Customer Journey Map — Almohannad Alsbeai

Introduction

Do you know the details of your customer’s journey if you own a business that provides services or products? Are you sure you know? Even those who answer yes may be stunned once they actually map their customers’ journeys — and later realize they didn’t know nearly as much as they thought.

Remember the snakes-and-ladders game? Your customers’ situation may resemble it: the player advances along a path according to a dice roll, only to find themselves back in territory they had already covered if luck turns sour and they land on a snake. That is exactly what happens to your customers when there are no agreed-upon, formal journey maps — some of your employees, whether out of ignorance or intent, may play the role of the snake, sending the customer into a maze and back to stages they had no need to revisit.

What It Is and What It Does

Customer journey mapping aims to create a visual representation of all the customer’s interactions with your company, from the moment they request a particular service or product until they receive it. It can also be thought of as a story, supported by a map, that narrates all the interactions between the customer and your company on the path to obtaining a specific service or product.

Along this branching path, there is variation in satisfaction levels and in the effort the customer expends during their journey. In the customer’s view, some steps were unnecessary, others were repetitive. The customer will pass through several stages, and at each stage there will be one or more touchpoints. Some of these touchpoints are pivotal — they’re known as Moments That Matter (or Moments of Truth). The journey may even begin somewhere you’d never expect: in the customer searching for you online — that beginning is known as the Zero Moment of Truth.

If you have customer journey maps available, you can spot the moments at which customers get confused and feel lost. You can know what information or guidance the customer receives along the way. You’ll also discover the touchpoints that have no owner or responsible party within the company structure. You’ll learn how to raise operational efficiency by making the best use of the resources you have, and how to reduce effort and time wasted on activities that have no real justification within the processes related to that map.

Real understanding of how your company operates — viewed from the outside in rather than the inside out — comes from mapping all possible customer paths. Having these maps also helps eliminate the “silo” phenomenon, which is most pronounced in large companies, where it appears to senior leadership that every department is running smoothly based on operational indicators and performance results. A silo mentality means each department cares only about its own KPIs and targets and lets the rest go to hell. Senior leadership here overlooks the level of alignment and cooperation between these departments — which, in many cases, is severely lacking. All that collision happens at the customer’s expense: they live through a miserable experience because each department throws responsibility (one that didn’t fall within its own KPIs) onto another department, which in turn does the same, leaving the customer trapped in an endless loop. The most important benefit of mapping customer journeys is increased revenue: improving experiences through the insights derived from the maps raises loyalty levels and, in turn, the revenue flowing back to the organization.

Customer journey maps are used primarily within customer experience management programs, where they are audited, every stage is studied, and the related processes are analyzed. Ultimately, the journey may be entirely redesigned, or its path may be shortened or simplified. The ultimate aim is to build an organization whose processes are organized around the customer. Adopting customer journey maps and integrating them with business processes through governance kills the toxic phenomenon known as organizational silos. This isn’t the place to dive deep — but in short, silos are coalitions and cliques that negatively affect work flow because they focus on personal interests and don’t care about the organization’s interest or the public good.

These maps generally adhere to core principles you should consider before drawing any map:

Holistic perspective — view human behavior as part of a larger ecosystem.
Multiplicity — the maps should reflect multiple concepts and pieces of information at once.
Interaction — illustrate the touchpoints and the value exchanged between the parties involved.
Visualization — depict the experience visually so anyone looking at the map can imagine it as a lived reality.
Relevance — the map should align with the organization’s goals and strategy.
Validation — maps are not produced in isolation from reality; they are verified through research and direct interviews with customers themselves.

Have you ever seen, in a crime film or series, how the detective places photos on a city map, uses pins and labels, and connects threads between them to draw conclusions while contemplating it all? Customer journey mapping is similar to that process. Is the idea starting to take shape in your mind?

Step by Step

1. Define Project Requirements and Specifications

Yes — this is a project. It will need human resources, a defined duration, and authority and support. Important elements at this stage: the product or service, the goal of the map, the audience that will use the map, the type of map that will be used to represent the journey, the stakeholders whose help is needed to complete the map, and the project schedule.

Goal of the map: Although visual representation simplifies reality, an overcrowded map full of details can make it extremely difficult to understand and work with. So it’s important to know the main goal of the map in order to set limits on the amount and type of detail represented.

Audience that will use the map: We need to consider who will use the map after it’s done. We can also think about producing several versions of the map with different content or detail depending on the intended audience.

