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User journeys vs. user flows.

April 16, 2023 2023-04-16

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User journeys and user flows are both UX tools that capture how people accomplish goals with certain products or services. They share some similar traits. Both user journeys and user flows are:

• Used during design ideation or evaluation activities for the purpose of understanding and optimizing experience.
• Structured around a user goal and examined from the perspective of the user or customer (not a company or product).
• Captured and communicated via UX- mapping methods .

Their main distinction, however, is the level of detail and focus for each: User journeys describe a user’s holistic, high-level experience across channels and over time. User flows zoom in to describe a set of specific, discrete interactions that make up a common user pathway through a product.

In This Article:

What is a user journey, what is a user flow, combining user journeys and user flows, comparison: user journeys vs. user flows.

User journey: (Or customer journey) A scenario-based sequence of the steps that a user takes in order to accomplish a high-level goal with a company or product, usually across channels and over time.

The underlying goal of a user journey is high-level. Describing the journey will involve understanding the experience of a user across many points of interaction, because, in a journey, users might use with multiple channels or sources of information.

Consider a new-patient journey as an example. For any person finding and evaluating a new doctor, there will be many touchpoints  over a long time (days, weeks, or months): researching information on the practice’s website, calling to schedule an appointment, receiving email communications, visiting the physical office, accessing information in a patient portal, and following up via phone if necessary.  

Because of the complexity of the journey, contextualizing these actions with information about users’ emotions and thoughts can be useful for analyzing and optimizing the experience.

Journey maps are a common artifact for visualizing journeys, as they are narrative and descriptive. Effective journey maps don’t just relay the steps taken to achieve a goal; they tell a user-centered story about the process.

The best research methods for journey mapping are usually context methods , such as field studies and diary studies , which uncover longer-term user goals and behaviors in the moment. These methods can be combined with user interviews to uncover first-hand frustrations and needs.

Definition: A user flow is a set of interactions that describe the typical or ideal set of steps needed to accomplish a common task performed with a product.

Compared to a user journey, the underlying goal of a user flow is much more granular, and the focus is narrowed to a specific objective within one product.

Some appropriate goals to capture in user flows might be: purchasing a tennis racket on a sporting goods site, signing up for email updates on a credit-score-monitoring application, or updating a profile picture on a company’s intranet. These goals can be accomplished in the short-term (minutes or hours, at the most), and with a relatively limited set of interactions.

User flows can be represented with artifacts such as low-fidelity wireflows , simple flow charts, or task diagrams. These maps capture key user steps and system responses; they do not contextualize the process with emotions and thoughts like a journey map does.

The best research method for obtaining the data to map user flows is usability testing , which allows us to watch users interacting directly with the product in directed scenarios. As with user journeys, tools that capture analytics (e.g., click heatmaps) are a useful secondary source of insights.

It’s often useful to capture both user journeys and user flows and combine them to understand both macro- and micro-level views of experience. User flows can be thought of as a deep dive into specific areas of the high-level user journey.

For example, let’s go back to the high-level activities that make up the new-patient journey described earlier. Some of those activities entail using digital products (e.g., researching information on the practice website, accessing results in the patient portal). By documenting the associated user flows for these goals, we could further understand the micro-level experience in context of the greater journey.

Unfortunately, most teams do not have systematic processes in place to connect these views, due to gaps in internal team structures, lack of holistic measurement programs, or plain lack of capacity and competency to do the work.

The main differences between user journeys and user flows are captured in the table below:

To determine whether a user journey or a user flow is best for your specific context, consider the following questions:

• Does your user process involve more than one channel or more than one, known product (e.g., your company’s website)? User journeys are best for capturing activities dispersed over multiple channels; user flows are well-suited for interactions within one product.
• Can users generally accomplish the goal in minutes or hours, at the most, or will they need to complete activities over days, weeks, or months? User journeys are better for communicating activities over longer periods of time; user flows are better for relatively short-term goals.
• Will it be critical to understand not only the actions but the emotions and thoughts of users across more complex decision-making? User journeys capture those; user flows are limited to sequences of steps, with no additional information about users’ emotional states.

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User journey vs. user flow: what they are, how to create, differences

Understanding user flows and user journeys is crucial in the UX design process. It helps designers create a seamless and intuitive experience for users and develop a successful UX strategy that prioritizes users' needs and aligns with marketing goals.

At first glance, the difference between user flow and user journey may not be obvious. Both terms describe the overall story of user interactions with a service or product. Both are great UX designers' tools for understanding and interpreting customer behavior. However, there is a lot of confusion going on. After all, if the purpose and scope of the application are the same, are they synonyms? Not at all.

Let’s take a closer look at the user journey vs. user flow tool couple, dive into their differences and similarities, and determine what each is better for using illustrative examples.

• 1.1 Key elements of a user journey
• 2.1 Gather a team
• 2.2 Do research
• 2.3 Define your user personas
• 2.4 Map out the map skeleton
• 2.5 Fill in the sections with data
• 2.6 Identify pain points and develop solutions
• 2.7 Create a digital visualization
• 2.8 Continuously update
• 3.1 User flows have some key elements
• 4.1 Define the purpose of your user flow chart
• 4.2 Define the user's goal
• 4.3 Map out the steps
• 4.4 Identify decision points
• 4.5 Spice it up with details
• 4.6 Test and review
• 4.7 Share and collaborate
• 5 The similarities between a user flow and a user journey
• 6 The difference between a user flow and a user journey
• 7 How to map out user flows and journeys
• 8 User journey vs. user flow: wrapping up
• 9.1 What are the differences between user journey maps and user flows?
• 9.2 How do they complement each other?
• 9.3 What is a user flow?
• 9.4 When should you use a user flow?

What is a user journey?

A user journey is how a user interacts with a product or a service from their point of view. Being visualized, it turns into a user journey map that covers different stages and scenarios, captures key touchpoints, highlights user’s emotions as they interact with a business, and contains other journey map layers .

When talking about a user or customer journey, we think of the entire path people take while interacting with a company: from the awareness stage, when they realize they have a need or learn about a business through digital marketing or a friend, through all the points of interaction with your brand, up until the moment they leave you, being satisfied (or not) customers.

Here is what user journeys typically look like:

You can see that this user journey map focuses on users’ goals and emotions as they move from one journey stage to another. We follow their steps, stage to stage, identifying channels they use, grasping their quotes, listing their actions, and coming up with journey-related problems and then ideas on how to fix those.

Pro tip: Customer journey maps or user journey maps can be used not only to understand current user experience but also to create prototypes and optimize a website user journey .

Of course, for everything to work out, you need to consider all the most critical components of the user journey to base your business, marketing, or any other strategies and actionable plans.

Key elements of a user journey

As a designer, product, or marketing manager, understanding the key elements of a user journey is essential for creating a successful product or service.

• Persona: The users' characteristics, motivations, and goals that influence their behavior and decision-making.
• Stages: All the steps a user persona takes when interacting with a business.
• Touchpoints: The various interactions consumers have with a product or service, such as getting emails, seeing marketing ads, checking out social media pages, or chatting with customer support agents.
• Emotions: The user's feelings and reactions throughout the journey, influencing their overall experience and impacting satisfaction and loyalty .
• Goals: The users' desired outcomes or objectives, which drive their behavior and decision-making.
• Pain points: The persona's frustrations, challenges, or obstacles that may hinder their progress or satisfaction.
• Opportunities: The potential areas for improvement or innovation in the user journey; are based on user feedback and data analysis.
• Metrics: The quantitative measures used to evaluate the success of the user journey, such as conversion rate or customer retention. This kind of information makes a user journey map more solid in the eyes of the top management.

How to create a user journey map

Building user journey maps can seem challenging, but, being divided into specific steps, it feels way more achievable and enjoyable. What are these steps?

Gather a team

Or just think about people who will help you along the mapping path. You can start alone, but believe me, you will need mates to finish this initiative. So, bring people from the marketing team, sales, customer support department, and even senior management.

Do research

All the data you are going to use needs to be real and proven to get actionable insights. Review your customer base, conduct interviews, monitor statistics, etc.

Define your user personas

Identify the different types of customers or users who interact with your products or services and then turn them into personas .

Map out the map skeleton

Identify all the stages the user persona goes through. These could include website visits, social media interactions, customer support calls, etc. Come up with your soon-to-be user journey map sections, too.

By the way, the sections are the key elements of a user journey we previously talked about, but there are more things to cover if you really want to understand your user's journey: actions, feelings, interactions with other journey participants, etc.

Fill in the sections with data

Determine what the persona is trying to achieve at each stage of their journey. Typically, one goal means one stage, but there can be exceptions when the goals are tight-related.

Don't forget to list actions they take and include some of their quotes (e.g., from user reviews, surveys, and NPS forms) to increase empathy for the persona and strengthen certain points reflected on the map. Add an emotional graph so any stakeholder will know your persona's emotional state at a particular stage without reading the entire map.

Identify pain points and develop solutions

Determine where the user persona experiences difficulties or frustrations during their journey. Then, get your team onboard to brainstorm ways to improve the user's experience at each stage, address pain points, and come up with new marketing strategies.

Create a digital visualization

If you started with a whiteboard, say, in your office, use a customer journey mapping tool to create a visual representation of the user journey in the digital format. First, the map will always be at hand. And secondly, it will be convenient to share it both inside the tool and export it as a designer-looking file.

Continuously update

Regularly review and refine the user journey as you gather more data and user feedback.

What is a user flow?

In simple terms, a user flow describes the specific actions people take to accomplish their goal at a particular stage within their journey. It focuses on the technical aspect of user path and interactions with products and services.

