Improving the UX with the aid of Journey Maps

For any business to grow, it is vital to understand their customers and the journey they take when interacting with the business/product.

Just like we use GPS maps to guide us when we travel, Customer Journey Maps help the businesses to understand the user pain points and identifying important things such as :

Understand various customer touch points and Business needs at different stages in the sales funnel.

Identifying the logical stages and the gaps between the ideal customer experience and the current experience.

Prioritizing the development priorities and allowing the business to concentrate spending efforts on what features matter the most.

In this article, I will explain the essential parts of a customer journey map with the help of an example.

1. Choosing the right Persona

No two journey maps are the same. It varies from business to business and the design varies on the product you are planning to map. The customer journey map can be designed for a single customer persona or it can also be done for a segment of customers. Once a customer journey is designed for a persona, it can be applied to other customers by establishing a common understanding of customer stages, goals, touchpoints, opportunities, etc.

Let us consider the scenario of a potential videogame buyer. For the purpose of the article, I will keep the stages simple and the persona which we will consider for this journey map is John, who is a financial director. He is 42 living in NYC with a high income and is often super busy. One can go as detailed as possible for the persona.