Customer-Obsessed Innovation!

Here at AVT, we believe the Customer is King and making their journey with your company seamless and delightful is the way to earn and maintain customer loyalty. We also know that innovation is the lifeblood of every organization, large or small. Marry these two together, and you're on your way to...

But you don't have to take our word for it. Many successful companies, including L.L. Bean and Amazon, use customer feedback to innovate daily. 

L.L Bean, one of the oldest names in outdoor gear in the U.S., takes a unique approach to collect customer feedback. They provide select customers with a journal to capture their thoughts, feelings, ideas, and impressions when they are out in the wilderness putting a product through its paces. They know collecting this kind of data is a goldmine of ideas for innovating and keeping their products best in class. 

You and your organization may not make outdoor gear like L.L. Bean or strive to provide one-stop shopping for everything
from A to Z like Amazon. Still, every organization can benefit from collecting customer journey feedback and innovating its products, goods, or services. 

The good news is it doesn't have to take a long time or cost a ton of money. You don't need to bring in an outside consultant or a major-league new hire . 

Everyone at all levels can and should have these tools in their tool belt. 

If you have something to write on and something to write with, adding few simple visual tools will give you and your team everything you need to begin your journey towards customer-obsessed innovation.

Want to jump in and start gathering customer feedback right away?
Download a copy of the free template and play along.

• Step 1: Find a willing participant and start small. If this is your first go at mapping a customer journey or experience, you may want to use yourself and think through a recent experience you've had. Or you could ask a friend or trusted colleague to talk to you about a recent experience they've had. Then, once you've got the hang of it, go bigger and draft a favorite customer to provide feedback on their most recent experience.
• Step 2: Draw a simple character (in the center circle). Giving your customer a persona helps cement who you're talking to in your mind and allows the customer to feel seen and heard. Download a free how to draw simple characters handout below for a quick, easy formula for drawing simple characters.
• Step 3: Record the facts. Write down the person's name, title, and the customer journey or experience you'll be discussing together.
• Step 4: Listen and capture key points. Asked your volunteer to describe their customer journey or experience to you. As they're speaking, capture the critical moments, including what they were thinking, seeing, saying, doing, feeling, and hearing. As you're listening, it's crucial to capture their exact words. If you're not sure you've captured something correctly, ask them to reiterate or clarify.
• Step 5: Rinse and repeat. Find a few new participants and begin building a wealth of vital feedback. 

The more you know about your customers, the better you can serve them and the easier it is to choose which product, good, service or process to innovate. You'll be amazed at what you can learn from listening to your customers. You may discover something you thought was working, like that loud background music is offputting instead of energizing. You may find out the buy now button is getting lost amid other less critical information in the checkout process. Perhaps you'll learn that color you've staked your brand on feels cozy and inviting to someone but perhaps not to your ideal customers. 

The more you understand your customers, the better you can innovate your products, goods, or services to surprise, delight, and amaze them.

Want to learn more? 

Our CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAPPING  and INNOVATION courses are designed to give you and your teams easy-to-learn, fast to implement visual tools to quickly gather customer journey feedback. Then use that knowledge as a gateway to innovate your products, goods, or services.

PS: Download a free copy of the handout and try your hand a drawing a few characters. Use them to bring your visual thinking to life!