Presented by Josh DeLung. Journey mapping is a commonly used methodology in customer experience (CX) research that helps organizations understand different aspects of their relationship with customers. Through research, the hypothesized experience at each touchpoint with a customer is refuted or validated. This effort tells organizations where they are positively influencing customer retention and word-of-mouth or negatively influencing it. Once this is documented (mapped), the organization can more effectively plan actions that will result in a better experience. And by tying key CX metrics to sales or other goals, they can use journey mapping as a tool for uncovering CX investments that have the best return for the organization. In UX strategy, journey mapping is an effective way to understand which touchpoints intersect with systems that could benefit from improved usability to increase user satisfaction, whether those users are employees, customers or citizens. This session will cover a four-step approach to effectively integrating journey mapping into your organization’s UX strategy process, inclusive of the applicable research methods and tools that help make journey mapping most effective.”

1. Journey Mapping
Tools and
Techniques
SUMMER 2020
FALL 2020
SUMMER 2021
JOSH DELUNG
PARTNER, ICF NEXT

2. Nice to meet you.
2
I’m Josh.
I lead customer experience (CX) and user
experience (UX) teams who do research and
design projects intended to improve outcomes
for people and the organizations with which they
interact. I do that for federal government
agencies and some large private sector clients,
mostly in the health space.
Hello

3. Overview
3
We’re going to talk about…
What exactly is a journey map, really?
Tools and questions that I have found helpful at each step.
(Got ones you like? Great! Speak up.)
My 5-step process.
1
2
3

4. What is a journey map, really?
4
A chronological, visual representation of touchpoints at which a person*
interacts with another entity, integrated with their emotional responses.
*employee, customer, citizen, et al
Mila Jordan
Customer information
☻
☹
Touchpoint
Description of
touchpoint
and channel What’s going
well
What’s causing
frustration

5. Journey maps can be simple, or they can be complex.

6. They can be beautiful, and they can be basic.
6

7. Typical
Journey Map
Lanes /
Elements
7
Phases
Customer Actions and Touchpoints
Goals
Emotions
Pain Points / Moments of Delight
Opportunities
Systems and Processes

8. But aren’t systems and processes part of a service blueprint?
8
From https://flic.kr/p/68c8dQ by Brandon Schauer. Shared via CC BY-SA 2.0.
Journey maps are the
starting points for
service blueprints.
Deciding how many
things you include
behind the line of
visibility is a matter of
your research scope.

9. Process, Tools and
Techniques
The journey mapping process, and
methods and tools at each phase
9

10. 5-Step Journey Mapping Overview
10
Discover Hypothesize Research Map & Plan Act
Stakeholder research
Existing data
Questions
Ideas
Hypothesis map
Research plan
Primary research
Synthesis and insights
Opportunities
How might we
Ideation
Final mapping
Action planning
Team buy-in
Infrastructure
Prototyping and testing
Piloting and production
Continuous feedback
Measurement

11. 1. Discover
11
The purpose of this phase is to:
 Get up to speed on the organization, its
customers and any existing research or
documentation relevant to the journey
 Avoid ‘recreating the wheel’
 Understand stakeholders’ perspectives and
organizational goals
 Catalog relevant channels, departments and
other entities that influence the employee or
customer experience
 Develop key research questions
Common Activities
stakeholder interviews
intake canvas
literature review
channel/feedback inventory
preliminary customer interviews
existing research report review
environmental scan
comparative analysis
usability reviews
analytics data evaluation

12. 1. Discover
12

13. 1. Discover
13
Stakeholder interviews can ask about:
 Context/stakeholder role/perspective
 Customer journey steps
 Perceived positive points
 Perceived barriers to satisfaction
 Availability of resources
 Hypothetical satisfaction scores
 Employee experience elements

14. 1. Discover
14
Customer Interaction VoC Channel Insight
Complete a form on the website Web intercept survey Was the form understandable and
easy to find and use?
Discuss need at a field office Automated text message after
customer leaves office
Was the agency representative
courteous and empathetic? Was
the customer’s need met?
Ask question via 1-800 number Interactive voice response survey
before call disconnects
Was the customer’s question
answered? Were they on hold an
appropriate amount of time?
Complain about service received Social media platforms
(e.g., Twitter)
What concerns are customers
voicing online regarding services
provided?

15. 1. Discover
15

16. 1. Discover
16
Usability reviews can
evaluate:
 Potential impact on overall
journey based on inability to
complete tasks or frustration
 Interaction design/heuristics
 Information architecture
 Navigation/organization
 Content/labeling
 Search
 Functionality
 Accessibility

17. 2. Hypothesize the Journey
17
The purpose of this phase is to:
 Turn organizational knowledge into a draft
journey map
 Understand gaps in institutional knowledge
 Craft research questions and pinpoint
corresponding methodology and instruments to
be developed and used in the research phase
Common Activities
persona development
empathy mapping
storyboarding
low-fidelity journey map diagramming
documenting steps, systems, processes and
more (pre-mapping)
stakeholder workshop

18. 2. Hypothesize
18
Personas are archetypes that
should be based on preliminary
research and real conversations.
In marketing, they often are based
on marketability demographics. In
CX, they should be focused on the
customer’s goals.
This tool helps stakeholders
evaluate the customer journey
from the right perspective.

