Understanding the customer experience is difficult, but necessary when addressing service improvement issues, new facility design, brand management, and information technology strategies. Unfortunately, satisfaction surveys alone do not provide sufficient insight.

Experience mapping is a means to help companies develop a deeper understanding of their customers' expectations and experiences.

An experience map assists customers and employees to recall interactions, resources and needs at each step of the customer experience. This is most valuable when your customer relationships are complex and incorporate multiple touchpoints.

Typical questions included in experience mapping research:

• Expectations: Before each stage of their experience, what do customers expect? What needs do they have?
• Experience: What is the current customer experience? How well does the organization meet customer expectations?
• Touchpoint Performance: To what resources do customers turn to satisfy their needs? How well does the organization perform at key points of interaction?