Type of map to be used: There are several types of maps that serve different purposes. There can be disagreement over naming and confusion over what each map contains among practitioners. What matters for you, dear reader, is not to get caught up in the labels but rather to focus on creating value through using any one of these types. For reference, here are some names:

Service Blueprint | Experience Maps | Mental Model Diagrams | Spatial Map | Customer Journey Map

In this article, I’m focusing on just one type — the Customer Journey Map (highlighted in bold above). For anyone wanting to dive deeper into the types and uses of these maps, I recommend a very valuable book that details them all and explains the differences between them. (See also: Service Blueprint.)

2. Gather Information About the Experience to Be Mapped

From multiple sources, including: reviewing business processes, looking at market research reports related to this service, interviewing the service/product manager, doing a personal experience yourself (mystery shopping) either internally or through a specialized third party, reviewing similar journey maps from local or regional competitors, leveraging social listening tools to track conversations about the company online, and complaints — which are an inspiring source of information for identifying weak points in any journey. Interview employees, especially frontline staff, and get their views on processes and policies that may be causing delays or complications. Last but not least, if you have an idea bank, you may find many suggestions related to a particular service that can be useful either to redesign the map or modify its path. Above all this, analyzing complaint data and understanding existing problems in the service or product you’re mapping is essential.

3. Develop Customer Personas

Since the customer journey map varies by individuals and circumstances, developing customer personas is critical so that the map can be customized and assigned to a specific persona. The map can then be slightly adjusted to represent other personas. For example: is the journey of a young customer the same as that of an elderly customer or one with special needs? That’s just an example — customer personas differ based on their needs, not necessarily on demographic differences.

Customer personas would require an article of their own to do them justice, but in short: a persona is a descriptive narrative of different customer segments, where each segment is classified on the basis of behavioral patterns, emotions, and shared needs. The description shouldn’t exceed one or two pages. When included in the map, a miniature version is placed showing the persona’s main attributes: demographics, psychographics, behaviors, motivators, and pain points. Market research is mainly relied upon to construct the organization’s primary personas.

4. Identify Stakeholders and Get Senior Leadership Buy-In

By stakeholders I mean the people who will help generate the map’s content, modify it, and discuss it. They are usually directly connected to the service or product being mapped and can be drawn from several departments to reflect viewpoints from different angles. Remember that you may end up producing many drafts before reaching the best version of the map that reflects the current state of the customer experience. The benefit of successive drafts is that you keep asking about the missing pieces of the picture until it is complete.

On the topic of participants: this means you’ll be taking from these employees’ time, and the performance evaluation of some of them depends on productivity. How can you take from their time without support from senior leadership and their belief in the importance of this step? The customer experience team may need to convince senior leadership by explaining the benefits of this process and how customer journey mapping can play a role in reducing customer churn or increasing customer loyalty. After that, the customer experience team will draw up a list of all the journeys or paths it intends to map. This is what’s known as the framework, used to lay out a plan for coordinating with and meeting the stakeholders for each map or path.

5. Begin the First Draft of the Map

This can begin as individual work, then move on to meetings with stakeholders. It’s preferable to meet them as a group in a workshop. One of the most common approaches: bring a large white sheet of paper — the kind we used to use in school — and hang one, two, or three side by side horizontally. Bring some thick-tipped markers and a good supply of sticky notes. Gather all relevant stakeholders, then have a representative from the customer experience team facilitate the session. Brainstorming begins, and participants record the journey’s stages in order on sticky notes. The facilitator then places these steps on the white sheets hanging in front of everyone so the order can be discussed and the completeness of the path validated from beginning to end. Where does the customer begin? Then what happens? Who interacts with them? Does the customer receive any information, and from whom? The question keeps repeating: then what? — until the answers run out and we reach: and then the customer receives their service or the product they’re seeking.

After that, you can dig deeper and ask stakeholders to put themselves in the customer’s shoes (not literally), then ask: what does the customer want, and what should they have to do to get what they want, and why should they have to do that? The questions here are designed to challenge the status quo. During this exercise, some friction may arise, especially as some participants may take a defensive stance assuming the exercise will expose problems related to their area of responsibility. Here, the facilitator’s role is to remind everyone that the ultimate purpose isn’t to assign blame, but to improve the customer experience — which will be in everyone’s interest, externally for the customers and internally for the employees.