Unlike a user journey, user flows would cover the technical details of a single stage. For example, if it’s the installation stage, then a user flow will cover all the specifics of this stage: e.g., the sequence of the dialog windows that will appear on the user’s screen, the information they contain, and the button a user will have to click to proceed further.

The user flow is a great help in developing or redesigning interfaces, introducing new features, and other manipulations with a service or product. It's a great tool for finding inconsistencies in the steps that the user has to take, missing hints, unnecessary actions, buttons-to-move, a bugged process, and so on. User flows can also be used to communicate design ideas and collaborate with stakeholders.

User flows have some key elements

• Entry point: The point at which the user enters the product or service, such as a homepage or landing page.
• Actions: The steps the user takes to complete a task or achieve a goal within the product or service. E.g., the user calls a virtual business phone number to get the necessary information.
• Decision points: The points at which the user must make a decision, such as choosing between two options or deciding whether to proceed.
• Feedback: The information provided to the user throughout the process, such as error or confirmation messages.
• Exit point: The point at which the user leaves the product or service, such as completing a purchase or closing a window.
• Obstacles: Any barriers or challenges that may prevent the user from completing their task or achieving their goal. E.g., a mobile app is not supported in a given country.
• Context: A user's environment, situation, or mindset that may influence their behavior and decision-making.
• Time: The duration of each step in the user flow and the overall time it takes for the user to complete the required process, finish their task, or achieve their goal.

How to create a user flow chart, diagram, or any other scheme

Creating a user flow scheme is an analytic and design adventure at the same time. 

Define the purpose of your user flow chart

Before starting, determine what you want to achieve through the user flow chart. For example, it could be identifying the steps new customers take to complete a task or analyzing the user experience of a website or app.

Define the user's goal

Start by identifying the user's objective for using your website or app. What task do they want to complete or what problem do they want to solve? User research will help you with this step.

Map out the steps

Once you have identified the user's goal, map out the steps they need to take to achieve it. This can be done using a flowchart or diagram.

Identify decision points

Along the way, there may be decision points where the user has to choose between different options. Identify these decision points and map out the possible paths the user can take.

Spice it up with details

Add more details to the user flow, such as the specific actions the user needs to take at each step, any inputs they need to provide, and any feedback they will receive.

Test and review

Once you have created a user flow, test it with real users to see if it accurately represents their experience. Use feedback from users to refine and improve user flows.

Share and collaborate

Share the user flow chart with team members and stakeholders to ensure everyone is on the same page. Collaborate on updates and changes as needed.

The similarities between a user flow and a user journey

Now you know the difference between a user flow and a user journey in the way they look like. No more questions? But wait, there are similarities, too. Here is what they have in common:

• User-centered approach. Despite the different incarnations, the user is at the heart of both methodologies. You always keep in mind the user's perspective;
• Research-based. Both user flow and user journey require research and analysis of user behavior, preferences, and needs to be actionable.
• They watch user steps. Both tools deal with various stages of interactions between a user and a product or service, following the steps the user takes to complete a task or achieve a goal;
• Better understanding. Both can help people who utilize them understand user behavior and experience and identify pain points and/or areas for improvement;
• Optimization. User flow charts and user journeys can be used to identify opportunities for optimization and conversion rate optimization.
• UX insights. A user journey and a user flow provide insights for better customer and smooth user experience design.

The difference between a user flow and a user journey

Together with and aside from the nuances mentioned above, we can list the following differences between a user flow and a user journey:

• Application. A user flow is often used in the development and design process, while a user journey is used to inform overall product strategy and customer experience.
• Level of analysis . A user journey provides the macro view of the interactions between the user or customer with your business from start to finish, while a user flow focuses on the micro-level and shows the specific steps users take to achieve their goal;
• Key focus . User journey maps are more concerned with the emotional state of the users and their brand perception, while user flows concentrate on technicalities, usability, and functionality. It's more task-oriented;
• Purpose . A user journey map is a technique that helps you understand the overall experience your users have across touchpoints and channels. User flow is just a zoomed-in interaction of a user with a system at a given touchpoint within a bigger journey. User flow is more tactical and specific, while user journey is more strategic and holistic.
• Structure. In terms of design, a user flow diagram is typically more linear and structured, while a user journey can be more complex and intricate.
• Representation. A user flow is often represented visually through diagrams or flowcharts, while a user journey is often represented through storytelling or user journey mapping.

How to map out user flows and journeys

Well, now we know what user journey and user flow are, their similarities and differences, as well as how to work with both design methodologies. Last but not least, the superpower left is the combination of both.

Everything is simple. A user flow helps you define everything your audience goes through while interacting with the service or product you offer them. All these actions can form the basis of journey map stages, and by analyzing the user experience at each stage, you can validate or correct the technical side of the service or product and generally optimize the user flow.

Or may go vice versa and start with a journey map then come up with a user flow based on the user journey stages.

And, of course, you may map out user journeys and user flows together within the same map. This is how it may look like in UXPressia:

1. Divide stages into substages . Substages can visually represent the user flows within each particular stage of a user journey.

2. Identify the processes and channels . This section will give you a high-level representation of the user flow at each particular stage of the journey.

3. Use text fields . You can go with the text fields and type in the entire user flow in plain text.

That way, you can have user flows within your user journey, giving you a detailed overview of all the interactions between users and your business.

As you can see, it doesn't matter what you will do first. The main thing is that by combining methodologies, you can improve the user experience from all sides, making your audience even happier and your product more competitive.

User journey vs. user flow: wrapping up

Although user flow and user journey may seem to be similar deliverables, they focus on different aspects of the overall customer experience. However, it’s worth creating both when designing a product. This way, you will ensure that you will deliver the best UX possible on all levels.

To create a successful user experience, it's important to consider both user journeys and user flows. By mapping out the user journey and identifying key stages, you can design user flows that are aligned with users' needs and goals. 

We hope this article will help you create a frictionless and enjoyable experience that encourages users to engage with your product or service.

What are the differences between user journey maps and user flows?

User journey maps and user flows are tools used in UX design to improve the user experience, but they serve different purposes.

A user journey map is a visual representation of the user's experience throughout their interaction with a product or service. It outlines different stages of the user's journey, including touchpoints, emotions, and pain points. It helps designers understand the user's perspective and identify areas for improvement in the overall user experience.

On the other hand, a user flow is a visual representation of the steps a user takes to complete a specific task or goal within a product or service. It helps designers understand the logical sequence of steps required to achieve a particular goal and identify areas for optimization.

How do they complement each other?

User journey maps and user flows are not competitors; they complement each other by providing different perspectives on the user experience. User journey maps provide a high-level view of the user's overall experience, while user flows provide a more detailed view of specific tasks or goals. By combining both tools, designers can gain a comprehensive understanding of the user experience and identify opportunities for improvement.

A user flow is a visual representation of the steps a user takes to complete a specific task or goal within a product or service. It outlines the sequence of actions a user needs to take to accomplish their objective.

When should you use a user flow?

Use a user flow when you want to understand how users interact with a specific feature or functionality within a product or service. User flows help identify areas where users may get stuck or confused and optimize the steps required to achieve their goals.

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Rate this post

I think the main difference between user flow and user journey is in the scale of things. We used to focus too much on flows during each stage and overlooked the bigger picture a journey gives you. Customers kept getting lost somewhere in between our perfect flows.

Thank you, that’s a very informative and useful article for UX designers. I knew the the difference between a user flow and user journey, yet mapping them out together is a must-try for me now. I’m pretty sure that can help visualize the entire user experience and will lead to better decision-making and ultimately improve user satisfaction. It’s great to see that the article also provides practical tips on how to build these diagrams and map them out using UXPressia tool.

It’s thank you for your thoughtful comment! We glad to hear that you found it informative and useful.

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How to create an effective user journey map

No matter what you’re working on, the key to customer satisfaction and business growth is understanding your users. A user journey map helps you uncover pain points, explore the touchpoints from their perspective, and learn how to improve your product.

Imagine you just launched a new ecommerce platform. Shoppers fill their carts with products, but they abandon their carts before checkout. With a user journey map, you can pinpoint where the customer experience is going wrong, and how to enable more successful checkouts.

Read on to find out:

• What is a user journey map, and how it captures user flows and customer touchpoints
• Benefits of user journey mapping to refine UX design and reach business goals
• How to make user journey maps in five steps, using FigJam’s user journey map template

What is a user journey map?

Think about the path a user takes to explore your product or website. How would you design the best way to get there? User journey maps (or user experience maps) help team members and stakeholders align on user needs throughout the design process, starting with user research. As you trace users' steps through your user flows, notice: Where do users get lost, backtrack, or drop off?

User journey maps help you flag pain points and churn, so your team can see where the user experience may be confusing or frustrating for your audience. Then you can use your map to identify key customer touchpoints and find opportunities for optimization.

How to read a user journey map

Most user journey maps are flowcharts or grids showing the user experience from end to end. Consider this real-life journey map example of a freelancing app from Figma's design community. The journey starts with a buyer persona needing freelance services, and a freelancer looking for a gig. Ideally, the journey ends with service delivery and payment—but customer pain points could interrupt the flow.

Start your user journey map with FigJam

5 key user journey map phases.

Take a look at another Figma community user journey template , which uses a simple grid. Columns capture the five key stages of the user journey: awareness, consideration, decision, purchase, and retention (see below). Rows show customer experiences across these stages—their thoughts, feelings, and pain points. These experiences are rated as good, neutral, and bad.

