In the process of developing this paper on customer journey management, Winterberry Group spoke to senior industry experts from both the US and Europe. These experts represented companies involved in all aspects
of customer journey management, ranging from global data and technology companies, digital transformation agencies, and end user clients. To complement these interviews, WG ran an online survey of senior
brand marketers and marketing decision-makers in April 2021 across the US and UK.
The objective of this paper is to facilitate better understanding of this rapidly changing market, currently being driven by a mixture of technological innovation, promotional and purchase channel
transformation, and cross-channel data quality. The market challenge remains for brands to continue to better understand and serve their customers, when and where they are along the customer journey.
Meanwhile, each of these groups wants to interact with the customer on their own – and not the customer’s – terms. The result for customers is that interactions with the brand can feel disjointed and dissatisfying.
While many brands have hired chief customer officers or built customer experience departments, it’s rare to find a brand that understands the journeys a customer takes when interacting with the brand; understands
the customer need during any given interaction; and has the resources and capability to solve those needs as quickly and efficiently as possible. It is this problem that customer journey management seeks to solve.
Winterberry Group defines customer journey management as “a strategic approach to understanding an individual’s need in the moment, in order to meet that need as early as possible, and in the most
convenient manner for the individual.” Customer journey management requires organisational alignment underpinned by strategy, objectives, and process. This must be supported by data, technology, and analytics
to understand the need, as well as decisioning, orchestration, and omnichannel engagement to deliver the appropriate experience.
