Journey Mapping
It is not just the steps, but the emotions
Overview
I was recently asked by another Medium blog to write up my journey. This got me to reflect on journey mapping as a whole and how this works. This week I’m going to talk about using journey maps for product development and for personal reflection. I have included many traditional mapping approaches to flush out the differences.
Customer Journeys
There are many ways to represent the customer journey. Here are a few of the versions that can serve as the basis for your efforts.
Traditional Customer Funnel
In this model the funnel is generally represented as a straight line and that you sometimes drop out.
Accenture Ongoing Customer Experience
This one highlights that customer goes through an ongoing experience that never ends and thus the customer is always evaluating their choice.
The Orbit Model
Not sure the technical term for this one, but I look at the below model as a series of orbits. One system is the customer journey where you have a variety of paths that are always present and the other path is around product development. The two orbits are connected by the feedback between the models.
Jobs to Be Done Timeline Model
In this model it lays out a traditional approach to capture various job steps from the first thought a customer had on the “job to be done” through to final emotion of completing the job. This can be a useful framing to structure interviews to capture the timeline of events.
Frog Design’s Customer Journey Map
I like the inclusion of the emotional elements around motivators and barriers in this model to start making the journey more human.
Examples — In business
Through my experience and work at Porch we have used journey mapping to layout the experience for various personas. The version below is an example from one of our awesome designers.
A few things to call out in relation to the model above that I really like:
- Each of the chevrons in the process swimlane at the top represent a “job”
- For each “job” we have laid out additional steps or jobs to be done
- We have laid out pain points and emotional responses across the journey to highlight where to focus and improve the experience
Another example is one I have seen from a partner on the customer journey for completing a large home project. This has been helpful to think through the emotional journey a homeowner goes through during their project. It also highlights the value of being involved through the journey of the experience and not just up to the start of the project.
Example — A personal view of my carer
One of my favorite part of all hands meetings at Accenture was to hear from partners and their journey. Each story was unique and offered a different path to getting to the top. This was encouraging to hear and see. It was also amazing to see the difference between people. I have been very fortunate to have had more ups than downs in my life. Below is a visual representation of my career to date:
A few items to call out:
- Highlights — Achieving goals, especially with friends, has been a key driver of my happiness
- Lowlights — Set backs are tough to deal with, but they can make us stronger.
- Emotional state is temporary — Nothing lasts forever, good or bad. When things are great, build upon that momentum and savor the moment
In Closing
Journey mapping and understanding the experience of customers and yourself are critical to design thinking. It is necessary to understand the emotional map of a customer journey to build great products or design your life. There are so many choices that we make and each one puts us on a different path. A customer journey is not just the jobs done, but the emotions that are inspired.