During the meeting, the customer experience representative records key observations. After the meeting, they identify the touchpoints, document the internal teams responsible for them, document the touchpoints that have no clear owner, record the Moments of Truth, and identify places where they believe a process needs to change or be eliminated altogether. They also think about the technology systems impacting each touchpoint — for example, a failure of integration between these systems may cost the customer extra effort in repeating their name and account number at every interaction. Later, the captured touchpoints are examined one by one to evaluate the customer experience at each, and to verify whether the customer’s voice is being captured through any channel.

In some companies, the draft map is also reviewed with some customers to confirm that it is complete and correctly sequenced. Once the map is approved — either right after the meeting or after meeting with some customers — the journey is represented graphically using a software tool. The specific tool matters less than the practice of applying it. Additional elements are added to the map beyond what was discussed in the meeting. In the next section, I’ll explain the most important map components.

6. Post-Draft Workshops

Make sure the workshop has an agenda that includes, at minimum, a glossary of key terms, the workshop’s objective, the schedule of activities, and attendance responsibilities. It’s important to review what was reached in the research phase with the attendees, where the map’s author can present the research methodology and the main findings. You should also present the first draft, preferably printed so invitees can gather around it on a table and provide direct comments — ideally with space left for that purpose.

The workshop should include discussion of the identified touchpoints and asking attendees to share their views, or vote, on the most sensitive among them. Then discuss the opportunities to improve the experience by digging into the pain points and their root causes. You can also discuss competitors’ practices at each pain point. Try to discover with the attendees any inefficiencies in resource use or places where double or duplicated effort happens across multiple units in the organization.

It’s important that the workshop include a section for brainstorming ideas to help improve the experience, ideas that help break down barriers, and ideas that help motivate transformation. Rebelling against industry norms and prior decisions is critical for generating a greater quantity of ideas. Sticky notes can be used to record ideas and stick them on the printed draft map hanging on the wall. Color-coding can help associate an idea with a particular aspect.

7. What Comes Next

After completing the map, you continue running Voice of Customer programs and expand them after discussing which stages it matters to listen to the customer at, and how. Then take that feedback to verify the new map’s integrity and smoothness; otherwise, revise it again. Then keep listening to the customer’s voice on an ongoing basis. The same applies to other maps — making this process a life cycle whose sole goal is ensuring the sustainability of these maps and ensuring the best possible customer experience.

Main Components of a Customer Journey Map

In my research across many sources, I found differences in the components carried by the maps available online or in books. The choice of elements relates to the goals of the map and to whether it’s feasible to provide content for each. I’ll list the elements that recurred across many maps. This means there is no approved or single best template for a customer journey map, despite the many templates available online.

The main components you can use either fully or partially, depending on the goal set for the map at the outset:

Identification information — items that help with archiving and define the scope of use, such as the map’s date, its version number, its scope of use (internal only or restricted to a specific department). These are important to prevent the map from leaking outside the organization.
Customer persona — after personas are developed (as described above), a miniaturized version of the persona being represented in the journey is placed on the map.
Customer actions — what the customer is doing at each stage of their journey on the map.
Customer thoughts — what the customer is thinking at each stage of their journey on the map. This section captures the questions that come to the customer’s mind.
Customer wishes — what the customer wishes for at each stage of the journey. With an effective Voice of Customer program in place, you can identify customer demands and expectations at specific touchpoints within each stage.
Touchpoints and Moments of Truth — the totality of touchpoints represents the customer experience in full. Within each stage, the main touchpoints (where any interaction occurs between the customer and the organization) should be clearly identified. Moments of Truth (the most sensitive touchpoints) can be highlighted in eye-catching fashion. The owners responsible for each touchpoint can also be identified, by name or by department.
Customer emotions — what the customer is feeling at each stage. Here you can specify the customer’s emotional state, especially if the organization measures customer emotions at those stages and touchpoints. (I covered measuring emotions in a separate article.)
Customer experience metric — some organizations, in more advanced versions of the map, after measuring all touchpoints through some form of satisfaction or loyalty metric — CSAT, NPS, CES, etc. — include a section showing the organization’s performance level at each touchpoint or some of them. (See: NPS, CSAT, CES.)
What happens on stage (outside-in view) — touchpoints and Moments of Truth fall in this area, where the map’s author shows what’s happening on the stage (the steps the customer sees and goes through) at each stage of their experience.
What happens behind the scenes (inside-out view) — here the process map of what’s happening behind the scenes (which the customer doesn’t see) is shown. Reviewing what the customer sees alongside what’s happening backstage helps stakeholders uncover many hidden issues, generate solutions, and modify the map’s path by changing certain policies and processes. The content here is similar to that of a Service Blueprint if available in the organization.
Pain points — the problems or sources of customer suffering expressed by the customer at each stage. They are sometimes described as the existing negatives, alongside an additional element titled “existing positives” — what some maps call strengths and weaknesses.
Improvement opportunities — what can be done to improve the experience at each stage of the journey. These improvements come mainly from the stakeholders who are met during workshops to discuss the map and the broader problems in customer experience.

