Why you need to map the customer's ecosystem

The customer sits at the centre of their own ecosystem of providers. You need to map it to identify the best service experience opportunities.

Most companies only look at their interactions with the customer; at what I called 'company pathways' in an earlier post. They use this understanding to improve the interactions in the pathway from their own perspective. They think that is how the customer sees things.

But that isn't how the customer sees things at all. In addition to the interactions with the company, the customer interacts with many other actors to get the resources they need to get their jobs done. The customer looks at all the interactions in their journey and the different actors involved; at the ecosystem. This is a very different perspective.

How do you map a customer ecosystem?

There area number of ways you can map the customer ecosystem.

The technique I have used for the past ten years is Value Network Mapping, which maps the relationships between the different actors in the customer ecosystem and what resources flow between them.

The best Value Network Mapping approach I have seen, and the one I use, is the one Elke den Ouden describes in Chapters 8 & 9 of Advanced Design Methods and in her book, 'Innovation Design: Creating Value for People, Organisations and Society'

Once you understand the bigger picture, you can dive into the bits that interest you the most.

A real example of mapping a customer ecosystem

Let's look at a real example.

A few years ago, as part of a programme for a Bank client, my team analysed the journey associated with the customer job of 'Finance my Home'. The Bank was actually interested in the 'Sell a Mortgage' pathway and how it could better sell mortgages. Although they sound similar, they are actually quite different.

Much to the Bank's surprise, of the 100 key interactions in the customer's Finance my Home journey, the Bank's Sell a Mortgage pathway only accounted for around 30% of them. The majority of interactions were with a dozen other actors in the customer's ecosystem, including a number whose interests were not aligned with the Bank's, e.g. mortgage brokers who provide independent mortgage advice and comparison platforms who allow customers to easily compare different mortgages.

Of the interactions that were not with the bank, the team identified that an additional 10% easily could have been with the Bank if it looked at the journey through the customer's eyes, rather than at the pathway through its own. It also identified that an an additional 30% were with actors that the Bank could potentially have partnered with; that would have been beneficial to the Bank, the partners and to their mutual customers. And finally, that the Bank could have assisted customers with the final 30%, e.g. by providing them with guides, checklists, etc.

The Bank could have increased its engagement with customers from 30% of the interactions during their journey, to 40%, 70%, or even 100%, just by taking a less myopic perspective. Alas, it was only interested in selling mortgages.

Takeaways

1. Identify all the actors in the customer's ecosystem using Value Network Mapping.
2. Identify the actors, other than the customer and yourself, that are key to the customer getting their job done. Focus on these.
3. Identify actors that you would like to replace, that might make potential partners for you, or that you can help the customer with. These provide you with new possibilities.

What do you think? Have you mapped your customer's ecosystem?

This article adapted from an original post on LinkedIn.