Digital Journey Map Unlocks Insights to Elevate the Furniture Shopping Experience

Overview

A leading furniture retailer asked Andrew Reise to help it boost customer satisfaction and stand out in a tough market. The client knew that a deep focus on the customer journey could reveal growth opportunities and fix operational friction. But, like many growing brands, it lacked the research and analysis to truly understand its shoppers' complex digital and in-store behaviors.

Our customer experience (CX) consultants used extensive quantitative and qualitative research to drill into the shopping experience. We used that research to craft five detailed customer personas, map the full digital journey, and identify critical moments that determine loyalty.

Leveraging advanced analytics, we uncovered hidden pain points—such as a confusing return policy—that increased staff workload and hurt brand trust. Ultimately, we charted a full-scale CX roadmap that informed policy changes, accelerated digital experience (DX) transformation, and improved both the customer experience and the employee experience (EX).

Business Challenge

Retail options are abundant, making it extremely difficult for new and established brands alike to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Consumer behaviors constantly shift to include new needs, preferences, and expectations, all demanding a flawless digital experience. If retailers aren't actively analyzing their shoppers' experiences and anticipating these needs, they risk seeing market share erode and slip away without warning.

Our client knew it needed to understand its customers on a deeper level, but it lacked the analysis and insights to make informed decisions with confidence. To gain ground in this competitive field, the retailer needed to drill into its shoppers' deepest needs, uncover the make-or-break moments that earn loyalty, and fix crucial friction points. Specifically, confusing policies were hurting satisfaction and placing unnecessary burden on both CX and contact center staff.

Our Approach

Andrew Reise provided the robust research and strategic framework the client needed to move past assumptions and take decisive action. Our approach focused on capturing the complete, end-to-end customer journey, from the first click to post-purchase support, ensuring a holistic understanding of the client’s business.

We ran comprehensive qualitative and quantitative research across all customer segments and used that deep data to develop five detailed customer personas and map full digital and in-store customer journeys. This analysis identified crucial friction points and operational drags, such as the confusing return policy. We then created a prioritized, multi-phase CX Strategic Roadmap that includes "quick wins" and long-term transformations, enabling the client to improve CX while directly boosting EX.

The Roadmap

The roadmap's power came from a deep, multi-method analysis that provided the client with unparalleled certainty on where to invest and what to fix.

Revealing Crucial Insights Through Multimethod Research

Our consultants conducted multi-method ethnographic and quantitative consumer research to understand customers' deepest needs, shopping behaviors, and pain points. We used this research to create five powerful personas and immediately identify key customer segments for strategic growth.

Creating Current State Journey Maps

Our team mapped out the current digital and in-store journeys of customers to highlight their preferences and pinpoint any roadblocks that were causing friction. This detailed mapping, which leveraged advanced analytics and AI-driven insights, flagged the lack of clarity in the return policy as a major point of failure for both customers and the contact center.

Integrating CX and EX Strategy

The resulting strategic roadmap and policy recommendations drove changes that improved CX while simultaneously streamlining workflows for employees and reducing frustrating, unnecessary interactions. This direct linkage between policy fixes and operational efficiency visibly boosted EX.

Charting a Full-Scale, Prioritized CX Roadmap

To help our client seize immediate and long-term opportunities, we laid out a multi-strategy CX roadmap. This framework included clear initiatives broken into four core categories: quick wins, foundational initiatives, transformations, and differentiators. This clear prioritization allowed the client to pursue the right strategy at the right time for the organization.

Results Achieved

We helped the retailer implement a data-driven strategy to enhance customer experiences, differentiate its brand, and gain market share. Our CX strategies armed the client with a comprehensive, prioritized roadmap for every level of investment—from low-effort quick wins to brand-defining digital transformations.

The research immediately informed the client's decision to clarify its return policy, which removed a major point of friction for customers and simultaneously streamlined operations for employees, visibly boosting EX and cutting down on unnecessary contact center calls.

Ultimately, by developing five detailed customer personas, the retailer gained the confidence to strategically invest in new initiatives, ensuring every future decision directly addresses the real needs and behaviors of its most valuable customers.

Stop letting customer friction burden your staff and limit your growth. Schedule a discovery call with Andrew Reise to see how a strategic digital journey map can transform your CX and EX.