How to Develop a Customer Journey Map?

Customer Journey Map is a powerful technique for understanding what motivates your customers - what their needs are, their hesitations, and concerns. Although most organizations are reasonably good at gathering data about their customers, data alone fails to communicate the frustrations and experiences the customer experienced. A story can do that, and one of the best storytelling tools in business is the customer journey map.

Customer journey map uses storytelling and visuals to illustrate the relationship a customer has with a business over a period of time. The story is being told from the perspective of customer, which provides insight into the total experience of the customer. It helps your team better understand and address customer needs and pain points as they experience your product or service. In other words, mapping out the customer journey offers your business the chance to see how your brand first engages a potential customer, and then moves through the touchpoints of the entire sales process.

In this Customer Journey Map tutorial we will walk you through the steps involved in creating a Customer Journey Map in Visual Paradigm. If you want to know more about what is Customer Journey Map (CJM), you can watch the video 'What is Customer Journey Mapping?' below:

Creating a Customer Journey Map

1. Create a new project by selecting Project > New from the application toolbar. In the New Project window, enter CJM Tutorial as project name and click Create Blank Project.
   
2. Create a new Customer Journey Map by selecting Diagram > New from the application toolbar. In the New Diagram window, select Customer Journey Map and click Next. Enter Take a Tour as diagram name and click OK to confirm.
   
3. Customer Journey Map is a feature available under Visual Paradigm Online ("VP Online")/Teamwork Server. If you are prompted to connect to a server, and if you are evaluating Visual Paradigm, it is recommended that you Activate Local Repository (Quick Setup). If you are a member of VP Online or Teamwork Server, click Login under Existing Registered User.
   
4. A new Customer Journey Map is created, with four dummy stages created for you as default. Read the section below to enter the stages.
   

Entering stages

1. Double click on Stage 1 at the top of the journey map and rename the stage to Explore Itineraries.
   
2. Repeatedly rename the other three stages to Book a Tour, Pre-Tour and During Tour.
   
3. We need one more stage. Click + on the right of the stage During Tour.
   
4. Enter Post-Tour as stage name.
   

Entering touchpoints

A touchpoint is any time a potential customer or customer comes in contact with your brand. Follow the steps below to enter the touchpoints for the stage Explore Itineraries.

1. Double click on the gray cell under the first stage Explore Itineraries to open the interface for entering touchpoints under this stage.
   
2. Enter the touch points as shown in the table below. You should press Enter to create a new row (of touchpoint).
   

   Title	Description	Reference
   Tours detail	The page where details of various tours are presented	<None>
   Pre-sales support channel	Ask questions before making a booking decision	<None>
   Tour booking page	The page where user can book a tour	<None>

3. Click OK to confirm and return to the map. The touchpoints are presented as bullet points in the cell.
   

Entering customer thinking/feeling

Once the touchpoints are identified, identify what the customers think and how they feel for each touchpoint. What do the customers think when they visit the website to find tours information? Are they happy, unhappy or even frustrated? Think as a customer and list out all the customer thinking and feeling. Follow the steps below to enter the customer's thinking and feeling for the stage Explore Itineraries.

1. Double click on the second gray cell under the first stage Explore Itineraries.
   
2. Enter the customer thinking as shown in the table below. You should press Enter to create a new row (of customer thinking/feeling).
   

   Title	Description	Reference
   Lack sophisticated tour searching	Lacks the capability to search tour(s) by destination country, city and period	<None>
   Brochure not printable	Users want to print out the brochure for discussing vacation plan with friends	<None>
   Lack real-time support channel	Unable to solve user's question instantly	<None>
   No way to compare tours	Users want to find out an option that can keep the balance between the pricing, travel arrangement and journey	<None>

3. A customer thinking/feeling is generated through assessing particular touchpoint. Let's indicate this relationship by specifying References. Under the Reference column of the first touchpoint Lack sophisticated tour searching, select Tours detail to reflect the fact that the customer find the search facility not satisfied when reading the tours detail page.
   
4. Repeat this step for the other touchpoints. Select Tours detail, Pre-sales support channel and Tour booking page as references for the other touchpoints.
   
5. Click OK to confirm and return to the map. The customer thinking and feeling are presented as bullet points in the cell. The reference relationships are indicated as tiny icons appear after each referenced and referencing item.
   

Entering ideas for improvement

Finally, based on the finding above you can think of the improvement opportunities. Follow the steps below to list the ideas for improvement for the stage Explore Itineraries.

1. Double click on the third gray cell under the first stage Explore Itineraries.
   
2. Enter the ideas for improvement as shown in the table below. You should press Enter to create a new row (of improvement idea).
   

