Customer journey map
Processes & experienceField guide · Processes & experience · 6 of 6
How does the customer's experience change, stage by stage?
On a customer journey map, one person, the actor, goes through the phases of a scenario, left to right in columns, with rows beneath for what they do and think, one line across the phases for how they feel, and the opportunities found along the way.
| Mark | Drawn as | Stands for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| actor | a persona’s name, top left | the person who goes through the journey | Gibbons |
| scenario and expectations | words in a box at the top | the situation, the actor’s goal or need, and what they expect | Gibbons |
| phase | a column’s heading | a high-level stage of the journey | Gibbons |
| actions; mindsets | words in rows, one cell for each phase | what the actor does; what they think, ask and need | Gibbons |
| emotions | one line across the phases, rising and falling | how the actor feels, from frustrated to delighted | Gibbons |
| opportunities | words in the bottom row | what could be improved | Gibbons |
A line with an arrowhead
Section titled “A line with an arrowhead”No line on a customer journey map has an arrowhead. The phases are columns, read left to right, as Lemon and Verhoef’s experience runs from before a purchase, through it, to after it; the one line across them, the emotion line, rises and falls with how the actor feels. That line is a plot of feeling, phase by phase, and no effect: nothing on it shows what changes what.
Buying a secondhand car
Section titled “Buying a secondhand car”The buyer feels better while searching listings, worse at the viewing, worst when haggling and best driving away. The two opportunities sit where the line falls: a history check before the viewing, a price guide before haggling.
When to draw one
Section titled “When to draw one”Draw one for a scenario that is a sequence of events, such as shopping or taking a trip, or one that crosses several channels, to find where the person is frustrated or delighted before changing anything; Gibbons separates journey maps, for discovery and understanding, from planning what to build.
When not to draw one
Section titled “When not to draw one”The organization’s side, the work behind each step, is a service blueprint’s. Planning what to build is a list, and a situation with no sequence of events is a sentence.
Reasoning and polish
Section titled “Reasoning and polish”- Actor and scenario, phases, actions, an emotion line, and opportunities
- Mindsets (thoughts, questions, needs), touchpoints and channels, pain points, and moments that matter
- Research verbatims, segments, and opportunities with owners and metrics
Related types
Section titled “Related types”- On a service blueprint, a customer journey map’s steps run along the top, with the work behind each one drawn beneath.
- A customer journey map can open a Wardley map: the journey’s steps give the needs at the map’s top, with the components that meet them beneath.
Sources
Section titled “Sources”- Sarah Gibbons, Journey Mapping 101 (Nielsen Norman Group, 9 December 2018), on the actor, scenario and expectations, phases, actions, mindsets, emotions and opportunities, and when to draw one.
- K. N. Lemon and P. C. Verhoef, “Understanding Customer Experience Throughout the Customer Journey”, Journal of Marketing 80, no. 6 (2016): 69–96, on the experience’s stages before, during and after a purchase (p. 76).