TEN POSITIONS

A position says what would prove it wrong. Test each on your own store.

1. A journey map is a management tool, not a poster.Wrong if the map you have now has changed a budget, a roadmap or a flow in the last ninety days.
   A Map Is Not a Poster
2. Define stages by events you can count, not by feelings.Wrong if a stage defined by a feeling (“considering”, “delighted”) predicts the next order better than one defined by an event.
   Stages Are Events
3. Read the journey by first-order cohort, not by calendar month.Wrong if customers acquired in different months pass each stage at the same rates.
   Where the Cohort Leaks
4. Fix the stall, the stage that loses the most customers or contribution, before the touchpoint that looks worst.Wrong if polishing your lowest-rated touchpoint moves repeat purchase more than fixing the stall.
   Where the Cohort Leaks
5. Time in stage matters as much as conversion.Wrong if customers who take longest to reach a stage go on to reorder at the same rate as those who get there fast.
   Where Customers Wait
6. Map what customers start, not only what you send.Wrong if customers who contacted support in their first thirty days reorder at the same rate as those who didn’t.
   Every Touch, in Order
7. Every touch has a backstage, and most failures start there.Wrong if your last twenty problem orders all trace back to something the customer could see.
   The Backstage
8. Mark which parts of the map are measured and which are inferred.Wrong if your inferred stages hold up unchanged when you finally measure them.
   What the Data Can’t See
9. Give every stage one owner and one number.Wrong if stages with no owner improve as fast as stages with one.
   One Owner, One Number
10. Fix one stretch at a time, and measure it against a holdout.Wrong if three fixes launched together, without holdouts, tell you which one worked.
    Fix One Stretch at a Time