To see how this works, consider a practical example. Suppose a new pet parent wants to learn how to train their puppy and discovers your dog-training app. Here's how you might map out the five key user journey stages:

• Awareness. The user sees a puppy-training video on social media with a link to your product website. They're intrigued—a positive experience.
• Consideration. The user visits your product website to preview your app. If they can't find a video preview easily, this could be a neutral or negative experience.
• Decision. The user clicks on a link to the app store and reads reviews of your app and compares it to others. They might think your app reviews are good, but your price is high—a negative or neutral experience.
• Purchase. The user buys your app and completes the onboarding process. If this process is smooth, it's a positive experience. If not, the customer experience could turn negative at this point.
• Retention. The user receives follow-up emails featuring premium puppy-training services or special offers. Depending on their perception of these emails, the experience can range from good (helpful support) to bad (too much spam).

2 types of user journey maps—and when to use them

User journey maps are helpful across the product design and development process, especially at two crucial moments: during product development and for UX troubleshooting. These scenarios call for different user journey maps: current-state and future-state.

Current-state user journey maps

A current-state user journey map shows existing customer interactions with your product. It gives you a snapshot of what's happening, and pinpoints how to enhance the user experience.

Take the puppy training app, for example. A current-state customer journey map might reveal that users are abandoning their shopping carts before making in-app purchases. Look at it from your customers' point of view: Maybe they aren't convinced their credit cards will be secure or the shipping address workflow takes too long. These pain points show where you might tweak functionality to boost user experience and build customer loyalty.

Future-state user journey maps

A future-state user journey map is like a vision board : it shows the ideal customer journey, supported by exceptional customer experiences. Sketch out your best guesses about user behavior on an ideal journey, then put them to the test with usability testing. Once you've identified your north star, you can explore new product or site features that will optimize user experience.

How to make a user journey map in 5 steps

To start user journey mapping, follow this step-by-step guide.

Step 1: Define user personas and goals.

Gather user research and data like demographics, psychographics, and shopping behavior to create detailed customer personas representing your target audience.  In your dog-training app example, one key demographic may be parents. What’s their goal? It isn't necessarily "hire a puppy trainer"—it could be "teach kids how to interact with a puppy."

Step 2: Identify customer touch points.

Locate the points along the user journey where the user encounters or interacts with your product. In the dog training app example, touchpoints might include social media videos, app website, app store category search (e.g., pets), app reviews, app store checkout, in-app onboarding, and app customer support.

Step 3: Visualize journey phases.

Create a visual representation of user journey phases across key touchpoints with user flow diagrams , flowcharts , or storyboards .

Step 4: Capture user actions and responses.

For each journey stage, capture the user story: at this juncture, what are they doing, thinking, and feeling ? This could be simple, such as: "Potential customer feels frustrated when the product image takes too long to load."

Step 5: Validate and iterate.

Finally, show your map to real users. Get honest feedback about what works and what doesn’t with user testing , website metrics , or surveys . To use the dog-training app example, you might ask users: Are they interested in subscribing to premium how-to video content by a professional dog trainer? Apply user feedback to refine your map and ensure it reflects customer needs.

Jumpstart your user journey map with FigJam

Lead your team's user journey mapping effort with FigJam, the online collaborative whiteboard for brainstorming, designing, and idea-sharing. Choose a user journey map template from Figma's design community as your guide. With Figma's drag-and-drop design features, you can quickly produce your own professional, presentation-ready user journey map.

Pro tip: Use a service blueprint template to capture behind-the-scenes processes that support the user journey, bridging the gap between user experience and service delivery.

Ready to improve UX with user journey mapping?

Exploring User journey mapping in Design thinking: A beginner's guide

User journey mapping is a powerful tool in design thinking, offering a visual narrative of a user's experience with a product or service. It's more than a series of steps; it's a window into users' emotions, motivations, and satisfaction.

This article explores how user journey mapping aligns with user-centric design and design thinking principles. It uncovers methodologies, tools like Gleek, and the process of creating a user journey map.

What is User Journey Mapping?

User journey mapping is a visualization tool that allows designers and product managers to explore the user's experience. It is a narrative of your users' experiences with your product, service, or any other interaction they have with your brand. It tracks their journey from the initial contact or discovery, through the process of engagement, into a long-term relationship.

This journey is often depicted as a series of steps, which represent each interaction the user has with your product or service. These steps could range from a user's initial search to purchasing a product, getting customer support, and beyond. Each step is then evaluated to gauge the user's feelings, motivations, and questions, as well as their overall satisfaction.

The goal of a user journey map is to provide insights into the common paths users take when interacting with a product or service. This, in turn, helps identify pain points, moments of friction, and opportunities for improvement in the user experience.

Importance of User Journey Mapping in Design Thinking

In design thinking, user journey mapping plays an important role. Design thinking itself is a human-centric approach to problem-solving. It involves empathizing with users, defining their problems, ideating solutions, prototyping, and testing.

Make your own User Journey diagram .

User journey mapping fits seamlessly into this methodology. It provides a framework for empathizing with users by providing a visual representation of their experiences. It helps in defining their problems by identifying pain points along their journey. It aids in ideating solutions by highlighting areas of improvement. And it gives a reference point during the prototyping and testing phases.

Overview of User Journey Mapping Role in User-Centric Design

User journey mapping is fundamental in user-centric design, focusing on understanding user needs and integrating products or services into their lives. It aids by deeply exploring the user's world—clarifying not just their actions but also motivations, emotions, and pain points. This aligns product development closely with user expectations, ensuring not just usability but also delight, fostering higher satisfaction and loyalty. Essentially, user journey mapping elevates the design process by prioritizing user needs over business, external validation over internal assumptions, and experiences over mere features.

Understanding Design Thinking and its Principles

Design thinking as such is a methodical approach to problem-solving that prioritizes the user experience. It's characterized by its human-centric ethos, which zooms onto understanding users' needs, behaviors, and pain points. The goal of design thinking is to develop creative, practical solutions that enhance user satisfaction and address real-world problems.

Read our recent guide on how to create a User Journey diagram for a food ordering app .

The principles of design thinking are empathy, ideation, and experimentation. Empathy involves gaining a deep understanding of the user's problems and needs. Ideation is the process of generating a broad range of creative solutions. Experimentation involves prototyping and testing solutions to refine ideas based on user feedback and real-world application.

Phases of Design Thinking

Design thinking unfolds in five interconnected stages:

Empathize: This initial phase involves gaining a profound understanding of the users, their context, and their needs. It's about stepping into the user's shoes to understand their experiences, motivations, and feelings. Techniques such as interviews, observation, and user journey mapping are used to gather insights.

Define: Here, the problem is clearly articulated based on the insights gathered during the empathize stage. It involves defining the user's needs and the challenges they face. The goal is to formulate a user-centered problem statement that will guide the ideation process.

Ideate: In this creative phase, a wide range of potential solutions are brainstormed. The aim is to generate as many ideas as possible, deferring judgment. These ideas are then evaluated and refined. Gleek's diagramming capabilities can help visualize these ideas, making the ideation process more efficient and effective.

Prototype: A tangible representation of one or more solutions is created for further exploration and user testing. This prototype could be a physical model, a storyboard, or a digital interface. It serves as a tool for investigating the viability of ideas and their implementation in the real world.

Test: The effectiveness of the solution is evaluated in this final stage. The prototypes are tested with users, and their feedback is collected. The insights gained are used to refine the solution, and the cycle may begin anew with a deeper understanding of the user and the problem.

By following these stages, design thinking enables the creation of solutions that are not only technically viable but also desirable from a user perspective and feasible from a business standpoint.

User-Centricity and The Concept of User-Centric Design in Product Development

In product development, user-centricity is not just a buzzword. It's a philosophy that guides every decision and action. User-centric design puts the needs, experiences, and contexts of users at the core of the development process.

This user-centric approach ensures that the final product delivers value to the user, fits into their workflow seamlessly, and ultimately, enhances their experience. It's about making products that are not just usable, but also enjoyable and effective.

Significance of Understanding User Needs

Understanding user needs is paramount in crafting a product that truly resonates with the users. It's about uncovering what users want, what they value, and what problems they face. This deep understanding then informs the design decisions, ensuring that the product addresses the users' needs effectively. It helps identify opportunities for innovation, guide product development, and ensure that the product hits the mark with users.

How User Journey Mapping Aligns with User-Centric Design

User journey mapping is a tool that perfectly aligns with the principles of user-centric design. It provides a visual narrative of the user's experience, capturing their interactions, emotions, and touchpoints with your product or service.

By using Gleek to create user journey diagrams, you can visualize the path that users take, identify their needs at each stage, and uncover any pain points or moments of delight. This process allows you to empathize with your users, understand their perspective, and design solutions tailored to their specific needs.

In essence, user journey mapping with Gleek helps make the design process more user-centric by shifting the focus from internal assumptions to user insights, from features to experiences, and from business goals to user satisfaction.

Components and Process of User Journey Mapping

Defining personas and identifying touchpoints.

In user journey mapping, defining personas and identifying touchpoints are key initial steps. Personas are fictional representations of your primary users, based on user research. They provide a clear understanding of who the users are, what they need, and how they interact with your product or service.

Touchpoints, on the other hand, are the points of interaction between the user and your product or service. They can be anything from viewing a webpage, clicking a button, to receiving an email notification. Identifying these touchpoints provides an overview of the user's experience and helps uncover areas of friction or delight.

With Gleek, you can create a group of stages for each persona using "/g Stages group name." Then, for each stage, you can link relevant touchpoints by pressing TAB and inputting their names. This way, Gleek allows you to visualize the personas and their interactions with your product or service effectively.

Mapping User Emotions, Interactions, Pain Points, and Opportunities

Another critical aspect of user journey mapping is capturing the user's emotions, interactions, pain points, and opportunities. Understanding how users feel at each touchpoint, what actions they take, what difficulties they face, and where there's potential for improvement can provide invaluable insights into the user experience.

