A Customer Journey Map visualises the steps a user goes through to achieve a goal — capturing their actions, thoughts, feelings, and pain points at each stage. It reveals where experience breaks down and where the biggest opportunities sit.
When diagnosing friction in an existing experience, designing a new workflow, or aligning cross-functional teams on the user's perspective.
- Define the persona and the specific scenario being mapped
- Identify all stages of the journey from first awareness to final outcome
- For each stage, map: Actions, Thoughts, Feelings, Pain Points, Opportunities
- Add touchpoints: which product surfaces or channels are involved?
- Map the emotional curve — where does experience peak and trough?
- Identify 'moments of truth' — stages that most affect overall satisfaction
New user journey: Sees ad → Downloads app → Creates account → Confronted by empty library → Listens to a suggested playlist → Hits shuffle limit → Prompted to upgrade → Leaves app. Key pain point: the empty library moment — new users don't know where to start and the product doesn't guide them. This is where onboarding must focus.
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- Mapping the journey you wish users had rather than the one they actually experience
- Missing stages that happen before and after users interact with your product
- Creating the map without user input — validate every stage with real users
- This Is Service Design Doing — Stickdorn et al.
- Mapping Experiences — James Kalbach