Customer Journey Map

User interaction with service

method

Innovation Process Stage

Go to Canvas

time effort

180

min.

Level

Intermediate

Group Size

1-6

The Customer Journey Map is a synthetic representation that describes step-by-step how a user interacts with a service.

The process is mapped from the user perspective, describing what happens at each stage of the interaction, what touchpoints are involved, what obstacles and barriers they may encounter. The journey map is often integrated an additional layers representing the level of positive/negative emotions experienced throughout the interaction.

The iterative innovation process can be divided into four phases: Discovery, Ideation, Validation and Scaling. The Journey map can belong to the discovery or ideation phases and supports the documentation and understandingof problems and ideas.

how does  the method work?

Journey maps come in all shapes and sizes. Regardless of how they look, journey maps have the following 5 key elements in common:

Actor - Your customer or user
Scenario + Expectations - the situation or context the user is in
Journey Phases - this should also include before, during and after
Actions, Mindsets, and Emotions
Actions are the actual behaviors and steps taken by users. This component is not meant to be a granular step-by-step log of every discrete interaction. Rather, it is a narrative of the steps the actor takes during that phase.
Mindsets correspond to users’ thoughts, questions, motivations, and information needs at different stages in the journey. Ideally, these are customer verbatims from research.
Emotions are plotted as single line across the journey phases, literally signaling the emotional “ups” and “downs” of the experience. Think of this line as a contextual layer of emotion that tells us where the user is delighted versus frustrated.
Opportunities - Insights and opportunities help the team draw knowledge from the map:

What needs to be done with this knowledge?
Who owns what change?
Where are the biggest opportunities?
How are we going to measure improvements we implement?

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Step by Step Guide

Creating a user journey map is a valuable process in service design to understand and visualize the user's experience. To get you started you can follow the following steps

Know Your Users - Create fictional characters (personas) that represent your typical users.

List Interactions - Identify all the places where users interact with your service (like your website, customer service, etc.).

Break Down the Steps - Outline the key steps users take from the start to the end of their interaction.

Understand Feelings - Note down how users might feel at each step - happy, frustrated, confused, etc.

Get Real Data - Use real user feedback and data to make your map accurate.

Draw the Map - Create a visual representation of the user journey, either in a linear timeline or a circle.

Include Behind-the-Scenes - Show what's happening behind the scenes in your company to support the user journey.

Spot Issues and Ideas - Identify problems users might face and areas where you can improve.

Share and Get Feedback - Show your map to others, including team members and real users, and get their thoughts.

Make It Better - Update your map based on the feedback you receive.

By the end of the process you should be able to use the map to guide your decisions and make your service better. Remember, the goal is to understand your users better and make their experience with your service as smooth and enjoyable as possible.