End User Journey Mapping

A customer journey is a visual representation of the experiences a customer/client experiences during interactions (or between interactions) with a program, service, or product.

Journey maps can be used to create a deeply-nuanced understanding of the barriers that prevent effective completion of a process. In addition, journey maps provide a strong foundation (or starting point) for program and process improvement. 

Journey maps provide an overview of an experience - from the user perspective - that enables the identification of problem areas and opportunities for improvement and innovation. The core structure of a journey map is built on touchpoints, which are moments when users interact with the service are used in order to create a ‘journey.’

Touchpoints can include personal face-to-face interactions, virtual interactions with a website, physical trips to a building, or any other moment of direct interaction. The use of touchpoints allows a service experience to be broken down into individual stages for further analysis.

What makes the journey map special is that it takes those touchpoints, and then elaborates on them with evidence from the user experience. You will create an end user persona/profile that moves through the touchpoints. You will need to use immersion, observation, and interviews with people to get a better understanding of the emotions they feel at each of those touchpoints, as well as a set of ‘personalizations’ (quotes) to bring those touchpoints to life

Journey Maps are useful in solving key problems by helping to identify key paint points for both staff and clients, helping to better understand customer needs, and empowering staff to align internal operations with client needs.

Journey Maps also naturally lead us to think about improvements in the environment where a service is provided, the way information is made available, the language and vocabulary clients use, and enabling the intuitive ability to self-navigate a process.

Learn the Basics of Journey Mapping

Review this webinar and associated videos for an introduction to end user journey maps.

Strategies & Tips for Success

Make your journey mapping efforts more effective by keeping these strategies and tips in mind:

Key Elements of a Journey Map

• Touchpoints - every contact point between a customer and the service provider, process, program, or system

• Service Evidence - tangible artifacts related to a service process that might include forms, websites, phone calls, observational records, receipts, equipment, and others

• Service Period - journey maps should consider three phases of an experience: pre-service, during service, post-service

• Personas - a set of 1-5 typical end user/client/customer profiles, based on real-world user experiences

Personas refer to the target group, audience, or market you have in mind

• Personas should be the type of people that can express their desires and frustrations about a service

• One way to think about this is to build different personas around your mainstream client - the ones that come in, get it done, and go on with their day. 

• You’ll also want to build personas around the client extremes - where do the complicated days or cases come from? Where might social determinants of health come into play?

•  Whatever the persona you choose, you’ll need to keep it brief - the persona should include a visual depiction of the person, and add a name, age, location and a few other relevant details

Use immersion, observation to first create your own simulated (or real-life) experience of a particular process, program, or service

Question your own assumptions about the experience

Engage with multiple end users to find common touchpoints - not everyone has the same experience (or journey)

Practical Activities & Learning

1) Review any field notes you might already have related to end user experiences. List a few areas where there is difficulty or frustration.

2) From your list, choose 1-3 processes, programs, or services to engage with. Use immersion and observation to build empathy with other end users and to understand the process.

3) Create your own journey maps for the processes you experience.

4) Select the journey map that has the lowest emotional experience.

5) Identify 3-5 end users that engage with the journey and use semi-structured interviewing to ask them to self-describe their journey.

6) Revise or create a new journey map (or maps) based on the outputs of your interviews.

In the Field

As a neighborhood consultant, you can submit up to 25 journey mapping worksheets for end user experiences you engage with. Notes and outputs must be summarized and shared to enhance our learning.

Journey Mapping Field Journal Worksheets available on request from aaron[at]akroadvice.com