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Journey Map

Using customer narratives and data, “map” what they are doing, thinking, feeling and interacting with over a set period of time.

Phases

Discovery Framing

Suggested Time

1 hour

Participants

Core team, subject matter experts


Why do it?

During Discovery, a journey map can help arrange individual data points into chronological order. During Framing, the team can return to a journey map to identify the point in the journey when a proposed solution will be used by a customer.

When to do it?

The best time to do a Journey Map is after a few rounds of user research, when synthesizing data into insights. Alternatively, Journey Maps can be used to align the stakeholder’s vision of a Customer Journey, before starting User Research. During Framing, the map can be modified to match a “future” state where the proposed solution exists.

What supplies are needed?

  • Whiteboard or digital version like Miro
  • Dry erase markers
  • Sticky notes
  • Markers
  • Small sticky dots
  • Persona(s)

How to Use this Method

Sample Agenda & Prompts

  1. Identify which users journey the team is mapping. Leverage existing Personas and if multiple choose the most important one to start

  2. Map alone, together (10 minutes)

    • Have each person create a user journey in front of them, separating each step into individual sticky notes. This looks like a horizontal timeline of no-more-than 10 sticky notes

    Individual user journey

  3. Share individual journeys with the team (10 minutes)

    • One at a time, each person sticks their timeline on the whiteboard. Each timeline should stack beneath the last so all are aligned from the first step onward

    All user journeys

  4. Dot voting (10 minutes)

    • Have everyone review each others journey and ask any clarifying questions. After questions, everyone is given dot stickers to vote on steps they think are interesting or important

    All user journeys dot voted

  5. Consolidate into one big story (10 minutes)

    • Throw out all sticky notes without dots
    • Combine duplicate stickies and rearranges the stacked timelines into one large timeline
    • Draw arrows between stickies and mark the amount of time between steps, if possible. If there are multiple “routes”, you can split the timeline up vertically

    Consolidated user journeys

  6. Mark customers emotions and pain points (10 minutes)

    • As a group, read through the finished timeline and mark points in time that the persona experiences a “pain point” (use a different color marker for this on the whiteboard or on sticky notes)
    • If you have the data to support it, track the persona’s emotions throughout the journey using a horizontal line that rises and falls in accordance with the pain points

  7. Identify opportunities along the journey (10 minutes)

    • Have the team read through the completed journey map one more time, asking all participants to write “how might we” statements on a sticky note, whenever they identify a moment for intervention/improvement.

Success/Expected Outcomes

At the end of a Journey Map the team will have a shared holistic view of a Persona’s experience. The process reveals opportunities to address user pain points and prevents misalignment during the “framing” process.

Facilitator Notes & Tips

  • Create one Journey Map per Persona. If there are other Personas to consider, map them as touch points from a single Personas perspective.
  • To understand more detail and complexity consider using a Service Blueprint to map a product/service’s “backstage actions” and “support processes” to an individual customer journey.

Preceding

Following

Service Blueprint Scenario Writing

Real World Examples

Journey map on a whiteboard example

Design Sprint journey mapping technique
The difference between a journey map and a service blueprint
Adaptive Path’s guide to Experience Mapping (PDF download)