Journey Driven

 

Mapping The Experience

We specialize in building journey maps to help our clients understand the experiences of those that build, consume, support, and maintain products and services. Our clients use these journey maps to identify issues and opportunities and develop strategies for improving experiences.

What is a journey map?

A journey map is a powerful tool for understanding and designing experiences. Understanding the needs, wants, emotions, and behaviors of people as they interact with the products and service your organization delivers. Journey maps reveal gaps between a participants needs and expectations as well as friction points in the overall customer experience.

Journey maps are a strategic tool -much like a SWOT analysis- for identifying strengths and weaknesses. However, the journey map looks from the outside in, providing the customers perspective of an organization strengths and weaknesses. Like a SWOT analysis, the journey map is a living document that evolves with shifts in society and culture as well as changes in technology and markets.

What are the components of a journey map?

Journey Maps can focus on one segment of an overall journey - like new customer on-boarding or new patient registration- or it can document every touchpoint in the participants end-to-end experience. A journey map consists of stages and touchpoints. A stage is a logical segment of a journey. Touchpoints are the interactions a person has with an organization during a stage. 

How do you create a journey map?

Kickoff - Start with reviewing your brand, market, competition, stakeholders, organizational culture and any existing participant data. Create an index of customer and employee journeys, then collaboratively decide where to focus your efforts.

Research - This phase of the project is focused on understanding the participants perspective. You gather qualitative data by spending time side by side with participants, observing what they do, how they do it, and conducting contextual interviews. Explore the cultural and societal influences that drive the behaviors you are observing and provide context to perceptions.

Document map development - At this point in the project, create the physical hourney map to visualize the participants interactions with a product or service from their perspective. Add touchpoints for every phase and for each touchpoint note the following:

  • Channel - How the touchpoint is delivered (i.e. website, phone, face-to-face, etc.).

  • Emotions - How stakeholders (participants, employees, partners, family members) feel.

  • Needs - What the participant needs to be successful and feel comfortable at that touchpoint.

  • Context - The relevant physical, emotional, cultural, and societal contexts.

  • Questions - Questions participants ask and the people or platforms (i.e. Facebook, WhatsApp, SnapChat) they use to ask those questions.

  • Goals - The participants definition of success at that touchpoint. Goals can be stated or observed.

  • Supporting Operations - Front and back stage people, information, technology, and processes necessary to deliver and support the touchpoint.

 

For additional information and to help you run your own journey mapping project, we’ve created a short e-book. Download the book here.