How to Make a Customer Journey Map

Your team works hard to get customers what they need, when they need it. But how do you anticipate changing customer needs? Are there moments when customers seem ready to buy, then mysteriously abandon full shopping carts? Brand traction can be tricky at a time when even regular customers are pausing purchases.

But top brands have a tool that helps them stay in closer touch with their customer base: customer journey maps. This article shows how customer journey maps can help you sharpen design and marketing efforts, turning casual visitors into passionate brand advocates.

What is a customer journey map?

Customer journey maps show how customers interact with your brand, with colorful graphics that highlight key customer interactions before, during, and after purchases. Done right, these maps are essential tools that help designers and marketers serve customers better.

Why you need a customer journey map

How do you keep customers happy? A customer journey map helps you consider the customer experience (CX) from their point of view. You can plot the ups and downs of customer relationships over time, across all your brand channels. Your map might trace the movements of Millennial buyers as they discover a brand on social media, check online reviews, make in-app purchases, and post viral unboxing videos. Or your customer journey map might capture the short, sad story of full shopping carts suddenly abandoned at checkout by 71% of online customers.

Customer journey maps make these patterns easier to recognize and understand, so that customer success is easier to repeat—and customer frustration and attrition easier to avoid. That’s critical. According to a recent study, 72% of consumers consider switching brands after just one bad user experience. With a customer journey map, you can be the hero who finds moments where your brand can shine, turning customer woes into customer success stories.

5 steps to complete your customer journey map

Your customer journey map doesn’t have to be elaborate to be effective. You can outline your customer journey map in five steps:

1. Ask an urgent CX question. What do you need to know about your customer to improve CX? Is there a customer behavior you’re trying to understand, like abandoning a full shopping cart? Or are you looking for ways to win customers on TikTok? If you’re not sure, FigJam online whiteboards make team brainstorming easy. Finding a shared goal focuses team efforts to build a clear, useful customer journey map.
2. Collect customer insights. Gather any relevant customer data you can find. Site analytics might help you track cart abandonment patterns. If the research you need isn’t handy, try running a quick survey. Social media polls could provide helpful insights into customer habits and preferences.
3. Sketch out customer personas. Outline common customer behaviors you’ve observed. Then use your research to fill in finer details: distinct customer needs, goals, and drivers. User testing can help you test assumptions and refine personas.
4. Plot their journeys. Take a ride with your customers down the sales funnel, from brand awareness and consideration through purchase, support, and brand advocacy. What are key touchpoints along the journey, across brand channels? Where do customer personas take diverging paths, leading to different experiences and outcomes?
5. Discover brand opportunities. Check out customer reviews that point out room for improvement (ouch). What are common pain points? Ask follow-up questions in user interviews to uncover ways to surprise and delight even the most jaded users. The Interaction Design Foundation calls these “moments of truth”—game-changing positive interactions that can turn even unhappy customers into brand advocates.

3 pro tips for customer journey mapping

• Zoom in. Capgemini North America design strategists recommend that brands map one small section of the customer journey at a time. Many brands focus on awareness or purchase, overlooking make-or-break moments in pre-sale customer service or post-purchase product support.
• Let customers connect the dots. As Harvard business researchers point out, the road to a purchase is rarely a straight line. Customers interact with brands through multiple channels, zigzagging across different touch points before buying. In user research, let customers describe their journey for you, and pinpoint critical moments in their experience.
• Consider customer context. IDEO design leaders consider what happens before and after customers interact with your brand, using a house-paint brand as an example. Customers can’t always tell when it’s time to touch up peeling walls—and after repainting, they might not remember what paint color they chose. If your brand can reach out and support them at these moments, you could win loyal customers.

How to create customer journey maps with FigJam

FigJam is an online whiteboard that helps teams brainstorm, design, and share ideas. Here’s how teams can use FigJam diagramming tools for better, faster customer journey mapping:

1. Jump right in. Team members don’t need any design experience to start building diagrams with FigJam’s intuitive customer journey mapping template.
2. Drag and drop. Map user flows with professionally designed shapes and arrows that snap to the grid. Your diagrams will feel polished and presentation-ready.
3. Bring your brand to life. FigJam makes it easy to add brand flair to your diagrams, illustrations, animation and video.