Gleek allows you to incorporate an emotional aspect into tasks by typing ":" followed by a number from 1 to 6. Ratings 0 to 2 signify negativity, 3 is neutral, and 4 to 6 indicate positivity. This feature enables you to map the user's emotions effectively across their journey.

By visualizing these aspects, you can gain a deeper understanding of your users and design solutions that address their needs and enhance their experience.

Process of Creating a User Journey Map

Creating a user journey map involves several steps:

Research: This involves gathering information about your users and their interactions with your product or service. It can be done through interviews, surveys, analytics, and other methods.

Persona Construction: Based on the research, create personas that represent your primary user groups. These personas should capture the users' demographics, behaviors, needs, and motivations.

Mapping: Start by defining the stages of the user journey, from the initial contact to the end goal. For each stage, identify the touchpoints, the user's actions, emotions, pain points, and opportunities. Use Gleek's keyboard-only diagramming to visualize this journey effectively.

Validation: Once the map is created, it should be validated with real users. Their feedback can help refine the map and ensure that it accurately represents their experiences.

Tools and Techniques for User Journey Mapping

Digital Tools and Software

Gleek: An online AI-powered diagramming tool designed for generating user journey diagrams using only the keyboard. Gleek's intuitive syntax allows easy creation of stages, tasks, touchpoints, and emotional aspects within tasks.

UXPin : A collaborative design platform allowing teams to create interactive user journey maps.

Miro : Online whiteboarding tools enabling teams to collaborate in real-time on creating visual journey maps.

2. Manual Techniques and Templates:

Sticky Notes and Whiteboards: Perfect for collaborative workshops, allowing teams to physically map out user journeys in real-time.

Journey Map Templates: Pre-designed templates available online or within design software, providing a structured starting point for mapping.

3. Customer Research and Data Collection Techniques:

Interviews and Surveys: Directly engaging with users to gather insights, pain points, and emotions at different touchpoints in their journey.

Analytics Tools: Utilizing web analytics or user tracking tools to gather quantitative data on user behavior and interactions.

4. Visualization Techniques:

Flowcharts and Diagrams: Representing the user journey in a structured flow, showcasing touchpoints, emotions, and pain points.

Storyboards: Visual storytelling technique to illustrate a user's journey step-by-step, ideal for presenting a narrative.

5. Integration with Design Thinking Methods:

Empathy Mapping: Understanding user needs and emotions deeply to enhance the accuracy of the journey map.

Persona Creation: Developing detailed personas to better align the user journey with specific user segments.

6. Prototyping and Testing Tools:

Prototyping Software: Integrating the journey map with prototyping tools like Adobe XD, Figma, or Sketch to create interactive prototypes based on the mapped journey.

Usability Testing Platforms: Conducting usability tests to validate the mapped journey through platforms like UserTesting or Lookback.

Conclusion: Recap and Future Trends

The process of user journey mapping is an essential component of user experience design. It allows us to understand users' needs, motivations, and pain points, helping us create more effective and user-friendly products or services. With tools like Gleek, this process becomes even more streamlined and efficient, allowing for quick generation of diagrams using keyboard shortcuts alone.

However, as we move forward, it's necessary to stay abreast of evolving trends. AI-powered tools are increasingly becoming more sophisticated, offering more features and capabilities for user journey mapping. Embracing these advancements will allow us to create more detailed, dynamic, and accurate user journey maps.

Additionally, as user behaviors and expectations continue to evolve, we must ensure our user journey maps remain up-to-date and reflective of these changes. This will involve regular reviews and updates of our maps, as well as ongoing user research.

In conclusion, while there are challenges and limitations in user journey mapping, by leveraging the right tools, techniques, and best practices, we can effectively navigate these obstacles and continue to improve our understanding of the user experience. Create a user journey map with Gleek to see how it works.

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User Journey Map Guide with Examples & FREE Templates

18 April, 2024

Senior UX Researcher

Customer journey mapping is also a popular workshop task to align user understanding within teams. If backed up by user data and research, they can be a high-level inventory that helps discover strategic oversights, knowledge gaps, and future opportunities.

Yet, if you ask two different people, you will likely get at least three different opinions as to what a user journey looks like and whether it is worth the hassle. Read on if you want to understand whether a UX journey map is what you currently need and how to create one.

You can get the templates here:

Click here to download a high-resolution PDF of this template.

What is user journey mapping?

Imagine your product is a supermarket and your user is the person wanting to refill their fridge. They need to: 

Decide what to buy, and in what supermarket will they be able to find and afford it

Remember to bring their coupons

Park there 

Find everything

Save the new coupons for the next shopping trip

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3 ways to understand user journey maps

Now, there are at least three ways to look at the customer journey.

1. Workflow maps for usability optimization 

Some imagine a user journey map as a wireframe or detailed analysis of  specific flows in their app . This could be, for example, a sign-up flow or the flow for inviting others to a document. In our supermarket example, it’s a closer look at what they do inside your supermarket, maybe even only in the frozen section. Or you could define what you want them to do in the frozen aisle.

.css-61w915{margin-right:8px;margin-top:8px;max-height:30px;}@media screen and (min-width: 768px){.css-61w915{margin-right:38px;max-height:unset;}} The focus here is on getting the details of the execution right, not how it fits into the bigger picture of what the user needs.

It is more or less a wireframe from a user perspective. Such a product-focused understanding is not what we want to discuss in this article, though many examples for the best user journey maps you might come across are exactly this. There are good reasons to do such an analysis as well, since it helps you smooth out usability for the people who have already found their way into your supermarket because of your excellent ice cream selection. Workflow maps won’t help you notice that your lack of parking spots is one of the reasons why you are missing out on potential customers in the first place. By only looking at what they do inside the supermarket, you might also miss out on an opportunity for user retention: You could help them get their ice cream home before it melts.

2. Holistic user journey maps for strategic insights

With a more holistic view of what people experience when trying to achieve a goal, product makers gain strategic insights on how their product fits into the big picture and what could be in the future. Because this journey document covers so much ground, it is usually a linear simplification of what all the steps would look like if they were completed. Going back to our supermarket example, it would start from the moment the person starts planning to fill the fridge and ends when the fridge is full again — even if the supermarket building is only relevant in a few phases of this journey. Creating this version of a user journey map requires quite some time and research effort. But it can be an invaluable tool for product and business strategy. It is an inventory of user needs that can help you discover knowledge gaps and future opportunities.  Service blueprints   are the most comprehensive version of a user journey map  since they also lay out the behind-the-scenes of a service, usually called backstage. In our supermarket example, that could be:

the advertising efforts

logistics required to keep all shelves stocked

protocols the staffers follow when communicating with customers

3. Journey mapping workshops as an alignment method

In a user journey mapping workshop, stakeholders and team members share their knowledge and assumptions about the users. Some of these assumptions might need to be challenged — which is part of the process. The goal is not the perfect output, but rather to get everyone into one room and work out a common understanding of the users they are building products for. It forces everyone to organize their thoughts, spell out what they know and assumed was common knowledge — and ideally meet real users as part of the workshop. If done right, this establishes a more comprehensive understanding of what users go through and helps overcome the very superficial ideas one might have about the lives and needs of people outside their own social bubble.

Hence, such a workshop helps create aha moments and gives the consequences of great and poor product decisions a face. So at the end of the day, it is one of many methods to evangelize user-centricity in an organization.

What are the benefits of user experience (UX) mapping?

We already discussed the benefits and shortcomings of workflow maps, but what are the reasons you should consider a UX journey map and/or a journey mapping workshop ?

1. Switching perspectives

Empathy:  Like any other UX method and user research output, user journey maps are supposed to foster empathy and help product makers put themselves into the shoes of a user. Awareness:  It creates awareness of why users do all the things they do. And it challenges product makers to resist the temptation of building something because it’s feasible, not because it’s needed that way.

2. Aligned understanding

Given the team is involved in creating the user experience map (either as a workshop, in expert interviews, observing the user research, or at least as a results presentation), it forces a conversation and offers a shared mental model and terminology — the foundation for a shared vision. 

3. Seeing the big picture

Imagine the vastly different perceptions Sales reps, Customer Support teams, C-level, and backend engineers might have since they all meet very different segments at very different stages of their journey. Day-to-day, it makes sense to be an expert in the stages of a user journey you are responsible for. A journey map helps to step back from this and see the bigger picture, where your work fits in, and where assumptions about the majority of users were wrong. It might even help define KPIs across teams that don’t cancel each other out.

4. Uncovering blind spots and opportunities

A user journey map gives you a structured and comprehensive overview of which user needs are already tackled by your product and which ones are either underserved or solved with other tools and touchpoints. Which moments of truth do not get enough attention yet? These are the opportunities and blind spots you can work on in the future.

When is customer journey mapping just a waste of time?

In all honesty, there are also moments when creating a user journey map or running a journey mapping workshop is destined to fail and should better be put on hold. It’s a lot of work, so don’t let this energy go to waste.  User journey maps only make sense when there is an intention to collaboratively work on and with them.  Here are some of the scenarios and indicators that it’s the wrong moment for a journey map:

No buy-in for the workshop: The requirements of a successful journey workshop are not met, e.g., there is not enough time (60 minutes over lunch won’t do the trick), only a few team members are willing to attend, and/or key stakeholders refuse to have their assumptions challenged.

Isolated creation: The whole creation process of the user journey map happens isolated from the team, e.g., it is outsourced to an agency or an intern. Nobody from the team observes or runs the user research, or is consulted for input or feedback on the first drafts. There is no event or presentation planned that walks the team through the output. Finally, a very detailed, 10-foot-long poster appears in a hallway, and none of the team members ever find time to read, process, or discuss it with each other.

