WHY
Creating a Customer Journey Map builds empathy by focusing on the present journey of a user. This is a continuous activity and it enables you to plot insights regarding your users’ behavior and how they experience interacting with organizations and/or services through various touch points. This empowers you to effectively identify opportunities in order to help users better attain their goals.
HOW
The Customer Journey Map (CJM) can be used to analyze the bigger picture and create a complete journey from start to finish. Or, it can also allow you to carefully focus on a specific stage or customer role within their journey. Gather all insights collected during the Discover phase and visualize them in the map. Filling in the map is a team activity and can be done by following seven steps:
1. Create a Persona: summarize a depiction of your Persona at the start of your CJM;
2. Create Journey Stages: describe the stages your Persona needs to experience in order to achieve a goal from start to finish;
3. User Activities: describe what the Persona is trying to accomplish;
4. Emotional Status: what is your Persona feeling throughout each individual journey stage?
5. Customer Context: define the environment in which the Persona engages and other relevant insights that influence the Persona’s experience;
6. Touch Points: list the contact points where your Persona directly interacts with the service;
7. Opportunity Areas: describe what you can improve in your Persona’s journey.
EXAMPLE
In order to understand the concept of CJM, try plotting out your last grocery shopping experience on straight line. What were some of the activities prior to visiting the groceries store? What were you feeling while walking down the aisles? Were you in contact with anyone in your surroundings? How do you ensure to keep track of what you need?