Understand
Journey map
Also called Customer journey map, User journey map
Map what a person does, thinks and feels at each stage of getting something done, and find where it goes wrong.
- Time45 to 90 minutes
- People3 to 8 people
- Steps5
What it's for
A journey map lays out one person's experience across stages, from first hearing about something to using it and getting help. Each row looks at the same journey from a different angle. The low points in the feelings row are usually where the opportunities are.
It works best with research behind it. Mapped from memory, it shows what the team believes rather than what happens.
How to run it
Agree the person and the goal5 min
Whose journey is this, and what are they trying to get done?
Name the stages5 min
Rename the stage headings to fit your journey.
Fill each row20 min
Add notes for doing, thinking and feeling at each stage.
Mark the pain points10 min
Where does it break, slow down or hurt?
Vote on opportunities10 min3 votes each
Add ideas to the bottom row, then vote on where to focus.
Tips
- Map one journey for one type of person. Branches for every edge case make the map unreadable.
- Use quotes from research in the thinking row. They make the map believable to people who weren't there.
Where it comes from
Journey mapping grew out of service design and customer experience work in the 1990s and 2000s. It has no single inventor.
Pairs well with
Service blueprint
Map a service from the customer's actions down to the staff, systems and processes behind them that the customer never sees.
Empathy map
A shared picture of one type of person: what they say, think, do and feel, built from research rather than guesses.
How might we
Turn problems and insights into questions that start with "How might we", which invite ideas instead of arguments.