UX theater: For one reason or another, there is no time/resources allocated to user research or reviewing existing insights whilst creating the map (usability tests with non-users do not count in this case, though). Such an approach, also known as, can do more harm than good since the resulting user journey may only reinforce wrong assumptions and wishful thinking about your users.

Unclear objectives: The user journey map is only created because it is on your UX design checklist, but the purpose is unclear. If you are unsure what you or your stakeholders want to achieve with this journey map, clarify expectations and desired output before investing more energy into this. E.g., there is a chance you were only meant to do a usability review of a bumpy app workflow.

Lack of follow-through: Creating a user journey map is just the start. Without a plan to implement changes based on insights gathered, the map is merely a paper exercise. This lack of action can result from limited resources, lack of authority, or inertia. It's vital to establish a process for turning insights from the map into design improvements or strategy adjustments. This includes assigning tasks, setting deadlines, and defining success metrics to ensure the map drives real change and doesn't end up forgotten.

Overcomplication: Sometimes, to capture every nuance and detail of the user experience, teams can create an overly complex user journey map. This can make the map difficult to understand and use, particularly for team members who weren't involved in its creation. A good user journey map should balance detail and clarity, providing insightful and actionable information without overwhelming its users.

Failure to update: User expectations, behaviors, and the digital landscape constantly evolve. A user journey map that remains static will quickly become outdated. Regular reviews and updates are necessary to ensure that the map reflects the current state of user experiences. This requires a commitment to ongoing user research and a willingness to adjust your understanding of the user's path as new information becomes available.

The good news is: UX maturity in an organization can change rapidly, so even if you run into one of the obstacles above, it is worth revisiting the idea in the future. Once you’re good to go, you can get started with the user journey map examples and templates below.

User journey mapping: examples, templates & tools

There is more than one way to do it right and design a great user journey map. Every organization and industry has its own templates, tools and approaches to what elements are most important to them. The following examples and template will give you an idea of what a user journey map can look like if you decide to create one yourself. Make it your own, and change up the sections and design so they make sense for your product and use cases.

User journey map template and checklist

To give you a first orientation, you can use this user journey template and check the two fictional examples below to see how you could adapt it for two very different industries: instant meal delivery and healthcare.

Click here to download a high-resolution PDF of the user journey map template. 

While there is no official standard, most other user journey maps contain the following elements or variations of them:

Key phases (or ‘stages’) start when users become aware of a problem they need to solve or a goal they want to achieve and may end when they evaluate whether they achieved their goal or enter a maintenance phase. E.g., user journeys for e-commerce could be structured along the classic funnel of:

Consideration

Delivery & use

Loyalty & advocacy

2. Jobs to be done

Whilst some other user journey templates might call this section ‘steps’ or ‘tasks’, it can be very beneficial to structure the stages into ‘jobs to be done’ (JTBD) instead. This framework helps you distinguish better between the actual goal of a user vs. the tasks required to get there . For example, safe online payments are never a goal of a user, this is just one of many jobs on the long way to get new sneakers on their feet. Ideally, users ‘hire’ your product/service to assist them with some of the JTBD on their journey. Phrase your JTBD as verb + object + context . Examples:

Install app on phone

Tip delivery driver

Buy new shoes

Naturally, the stages closest to your current (and future) solution require a more detailed understanding, so you might want to investigate and document deeper what JTBDs happen there.

3. Needs and pains

Users have needs and pains every step along the journey. Use this section to collect the most important needs and potential pains, even if not all apply in all cases. Ask:

What are the repeating themes, even the ones you are (currently) not able to solve with your product?

Phrase pains and needs as I- or me-statements from the user perspective, e.g., ‘I forgot my login details, ‘I am afraid to embarrass myself’ or ‘My day is too busy to wait for a delivery.’ 

Which are the pains and needs that are so severe that, if not solved, they can become real deal-breakers for your product or service?

On the last point, such deal-breaker and dealmaker situations, or ‘ moments of truth ’, require particular attention in your product decisions and could be visually highlighted in your journey. In a meal delivery, the taste and temperature of the food are such a moment of truth that can spoil the whole experience with your otherwise fantastic service.

4. Emotional curve

An emotional curve visualizes how happy or frustrated users are at certain stages of their journey. Emojis are commonly used to make it easy to understand and empathize with the emotional state of the user across the whole journey. It can be a surprising realization that users are not delighted with your witty microcopy, but you already did a great job by not annoying them. It is also a good reminder that what might personally excite you is perceived as stressful or overwhelming by most other users. Strong user quotes can be used for illustration.

5. Brand and product touchpoints

Here, you can list current and planned touchpoints with your brand and product, as well as. Whilst the touchpoints when using your product might be obvious, others early and late in the journey are probably less obvious to you but critical for the user experience and decision to use or return to your product. This is why it is worthwhile to include them in your map. Make sure your journey does not get outdated too soon, and don’t list one-off marketing campaigns or very detailed aspects of current workflows — just what you got in general so there is no major revision needed for a couple of years.

6. Opportunities for improvement

As you map out your user journey, it is important to not only identify the current touchpoints and experiences but also opportunities for improvement. This could include potential areas where users may become frustrated or confused, as well as areas where they may be delighted or pleasantly surprised.

By identifying these opportunities, you can prioritize making meaningful improvements to the user experience and ultimately creating a more positive, long-lasting relationship with your users.

7. Other tools and touchpoints

This may seem the least interesting aspect of your journey or a user interview, but it can tell you a lot about blind spots in your service or potential partnerships or APIs to extend your service. E.g., Google Maps or WhatsApp are common workaround tools for missing or poor in-app solutions.

User journey map example 1: health industry

The following example is for a fictional platform listing therapists for people in need of mental health support, helping them find, contact, schedule, and pay for therapy sessions. As you can see, the very long journey with recurring steps (repeated therapy sessions) is cut short to avoid repetition. 

At the same time, it generalizes very individual mental health experiences into a tangible summary. While it is fair to assume that the key phases happen in this chronological order, JTBD, timing, and the number of sessions are kept open so that it works for different types of patients.

You can also see how the journey covers several phases when the platform is not in active use. Yet, these phases are milestones in the patient’s road to recovery. Looking at a journey like this, you could, for example, realize that a ‘graduation’ feature could be beneficial for your users, even if it means they will stop using your platform because they are feeling better.

This user journey map is fictional but oriented on Johanne Miller’s UX case study  Designing a mental healthcare platform . 

User journey map example 2: delivery services

What the example above does not cover is the role of the therapist on the platform — most likely they are a second user type that has very different needs for the way they use the platform. This is why the second example shows the two parallel journeys of two different user roles and how they interact with each other. 

Nowadays, internal staff such as delivery drivers have dedicated apps and ideally have a designated UX team looking out for their needs, too. Creating a frictionless and respectful user experience for ‘internal users’ is just as critical for the success of a business as it is to please customers.

User journey map example: meal delivery. Please note that this fictional journey map is just an example for illustrative purposes and has not been backed up with user research.

For more inspiration, you can find collections with more real-life user journey examples and customer journey maps on  UXeria ,  eleken.co  &  userinterviews.com , or check out free templates provided by the design tools listed below.

Free UX journey mapping tools with templates

No matter whether you’re a design buff or feel more comfortable in spreadsheets, there are many templates available for free(mium) tools you might be already using. 

For example, there are good templates and tutorials available for  Canva ,  Miro  and even  Google Sheets . If you are more comfortable with regular design software, you can use the templates available for  Sketch  or one of these two from the  Figma (template 1 ,  template 2 ) community. There are also several dedicated journey map tools with free licenses or free trials, e.g.,  FlowMapp ,  Lucidchart  and  UXPressia , just to name a few.

Be aware that the first draft will require a lot of rearrangement and fiddling until you get to the final version. So it might help to pick where this feels easy for you. 

How do I collect data for my app user journey?

User journey maps need to be rooted in reality and based on what users really need and do (not what we wish they did) to add value to the product and business strategy. Hence, user insights are an inevitable step in the creation process.

However, it’s a huge pile of information that needs to be puzzled together and usually, one source of information is not enough to cover the whole experience — every research method has its own blind spots. But if you combine at least two or three of the approaches below, you can create a solid app user journey .

1. In-house expertise

The people working for and with your users are an incredible source of knowledge to start and finalize the journey. Whilst there might be a few overly optimistic or biased assumptions you need to set straight with your additional research, a user journey mapping workshop and/or  expert interviews  involving colleagues from very different (user-facing) teams such as:

customer service

business intelligence

customer insights

will help you collect a lot of insights and feedback. You can use these methods to build a preliminary skeleton for your journey but also to finalize the journey with their input and feedback.

2. Desk research

Next to this, it is fair to assume there is already a ton of preexisting documented knowledge about the users simply floating around in your company. Your  UX research repository  and even  industry reports  you can buy or find with a bit of googling will help. Go through them and pick the cherries that are relevant for your user journey. Almost anything can be interesting:

Old research reports and not-yet-analyzed context interviews from earlier user interviews

NPS scores & user satisfaction surveys

App store feedback

Customer support tickets

Product reviews written by journalists

Competitor user journeys in publicly available UX case studies

Ask your in-house experts if they know of additional resources you could check. And find out if there’s already a  long-forgotten old journey map  from a few years ago that you can use as a starting point (most organizations have those somewhere).

3. Qualitative user research

Qualitative research methods are your best shot to learn about all the things users experience, think, and desire before and after they touch your product.  In-depth interviews  and  focus groups  explore who they are and what drives them. You could show them a skeleton user journey for feedback or  co-creation . 

