The time for customer experience design is now! In this episode of our web series CXDNow, host Chris Heuer interviews Doug Foulds, product manager of IBM Journey Designer (and sponsor of this show).  Following up on last week’s discussion with author Brian Solis about his new book, “X – The Experience When Business Meets Design“, we dive deeper into why this practice is sorely needed and discuss the specifics of the IBM Journey Designer product, as well as where it is headed in the future as it goes from design tool to functional dashboard.

In part 1 of the interview we review some of the key concepts and specifically dive into the need for better collaboration across channels and across different teams inside and outside of the company. The need is largely driven, it seems, by changing customer expectations, but also by the growing complexity of an omnichannel world. By visualizing all of the different touchpoints we can better coordinate our processes for engaging the customers and ensuring consistency, which is often lacking.

In part 2 of the interview Doug tells us about how the product works to enable marketing teams to collaborate in their planning and execution in real time using IBM Journey Designer to visualize the customer journey. He says that he and his team are seeking early customers to go on the journey with them as they expand the product functionality from beyond the design/layout capabilities it has now, to become a fully functioning dashboard. Starting with SilverPop and extending to the full IBM Marketing Cloud. Eventually, they will even integrate other 3rd party marketing cloud solutions.

In part 3 below, I get Doug’s advice on how to start the process of building a customer journey map, beginning with the empathy maps. We talk about the mindset needed to approach it properly as well as some specifics about the questions we should be answering when we step into the persona of our desired customer. In this case, we are using the real world example of trying to understand and engage Nicole, who may become a volunteer for We Are the Solution. A new community initiative to end activism by opposition and bring people together to form collaborative solutions.

Finally, we wrap up with an open Blab conversation where we are joined by Marc Meyer, Digital Strategist at Accenture Digital where we discuss the long road ahead and the potential value of journey maps for smaller clients.

If you would like to be a part of the taping of the show and join in our post interview conversation, you can join us on Wednesday October 14, 2015 at noon PST on Blab as we interview Tom Illmensee, Director of User Experience and Design at Prezi, as we more deeply discuss The Challenges to Overcome.

Need help creating design moving customer experiences? IBM Journey Designer enables you and your team to collaboratively visualize journeys, set shared marketing goals, and create and refine tailored experiences for dozens of priority segments. Learn more on this blog post or try it at no cost at ibm.com/journey-designer.

Doug Foulds Interview Part 1 of 4 – The Need for
Customer Experience Design and Journey Maps

Doug Foulds Interview Part 2 of 4 – IBM Journey Designer

Doug Foulds Interview Part 3 of 4 – Getting Started with Empathy Maps

Doug Foulds Interview Part 4 of 4 – The Blab

SPONSORED BY IBM JOURNEY DESIGNER

For more about the #CXDNow series, why I am doing it and where we are headed, read this background post.