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Key Takeaways
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Customer journey mapping shows every touchpoint from discovery to loyalty
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Understand which touchpoints matter most (usually different than you think)
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Identify gaps where you're losing potential customers
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Align your team (marketing, sales, product, support) on the journey
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Use journey maps to improve marketing, product, and customer experience
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Every customer segment may have a different journey
What Is a Customer Journey Map?
A customer journey map is a visual representation of every interaction a customer has with your company, from first awareness through loyalty and advocacy.
Instead of guessing what customers need, you document their actual experience. It shows:
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Stages of the journey (awareness, consideration, decision, etc.)
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Touchpoints (blog, email, sales call, product demo, etc.)
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Customer emotions and pain points at each stage
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Your company's actions at each stage
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Gaps where you're not meeting customer needs
Simple example:
Sarah (marketing manager) goes through your customer journey:
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Monday 2pm: Sees your blog post in a Google search
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Tuesday 10am: Reads your blog post, subscribes to email list
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Wednesday 9am: Receives welcome email, downloads free template
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Thursday 2pm: Opens your newsletter, clicks on case study
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Friday 11am: Visits pricing page, feels overwhelmed by options
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(Doesn't move forward for 2 weeks)
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Monday 9am: Opens email about "choosing the right tool"
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Tuesday 1pm: Books a demo
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Wednesday 2pm: Attends demo, asks specific questions
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Thursday 10am: Receives demo follow-up with proposal
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Friday 2pm: Signs contract
This is her journey. Every touchpoint. Every emotion. Every decision point.
Why Mapping Matters
Discovery: You learn what actually works (often different from what you assumed)
Alignment: Your entire team sees the same picture. Marketing knows what sales needs. Sales understands customer pain points.
Optimization: You identify where people drop off. Then you fix it.
Personalization: Different customer types have different journeys. Understanding the differences helps you serve them better.
New strategy: Many companies realize they're investing in the wrong touchpoints after mapping their journey.
How to Map Your Customer Journey: Step-by-Step
Step 1: Define your customer segments
Not everyone has the same journey. Create 2-3 different buyer personas (we covered this earlier).
Example:
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Persona A: Small business owner, budget-conscious, DIY approach
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Persona B: Mid-market manager, wants ease of use, has budget
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Persona C: Enterprise buyer, needs customization, buying committee involved
You'll create a separate journey map for each.
Step 2: Identify journey stages
Most journeys have 4-5 stages:
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Awareness: Customer realizes they have a problem
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Consideration: Customer researches solutions
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Decision: Customer chooses your solution
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Onboarding: Customer implements your solution
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Advocacy: Customer becomes happy and refers others
(Some add "retention" as a separate stage.)
Step 3: List all touchpoints for each stage
Touchpoints are interactions between customer and company.
Awareness stage touchpoints:
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Google search (found blog post)
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Social media (saw ad or organic content)
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Webinar (attended educational webinar)
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Referral (friend recommended)
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Trade show (booth conversation)
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Website (visited homepage)
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Word of mouth
Consideration stage touchpoints:
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Blog posts (read multiple)
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Email (newsletter or nurture sequence)
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Webinar (deeper dive session)
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Comparison guide (downloaded)
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Case studies (read customer success stories)
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Pricing page (researched cost)
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Reviews/testimonials (read what others say)
Decision stage touchpoints:
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Sales call (talked to rep)
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Product demo (saw how it works)
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Trial/free tier (tried it themselves)
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Proposal/contract (reviewed terms)
Onboarding stage:
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Welcome email (instruction on what's next)
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Training (how to use product)
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Setup support (help getting started)
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Check-in calls (see if they're successful)
Advocacy stage:
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Referral request (we ask them to recommend us)
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Case study interview (they share their story)
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Community (they help other customers)
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Review request (they leave a review)
Step 4: Map emotional journey
This is the qualitative part. How does the customer feel at each stage?
Awareness: "I'm excited to learn"
Consideration: "I'm overwhelmed by options"
Decision: "I'm nervous about cost/commitment"
Onboarding: "I'm worried this won't work for us"
Advocacy: "I'm proud to recommend this"
These emotions guide what content/support customers need.
Step 5: Document what you're doing (or not doing) at each stage
For each touchpoint, write:
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What does your company do here?
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Is it good or bad?
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Are we missing anything?
Example:
Consideration stage, email touchpoint:
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What we do: Send weekly newsletter
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Quality: Pretty good, we're providing value
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Gap: We never ask what problems they're trying to solve, so we can't personalize
Decision stage, sales call:
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What we do: Sales rep talks at them for 30 minutes, shows product, asks for sale
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Quality: Not good. We never ask what they need.
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Gap: Need to ask more questions and listen
Step 6: Identify pain points and drop-off points
Where are customers falling off?
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Awareness to consideration: Not enough people finding your content? Improve SEO.
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Consideration to decision: People researching but not buying? Maybe pricing concerns. Maybe poor demo experience.
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Onboarding: Customers implementing but not succeeding? Poor training or product issues.
Step 7: Identify quick wins
What's one thing you could improve that would make a big difference?
Often it's something simple:
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Add a clear call-to-action to your blog posts (drives more to consideration)
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Create a "pricing FAQ" (addresses decision-stage concerns)
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Add a welcome call during onboarding (improves early success)
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Ask for referrals (drives more awareness traffic)
Creating the Actual Map
You don't need fancy software. This can be:
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Spreadsheet (columns for stage, touchpoint, emotion, company actions)
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Presentation slides (visual representation)
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Miro or Mural (collaborative whiteboard tools)
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Even just a PowerPoint with boxes and arrows
The format doesn't matter. The thinking does.