In general, every customer journey map consists of main components: the stations or stages; under each stage, multiple touchpoints; within each stage there are expectations the customer holds — do we know what these expectations are or not? In some stations we may find one Moment of Truth or several, and there may be none at all. You can also indicate on the map where the customer’s voice is being captured, and what the satisfaction level is at certain touchpoints if measured. Another important main component is the customer persona. If the service your company provides is delivered to several segments of society, you’ll need to draw different maps for different segments. Would you treat the elderly or those with special needs the same way? Will you give them any special considerations?

To avoid confusion: customer personas differ from the customer segmentation followed in marketing departments. While similar, a persona is a more advanced approach to grouping customers based on their needs and lifestyles, unlike the typical marketing segmentation, which relies heavily on demographic data.

So to summarize the main components: a title for the map, the stations/stages, touchpoints, Moments of Truth, customer expectations, locations where Voice of Customer is captured, satisfaction levels, customer persona. The face of the map can be divided into two parts: the part the customer sees only (the path from the customer’s viewpoint), and the hidden part whose action takes place behind the scenes in operations, IT, etc. (the path from the business processes’ viewpoint). After placing these additional components on the map, it can be shared briefly with stakeholders so they’re aware of the process underway and the importance of this work.

Returning to the detective analogy: everything above is similar to gathering evidence, recording statements and testimonies and threads. Finally, all these inputs must be connected together to solve the case.

Tools You Can Use for Customer Journey Mapping

There is no single best tool — each has pros and cons. Personally, I use Microsoft Visio. There are many tools available online, some free and some paid. Some examples include: Touchpoint Dashboard, Thunderhead, Smaply, UXPressia, Canvanizer, and Lucidchart.

Marketing the Maps Internally and Externally

Once a particular journey map is approved after first and second iterations, what’s stopping you from marketing it internally and externally? Have any of you ever visited an entirely new country for tourism? What’s the one thing you think of bringing with you before arrival? Probably a map, right? Well, perhaps you’re a bit traditional — let’s say a smartphone app that contains a detailed map of the place you’re going, providing specific routes you can follow via GPS to spend your entire day outside the hotel without needing a tour guide.

The same applies here. Imagine if a new customer who had never dealt with you before came to you and you provided them with a guide map containing all the stages they need to go through to obtain a specific service. How would that affect their impression, especially if these maps were produced creatively with multimedia? Internal marketing, on the other hand, aims at awareness and institutionalizing this new direction that focuses on reshaping the organization’s processes to be customer-centric.

Note: there’s no such thing as a final version of the map. Even after it’s been tested and processes are running smoothly, the customer’s voice and expectations remain a continuous consideration. The world keeps changing. Customers may demand a new methodology for performing work, or new technology to be applied at a specific stage. Anything is possible, and given how fast things move, companies may need to publish new and updated versions of the map each year.

What’s the Difference Between Customer Journey Maps and Other Things?

vs. Business Process Documentation

There is actually significant overlap between customer journey mapping and documented business processes, and in some organizations, the process-documentation team sits under the customer experience function. The process owners can participate in mapping customer journeys due to their broad knowledge, and their participation is valuable in discussing policies and business rules viewed as burdensome to the customer — those that are more bureaucratic than practical — to later discuss modifying them, proposing alternatives, or eliminating them entirely.

Some people initially confuse business processes with customer journey maps. The difference is very simple: process maps reflect things from the inside out, while customer journey maps reflect things from the outside in — from the customer’s viewpoint. When a map is completed, some are stunned by the scale of the pain or struggle their company had been causing its customers.

vs. Experience Maps

There is significant similarity between these two types of maps. Both are represented graphically in chronological sequence and both overlap in terms of their content. So what’s the difference? A customer journey map captures an individual’s experience as a customer of a specific organization, including their choices and decisions. An experience map is more general — it captures people’s experiences (not specific individuals) in a particular domain.

Closing

The book The Back of the Napkin lists many benefits of representing problems visually. Customer journey mapping is also mentioned as a key tool in the book Creative Confidence by IDEO, well known for solving many problems around the world.

After all this theoretical talk, what remains for you, dear reader, is to try it — experience is the best proof of the benefits of customer journey mapping.

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