How To Build a Journey Map (Checklist)

When I build a journey map in Miro or Mural, I post a sticky note with this 15-step list of how to build a journey map. I would keep it high level. It was a good reminder for me to move fast and keep it simple. For a more detailed overview of journey maps, read this post.

Journey Map Checklist

1. State the business objective you are solving for.
2. Identify a customer group that helps solve that business objective.
3. Build a financial customer profile representative of that group.
4. Identify archetypes if possible.
5. Select what type of journey map you want to build.
6. Review internal research, data, and employee feedback.
7. Interview and observe the customers.
8. Build an inventory of customer behavior.
9. Build financial and analytical measurements of repetitive behavior.
10. Focus on tasks, touchpoints, and channels.
11. Identify common pain points that customers experience.
12. Look for learned behavior where they have accepted pain points.
13. Record, if possible, videos of points of failure in their tasks.
14. Create and name stages and group tasks together.
15. Build the visual and chronological journey map in Mural or Miro.

Translating Insights into Actionable Next-Steps

After completing a customer journey mapping exercise, the follow-up actions for each team—CX, Product, and Sales/Marketing—are crucial to translating insights into tangible improvements and innovations. Here are suggested tasks for each team to action on the findings of the journey map effectively:

CX Team Follow-Up Tasks

1. Log pain points and opportunities: Record all identified pain points as opportunities in an opportunity backlog (mapped to journey map stages) and opportunity parking lot (general opportunities).
2. Integrate findings into Voice of Customer program: Use insights and opportunities from the journey map to refine the VoC program. Ensure that feedback is related to the correct stages of the customer journey.
3. Develop Improvement Plans: For top-priority pain points, develop detailed improvement plans. This should include specific actions, resources required, timelines, and KPIs for measuring success.
4. Coordinate Cross-Functional Solutions: Work with Product, Sales/Marketing, and other departments to develop cross-functional solutions to complex pain points that span multiple areas of the customer experience.
5. Monitor and Report Progress: Establish a regular reporting mechanism to monitor improvements, share updates with stakeholders, and adjust plans based on results and new customer feedback.

Product Team Follow-Up Tasks

1. Identify and prioritize opportunities: Evaluate opportunities in identification and prioritization workshops. Prioritize new use cases with the highest potential for customer satisfaction and contribute to business objectives.
2. Business investment process: For each prioritized opportunity, the product team must assess technical viability, market impact, and resourcing. Opportunities will have to contribute to the strategic direction of the business.
3. Conduct discovery and research: The product team will assess opportunities and create use cases that address the pain points via a discovery process.
4. Prototype solutions: Build a prototype of the use case scenarios and involve customers early for feedback and insight to mitigate investment risk.
5. Integrate customer feedback into product development: Ensure customer feedback is integrated into ongoing product development efforts.
6. Collaborate with CX and sales/marketing: Work closely with CX and sales/marketing to ensure the product roadmap deliverables are communicated effectively and align with overall customer experience goals.

Sales/Marketing Team Follow-Up Tasks

1. Align Sales Strategies with Customer Journey Insights: Adjust sales strategies and tactics based on insights from the journey map, focusing on improving customer touchpoints and interactions identified as critical or problematic.
2. Develop Targeted Marketing Campaigns: Create marketing campaigns that address specific stages of the customer journey to alleviate pain points or leverage opportunities to enhance the customer experience.
3. Utilize Insights for Content Creation: Generate content that speaks directly to the needs and questions of customers at different stages of their journey, using insights from the mapping exercise to inform topics and messaging.
4. Train Sales Team on New Insights: Provide training and resources to the sales team on new insights from the customer journey map, emphasizing how these insights can be used to improve sales interactions and customer satisfaction.
5. Measure Impact of Adjustments: Implement measures to track the impact of adjustments made based on the journey map findings, such as changes in customer satisfaction scores, conversion rates, and customer feedback.

Summary

Before you build a journey map, you must have figured out the larger business problem you are trying to solve. Then, it is a matter of what research methods are available to you that will help generate the necessary data to populate the journey map.

You want to have an idea of what type of journey map you are going to build. Is it a generic journey map? Or maybe it's a buyer's journey map or an omnichannel journey map. Build a journey map that will help solve your business problem.

Aggregate all your research and data you've captured from the research methods and activities you've conducted. You combine old research with new research. Incorporate interviews, observations, product analyses, and financial data.

The last step is the best. Synthesize and display findings in your journey map and create additional themes and case studies to highlight areas that deserve more attention from the broader product organization. Tailor your journey map to the audience that will consume the information you've worked hard to obtain and get ready to change how your product organization operates.

Written by Leo Vroegindewey, B2B CX Consultant

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