Mapping life’s milestones: Transforming services to meet people’s real needs
Life is a series of milestones, each one bringing its own mix of excitement, challenges, and change. From buying a first home to starting a family or preparing for retirement, these life events are pivotal moments, often filled with both anticipation and uncertainty. Organisations—whether in government or the private sector—have a unique opportunity to support people through these transitions. Life event mapping offers a powerful approach, helping organisations align their services with the real-world journeys of the people they serve, leading to greater innovation, better services, and a more cohesive operating model.
What is life event mapping?
Life event mapping is a way of understanding and visualising the key moments in an individual’s life where they need to interact with various services. Rather than just focusing on individual products or touchpoints, life event mapping considers the whole experience a person goes through during major life changes, allowing organisations to better support these transitions.
This approach provides insight into the emotional and practical needs that arise during these pivotal moments, helping organisations identify where they can intervene to reduce stress and add real value. For example, a person buying their first home will interact with many different services—banks, real estate agents, government services, and more. Life event mapping helps organisations identify the gaps, opportunities, and pain points across these interactions to make the experience smoother.
Creating value and better services by understanding life’s ups and downs
Embracing life event mapping allows organisations to design services that align more closely with what people truly need. This approach enables businesses and government services to create value at the moments that matter most, showing customers that they’re there to support them through life’s ups and downs.
For instance, a financial institution could develop specialised services for new parents. This life event brings excitement and new priorities but also financial pressures. By recognising the challenges of this life stage, the institution can offer savings accounts or investment products tailored to growing families, enhancing customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Breaking down silos to improve the journey
One of the biggest obstacles in many organisations is silos—departments or teams that operate in isolation, often creating fragmented experiences for customers. Life event mapping challenges these divisions by prompting organisations to consider the customer journey as a unified experience, shared across all departments.
For example, if a customer’s life event involves buying a home, a bank’s mortgage department, insurance team, and customer service must work together to provide seamless support. Life event mapping promotes cross-departmental collaboration, ensuring different teams are aligned and focused on creating value during crucial life transitions, helping customers feel supported throughout their journey.
Driving innovation and efficiency
Life event mapping naturally fosters innovation. By focusing on key life events, organisations are encouraged to step outside of their usual boundaries, leading to new ideas and more comprehensive services. Life event mapping can reveal unmet needs or friction points that inspire innovative solutions, helping organisations stay competitive and forward-thinking.
Additionally, life event mapping supports operational efficiency by identifying areas of overlap or inefficiencies in service delivery. Understanding the end-to-end experience during a life event helps organisations streamline processes, consolidate services, and eliminate unnecessary steps, leading to better customer outcomes and reduced costs.
Government example: Making retirement simpler for citizens
Life event mapping can be particularly powerful in the public sector, where multiple services often need to work together. Imagine the experience of retiring from the workforce, which involves navigating pension applications, healthcare enrolment, and more. Life event mapping could help government agencies coordinate these services, creating a single, easy-to-use platform for retirees.
Rather than requiring retirees to deal with multiple agencies, each with separate processes, life event mapping enables a unified approach that reduces stress, saves time, and shows a genuine commitment to citizen wellbeing.
Private sector example: Supporting families on the move
In the private sector, life event mapping can have a transformative impact on customer experience and growth. Consider a telecommunications company that recognises moving house as a major life event. A family moving home often requires not only a new internet connection but also advice on smart home systems, security, and family-friendly entertainment.
By understanding the life event of moving, the telecommunications company can create bundled offerings tailored specifically for families on the move, reducing hassle for customers and positioning the company as a valuable partner during a challenging time.
Reach out today to learn how Arteri can help you make a meaningful difference.
At Arteri, we specialise in helping organisations leverage tools like life event mapping to create better outcomes for their customers and their business. Life event mapping allows you to support customers through key transitions, showing them you’re there to help them navigate life’s twists and turns.
If you’re ready to explore how life event mapping can help your organisation drive innovation, break down silos, and deliver truly valuable services, connect with us at Arteri. Our team will work with you to map the life events that matter most to your customers, identifying opportunities to improve services, enhance operational efficiency, and create innovative solutions.