What are the best ways to visualize customer journey maps?

In my experience as CEO of Africa’s leading philanthropy funding, training, mentoring and expanding market access for young African entrepreneurs, such journey maps arm us with powerful insights to what sectors are most transformative and why, what monitoring and tracking models will be most effective to measure the impact of our programmes, and how we can best serve entrepreneurs from widely different backgrounds, geographies, and regions, in a way that is not one-size-fits-all, but nuanced enough to add the most value to each startup that we empower. It’s a way of ensuring that our programmes are not tone deaf, but interactive, flexible and most importantly, adaptable to the needs of African entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries.

Visualizing customer journey maps is like using a GPS for your business. For instance, consider an online retailer. By mapping the customer journey, they can see where shoppers encounter hurdles, such as a complex checkout process. This visual insight prompts them to simplify it, resulting in a smoother journey. The map acts as a guide, helping businesses navigate toward improved customer experiences, higher satisfaction, and increased sales. It's a visual roadmap to success.

In content creation this is a crucial step. It allows you to map content needs depending on the buyer's journey. And answer questions like: What type of content do they need to see in each of the following phases? What questions do they ask themselves at each stage?

Visualizing a journey map helps to serve its core purpose - to tell a story and drive alignment to customer goals and outcomes. Too often I've seen journey maps over-engineered with too much text and unnecessary information - quantity over quality- which detracts from the intent. Focus on key elements - what problems are we trying to solve? What are our customers goals? Where are our key make or break moments? What role do our teams play in enabling a connected experience? Create an executive version - high-level and directional - and a more detailed version for team members who need to understand the nuances. Journey maps are just a tool - the magic is in the communication.

As a trainer, I use customer journey maps as part of Customer Service Workshops. I ask the frontline teams and support team to "create" a map. It really gets them engaged and underscores the significance of each interaction and the impact when one interaction/ touchpoint fails to deliver. It's so much more powerful when they create their own maps.....and then we can collectively and collaboratively build the full picture. I keep it simple ! I'll share a storyboard once they have thought about and sketched out their own versions. I think it helps frontline teams to create an emotional connection with their customer / clients/patients. Interested in other views on this

Choosing the right format for customer journey maps is like selecting a vehicle: Infographics: Ideal for a high-level overview, like this one for a restaurant, showcasing key touchpoints and emotions. Flowcharts: For step-by-step guidance, a software onboarding journey is mapped out with clarity. Storyboarding: An e-commerce customer journey, presented like a comic strip, illustrates each interaction and decision point. Each format serves a specific purpose, so pick the one that aligns with your goals and audience.

LTailor the format to your specific objectives and audience. Timelines for identifying issues, storyboards for emotional connection, infographics for concise insights, and dashboards for scenario analysis – each serves a unique purpose. Prioritize clarity and relevance in your choice. Remember, the format should enhance understanding and drive action, aiding you in optimizing the customer journey and enhancing business performance.

Format depends on where you are in process of creating your journey map. Early stage, an editable timeline may be best to define the stages, and fill in additional details. From there, a storyboard map is great for content development & content writing teams (internal or outsourced), as a way to help writers and content creators understand the sentiment of each stage and piece of content. For bigger organizations, infographic would work well for presenting to the company how it works, and the metrics used to optimize for performance.

Your format depends on your audience and objective. Are you communicating a problem statement and north star vision to executive leadership? Are you mapping needed technical and data components into a backlog? Are you aligning cross-functional teams to core experiences? The audience and goal should drive the format. For executive audiences, stay high-level and visual with an overload on data. For technical audiences, leverage blueprints which breaks down the journey into "front stage/back stage". For cross-functional alignment, use a format which can be shared and collaborated on. Journey maps are nothing if they can't generate action.

As a grwoth & marketing expert I use theses following steps to visualize customer journey maps by using story board: 1 - Start by clarifying your objectives for creating the customer journey map - 2 - Identify Personas - 3 - Break down the customer journey into stages 4 - For each stage, create a visual storyboard that tells the customer's story. Use drawings, illustrations, or even stock images to represent the customer's actions and emotions at each touchpoint. Consider including dialogue or captions to explain what's happening - 5 - Indicate the customer's emotions at each touchpoint. Are they excited, frustrated, satisfied, or confused? Why ist improtant? This adds depth to your storyboard and helps you understand the emotional journey.

Colors, shapes, and fonts in customer journey maps are like the paint and brushes in an artist's toolkit: Colors: Use different colors to represent emotions or highlight key stages. For example, green may symbolize positive experiences, while red indicates pain points, as seen in this e-commerce map. Shapes: Shapes can add visual cues. Circles represent touchpoints, rectangles denote actions, and arrows indicate the flow, as demonstrated in this mobile app journey. Fonts: Font styles convey tone. A playful font might be used for a fun experience, while a formal font suits a professional service, as shown in this banking journey. These design elements bring your map to life, making it engaging and easy to interpret.

Incorporating color, shapes, and fonts effectively in my customer journey map can amplify its impact. 1. Color: Maintain a consistent color scheme that aligns with your brand and emotions. Use it to highlight positive or negative touchpoints. 2. Shapes: Employ icons or symbols for clarity, ensuring consistency in their usage. 3. Fonts: Prioritize legibility and hierarchy. Choose fonts that are easy to read and use size and weight variations to emphasize key elements. Balancing aesthetics with clarity is crucial. Thoughtful use of these design elements enhances engagement and conveys your customer journey map's story effectively.

Fonts are good for matching your style of communication, be it laid back or more fornal. Colors jump out and show differences in topics or categories, for example, like in a line graph, and shapes are good for measurements or to create info graphics.

