Something shifts when you step back from work, doesn't it?

Last summer, I had my first child, and whilst I knew maternity leave would be transformative personally, I didn't expect it to reshape the customer experience lessons I'd carry forward in my career.

Between feeds and nappies, I found pockets of time to read nine customer experience books. What struck me wasn't just the individual insights, but the patterns emerging between them. I found Customer experience lessons that most of us know but struggle to act on consistently.

Lesson 1: Reactive Customer Experience Is Already Too Late. Most businesses wait for customers to complain before taking action. But those winning customer loyalty build intelligence into operations so they can act before problems become customer problems.

Lesson 2: Culture Beats Strategy Every Time. Your culture determines CX, not your strategy. Employees need authority to solve problems in the moment.

Lesson 3: Customer Understanding Requires Discipline, Not Just Data. Having data isn't the same as understanding customers. Real insight comes from weaving together feedback, personas, and journey mapping.

Lesson 4: Customer Journey Maps Are Worthless Without Action. Beautiful maps become wall art without clear decisions and committed action. Know what your map will change before you create it.

Lesson 5: Excellence Lives in the Basics. Great Customer Experiences aren't built on surprise and delight tactics, they're created through consistency and removing friction from fundamental operations.

Lesson 6: Metrics Follow Experience, Not the Other Way Round. Fix the experience and metrics improve. Chase metrics and you often make experiences worse.

Lesson 7: Customers Decide With Emotion, Then Justify With Logic. Emotional triggers matter more than feature comparisons. Reduce cognitive effort rather than adding functionality.

Lesson 8: Physical Spaces Shape Behaviour. Every design choice influences how customers feel and act. Your environment tells a story, make sure it's the right one.

Lesson 9: CX Is Built in Everyday Moments. Customer loyalty is determined by small interactions: answered phones, kept promises, empowered teams who care.

These customer experience lessons reveal that CX isn't about tactics or technology, it's about people. Understanding customers deeply, empowering teams, and getting basics right consistently.

The nine books behind these customer experience lessons:

1. The New Customer Experience Management - Ivaylo Yorgov
2. The Customer of the Future - Blake Morgan
3. Store Design and Visual Merchandising - Claus Ebster & Marion Garaus
4. Creating a CX That Sings - Jennifer L. Clinehens
5. The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences - Matt Watkinson
6. Customers Know You Suck - Debbie Levitt
7. Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy - Phil Barden
8. Customer Understanding - Annette Franz
9. Moments of Truth - Jan Carlzon

Get the full show notes with all research sources and detailed insights at wheresyourcustomer.com/8

Which of these customer experience lessons resonated most with you? I'd love to know.

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I don't know about you, but I've always got a job list on top of my day job list. Little things like booking eye tests, picking up paint samples, or nipping to the supermarket because you've run out of Calpol. I love it when I'm on a mission in a shop and everything just works. But then there's the flip side, when you can't find what you want, there's no one around to help, or worse, you finally decide on something only to find it's out of stock.

I needed something from the pharmacy recently, so I nipped out to Asda in my lunch break. Guess what? It was closed for lunch - when people actually need a pharmacy. It got me thinking about how some retailers aren't understanding what's going on in their customers' lives and how they're either supporting their experiences or disrupting them.

My 5-Stage Customer Journey Framework. Most journey mapping starts when customers first interact with your brand. I prefer starting earlier, with the customer's actual need. My framework covers: the need trigger, planning the shop, going shopping, the purchase, and usage.

Running Effective Workshops. The magic happens when you bring the right people together with clear objectives. I love facilitating these workshops; they're creative, observational, and analytical all at the same time.

Essential Mapping Terms. Touchpoints, pain points, moments of truth, and emotional potential. Understanding these four elements helps you create maps that actually drive results.

Common Mistakes to Avoid. I've seen teams make the same mistakes repeatedly. Don't overcomplicate it, don't ignore the data, don't forget post-purchase, and remember you're creating a customer journey map, not a process map.

Quick Wins That Work. You don't need a complete transformation to see results. Small changes like simplified checkouts or clearer signage often create surprisingly big improvements.

The Body Shop noticed mobile traffic growing but sales lagging. Instead of accepting that mobile customers just browse, they mapped the actual mobile experience. What they found was interesting. Customers wanted to buy, but the navigation was too confusing. Once they fixed those pain points, they saw a 28% increase in year-on-year orders.

That's the power of really understanding and improving the points in your customer's experience.

• Start journey maps with customer needs, not brand interactions. This reveals insights traditional lifecycle mapping misses
• Successful workshops need clear objectives, customer-facing team members, real data, and a consistent customer perspective
• You're building layers: actions, thoughts, emotions, touchpoints, pain points, and opportunities
• Common mistakes include overcomplicating, ignoring data, forgetting post-purchase, and slipping into process mapping
• Small changes often deliver surprisingly big improvements in customer satisfaction
• Journey mapping isn't one and done - successful retailers revisit maps regularly

• The Body Shop mobile optimisation case study
• Digital mapping tools: Miro and Lucidchart for remote teams
• Customer journey mapping workshop templates

If you're struggling and want some help creating a customer journey map in your business, I'd love to help you. Visit wheresyourcustomer.com/cjm for more details, and you can book a call with me.

Did anything resonate with you from today's conversation?

Get the full show notes with all the links and resources mentioned at wheresyourcustomer.com/007

Subscribe for more – Don't miss future episodes! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

Please leave a review – If you found value in this episode, a quick review would help other retail professionals discover these conversations.

Connect with me – Visit wheresyourcustomer.com for more customer experience resources and tips.