19. 2. Hypothesize
19
Empathy map
template

20. 2. Hypothesize
20
A hypothesis workshop is a good tool for
gathering insights from many
stakeholders, sharing preliminary findings,
conducting empathy mapping, and
crafting an initial customer journey
• Use personas as guides to sketch out customer journeys
in small groups
• Capture perceived touchpoints, goals and
positive/negative feelings on sticky notes

21. 2. Hypothesize
21
To avoid a lot of rework, try capturing initial journey data
in something low-fidelity, such as a spreadsheet.

22. 2. Hypothesize
22
You can even use an online collaborative whiteboarding tool, such as Mural

23. 3. Research
23
The purpose of this phase is to:
 Understand the behaviors, needs and emotions
of real customers
 Validate or refute hypotheses/assumptions
 Find out how meaningful different interactions
and different touchpoints are, relative to one
another
 Uncover new pain points/opportunities or
moments of delight
 Discover gaps in the hypothesized journey
phases and steps
 Gain quantitative and qualitative support for
recommended actions
Common Activities
surveys (online, email, phone, paper)
in-depth interviews
dyads and triads
focus groups (less so)
diary studies

24. 3. Research
24
There are many possible research methods you can use. Two of the most
common are interviews (qualitative) and surveys (quantitative).
Things to Consider
• Do you want qualitative or quantitative info, or both?
• Quant: What people do
• Qual: Why they do it
• Are there regulatory or compliance reviews needed?
• How large-scale should the research be?
• What matches your budget reality?
• Should all research efforts run in parallel or should early
efforts inform later approaches?
• How will data be analyzed, synthesized and reported?
What staff, timelines and tools are needed?
Things to Ask About
• Map questions to the hypothesis journey
• Ask about experiences at each phase and with each
touchpoint
• Ask for ratings and relative importance of journey
elements, product features, etc., to one another
• Understand who the influencers are
• Get open-ended information (why questions) and
illustrative anecdotes
• Try not to influence positive/negative feedback, but
be sure to ask about both pain points and moments
of delight at each stage in the journey

25. 3. Research
25
There are many tools and services that can aid in your research, dependent on your budget and the scale you hope to achieve.

26. 3. Research
26
Potential Research Outputs
 Cross-tabs and raw data
 Visualizations
 Reports and presentations
 Preliminary recommendations
 Additional research questions and
hypotheses
 Findings targeted by customer segments,
department, product or geographic region
 Persona updates
 Customer stories
Analysis:
Objective reporting of what you found.
Synthesis:
Insights about what it may mean.

27. 4. Map and Plan
27
The purpose of this phase is to:
 Use research findings to complete a verified
customer journey map
 Develop action plans based on key opportunities
to improvement the customer experience
 Identify strategies and tactics
 Review available resources
 Decide in key performance indicators
 Commit to timelines and owners
Common Activities
journey map design
action planning workshop
action plans and roadmaps
CX metrics framework

28. 4. Map and Plan
28
FACT #1: There is no one perfect tool for designing journey maps.
FACT #2: The map is just a visualization, and it matters a lot less than what
you end up doing with the research.
Designers have many different tools available to them based on
their deadline, fidelity required, skill set and budget available:
 UXPressia
 Bootstrap/web
 Adobe creative software (e.g., InDesign)
 Sketch
 Omnigraffle
 Lucidchart
 PowerPoint
 Vizio
 And just about anything else!

29. 4. Map and Plan
29
The action roadmap contains ideas generated by subject matter experts in the action planning workshop in response to the
research findings, which validated the major pain points in the journey map.
Those pain points, supported by the research, were framed into opportunities for improvement to be addressed by the action
roadmap. In the future, working groups will use the roadmap to begin tying actions to key resources and timelines for
implementation of recommended strategies and tactics.
Hypotheses
•Stakeholder
Interviews
•Preliminary
Member
Interviews
•Mapping
Workshop
Findings and Insights
•Survey
•Triad Interviews
•Research Findings
Report
•Updated Journey
Map
Action Planning
•Action Planning
Workshop
•Action Roadmap
•Working Group
Formation
•Prioritization and
Resourcing
Implementation
•Voice of the
Customer
Program
•CX Metrics
Monitoring
•Deployment of
Planned Strategies
and Tactics

30. 4. Map and Plan
30
Pains Points & Improvement Opportunities Evidence
Customers don’t know who to contact when they have an issue with a
product that they’ve purchased.
• 60% of customers were unable to identify who they should contact for help
• Customers said they had no idea they had an assigned support
representative
Customers are unaware of the rewards program but very interested in
learning more when they find out about it.
• Only 14% of customers participate in the program.
• When asked, customer wanted to get more information and start
participating, but they didn’t know where to go.
Tie evidence from research findings directly to the pain points you suggest action planning for with your working groups.