This could also be embedded into your user journey mapping workshop with the team. Alternatively, you can follow their actual journey in  diary studies ,  in-home visits  or  shadowing . However, in all these cases it is important that you talk to real users of your product or competitors to learn more about the real scenarios. This is why usability testing with non-users or fictional scenarios won’t help much for the user journey map.

4. Quantitative research

Once you know the rough cornerstones of your user journey map,  surveys  could be used to let users rate what needs and pains really matter to them. And what their mood is at certain phases of the journey. You can learn how they became aware of your product and ask them which of the motives you identified are common or exotic edge cases. Implementing micro-surveys such as  NPS surveys , CES , and  CSAT  embedded into your product experience can give additional insights.

5. Customer satisfaction (CSAT) survey

Customer satisfaction surveys (or CSATs for short) are important tools that measure your customers' satisfaction with your product or service. It is usually measured through surveys or feedback forms, asking customers to rate their experience on a scale from 1 to 5. This metric can give valuable insights into the overall satisfaction of your customers and can help identify areas of improvement for your product.

CSAT surveys can be conducted at different customer journey stages, such as after purchase or using a specific feature. This allows you to gather feedback on different aspects of your product and make necessary changes to improve overall satisfaction.

The benefit of CSAT lies in understanding how satisfied customers are with your product and why. By including open-ended questions in the surveys, you can gather qualitative insights into what aspects of your product work well and what needs improvement.

5. User analytics

User analytics is a beautiful source of information, even if it has its limits. Depending on what tools you are using (e.g., Google Analytics, Firebase, Hubspot, UXCam), you can follow the digital footprints of your users before and when they were using the product. This may include  acquisition channels  (input for brand touchpoints and early journey phases),  search terms  that brought them to your product (input for needs and pains), and how they navigate your product. 

Unlike a usability test, you can use  screen flows  and  heatmaps  to understand how your users behave naturally when they follow their own agenda at their own pace — and how often they are so frustrated that they just quit. Knowing this gives you pointers to negative user emotions at certain journey steps and even helps identify your product’s moments of truth. Whilst you cannot ask the users if your interpretations are correct, checking analytics already helps you prepare good questions and talking points for user interviews or surveys.

Curious to know how heatmaps will look in your app?  Try UXCam for free — with 100,000 monthly sessions and unlimited features.

How can I utilize UXCam to collect App User Journey data?

If you have UXCam set up in your mobile app, you can use it to support your user journey research. You can find many of the previously mentioned  user analytics  features ( screen flows  and  heatmaps , including  rage taps ) here as well. 

UXCam can also be an  invaluable asset for your qualitative research . Especially for niche products and B2B apps that normally have a lot of trouble  recruiting real users  via the usual user testing platforms. 

UXCam’s detailed segmentation options allow you to  identify exactly the users you want to interview  about their journey — and  reach out to them via either email or UXCam push notifications , which can include invitation links for your study, a survey or an additional screener.

Additionally, UXCam's session replay feature allows you to watch recordings of user sessions, providing valuable insights into how users interact with your app and where they may face challenges.

Where can I learn more about user journey map?

Don’t feel ready to get started? Here are a few additional resources that can help you dive deeper into user journey mapping and create the version that is best for your project.

Creating user journey maps & service blueprints:

Mapping Experiences by Jim Kalbach

Journey Mapping 101

How to create customer journey maps

Customer Journey Stages for Product Managers

The Perfect Customer Journey Map

Planning and running user journey mapping workshops:

Journey mapping workshop

Jobs to be done:

The Theory of Jobs To Be Done

Moments of truth in customer journeys:

Journey mapping MoTs

What is a user journey map?

A user journey map is a visual representation of the process that a user goes through to accomplish a goal with your product, service, or app.

What is a user journey?

A user journey refers to the series of steps a user takes to accomplish a specific goal within a product, service, or website. It represents the user's experience from their point of view as they interact with the product or service, starting from the initial contact or discovery, moving through various touchpoints, and leading to a final outcome or goal.

How do I use a user journey map in UX?

User journey maps are an essential tool in the UX design process, used to understand and address the user's needs and pain points.

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User Journey Diagram ​

User journeys describe at a high level of detail exactly what steps different users take to complete a specific task within a system, application or website. This technique shows the current (as-is) user workflow, and reveals areas of improvement for the to-be workflow. (Wikipedia)

Mermaid can render user journey diagrams:

Each user journey is split into sections, these describe the part of the task the user is trying to complete.

Tasks syntax is Task name: <score>: <comma separated list of actors>

User Journey vs User Flow: What’s the Difference and Why You Need Both?

What’s the difference between user journey vs user flow? In UX design , there’s a lot of confusion about what these terms mean—even amongst experienced designers.

After all, they both describe a similar idea: a visual representation of a user’s actions when interacting with a product.

But despite their close relationship, they differ in several ways.

In this article, we’ll take a look at why you need both, the difference between them, and when to use each to improve your entire user experience.

Let’s get started.

• User flow is a detailed representation of the path that shows the specific steps users take to complete a particular task.
• User flows focus on identifying friction points in the journey and removing them from the UI design, keeping users on a happy path.
• A happy path is the shortest path users can take to achieve their desired result without encountering any errors.
• User flows are used by designers to map out feature functionality and technical requirements when building products.
• The user journey is the representation of the overall experience a customer has while engaging with your product across their journey.

With a journey map, product teams can carry out user research, improve user flow , and design a personalized product experience.

• Create a user journey map at the initial research phase of a project to understand user behavior and communicate the entire experience to stakeholders.
• The key difference between a user flow and a user journey is that a user journey gives a macro view of a customer experience, while a user flow gives a more zoomed-in view of the actions of a user.
• The key similarity between these two tools is that they’re user-centered.

Want to build a better user experience without the stress of coding from scratch? Book a demo call with the Userpilot team and get started!

What is a user flow?

A user flow is a detailed illustration that shows the specific steps a user takes to complete a task using your product.

Think of it as a visual map of all the UI interactions the user has.

A user flow is visualized with flow charts, made up of boxes and arrows. Each box represents a step in a user’s action, like entering information or clicking a button.

Example of a user flow

Let’s say we want to get users to create an account and complete their profiles. Here’s an example of what a signup flow might look like for a social media app:

• The user launches the app and lands on the signup screen
• The user clicks on signup to create a new account.
• At the point of registration, they provide information like email and password
• After the user creates an account, they’re asked to verify their email address
• When they’ve successfully verified their email, they’re redirected to the profile page to set up their account
• When this is completed, they save the changes and go to the home screen

The example stated above is known as a happy path . This simply means the path users take to achieve their desired result without encountering friction. In real life, however, things could go differently.

For instance, a user might take other alternative paths, like providing invalid credentials. These unhappy paths can be a gold mine when you’re looking into improving the user experience.

What’s the purpose of a user flow?

A user flow describes what a user sees on the screen and how they interact with the screen to move forward. This is critical for designing good product experiences, without getting lost in the details.

In summary, user flow should answer questions like:

• What should the user see first?
• How will they navigate between screens?
• What do users want to accomplish when they use this feature?
• What actions will users take at each stage of their journey?

It is also important to note that user flow is crucial for the development phase. Developers use this tool to translate designs into physical features.

Also, during a project, it’s possible to have several user flows.

So, every user flow diagram should have a name and a well-detailed description to communicate what each of the steps is and what it is accomplishing.

When should you use a user flow?

A user flow is used by designers to map out features and technical requirements. It can be used at any stage—before or during development—but it’s most effective when introduced in the early stages of the design process.

By understanding a user flow, you can analyze where a user drops off and debug the reasons before they become costly issues.

Did they encounter a bug? How can the flow be improved to reduce drop-off? Do we reduce the steps or the number of screens?

These are questions that can be answered by mapping the user flows.

What is a user journey in UX?

A user journey , also known as a customer journey, is the experience your customers have when interacting with your product at each touchpoint.

Think of it as the “story” of all the interactions and experiences between a user and your product, starting from the awareness stage to the activation point .

A user journey is a comprehensive tool.

Unlike user flows, it takes into consideration the overall customer experience, including the customer’s emotions, pain points, and expectations across various channels.

With a user journey, you can identify gaps in the customer’s experience and how you can improve.

Example of a user journey

User journey maps can be built in different stages and for multiple user personas. For example, you can map:

• A day in the life journey to discover the activities of your users on a regular day- this helps you better understand them and how they interact with multiple products, not just yours. It also makes you more mindful when making decisions.
• The current state of your user and how the product and experience are so you can uncover friction points in their journey.
• The future state user journey map to predict what their experience will look like. This often involves assumptions.

What’s the purpose of a user journey?

A user journey tracks users’ behavior when they’re interacting with your product.

A well-designed user journey map will give you insights into your personas’ minds to see what they’re thinking, feeling, and seeing at every point of interaction.

It also identifies possible friction points and potential areas for improvement.

The bottom line is, that without “seeing” the user’s journey, it’s hard to work on improving the overall product experience.

When should you use a user journey?

Customer journey maps should be created during the research phase of a project. Using this tool, project teams can capture a complete picture of the customer’s journey and see the product from the user’s point of view.

A journey map is also a great tool to walk stakeholders through the entire user journey, irrespective of their technical background.

In addition to this, customer journey maps also serve as a way to track user interactions and obtain feedback at every touchpoint that is valuable for product improvements.

With the collected feedback, it’s easy to prioritize the features important to the users.

What is the difference between user journey and user flow?

User journeys and user flows are two different types of user experience mapping. Although they both map out the path of a user, they do so in different ways.

