User Journey Mapping

A proven method to understand how to connect with your customers and improve their experience with your company.

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Most UX failures are because designers and developers don't understand how people use the software.

You might think it’s pretty easy to open your phone and send a friend $50 for dinner the other night. True, but when we break down all the steps it actually takes, it begins to shed light on how we might improve the process. And remember, different platforms do things slightly differently. Transferring money with Venmo is different than with Zelle, even though you’re really just sending some cash.

Benefits of a User Journey Map Include:

  • Having a single reference point for the entire team to use for future decision making and product development.

  • Identify opportunities for improvement in the journey:
    • Better customer facing experience
    • Better back of house operations

  • Help find the “blind spots” the team might have around how the customer thinks about the process.

Most people underthink it

Most people simply don’t think about all the steps it takes to complete a task. That’s why User Journey Maps and User Task Outlines are so helpful. Here’s a quick animation showing how what you might think is a very simple process could have a lot more steps than you think it does.

payment-user-journey-animation

What To Expect:

This is an interactive casual session intended to facilitate open discussion and collaboration. Expect lots of scribbles, sketches, and notes. Don’t worry. We’ll take photos of anything important and share them with you afterward.

The desired outcome of this session is a clear direction for how the app or service should be designed to create a simple and enjoyable journey for the user in successfully completing the tasks they need to do.

 
Typical Workshop Agenda
  • Introduction: Company history and goals 
  • Company application and technology overview
    • Definition of technical requirements and constraints
  • Company target market and ideal user 
  • Outline of common tasks and successful outcomes 
  • User Journey and task-flow white boarding session
    • Mandatory steps, including required information needed from user
    • Typical start and end states
    • Definition of major UI elements and Interactions
  • Recap and next steps planning 
 
What to Prepare
  • Please have a version of the software available that adequately demonstrates the current features and functionality (if applicable).
  • If there are features and functionality that are planned or in development, please provide any mockups, wireframes, functional requirements, flowcharts, and any other information you have related to those features and functionality.
Other Requirements
  • Quiet meeting room with a large table and enough seating for all participants
  • Projector or large screen display with HDMI or VGA input
  • At least one large whiteboard or whiteboard painted wall and dry-erase markers in a variety of colors
  • A variety of notepads, scratch paper, sticky notes, and writing utensils
  • High-speed internet connection

The Details:

Location:
In person is preferred, sessions can also be held remotely from anywhere in the world.
Duration:
From start to finish, expect this to take at least 1 week, subject to availability of your team.
Scheduling:
We can usually begin within a few business days.
Participation:
Critical leaders and decision makers from your team must participate.
Deliverables:
Across the work sessions and several emails you will get:
  • Industry leading guidance through the entire process
  • Clear and concise recommendations for your note taking
  • User Journey Map in a high-resolution PDF
  • All notes, photos, and videos from our sessions together

These sessions were incredibly helpful. We found multiple opportunities to improve our user experience just by better understanding the steps people take to get things done using our products.

Diane Faust - SVP of Digital Strategy and Technology, Global Hotel Brand