Customer Journey Map: A Complete Guide [With Example]

As per WHO, depression is a common illness characterized by persistent sadness and a loss of interest in activities that one normally enjoys, accompanied by an inability to carry out daily activities, for at least two weeks. These patients may additionally complain about the loss of energy; change in appetite; reduced concentration; indecisiveness; restlessness; feelings of worthlessness, guilt, or hopelessness; and thoughts of self-harm or even committing suicide.

One in every four people in the world has mental or neurological disorders at some point in their life. A recent report from WHO indicated that India has the dubious distinction of being the leader in depression patients. About 15% of India’s adult population has this mental disorder and nearly one in 20 Indians suffer from depression. This is irrespective of the location they belong to.

Two major hindrances for effective measures and treatment for depression in India are; shortage of mental health experts/ doctors and infrastructure. Both can be overcome with the advancement of technological infrastructure; IoT devices and the use of Artificial Intelligence. These technologies not only are advanced, but they also help in personalized medicine, maintain records of patients, and treat patients for future problems too.

Studies have shown that the app is as useful as Psychologists for mild depression and users do not need to visit their doctors anymore. A pharmaceutical company with a range of anti-depressants under its belt has launched as AI-based App (Android and IoS) which can treat mild depression. The user can download the app and follow the instructions for 6 months. In case of persistence or growth of depression, the users are advised to visit a Psychologist.

Customer is someone with access to a smartphone, who might be facing professional or personal struggles. Anyone in adulthood, including students, working professionals, job seekers, homemakers, retired people, etc. can be the potential customer for the app.

Struggles and failures in personal or professional life. Example: Unsatisfactory exam results, financial issues, relationship issues, inability to find a job, highly competitive workplace environment, etc.

The dreams and aspirations of the person can be to achieve work-life balance, specific financial goals, career growth, etc.
Childhood trauma, over stressing, loneliness, inability to focus, distraction (such as smartphones, social media), jealousy from peers, lack of self-awareness, drug abuse, etc. can be a reason that can hinder the pursuit of dreams.

• Female
• Age: 25-50 years
• Regions: Metro cities, Tier 2 cities
• Lack of involvement in social gatherings and interactions.

For the given example, the customer for the app is someone who has access to a smartphone and is facing professional or personal struggles. Anyone in adulthood, including students, working professionals, job seekers, homemakers, retired persons, etc. can suffer from depression and is the potential customer for the app.

For this assignment, I am choosing female homemakers (25-50 years of age) as the target customer. Given that various studies have observed that females are among the leading victims of depression, it gives a wider audience to reach and help with the app.

We will like to inform the customers about the possibility of the problem that they are facing without complete awareness of depression, such as lack of interest in their work, sudden loss/gain of weight, mood swings, etc. For the awareness campaign, we will share informative content on different channels.

Informative content will be across topics like:

• Why a housewife should be concerned about depression?
• Women Are More Like Victims of Depression Than Men: See Report
• All You Need to Know About Depression as A Homemaker
• Inability to Control Weight Can be a Sign of Depression

With these posts, we will update the potential client about the symptoms of the depression that are more common among our target customers, along with the possible solution. We will our app among available solutions with a little more emphasis.

The prepared content across webpages will be promoted across the following channels:

• Blog posts on your website
• Social media with leading user popularity target customers (females using Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. in this case)
• Videos channels

For the content promotion, we will use the following cohorts across search engines, social media, and other leading online platforms among our target clients:

• Female
• Age: 25-50 years
• Regions: Metro cities
• Internet history suggesting interest in weight loss or gain, phone usage among odd hours, and liking for sad posts or songs.

The results of the campaign will be evaluated on parameters, including traffic generated on the blogs, engagement in the social media post, and view-through rate in videos.

The potential customer is aware that they have signs of depression and will be searching for the solution. As a depression patient, it is tough in Indian society to publicly admit it. We are assuming that most target clients who are aware of the problem will use their phones or other private devices to find the solution.

We will look for the concerns that a customer has while looking for the solution and explain how the app addresses them. Possible concerns of a depression victim can be:

• Social taboo
• Lack of solutions within local reach
• Doubts over the expertise of solution provider

We will target the audience that has previously interacted with our awareness campaign and offer them solutions to above-mentions concerns. For the search campaigns, we will curate the content on the topics:

• Privacy practices of our app
• How the app works in delivering results
• Testimonials from existing users
• Number of successful results delivered
• Picking the right solution among available options
• Downloadable report on the end-to-end cure of depression

Following practices will be adopted in the marketing campaigns to ensure meet the above-mentioned requirements:

• Using the image banners with quick highlights of our privacy policy
• Influencer marketing in which experts on the subject will explain why our app is reliable for the depression solution
• Clients testimonials from the existing clients on how our app helped in finding the right support for depression treatment
• We can also use brand-specific social media groups, hashtags, etc. and promote them
• Promotional ad campaigns on websites that have high authenticity on the subject
• Keeping the downloadable report as gated content (sharing report after getting customer details)

Target cohorts for our search campaigns will be:

• Existing website visitors and followers on social media
• Users searching for related keywords like ‘cure for depression’, ‘depression treatment’, etc.
• Competitor names in the search engines can also be targeted

Evaluation of the campaign result can be calculated on:

• Engagement in the ads
• Traffic and CTR on the content published on high-authority websites
• Number of report downloads

We are going to leverage the channels are performing better for the app installs so that customers can find our app easily. When they search for our app category, our ads should be visible to the clients so that they are aware of our app and can install it. Some of the top-performing channels for app install campaigns are:

• App store
• Search engine ads
• Social media ads
• Video ads

We will follow the following practices with the app install campaigns:

• App Store Optimization: Providing the right description of the app using keywords, category, and other relevant information, we can rank better than competitors and gain more organic visibility along with the number of installs.
• Paid Ads Across Channels: With the paid ads on the app store, search engine, social media ads, and video ads, we will provide a direct link to the specific app download page for the respective platform (Android, iOS, etc.)

The evaluation of the campaign will be the number of downloads.

Consider the following points to maintain a smooth and comfortable onboarding of the customer:

• Asking too many questions or collecting too much information can annoy the client
• Focus on short goals as a 6-month journey may look unachievable at the beginning
• Users have a tendency of forgetting the app after installation

To address these concerns, we can:

• Use foot-in-the-door psychology. So, we will collect the information in a step-by-step process.
• 6-Month goals of the app can be segmented into smaller goals, such as daily, weekly, and monthly targets.
• Achievement rewards can be given to the client to add game-effect as well as client satisfaction. Leaderboard and sharing these rewards publicly on social media is popular among mobile app. However, it may not work for our app considering its sensitive nature. However, keeping the feature enabled for the willing customers can be good.
• Adding push notifications feature to remind the user about app activities.

Evaluation of the stage can be the average time spent on the app.

To gather a higher number of feedbacks, we can motivate the user by:

• Using the rating scale in the form, which is comparatively easier for the customer.
• Offering feedback form while the customer has completed some activity on the app and may be willing to take a break.

It is important to review the feedbacks; we can use positive feedbacks for marketing and can look for the scope of improvement in the negative ones.

• They have completed the course or have got the treatment; we can congratulate them and ask for referrals and feedback.
• They are unhappy with the services; we can offer a discount or suggest them to connect with our support team to get help.