of our customers journey. The final output is then used to help a larger team focus on the areas in need of most attention.
Key Features of Journey Mapping Tools
The key features of a user or customer journey map are those that enable decision makers to see the illustration of the customer persona, context, the phases of their journey, and all the touchpoints experienced throughout the journey. Identifying highs and lows helps decision makers improve those areas where expectations are falling short and to focus on taking remedial action if needed.
Research persona / actor
First, who is the customer? Does this customer meet the criteria of a persona we recognise? Each customer-facing brand/organisation will have a considerable understanding of their customers. The journey map should provide the details of the one or many personas of our customer. We never want to assume all of our customers have a shared experience, and it is always possible that the experience varies depending on the type of customers we have. When we position each persona to a journey, the map will have significant value in providing rich insights into the various experiences of our customers. A clear description of each persona can be enough to streamline each journey that you illustrate.
Research experiences in context
The journey map should also provide a clear illustration of the context of the journey. Context is usually defined during the design phase of our research. However, it is equally important that the context of the journey being recorded and captured is highlighted in the map. The benefits of this provide deeper insights into the specifics of how a customer experiences our product/service. For example, a retailer may have multiple channels their customers can use to purchase a product. They may wish to conduct qualitative and experience research to develop an understanding of just one of the channels where customers use only one payment method. Identifying the context in the mapping process can help us focus on a narrow and specific sequence of events.
Understand Journey phases and touchpoints
The phases and touchpoints of a customer journey can be quite different relative to the objective of the project. For instance, a restaurant may be looking to offer a new online takeaway service. In this scenario, decision makers will need to develop an understanding of the generic phases that customers go through when ordering food online. Therefore, the phases of this generic process of ordering food online should be mapped. Alternatively, we may require more specific touchpoints. An organisation might need to review their current customer experience of a particular product or service. In this case, all touchpoints and channels the customer has with the brand, such as path-to-purchase through one channel, should be documented and captured. Screen recording apps can also help play a part here, and can be particularly powerful when used in conjunction with audio commentary and ratings (emoji selections at the most basic level).
Capture emotions and pain points
The effectiveness of a journey map is directly related to how we empower our customers to describe their journey with emotion embedded in this description. Customers should be encouraged to describe how they feel and think throughout the duration of their journey. When customers invite us into their lives across this journey, the aim is that we build a level of empathy through their emotions. In many ways then, we are also building an empathy map. Illustrating the emotions of the customer across their journey can play an integral role in effective decision making. The adoption of mobile technologies for customer journey mapping can also integrate quantitative features, such as emotion ratings illustrated by emojis. Emojis can provide a quick high-level understanding of the emotions customers experience across their journey.
When we dive into the data and media content that is built out across the journey map, we must highlight the pain points identified by our customers. To simply put it, any negative experience encountered by our customer on their within-context journey, is referred to as a pain point. Paint points play a significant role in the design of new products, or future iterations of current products and services that are already out there in the market. As previously stated, one of the goals of developing a journey map is to gain a rich understanding of the experiences of our customers. This includes empathising with all the positive and negative interactions our customers have experienced.
What is Digital Ethnography?
Digital Ethnography (also known as Mobile Ethnography / Virtual Ethnography / Online ethnography) refers to the use of Smartphones to capture in-the-moment insights from research participants.
It is usually a task based approach where respondents complete a number of tasks (often over a period of time). Using their own personal Smartphones they can upload notes, photos, videos or screen recordings providing rich context to their real-world experiences.
The qualitative nature of ethnography will uncover insights that you would not have anticipated. This is critical to organisations and brands that seek to understand how customers experience a new product or service.
For example, User Experience (UX) design is and should be directly informed by the user research that has been conducted. Designing qualitative research to inform the design process, such as ethnography, enables the UX researcher to uncover the unknown user behaviours and interactions with a new product or feature. The richness of data obtained by empowering potential users to record and narrate their experiences and behaviours in the moment, can result in core insights that may not have been anticipated at the outset of the discovery phase of the innovation journey.
Key benefits of Digital Ethnography
The following represent some of the key features of digital ethnography solutions like Indeemo’s:
Facilitates International Research
The remote nature of the tool means it is ideal for multi-market research. It also enables the researcher to gain unfettered *over the shoulder* access without needing to be physically present.
