Why create a journey map?
We want to make the path to our experiences better, because we know happy customers are repeat customers. And, are visitors customers? Yes, in this case, they are. They might or might not be paying to participate. But, they are choosing to consume the services we provide. Also, we know there is a relationship between interactions, space, and emotions. Remember the last time you had a bad experience at a store or restaurant. What felt bad? Where were you when you had this bad feeling? Will you go back to the place that this bad experience happened? Many variables went into that bad experience. Next time you go the experience could be better. But, most people still avoid places where they had a bad experience. The visceral reaction is incredibly powerful, and most decisions have an emotional aspect.
Most emotional challenges are about a specific situation or moment. It’s about that mean woman who served the food or the fact that the bathroom sign was white print on the glass in 8 pt font. People usually react to a certain impetus. Understanding which moments cause negative emotional reactions helps designers improve the overall experience. Otherwise, their changes cannot target the problems. Why shoot in the dark when you can hit the right target?
Overall, a journey map is a tool that helps everyone work from the same information. Admitably, map reading is not a skill that everyone possesses. Once you get everyone up to speed on understanding the material in the map, the whole organization has the SAME artifact to focus on.
How do you create the right map?
Firstly, there is no one journey every one customer takes. Even a Disney ride, that has a clear beginning and ending, would have a set of journey maps. A young child, for instance, will have a different experience in Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride from the line to the exit than a grandparent. (And, yes, I know that ride no longer exists :>)
- Ideally, you should create journey maps for each persona you identify for your brand. They will hopefully be fairly simple. You will want to hone in on the difference to truly understand where you can improve customer experience.
- You need to perform research. Observe users. Do surveys. Take feedback. Use this data to help you create data-driven maps. Absolutely do not use yourself to create your maps. The research should feed your maps. For example, let’s say middle-aged women are an important sector of your audience. Observe a set of people in this demographic. Map each of their behaviors. Interview them after you observe them. Develop an averaged map of behavior and attitudes. (If there is huge variation, then you will need to do interviews to understand differences. A generalized journey map would not be helpful, and could actually mask problems.)
- Every map needs to have phases (chunks of time being tested), actions (the actual map), emotional responses (customer’s feelings at each point), touch points (moments when the customer interacts with the company).
- After you create a set of maps for each of your personas, look for pain points and other insights. You will also add insights under each part of the map and organizational responsibility for each element. Are their places where everyone struggles? Are there places where one sector struggles? What are places that really work? Why? Are there parts of your organization that is doing great? Where can you improve?
- Then reach across your organization to find solutions. Share this journey map, just as you share the customer’s journey.
Journey maps can’t solve all problems, certainly, but they help organizations find specific places where customer service falls down.