Journey Mapping 101: What is a journey map?
Well, first, I'm going to use two words: user journey map and customer journey map throughout this video.
They mean the same thing.
It is a visualization that tells a narrative of the end user trying to accomplish a specific
task or goal as it pertains to your company.
Now, we know all journey maps look different, but the best part is, the same 5 underlying
components are in all of them.
The first is the actor.
This is the main star of the journey you're mapping.
Second, we're going to breathe life into the actor with a scenario and expectations.
Now, the scenario is what they're trying to accomplish, and their expectations are what
they expect as they try to accomplish that thing or task.
Then we have journey phases.
This is number three.
These are high-level, meaningful chunks of information that tell that high-level narrative
of what your user is doing.
Then the meat of the journey map is number 4.
These are our actions, mindsets, and emotions.
These are exactly what I said there: the actions the user is taking, the mindsets as they take
them, and the emotional side-effects.
So, are they frustrated or excited?
Then the last but most important component are these insights and opportunities.
I like to put these at the bottom of my journey maps.
These are the takeaways.
What was learned from journey mapping?
Were there gaps?
Were there financial gains?
What can we tell anyone looking at this map of things we need to do?
I'm going to sound like a broken record, but customer journey maps have two huge benefits,
as does any qualitative process I talk about.
The first being the benefits from doing it with others.
You create that shared language, that shared understanding, the same mental model of what
your end user is doing.
Now, done well, that process then creates this artifact.
That's the second benefit.
With this artifact, you can convince stakeholders, you can show other departments and hopefully
with your goal being that those insights and opportunities drive positive change.