The key difference between a user journey and a user flow is that a user journey focuses on the overall experience of an individual user, while a user flow focuses on each step in the design process. Here are other things that make them different:

• The number of users considered

A user flow concentrates on individual micro-interactions, while user journeys examine the macro-interactions of multiple user personas at once. Because of this, it’s often easier to create and maintain a user flow than a full-blown user journey map.

• The purpose

User journey helps you understand the overall experience of your customers at different touchpoints. User flow, on the other hand, outlines the process that each user takes to achieve their goal.

• The specificity of actions

User journeys are more generic. It gives you a bird’s-eye view of customer behavior across different platforms (mobile apps, web apps, etc.). In contrast, user flows are a lot more detailed and centered around one interface, e.g. web apps, capturing one step at a time.

• The key focus

A user journey is experience-focused; it deals with the users’ experience at each stage of interaction. User flow is action-focused; it concentrates on the details of the actions a user takes.

• Time range measured

User flow details the steps taken at a specific time, whereas a user journey map concentrates on the steps taken over time—from the awareness stage to when they actually buy from you.

What are the similarities between user flows vs user journeys?

Now that we’ve covered the differences between user flow vs user journey, it’s time to focus on what they have in common. Here are some similarities:

• They both have a common end goal—the user
• Both focus on creating the best user experience
• Both monitor how a user interacts with a product during its lifecycle
• Both tools are used for identifying users’ goals and pain points
• They can also be used as a communication tool for stakeholders and developers
• They give us insight into users’ needs and which features to prioritize

What comes first, user flow or user journey? Do you need both?

The short answer is neither.

Just like it’s hard to know if UI or UX comes first, it’s hard to tell if the user flow should come before the user journey. But here’s a better way to look at it.

The user interface (UI) is mapped using user flows. This means that the user flow determines what appears on the user’s screen at different times.

Meanwhile, the user experience is mapped using user journeys. They go hand-in-hand with each other.

Start by mapping the main stages of the user journey, then add experience details with user flow maps. Also, it’s important to note that user journeys are used to map the entire journey of a user or specific interactions for a more granular view.

For example, you can map a user’s journey from trial signup to the activation point.

This will help you to understand the main steps the users go through to convert. It will also reveal points of drop-off and why. That is why it’s best practice to create multiple flows that look at the UI steps the user takes.

Both user flow and user journey are great tools for creating an enhanced user experience. While user flows describe the specific steps a user takes to complete an action, the user journey considers the emotional response to each step.

Combining both tools creates a good user experience that increases customer satisfaction.

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The ultimate guide to user journey mapping

User journey mapping enables you to identify pain points, optimize interactions, and ultimately enhance user experience and satisfaction. In this article, we will delve into this method: We will discuss what user journeys are, explain their elements, explore examples, and guide you through the process of creating user journey maps.

• What is a user journey?

What is a user journey map?

• What is the process of user journey mapping?
• Why is it important?
• When to create a user journey?
• How to create a user journey map

Differentiating between different concepts

• User journey examples
• Tools for user journey mapping

Key take aways

What is the user journey.

Let’s start with a definition of user journey:

A user journey refers to the complete sequence of steps that an individual takes while engaging with a product, service, or platform. It encompasses every experience from the initial point of entry to the final outcome or goal achieved.

... by the way: what is the definition of a user?

A "user" typically refers to an individual that interacts with a system, platform, software, website, or any other technological or digital interface. Users engage with these systems to perform tasks, access information, or achieve specific goals. The term user can apply to a wide range of contexts, including software and applications, websites and online platforms, social media, etc.

However, the concept of a user is not limited to digital or technological contexts. In broader terms, a user refers to anyone who interacts with, utilizes, or engages with a product, service, system, or environment, regardless of whether it's digital or analog. Thus, it e.g. also applies to: physical products, services, physical spaces, education, transportation, etc.

Later in this article you will learn why it is importat to differentiate between different kinds of users.

A user journey map is a visual representation that outlines the complete process and stages a user goes through while interacting with a product, service, or platform. It depicts the user's actions, emotions, and goals at each step of their journey, highlighting touchpoints, pain points, and moments of engagement. User journey maps put a strong focus on cross-channel experience, analyzing the user journey holistically.

By presenting this information graphically, a user journey map offers a comprehensive view of the user's experience, enabling you to understand, analyze, and enhance the overall user interaction on all online and offline channels.

What is user journey mapping?

User journey mapping is a technique from user experience (UX) design and product development. It describes the process of visually illustrating and analyzing the various stages, touchpoints, and emotions that a user undergoes while interacting with a product or service. It involves creating a detailed narrative or diagram that outlines the steps, touchpoints, emotions, and motivations of users throughout their entire journey.

User journey mapping is a technique used within the design thinking process to understand and visualize the user's experience, their needs and emotions as they interact with a product, service, or system. It helps teams identify pain points and opportunities for improvement.

The purpose of user journey mapping is to gain a deep understanding of the user's perspective and uncover insights that can inform the design and optimization of the user experience. It helps identify pain points, gaps, and opportunities for improvement, allowing designers and developers to align their efforts with user needs and expectations.

Why are user journeys important? What are their benefits?

User journeys are commonly used in user experience (UX) design to understand and optimize the user's experience. By understanding and optimizing the user journey, organizations can enhance user satisfaction, increase conversions, and improve overall user experience.

By visualizing the user journey, stakeholders can better empathize with users, identify frustrations, and develop solutions that enhance the overall user experience.

User journey maps are important for several reasons, as they help organizations better understand and improve the user experience. Here are some key benefits and reasons why user journey maps are important:

• Gain deep insights into the user perspective
• Uncover pain points
• Find potential for delighting experiences
• Reveal unknown areas for innovation
• Identify gaps in the service delivery
• Create products that resonate with users
• Identify bottlenecks as well as potential synergies
• Foster informed decision-making
• Foster a human-centered culture within an organization

When to create a user journey map?

Creating a user journey map is a valuable exercise at various stages of a product or service's lifecycle.

For example in these cases:

• Research and discovery : This helps teams gain insights into potential user behaviors, pain points, and needs, informing the creation of user-centered solutions.
• Redesign or optimization : If you're looking to improve an existing product or service, creating a user journey map can identify areas that need refinement. By understanding current user experiences, you can identify opportunities for enhancement.
• New features : a user journey map can guide the integration process, for example for SaaS journeys . It ensures that the new elements align with the existing user experience and provide value.
• UX testing and evaluation : user journey maps can be used to track how users interact with the product and pinpoint any obstacles they encounter. This helps refine the user experience.
• ‍ User-centric workshops : these can help to bring cross-functional teams together to collaboratively map out user experiences, fostering a shared understanding and aligning strategies.
• ‍ Marketing and sales strategies : User journey maps can help create targeted campaigns that address specific stages of the user journey, enhancing customer engagement.

Ultimately, the timing for creating a user journey map depends on the specific goals and context of your project. However, integrating user journey mapping early and consistently in your design and development process can lead to more user-centric and effective solutions.

How to create a user journey map?

A user journey map typically starts from the initial point of user contact, such as discovering a product or visiting a website, and extends until the desired goal or outcome is achieved.

1 Develop your user persona

Differentiating between user personas is crucial because it allows for a more nuanced understanding of user diversity and needs. Each persona represents a distinct segment of the user base, and tailoring experiences to these segments ensures that products or services effectively address a range of user requirements. This differentiation enables you to create more targeted strategies, features, and user journeys, ultimately leading to improved user satisfaction and engagement.

2 Define the project scope

Defning the scope, or zoom-level of your work, is essential. For example, you could focus on the onboarding phase, the payment process, or a very detailed experience with a specific page.

3 Create a user journey map using the key elements

Start to list steps and touchpoints on an assumption-based user journey map; this serves as a great starting point. In the next step you will verify/falsify these assumptions.

The most important elements of a user journey map are:

• Persona : a user persona is key to understand different needs, expectations and wishes from different user types
• Steps / actions / touchpoints : this illustrates the single experiences a user has along the journey
• Stages : A user journey often includes pases like: Awareness, research,  consideration, conversion, onboarding, actual usage, support, retention, advocacy
• Emotions : emotions like joy, frustration, surprise and anxiety are crucial to take note of
• Satisfaction : user journey maps usually include satisfaction scores, indicating satisfaction on a scale from very satisfied (+2) to very unsatisfied (-2)
• Pain points and opportunities : Pain points are specific areas in the user journey where users encounter challenges, obstacles, or frustrations that hinder their progress or satisfaction. Opportunities are moments within the user journey where you can address these pain points.
• Storyboard : adding images, photos and screenshots to a user journey map fosters a immediate understanding of the situation, helps to create empathy, and on top makes navigating the journey map much easier
• Importance : showing how important an experience is to the users helps to prioritize pain points and focus resources onto the experiences that need it the most

4 Gather richt user experience data

To make a user journeys that really helps with decision making, they should always be based research, user testing, and data analysis to ensure they accurately reflect the user's actual perspective and needs. Experience research is essential to gain real data. User journey analytics goes beyond Google Analytics and includes offline data. For example, the context in which a person uses a product can have strong impact on the user experience.

5 Identify pain points and opportunities

Identifying pain points involves recognizing specific challenges or frustrations users encounter during their interactions with a product or service. Opportunities, on the other hand, entail pinpointing moments where improvements or innovations can be implemented to enhance the user experience and address those pain points effectively.

6 Develop solutions and optimize the user journey

Developing solutions involves designing and implementing changes, features, or improvements to address the identified pain points and capitalize on the opportunities within the user journey. Optimization focuses on refining the user journey by streamlining processes, enhancing user interface elements, and aligning touchpoints to ensure a smoother and more satisfying experience for users.

