Introduction to Journey Maps

Journey maps communicate complex customer interactions by visualizing how they accomplish a task. By taking into account their processes, needs, and emotions, journey mapping can show where users feel satisfied or frustrated throughout an experience.

1. Conduct Research

First, it’s important to conduct qualitative research with customers to learn their perspectives and observe their interactions. What do users say during their experience? How does their behavior reflect their emotions?

Additionally, it’s helpful to communicate with internal stakeholders to ensure your research goals are aligned with business needs.

2. Identify your Persona and Scenario

Next, identify and develop a persona based on customers’ perspectives and actions. This persona can be rooted in data gathered from multiple users, but it’s important to treat it as a single user in order to build a stronger narrative.

Now that you’ve developed a persona, write out your scenario and your persona’s specific expectations. For example:

“Young professional interested in traveling to new places, needs to find a good deal for a flight. Expectations: Quick, cheap, easy to compare rates”

3. Incorporate Customers’ Emotions

Next, incorporate customer emotions from your research. Make sure to include their actions, mindsets, and motivations, focusing on their point of view.

4. Share your Map

Finally, share your journey map with relevant stakeholders as a reference for moving forward. Clearly communicating your understanding of your user’s experience can help unify your team behind a shared vision for the project and future decisions.

Wrap-Up

In conclusion, journey maps visualize users’ interactions with a service to provide insight into their perspectives, drive new design hypotheses, and, in turn, create a better experience.

Sources & Further Reading

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/methods-to-help-you-define-synthesise-and-make-sense-in-your-research

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/journey-mapping-101/

https://www.nngroup.com/videos/journey-mapping-101/