   Title	Description	Reference
   Support advanced searching	Support searching by destination country, city and period	Lack sophisticated tour searching (Touchpoint)
   Support printer-friendly brochure	Support printer-friendly brochure so that user can print out a neat page for communication purposes	Brochure not printable (Touchpoint)
   Support more sharing options for tour details pages	Support more sharing options for tour details pages like facebook, email, gmail, etc	Brochure not printable (Touchpoint)
   Support WhatsApp	Provide dedicated WhatsApp support	Lack real-time support channel (Touchpoint)
   Allows comparison of tours	Present the information of different tours in a way that allows comparison	No way to compare tours (Touchpoint)

3. Click OK to confirm and return to the map. The ideas for improvement are presented as bullet points in the cell.
   

Finishing up the journey map

Now you've finished entering the touchpoints, customer thinking/feeling and ideas for improvement for the first stage. Let's complete the other stages by following the tables below.

Stage: Book a Tour:

Touchpoints	Title Description Reference Tour booking page The page where user can book a tour <None> Company apps To make booking via smart phones and tablets <None>
Thinking & Feeling	Title Description Reference Complicated booking process Too many steps are required in booking Tour booking page Unable to book via smart devices User want to make booking anytime and anywhere via smart devices, and we do not support that right now Company apps
Ideas for Improvement	Title Description Reference Simplify the page flow of booking Instead of separating steps page by page, try to put them on same page Complicated booking process Add hints to fields Teach customers how to fill in the booking form Complicated booking process Support booking via apps Develop an app for tour booking Unable to book via smart devices

Stage: Pre-Tour

Touchpoints	Title Description Reference Tickets details page The page with details about the tickets bought <None> Tour details page The page with details about the tour which include the schedules and events <None>
Thinking & Feeling	Title Description Reference No direct way for printing tickets Customers need to print out the ticket Tickets details page Lack recommendation that aids the preparation Customers want to know the things that need to do and prepare for the tour Tour details page Lack travelling information (local) Customers want to know how to travel to the airport and the time required Tour details page
Ideas for Improvement	Title Description Reference Support a direct print function for tickets Provide a clear interface to print tickets No direct way for printing tickets Provide a planning checklist List the items customers need to prepare and pay attention to in preparing a journey Lack recommendation that aids the preparation Provide information on how to travel to the airport Provide the transportation information that helps customer to plan for transportation to and from airport Lack travelling information (local)

Stage: During Tour

Touchpoints	Title Description Reference Tour guide Tour guide guides the customer through the whole journey <None>
Thinking & Feeling	Title Description Reference Unhappy due to being persuaded to buy expensive souvenir Customers do not want to be persuaded buy expensive souvenir that they are not interested in Tour guide Unable to communicate with local people Customers want to communicate with local people smoothly Tour guide
Ideas for Improvement	Title Description Reference Train the tour guide for better communication skills The tour guide must not be too hard-sell Unhappy due to being persuaded to buy expensive souvenir Ensure that the tour guide knows the language required to communicate with the local people The tour guide should be skillful in the language required to communicate with local people so that he/she can help translate for the tour Unable to communicate with local people

Stage: Post-Tour

Touchpoints	Title Description Reference Photo album We create digital photo album for customers and send it back to the customers after the tour <None>
Thinking & Feeling	Title Description Reference Delighted when receiving the album Customers love this arrangement and are generally delighted with that Photo album
Ideas for Improvement	Title Description Reference Easy album sharing Provide capability to easily share an album or photos in album Delighted when receiving the album Account based album collection Help customers maintain records of their journeys. This also encourages them to choose our service again in the future Delighted when receiving the album

The final journey map should look like this:

Generating Document from Journey Map

At the bottom of the journey map there is a deliverable pane. On the left of the pane there is a deliverable icon. To generate a deliverable, double click on it, enter the filename in the Generate Deliverable window and then click Save.

The figure below shows the document generated. It contains the journey map (image) and the touchpoints, customer thinking/feeling and ideas for improvements entered under the stages.

Categorizing the Map with Label

You can categorize items in cells with labels. Let's say we want to categorize touchpoints into system touchpoints and human touchpoints. Perform the steps below for categorization.

1. Right-click on lane header Touchpoints and select Cells Format > Label from the popup menu.
   
2. Double click on the cell of touchpoints under the stage Explore Itineraries.
   
3. Click on the hollow label next to the first item and select orange. We want to represent system touchpoints with an orange label.
   
4. Click on the hollow label next to the second item and select green. We want to represent human touchpoints with a green label.
   
5. Set the label for the third item be orange.
   
6. Click OK to confirm. The map is updated with orange and green labels applied to items.
   
7. At the bottom right of the map, double click on the captions in the legends and rename the captions for orange and green labels to System and Human respectively.
   

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