Customer journey maps

A customer relationship begins before purchase. Prospects become aware, learn, compare and decide, then may reorder, expand their purchases, leave or return later. Every stage contains moments of truth (MOT): interactions that strengthen or weaken the relationship. Those moments occur not only in marketing and sales but through reception, delivery, technical support, finance and production. A customer journey map makes the lifecycle, emotional high and low points, and ownership gaps visible.

When to use it

• Use it to assess current marketing, sales and service performance.
• Apply it when designing research, coordinating functions or prioritising customer-experience improvement.

Origins

Jan Carlzon’s 1987 book Moments of Truth described how attention to every customer intervention helped turn around Scandinavian Airlines (SAS). Over the next 10 years, marketers connected moments of truth into stages of the sales and relationship process. Articles using “customer journey mapping” appeared around 2010, followed by rapid adoption. Because the method developed through many practitioners, no single inventor can be identified.

What it is

A customer journey map (CJM) is a blueprint for coordinated action:

• It connects departments by showing how their hand-offs affect the customer.

• It exposes experience weaknesses and supports correction.

• It identifies missing or poorly designed touchpoints.

• It reveals strengths that can support the value proposition.

• It compares strengths and weaknesses that may shape competitive strategy.

• It captures customer emotion, informing communication and experience design.

The map has a spine of major lifecycle stages and the moments of truth within each stage. When defining the spine, ask:

• What is the customer trying to do here?

• What would motivate progress to the next stage?

• Which concerns, uncertainties or barriers could stop progress?

• What would reduce those barriers and concerns?

• How much customer effort does the transition require?

A moment of truth is any intervention between the customer or prospect and the company: a website visit, advertisement, recommendation, reception call or one of hundreds of other contacts. The analytical skill is to identify the few moments that materially affect movement and relationship quality.

The construction-materials example shades the most important moments of truth. Although stage names vary by industry, most journeys move through awareness, interest, knowledge, consideration and purchase. After mapping, classify moments as pain points or delights and assign actions. A cross-functional workshop can produce a useful hypothesis, but customer research should validate the stages, priorities and emotional interpretation; internal teams often overstate familiar weaknesses.

Developments of the model

Early maps used a horizontal spine with moments of truth beneath it. Current versions may add:

• customer product and service needs at each stage;

• positive feelings such as interest, excitement and relief, and negative feelings such as boredom, anxiety, stress and confusion;

• perceived risk at the stage, classified as high, medium or low.

Almost any relevant layer can be added, including stakeholder needs, importance and performance. Start with the key moments and material strengths or weaknesses, then refine only where extra detail improves a decision.

How to use it

The building-materials company created a journey-map hypothesis in a workshop before customer research. It served three purposes:

1. It brought senior managers together around prospects, customers and service, generating early improvements.

1. It identified touchpoints for the questionnaire.

1. It connected the research with an actionable visual, building management ownership and follow-through.

The workshop took a day, followed by several hours converting flip charts and Post-it notes into a flow diagram. Interviews then validated and amended the map. A poster-sized infographic displayed throughout the company became both a reminder of end-to-end experience and a catalyst for further customer-oriented ideas.

Some things to think about

• Define the spine, commonly beginning with AWARENESS and potentially ending with RETURN for a recovered customer.

• List the customer–company interactions at every stage.

• Mark which touchpoints are essential, performed well, painful or valuable enough that customers would pay for them.

• After validation, publish an accessible infographic to sustain awareness and ownership.

Top practical tip

Keep the first version simple: define the spine from AWARENESS through purchase, relationship and possible RETURN, then validate the decisive moments with customers.

Top pitfall

Do not let decorative detail overwhelm action. Add needs, emotion and perceived risk only when they help identify a priority, owner or test.

Further reading

• Lemon, K.N. and Verhoef, P.C. (twenty sixteen). “Understanding Customer Experience Throughout the Customer Journey.” Journal of Marketing.
• Kalbach, J. (twenty sixteen). Mapping Experiences. O’Reilly Media.