I would add that having a guide/coach as your co-pilot to help you interpret and act at key moments on your journey map is crucial. The Elle Group

Visual elements play a significant role in customer journey maps. My advice: wield colors, shapes, and fonts thoughtfully. Use colors to signify stages, personas, or emotions for clarity. Employ shapes to structure and emphasize elements. Opt for fonts that enhance readability and align with brand identity. Consistency in visual elements is key to coherence. Ensure your choices enhance comprehension and convey the desired emotions to make your customer journey maps truly impactful.

Adding interactivity and animation to customer journey maps is like turning a static map into a dynamic GPS: Clickable Elements: Make touchpoints clickable. For instance, in an e-commerce map, clicking on a product opens a pop-up with details and a "Buy Now" button. Transitions: Use animation to show transitions between stages. In a travel booking journey, an animated plane icon can move from one city to another when users advance. Progress Tracking: Include interactive progress bars. As users complete steps in a software onboarding journey, the progress bar fills up. By adding these interactive elements and animations, your journey map becomes an engaging, user-friendly tool that guides customers through their experiences.

Interactivity and animation can elevate your customer journey maps, but use them judiciously. My advice: prioritize user experience. Ensure these elements enhance understanding and engagement without overwhelming your audience. Consider your audience's tech-savviness and preferences when incorporating filters, sliders, buttons, and transitions. Maintain a balance between functionality and simplicity. Remember, the goal is to create an immersive and memorable experience that aids comprehension, not to distract from the map's core message.

As a user, I want CTAs, interactivity to be simple & quick. Complexity, clutter & a broken-up narrative distracts users from the core action you want them to do. This was exactly my priority in my role as Head of Growth at Dream a Dozen, where every marketing move was a calculated & coherent result of studying the user journey.

My colleagues have nailed the specifics of this topic quite succinctly. I want to reiterate the importance of "use sparingly". Too much interactivity and animation can be cluttered and overwhelming. Also, make sure the bells and whistles are are relevant to the audience.

Keeping it simple is key. Don't allow a cluster or anything complicated. Having a visual and being able to tell a story is most important in efforts to resolving the problem.

Testing and improving customer journey maps is like fine-tuning a car for peak performance: User Testing: Invite real customers to interact with your map. For example, in an e-commerce journey, observe how users navigate and identify pain points. Feedback Loops: Collect feedback forms within the map, asking users for their thoughts. Use this input to identify areas for improvement, as seen in this software onboarding journey. A/B Testing: Create variations of the map and compare user interactions. For instance, in a restaurant journey, test different layouts to see which one leads to more reservations. Regular testing and refinement ensure your customer journey map remains a valuable tool for enhancing user experiences.

Measurement and optimization tools are critical for your customer journey to be successful. There are so many tools available at various price points -- choose several that support your goals, and provide insights along the way. AB testing is a great way to gauge your audience's knowledge and appetite for specific topics along the path. Also, one of the best litmus tests for customer journey improvement; the sales team. Are they happy with the quality of 'sales ready' leads or are they complaining. Incorporate a feedback loop from sales back to marketing to identify any gaps in the customer journey. You'll learn what questions prospects are asking the sales team, and where to incorporate into the customer journey.

Case studies are an ideal way to test and improve your customer journey. Case studies can pull double duty, demonstrating your processes and value to your customers while affirming the journey for your internal audience.

Testing and improving is critical, I see too many clients who build a journey once and never update it! There are new tools and capabilities which automate testing and journey orchestration like voice of customer platforms. CX leaders are now building "living" journey maps, journeys which are capturing and acting on customer interaction data from multiple sources across multiple touchpoints. If that is too sophisticated, introduce feedback mechanisms at key points on the journey and quarterly or bi-annually qual/quant programs to go to market and capture feedback. What's working, what's not, and why? This is an area where technical investment has a strong ROI.

Testing and improving your customer journey maps is vital. My advice: embrace a continuous improvement mindset. Regularly validate data and assumptions from diverse sources. Seek feedback directly from your audience to ensure relevance and accuracy. Don't hesitate to experiment with different formats, visuals, and interactive elements to enhance engagement. Utilize performance measurement tools like A/B testing, heatmaps, and eye-tracking to refine your maps. Remember, a dynamic and adaptable approach ensures your customer journey maps remain valuable and effective over time.

Consider incorporating real customer testimonials and quotes into your journey maps. For instance, in an e-commerce map, include a section where customers share their thoughts at each touchpoint. This adds authenticity and helps teams empathize with users' perspectives, making the map even more impactful.

The best customer journey visual map is the simplest one. The Simplest is the one which is immediately clear. If you need to explain it, it is not a map. It is a reason to have a meeting about the map

The best journey maps are tools used to align and communicate. Keep them simple and pair with other representations of an experience - storyboards, promo videos, prototypes, which bring your experience vision to life.

Be aware that real life customer journeys are complex and unique. It's impossible to map the precise journey every customer takes. A customer journey map will help you better understand the general, aggregated steps that many customers take. But don't forget that your customers are individuals, so don't fall into the trap of treating them all the same. If you have distinct customer types (e.g. personas) consider producing a different journey for each persona. This will help you understand the differences between them.

As a student if Consumer Behaviour and a brand planner by discipline - I would put myself in the shoes of a typical consumer. And walk the journey. Proactively do the following - -Evaluate each stage and touch poiht and identify stakeholders responsible for creating that part of the experience -Try and do a 360 degree view of what could go wrong and what could be made better -Once my journey is complete I'd go back and review it to see how can it be made simpler, engaging, joyful. -Loop in experts for feedback and suggestions on execution. -Implement. Rinse. Lather. Repeat. Not to forget - -List down potentially everything that could go wrong. -Have SOP's in place for rectifying and to minimise damage.