7 Iterate, iterate, iterate

Iteration is crucial because it allows for continuous improvement based on user feedback and changing needs. By repeatedly refining and adjusting design, features, and interactions, products and services can stay aligned with user expectations and remain competitive in an evolving landscape.

Having a shared language and understanding of different concepts is key to effective communication and collaboration. Therefore here come’s an overview of how user journey mapping differs from related concepts:

What is the difference between user journey vs customer journey?

User journeys and customer journeys basically describe the same concept, just with a different focus persona at the core of the journey:

• A user is anyone who interacts with a product, service, or platform, regardless of whether they've made a purchase.
• A customer , on the other hand, refers specifically to individuals who have made a transaction or purchase, indicating a financial relationship with the business. In essence, all customers are users, but not all users are necessarily customers.

What is the difference between user journey vs user flow?

A user journey provides a holistic view of the complete experience a user goes through while interacting with a product or service, emphasizing emotions, touchpoints, and goals. It's a narrative that spans the user's entire engagement. In contrast, a user flow is a more focused representation, detailing the specific paths and steps a user takes to accomplish a particular task within the product or service, without necessarily delving into the broader context or emotions.

What is the difference between user journey vs user experience?

In essence, the user journey is a component of the user experience, contributing to the overall assessment of how well a product or service meets user needs and expectations.

• A user journey focuses on the chronological sequence of steps and interactions a user takes while engaging with a product or service, detailing their actions, emotions, and goals. It is a visualization of the user's pathway through the experience.
• On the other hand, user experience (UX) is a broader term encompassing the overall perception and satisfaction a user derives from using a product or service, considering factors beyond just the sequence of steps, including usability, aesthetics, efficiency, and the emotional response elicited throughout the entire interaction.

What is the difference between user journey vs service blueprint?

A user journey outlines the step-by-step sequence of interactions a user has with a product or service, focusing on their actions, emotions, and goals. In contrast, a service blueprint provides a broader view by illustrating the end-to-end service delivery process, including both user-facing interactions and backend operations. Service blueprints encompass user journeys but also incorporate internal processes, actors, and touchpoints, offering a more comprehensive understanding of how a service functions.

User journey map examples

Example #1: user journeys in e-commerce.

Our first user journey example from e-commerce shows how the user persona carl navigates through different channels to finally buy a book online

Expand e-commerce journey map

Example #2: user journey in online banking

The second user journey map example comes from a banking product and visualizes the experience of a user subscribing to banking services.

Expand banking journey map

You can find many more examples on our journey map examples collection .

What’s the best user journey mapping tool?

The best user journey mapping tool depends on factors like purpose, team dynamics and other specific needs. However, here’s a selection of the most popular user journey mapping tools:

• Smaply : a user journey tool that lets you create user journey maps online, combined with tools for personas and stakeholder maps for a holistic analysis
• Miro : a collaborative whiteboard tool providing full flexibility, especially useful for user journey workshops
• Lucidchart : A powerful diagramming tool that offers user journey templates
• Pen-and-paper : Yes, sometimes even simple tools can be useful – especially at the beginning, workshop templates for user journeys are better than any digital tool

User journey mapping empowers you to create better user experiences, optimize processes, and drive innovation by gaining a deeper understanding of their users' interactions and emotions.

A simple user journey map consists of touchpoints, pain points and opportunities and can be created with digital tools or even pen-and-paper.

In general, user journey mapping is an ongoing process and iteration is key to success.

Isabel Grillmayr

Isabel has a multifaceted background that seamlessly weaves together business acumen, sustainability expertise, and a profound understanding of tourism management. A true marketer at heart, she is driven by her passion for crafting exceptional experiences through service design, all while prioritizing sustainability and fostering innovation. Currently pursuing a master's degree in sustainability management, Isabel's commitment to shaping a more responsible and forward-thinking business landscape shines through her inspirational articles.

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How the User Journey Impacts Your Success

User journeys play a large role in business success. Learn what a customer journey map should include, read examples, and discover how to improve your customers' experience.

A user or customer journey, sometimes visualized as a journey map, is the path a person follows as they discover a product, service, or brand, learn about it, consider spending money on it, and then make a decision to purchase—or not. Not every user journey ends in a conversion, but it is typically the goal.

Creating a customer journey map can help drive sales, because when you better understand your user's journey, you can provide the information or encouragement they need to commit and become a customer.

Let's look at a couple of examples of user journeys.

User Journey Example: Under-caffeinated Chuck

Chuck is downtown and he wants a cup of coffee. His journey might look something like this:

• Chuck feels drowsy on the way to work and realizes that he wants coffee. He is in a downtown area and has several choices.
• He looks around and sees a local cafe with organic fairtrade coffee, a cheap coffee chain that also offers donuts, and another internationally franchised cafe known for their sustainably grown coffee.
• He considers distance from his current location, expected prep time, his budget, and his values—he appreciates both sustainable agriculture and supporting local businesses.
• He knows that 2 or the 3 options offer coffee that match his ethics about food, and although the franchised cafe with sustainable coffee is slightly closer, he prefers going to the local cafe where he can also do more to boost his city’s economy. The local cafe is also typically faster because it’s less crowded.
• He chooses the local cafe with sustainably sourced coffee.

This is a straightforward example of a user journey. A more in-depth example might include asking an employee for information or, if the journey is entirely online, searching for information, looking up reviews, comparing the competition, and considering the cost.

How to create an accurate user journey

To map an accurate customer journey, you need to know your customers and how they discover your brand. To create customer profiles, begin by learning about the demographics of customers who already shop with your brand. This profile is an outline of your target customer’s interests, pain points, income level, age range, location, and more. The entry point is where they become aware of your brand. In the 2 examples above, both had street-level entry points, but other entry points include online searches, word-of-mouth recommendations, as well as social media, television, and print ads.

Consider all the entry points that might lead customers to your brand. Then generate user journeys from those points using your customer profiles to target similar audiences. After that, you'll need to refine your journey maps to turn shoppers into buyers.

Your goal is to guide your potential customers along their journey as much as possible. This will also help you reduce or eliminate barriers to conversion like by answering questions, making the right offers, and providing clarity when it’s needed.

The stages of the user journey

Each user journey is unique. But no matter what customer profile you're dealing with, or what their point of entry is, the structure of all customer journeys has stages in common:

Consideration

Your goal at each of the first 3 phases of the journey is to improve the chances of purchase and retention. Every point on the journey has a connection to every other point, especially when the goal is to motivate and maintain customer loyalty and drive customers through retention and back through the whole process again.

In the awareness phase, the user learns about or is reminded of your product or service, usually as a response to something they need or desire. The awareness phase can follow a previous purchase, which means that the retention phase was a success, leading them around to begin the cycle again.

Here, the user looks at the virtues and the flaws of your brand and any other brands also up for consideration. This is when pricing, value, customer service, branding, communication, and other factors come into play.

At this point, the user has looked at the relevant differences among the available options. If there's any information about your product or service that the customer hasn't been able to find at this point, it could mean losing the sale.

Here, the user either makes a purchase or doesn't. But this isn't the end of the journey—keep in mind that they may be buying from you because another brand is not available to serve their needs at the moment. This is your chance to curry favor with such customers: Your e-commerce platform should be easy to navigate, your customer service should be on point, and any discounts you may have on offer should be extended.

Now that a customer has purchased from you, you want to retain their loyalty. It's a good idea to check in with them after their purchase: Ask for feedback, tell them about complementary products or updates to your services, and try to discover ways to increase their satisfaction in the future. When they reenter the awareness phase, you want positive interactions and friendly and complete customer service to follow them into the next round of consideration.

How to improve a user’s journey

The key to getting the most out of the user's journey is to know your customer as well as possible. This is why a customer profile and all the possible entry points into the journey are important to understand as you define your customer journey . You want an extensive, complete, and accurate profile of the various kinds of people who shop for the products or services you offer.

You need to consider possible entry points into the user's journey. Here’s an example: A woman named Carla is in search of new headphones. She knows that she could travel to her local mall to search for just the right pair, and then she wouldn’t have to wait for them to be delivered. But she also knows that by shopping online, she can more easily compare more options. In this example, a business that sells headphones would need to consider all of the paths that Carla may take to find their products. She could visit a store where they are sold, she might search online, or she might find the right pair through an ad on social media or an email promotion.

The customer profile, the entry point into their journey, and what you have on your shelves (whether brick-and-mortar or online) should all flow together to make a coherent experience for each potential customer.

Build user journey maps

A user journey can be mapped with flow charts or diagrams that take the needs, wants, and habits from a given customer profile and trace a journey from entry point and awareness to retention and back through again. Ideally, you want a journey map for each user starting at each possible point of entry. You're going to need several versions of each user journey map, with different paths based on entry point, previous purchases, email engagement, and so on.

Your goal is to be able to anticipate and answer questions a customer might have before they move on to make a purchase. After they've made a purchase, you want to make sure that the retention phase directs them back to the beginning of the journey. It's all about communication—you need to keep in touch to let them know how you can meet their needs, promote new products or services you have on offer, and get them hooked via rewards and discounts.

That's where Mailchimp's Customer Journey Builder comes in. Mailchimp is an all-in-one marketing and e-commerce platform, allowing you to send marketing emails, newsletters, product and service updates, and everything else you need to keep your customers engaged and satisfied. With Mailchimp, you can also create your business website, employing best practices that will help you turn potential customers into brand-loyal repeat customers. Remember, the customer journey doesn't have to end with the purchase, and Mailchimp is here to make sure it doesn't.

Keep customers coming back for more with Mailchimp’s free Customer Retention Kit

Whether you’re looking to improve existing strategies or seeking fresh insights into who your customers are, this kit is a comprehensive collection of resources designed to cultivate lasting relationships with valued customers.

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