Simple visual format:
Horizontal timeline showing stages:
Awareness → Consideration → Decision → Onboarding → Advocacy
Under each stage:
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Customer actions (what they're doing)
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Touchpoints (where they interact with you)
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Emotions (how they feel)
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Your company actions (what you're doing)
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Pain points (what's hard)
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Opportunities (what you could improve)
Example: Complete Customer Journey Map
Persona: Mid-market marketing manager wanting marketing automation
AWARENESS STAGE
Customer action: Realizes their manual email process is inefficient
Touchpoints:
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Google search: "email marketing automation"
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Reads blog posts about automation
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Watches YouTube videos comparing tools
Emotions: Excited about solving problem, overwhelmed by options
Your company actions:
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Blog post ranking in search (good)
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Video comparison guide (good)
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No ads running (gap)
Pain point: Too many options, hard to distinguish
Opportunity: Create comparison guide vs competitors
CONSIDERATION STAGE
Customer action: Researching 3-4 solutions, reading reviews, comparing pricing
Touchpoints:
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Email nurture sequence (subscribing)
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Case studies on your website
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Pricing page
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Attending webinar
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Reading G2 reviews
Emotions: Nervous about wrong choice, skeptical of marketing claims
Your company actions:
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Good email nurture (but too generic)
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Case studies exist but not specific to their use case
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Pricing page is confusing
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Webinar is teaching but not addressing their specific concerns
Pain point: Pricing unclear, not sure it fits their needs
Opportunity:
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Create case study for mid-market companies specifically
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Add ROI calculator
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Create "questions to ask when choosing" guide
DECISION STAGE
Customer action: Wants to talk to someone, comparing final 2 options
Touchpoints:
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Book demo with sales rep
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Sales call
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Free trial
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Reference call with existing customer
Emotions: Ready to buy but nervous, wants reassurance
Your company actions:
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Demo is product-focused, not needs-focused
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Sales rep is pushy, doesn't listen well
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Free trial is complex, no support
Pain point: Demo doesn't address their specific situation, sales feels salesy
Opportunity:
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Train sales to ask about their specific challenges first
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Create simple free trial with onboarding call
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Set up reference calls more easily
ONBOARDING STAGE
Customer action: Implementing tool, hoping to see ROI
Touchpoints:
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Welcome email
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Training sessions
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Support tickets
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Check-in calls
Emotions: Hopeful but worried, small hiccups feel like big problems
Your company actions:
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Welcome email is generic
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Training is recorded, not interactive
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Support response is slow
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No check-in calls scheduled
Pain point: Feeling lost, worried implementation will fail
Opportunity:
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Personal onboarding call in first week
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Live training (not just recorded)
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Dedicated support person assigned
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30-day check-in call
ADVOCACY STAGE
Customer action: Using regularly, seeing ROI, telling colleagues
Touchpoints:
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Referral requests
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Case study opportunities
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Community groups
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Review sites
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Upsell conversations
Emotions: Happy, proud of choosing well, willing to help
Your company actions:
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Never ask for referrals
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Don't ask for case studies
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Don't have customer community
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Ask to upgrade without relationship
Pain point: No way to contribute/help
Opportunity:
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Formal referral program with reward
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Case study process
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Customer advisory board
Using Your Journey Map
Once you've created it, actually use it:
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Share with your team: Print it, present it, make it visible. Everyone should see the full journey.
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Discuss findings: What surprised you? Where are the biggest gaps? What's the lowest-hanging fruit to improve?
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Prioritize improvements: Pick 2-3 pain points to address in the next quarter.
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Assign owners: Who owns each touchpoint? Make sure someone is accountable.
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Measure baseline: How many customers make it through each stage today? What's your drop-off rate?
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Implement improvements: Make changes, then measure again.
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Update periodically: Customer needs change. Update your map every 6-12 months.
Common Mistakes
Only including marketing touchpoints: Remember that product experience, support, and sales are part of the journey.
Making it too theoretical: Talk to real customers. Don't guess at their emotions and pain points.
Creating one map for everyone: Different customer segments have different journeys. Map your biggest 2-3 segments.
Making it too detailed: Don't add every tiny interaction. Keep it simple enough to be useful.
Not actually using it: Many companies create beautiful maps then ignore them. Use it to drive decisions.
Ignoring the emotional journey: This is often the most insightful part. Customers buy based on how you make them feel.
Building Your First Map (Checklist)
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Pick one customer segment
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Define 4-5 journey stages
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List touchpoints for each stage
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Document current state (what you're doing)
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Add customer emotions/pain points
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Identify 3-5 biggest pain points
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Identify 3-5 quick wins (easiest improvements)
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Present to team, get feedback
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Choose one improvement to implement
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Measure impact after 3 months
The Bottom Line
Customer journey mapping is one of the highest-impact exercises your team can do. It forces you to think from the customer's perspective instead of your own. Most companies discover they're investing in the wrong things.
Start simple. One map. One customer segment. One quarter of improvements. You'll see the impact.
FAQ
A: At least annually. But review it quarterly to see if any changes are needed.
A: Yes, if your products are very different. But most companies find one map per customer segment works fine.
A: Marketing, sales, customer success, and product. Everyone sees something different.
A: No. A spreadsheet or PowerPoint works fine. Software like Miro or Lucidchart helps if you want collaboration.
A: Create 2-3 maps for your biggest customer segments. Most companies need 2-3, rarely more than 5.
A: Test it. Interview 5-10 customers. Ask them about their experience. Did your map match reality?
A: Absolutely. This is often where companies find the biggest opportunities for improvement.
Want help mapping your customer journey? We can facilitate a workshop with your team to create a journey map and identify your biggest improvement opportunities.
