Building the Pieces Isn't the Same as Assembling the Picture

Recently, I walked into a major department store at the mall looking for a specific item. I intentionally parked closest to that store so I could shop conveniently.

Upon entering, I had to search for my size category. There was no signage directing me or a clear layout for the occasional shopper. So I kept walking and scanning.

I finally found my size section located at the opposite end of the store near the entrance to the inside mall. I also found an item I wanted. Then I looked for a cashier.

I began walking around and scanning again. I finally asked someone at the jewelry counter where I could pay for my clothing item. "The only checkout is at the outside entrance," they replied. I would have had to walk back to the exact place I originally entered.

Review the customer journey with me before I continue.

 I searched for my category.

 I walked the full length of the store to find it.

 I search for a checkout.

 I was directed to walk the full length of the store again to pay.

I put the item back. Every step shifted my attention from desire to effort.

As a leadership consultant and entrepreneur, I couldn't help but reflect on how many of us learn, through friction, the importance of aligning all the moving parts of our business.

We focus on inventory. We focus on branding. We focus on authority. But we overlook how these pieces fit together in the customer journey.

Aligning Pieces for the Customer Journey

When I first began building my business, I focused on the strength of the pieces - my credentials, my message, and my content.

My credentials, as it turned out, may have distanced me from the customer journey. The degrees, titles, and institutional affiliations that signaled I was qualified to lead also created an unconscious expectation that customers would follow me, rather than me intentionally following their experience.

My message was strong. But it didn’t guide the customer experience. I intentionally chose to shop at that store because of its brand message to customers. Yet the customer experience overrode the message. Looking back, I see where I made the similar mistake of assuming clarity of message would compensate for design friction.

My content constantly expanded into workshops, articles, courses, and frameworks that translated my ideas into something people could engage with. Expansion is where the customer journey becomes most essential to organize. As a business grows, the customer experience must grow with it. Without intentional design, expansion creates complexity, and complexity creates scatter.

Abandoned Cart

Online, most merchants have access to an "abandoned cart" report. But that store will not know that my desire for an item was unfulfilled because of the effort to complete a purchase. How quietly friction can erode sales is the lesson here.

As the image of the puzzle for this article reminds me, the strength of the individual pieces does not create coherence. The puzzle must be assembled. Growth requires aligning what already exists. If the pieces are present but disconnected, the experience feels like effort. Effort decreases sales and increases abandoned carts.

That mall experience reminded me that the customer journey is not separate from the product.

It is the product.