Powerful Mobile Screen Recording
The mobile screen recording generates media rich outputs combining a mix of audio, text, images and videos to map any journey.
Automated Video Transcription (AVT)
The AVT capability helps ensure post production analysis and reporting is efficient so researchers can pull out rich insights from the data.
Supports Multiple Use Cases
The versatility of platforms like Indeemo’s mean that they can be used to analyse everything from patient healthcare journey maps to omnichannel path to purchase journeys.
Easy to Use Applications
Indeemo consists of an easy to use APP (iOS and Android) that respondents use, and an online platform used by researchers and moderators.
Fully Secure Platform
Indeemo’s digital ethnography app and platform has a range of data security features as well as being HIPAA compliant and ISO accredited.
How to leverage Digital Ethnography for Journey Mapping research?
Digital ethnography can be an immensely helpful qualitative research methodology for facilitating the development of journey maps. The qualitative data retrieved during the discovery phase of innovation and service design can be stored and organised effectively.
As we are eager to learn about our customers' journey through their expressions of emotions, and description of experiences across the one or many touchpoints with a brand, the design of qualitative research through mobile technology, such as diary studies, can be effective in gathering these requirements quickly.
Mobile platforms can reduce the ‘researcher effect’. A traditionally face-to-face approach to qualitative research, such as interviews and focus groups can often limit the true expressions of participants in a study. In a customer journey scenario, observing people's interactions with various touch points in the journey can be time consuming. The inception of digital technologies and the quickly evolving mobile world we live in today provides immense opportunities to leverage the technologies that can help maximise the accuracy and true reflection of a customer's journey.
Digital ethnography applications can also utilise varying types of media to help develop an understanding of and empathise with our customers. Video diaries for example can significantly enhance our empathy with customers. As they begin their journey with a brand, through mobile ethnography applications, customers can record their experiences through each touchpoint, describing how they feel, and seamlessly upload their thoughts and feelings where the researcher can observe and analyse remotely. From a quantitative perspective, metrics such as CSAT and NPS score plot out highs and lows of each user journey as well as quickly aggregate multiple subject journey sets. This can take the guesswork out of one of the most subjective phases of the journey map.
Analysing qualitative data can be time consuming. However, the design of a customer journey map can be effective in gaining rich insights, but now more so than ever, platforms that facilitate online ethnographic research can quickly transfer and organise the diverse array of data from a customer journey into a visually impactful map.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in demand for Journey Mapping briefs. This is being driven by (a) digital transformation and (b) the need for brands to get more context on omni-channel journeys and experiences. Our Journey Mapping capability allows you to remotely research consumer / customer (or colleague) journeys over any period of time across multiple platforms and channels. The Journey Map view on the Indeemo dashboard then automatically plots the highs and lows of each customer's journey in line with the photos, videos and screen recordings that show you and your stakeholders why a particular touchpoint or experience is particularly positive or negative. Demand for our Journey Mapping capability is likely to grow significantly in the years ahead as C-suites recognise both (a) the impactful value of context rich insights and (b) the commercial necessity of delivering seamless omni-channel experiences.”
Eugene Murphy, CEO of Indeemo
Summary
A customer journey map is a visual representation of the processes and interactions, touchpoints, paint points, and emotions described by customers. A journey map can have significant impacts on decision making in the design and iteration phases of a product and/or service. These impacts are directly related to the design of a robust methodology that can help capture the experiences and behaviours of customers. Digital ethnography leverages the characteristics of traditional ethnographic research methods, like user diary studies, by incorporating them with mobile and smartphone technology.
Customer journey mapping research participants should be empowered through the use of digital technologies that enable them to express their experiences in the moment, without the intrusion of the physical presence of a researcher.
The design and development of a customer journey map is becoming ubiquitous with many industries. UX researchers, experience designers, market researchers, and of course, customer experience / service design experts can all benefit from the mapping of customer journeys.
Identifying the core elements of a journey map - persona, context, phases and touchpoints, emotions and pain points - can only enhance our understanding of the true experiences customers face, and through this understanding, UX designers and market researcher for example, can develop a rich sense of empathy, which can only have a profound positive impact on future customer experiences.
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