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How To Develop A Customer Journey Map

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Collaboration

While we believe in customizing journey mapping projects based on industry, product, stakeholder team needs and other factors, there are some basic steps in how we approach developing a customer journey map.  See below for our “How To.”

STEP 1: IMMERSION & RESEARCH SYNTHESIS
Get your team immersed in the customer, the products, and the competition. Make sure everyone is on the same page before you launch into the journey mapping process. As part of this first step, review and synthesize any relevant research the company has done to date that can be used to start building a strawman of the customer journey. Leverage work you have already done! If needed, include a handful of stakeholder interviews in this step.

STEP 2: ESTABLISH THE JOURNEY FRAMEWORK
Collaborate with your cross-functional team to build a framework for the journey map. Designing the framework includes understanding what content will be most useful for the team and establishing a clear set of objectives around what the team wants the map to convey.  This includes discussions around where the map starts and ends, what components are important to call out on the map, etc. While it’s helpful to establish a rough framework, know that it often shifts as you work with real customers.

STEP 3: INTERNAL MAPPING WORKSHOP
Conduct a workshop with the internal stakeholder team, preferably in person. This could be a half-day or full-day workshop, depending on the complexity of the journey. Roll up your sleeves and together map a strawman journey using any company research and internal knowledge. This helps establish hypotheses to validate and test with customers, and also uncovers where you have knowledge gaps across the journey.

STEP 4: JOURNEY RESEARCH
Conduct qualitative research with customers to learn about their journey. This is the most important step since journeys are an outside-in view. The research is designed to gather insights and fill in the journey framework, but also allows for testing of the framework itself.

Customize the research plan according to the journey you are creating. Journey research can consist of:

  • Customer Interviews
  • Customer Co-creation Summits
  • Ethnographic Observations
  • Digital Diaries
  • And more…

There are cases where you may want to supplement with quantitative research as well.

STEP 5: DEVELOP MAP CONTENT
Using the research, create the content for the journey and fill in the framework. It’s important to create a crisp cover story for the high-level journey map as well as developing detailed map pages for teams who need to dig deeper.

STEP 6: DESIGN THE MAP
Once you have the content, hold a design session with the team to start sketching out design direction. The design of the map should be driven by the map content, map framework and design direction that will make the maps most impactful for the team. The goal for design is to make it easily digestible, visually appealing, and most importantly, actionable.

Once you have the map or maps, socialize them throughout the company.  Use ideation workshops and action planning sessions to help stakeholders identify opportunities, ideate ways to improve the customer experience and prioritize a roadmap for the future.

Reach out if you have questions or want to learn more about the journey mapping process.

 

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