Customer journey mapping
What is a customer journey map?
A customer journey map shows how a user interacts with a service to achieve a goal.
It tells the story of their experience from start to finish. It tells the story of their experience from start to finish, including the actions they take, the channels they use and how they feel along the way.
Journey maps help teams understand the user experience from the user's perspective.
Why use customer journey mapping?
Use a journey map to understand the user’s experience.
It can help you:
- see where users get stuck, confused or frustrated
- identify opportunities to improve services
- focus on the parts of the journey that matter most
- align teams around a shared view of the user experience.
Base your map on evidence from real user research. Do not rely on assumptions.
How to create a customer journey map
Step 1: Define the user
Start with a clearly defined user based on research.
Include:
- what they are trying to do
- their motivations
- any barriers of concerns
- what happens before and after the interaction.
Use:
- quantitative data (what users do)
- qualitative research (how users think and feel – an empathy map can help with this)
Update your understanding as new research becomes available.
Step 2: Choose the scenario
Define which part of the journey you want to map.
Keep it simple. Focus on one goal, rather than an entire service. This will keep the map manageable.
For example:
User: 'Café owner'
Goal: 'Register a new business.'
Step 3: Map the journey
Map the steps users take to achieve their goal.
Show the journey in a way that works for your team. It does not need to be linear.
Use swim lanes or similar layouts. Use visuals to make the journey easy to understand.
You can map using sticky notes on a board, or a cloud based tool such as Miro.
Include:
- User – age, background, thoughts, feelings, expectations, pain points
- Timeline – the stages of the journey
- Touchpoints – where users interact with government
- Emotions – how the user feels at each stage
- Channels – how they interact (for example website, app, call centre, shopfront)
Current state and future state
You can map the current state (how the journey works today) or a future state (how you want things to work). Start with the current state. Use it to identify pain points, gaps and opportunities.
Once you understand the current experience, you can create a future-state map that shows how the journey could work after improvements are made.
Example of a user journey
Step 4: Share and update
Display the journey map where your team can see it.
Walk stakeholders through the journey. This helps build empathy and shared understanding of user needs.
Keep the map up to date as services, research and user needs evolve.
Journey maps can help teams:
- define scope
- identify problems and solutions
- prioritise improvements
- break down organisational silos
- understand the end-to-end user experience.
Use the journey map when sharing your findings with stakeholders. It helps people who weren't part of the research understand what users experience and where improvements are needed.
Who should use customer journey mapping?
- Product owners
- Service designers
- UX designers
- Content designers
- Researchers
- Business analysts
When to use it
Do user research during the discovery phase. Then create a journey map using what you learn.
See the Discovery phase research guide for methods to help you understand user needs, behaviours and pain points.