SaaS is one of the fastest-growing industries of recent times; it's expected to become a USD 195 billion industry by 2023. Besides these incredible stats, surviving in this highly competitive environment has never been easy.

The success of a SaaS business relies on how well it listens to its customers and their challenges. It makes customer mapping crucial for SaaS businesses, enabling SaaS managers to track and optimize customer experiences.  

This article explores how to build customer journey maps, what tools you need, and how to use this framework to get insights from your customers.

What is a SaaS customer journey map?

A SaaS customer journey map is a document that describes the steps a customer takes when interacting with a software as a service (SaaS) product. It can help identify improvement areas in the customer experience and to optimize key touchpoints along the way.

When creating a SaaS customer journey map, it's essential to consider all phases of the customer lifecycle, from awareness and discovery to post-purchase engagement.

Each stage should be clearly defined, with associated goals, pain points, and desired outcomes listed. It will help you comprehend how customers interact with your product at each stage and identify where they may get stuck.

Once you have created your SaaS customer journey map, you can use it as a guide for improving the customer experience. It might involve changing your product or altering how you market and sell it. By understanding your customers' journey, you can ensure they have the best possible experience every step of the way.

You may also like: SaaS revenue model - how does it work? Explanation with examples

Why should you map your customer's journey?

Are you still trying to figure out why mapping the customer's journey is crucial? SaaS customer journey maps are vital as they help you understand your customer's experience with your product and let you identify pain points and areas for improvement.

It is a popular trick to track and optimize SaaS users' experiences, including the other benefits as enlisted below:

• By doing so, you can better understand the customer's requirements and how your product or service can help them meet those needs.
• You can identify potential areas of improvement in your customer's experience and make the necessary changes to improve them.
• You can create a more seamless and efficient experience by mapping out the customer's journey, leading to increased satisfaction and loyalty.
• They can also help you to create targeted marketing campaigns that speak to customers at each stage of their journey.

SaaS customer journey examples

To give you insight into how customer journey mapping can benefit their business, we've compiled a list of well-known SaaS companies using this technique to grow their businesses successfully:

• Amazon
• Google
• Apple
• Facebook
• Microsoft

How to map your customer's journey?

Mapping your customer's journey is critical in understanding the customer experience and improving conversions. There're a few key things to remember during the process:

• Define your goal – what are you hoping to learn or accomplish by mapping your customer's journey? Define your goal - it will help you determine the correct data to collect and how to interpret it.
• Start with the basics – identify the key touchpoints in your customer's journey, such as when they first learn about your product or service, sign up for a free trial, and make a purchase.
• Collect data at each stage – there are various ways to collect data about your customers' journeys, including surveys, web analytics, and customer support logs. Ensure to collect data at each stage of your customer journey to identify patterns and trends.
• ‍Analyze the data – once you have collected it, it's time to start analyzing it. Look at the data patterns and trends that can assist you in improving the customer experience. Remember to constantly revisit your analysis as new data comes in so you can continue to optimize the journey.
• ‍Evolve your SaaS product and services – based on your analysis, improve the customer experience. It could involve anything from tweaking your website/app design to changing your pricing structure. Always track the results of your changes so you can continue to optimize the journey over time.

Worth checking: SaaS licensing: most important facts you need to know

Obstacles that might get in your way

A few potential obstacles might get in your way when creating SaaS customer journey maps, such as:

• Access to data – you might not have access to all the data you need to create an accurate map.
• Shortage of resources – you might not have enough time or resources to create a detailed map.
• Map validation issues – you might not be able to get feedback from customers to validate your map.

The key principles of mapping

Every organization should keep three key mapping principles in mind:

1. Rely on customer data – journey maps should be based on customer data. To create an accurate and valuable journey map, you must deeply understand your customers and their needs. The best way to get this understanding is to analyze customer data, such as surveys, interviews, and customer service logs.
2. Keep your customer journey map updated – journey maps should constantly evolve. As your customers’ journeys change and new touchpoints are added, your journey map should evolve along with them. It's essential to keep the map up-to-date to accurately reflect the customer journey's current state.
3. Decision-making process – make your customers' journey maps part of the SaaS organization decision-making process. Once you understand your customers’ journeys, you can use that information to make better decisions about your product or service. For example, you might use journey mapping to identify where customers are dropping off or find opportunities for cross-selling or upselling.

B2B SaaS customer journey map

The B2B SaaS customer journey is a potential customer's process when considering your product. A B2B customer journey mapping may involve the following three steps,

• Awareness – the first step in the B2B SaaS customer journey is awareness. It is when the potential customer becomes aware of your product and starts to learn about it. They may see a paid ad for your product, read a blog post, or hear about it from a friend. At this stage, they are just beginning to learn about what your product does and how it can help them.
• ‍Interest – once the potential customer is aware of your product, they might develop an interest in it. They are willing to know more about what it can do for them and how it can benefit their business. At this stage, they will begin to compare your SaaS product to other similar products on the market.
• ‍Decision – eventually, the potential customer will reach a decision point. It is where they will decide whether or not to purchase your product. They will weigh the pros and cons of your product and what value it can add to their business.

Might be interesting: What is SaaS management? A definitive guide for beginners

Types of SaaS customer journey maps

You may have found three SaaS customer journey maps: the pre-adoption map, the adoption map, and the post-adoption map. Keep reading for a better understanding of these customer journey maps.

• Pre-adoption map – the pre-adoption map covers the period before a customer becomes a paying user of your product. It is when they first become aware of your product and evaluate whether it fits their needs.
• Adoption map – the adoption map covers the period from when customers subscribe to a paid version to getting engaged with your product. It is when they learn how to use your product and get the most value from it.
• Post-adoption – the post-adoption map covers the period after a customer fully engages with your product. It is when they advocate for your product and maybe help others to adopt it themselves.

Map your SaaS customer journey to pave a path to success

As your business grows, keeping track of all your customers and their interactions with your product becomes more challenging. A customer journey map SaaS can help you keep track of the customer lifecycle from awareness to purchase and purchase-to-loyalty. It can help you identify where customers may get lost or dropped off.

SaaS journey mapping is essential for any SaaS business, but it can be more beneficial if you're starting. By mapping the customer journey, you can better understand where customers are coming from and their needs. You can use this information later to create targeted marketing campaigns and optimize the user experience.

If you're unsure where to start, there're some fundamental points to keep in mind when creating your SaaS buyer journey map:

• Define your audience – who are your target customers? How can your product fulfill its particular needs?
• Identify touchpoints – where do customers interact with your product? What channels do they use?
• Map the journey – what steps do customers take from Awareness to Purchase? Are there any drop-off points along the way?
• Analyze and optimize – once you've created your map, look at it critically. Are there any areas where customers might be getting lost or giving up? How can you improve the user experience and conversions at each stage of your customer journey?

An ultimate guide to SaaS customer journey maps. Summary

SaaS customer journey mapping is an incredible trick to track and optimize the SaaS buyers' journey; it significantly improves conversions and customer retention. Get in touch with our team of SaaS experts if you need help mapping your customers' journey or product optimization.

Apptensions' development team can help you optimize your SaaS product design to improve the customer experience - translating into higher conversion and retention rates. Find out more on our SaaS UX design page.