31. 4. Map and Plan
31
Hypotheses Findings
Floor representatives have the most influence on customer purchasing
decisions.
Refuted. Members consider family and friends to be more influential, and
that’s who they tend to go to for help in making decisions about which
product to buy. 80% already made up their mind before they came into the
store.
Customers are overall happy with the performance of the product.
Confirmed. 75% of customers who have used the product for at least one
year are “very satisfied” with their purchase.
Circle back with stakeholders to show where research refuted or confirmed their original hypotheses.

32. 4. Map and Plan
32
Use action plan templates in a workshop setting to collaborative solve problems. Use cross-disciplinary groups to solve 1-2 problems.
Opportunity Area
Objectives
Strategies and Tactics
Owners
Partners and Resources
Success Metrics
Timeline

33. 4. Map and Plan
33
Consider summarizing the roadmaps into a snapshot for stakeholders after initial action planning has occurred.
Customers report not being able to reach customer
support in a timely fashion
Customers say the product is too expensive in
comparison to similar products from competitors
Pain Points
Add more customer care resources and expand hours; implement
chat bot on the website
Conduct cost-benefit analysis inclusive of materials, production,
marketing and other costs to target price point improvements
• Assign working group owner and members
• Determine time and resource availability
• Develop hiring and staffing strategy
• Create backlog for IT R&D tasks
• Enlist finance and product teams for work sessions
• Pull additional market research data
• Conduct competitor analysis
Actions Next Steps

34. 5. Act
34
The purpose of this phase is to:
 Implement action plans
 Close the loop with customers
 Ensure journey mapping and customer research
mechanisms are institutionalized
 Ensure CX metrics frameworks are in place and
actively captured/synthesized for continuous
improvements
Common Activities
customer communications (messaging
framework, email, social media, etc.)
working groups/teams implement process
improvements
measure improvement against
benchmarks/metrics dashboarding
longer-term updates to journey maps

35. 5. Act
35
Most organizations stall at this point.
 Analysis paralysis
 Lack of centralized CX leadership
 No formal voice of the customer (VoC) program
 Absence of agile culture
Test ideas.
Make CX
independent.
Consolidate and
formalize VoC
collection and
reporting.
Use lean roadmaps
and agile
principles.

36. 5. Act
36
VoC program basics
Outline
goals
Inventory
and identify
gaps
Establish
baseline
metrics
Design for
actionable
feedback
Synthesize
and triage
Close the
loop!
Perception metrics
How people feel
Descriptive metrics
What happens (e.g., average hold time, clicks to
complete a transaction)
Outcome metrics
The impact on the organization (e.g., applications
processed, policy requirements met, forms
completed, downloads achieved)

37. 5. Act
37
Creating a CX measurement framework demonstrates the value of CX and the
results of your targeted improvement efforts
CX measurement uses data from customer touchpoints to understand the impact each interaction has on your organization.
Funnel Level Journey Touchpoint Type of Metric Data Collected and How Owners Influencers
Awareness Receive marketing collateral Perception
Mail house
Customer interviews
Marketing CMO/CXO
Consideration
Contact help line for more
information
Descriptive IVR survey Customer Service CMO, Call Center Directors
Review additional information
online
Perception
Web analytics
Pop-up survey
IT, Marketing, UX CTO, CMO/CXO
Use online chat feature Descriptive
Chat scripts
Survey
IT, UX, Customer Service CTO, CMO/CXO
Acquisition
Make a purchase Outcome
Time to complete purchase (e-
commerce system)
IT, UX CTO, CMO/CXO, Sales
Compare product model
features
Descriptive
Web analytics
Session recordings
Customer interviews
Product, IT, UX
CTO, CMO/CXO, COO, Product
Managers
Loyalty
Tell a neighbor about the
product
Outcome Post-purchase survey/NPS Marketing, UX, Product CMO/CXO
Uses and maintains product Perception
Online reviews
Subsequent purchases
Social media
Marketing, Product
CMO/CXO, Product Managers,
COO

38. 5. Act
38
Voice of the Customer data and dashboards help operationalize
continuous improvements

39. Planning a
journey
mapping
initiative
39
There are many ways to go about this.
You can start with a single journey and a few interviews.
Or you can conduct large-scale mixed methods studies.
It can cost a few weeks’ worth of internal work. It can cost $100,000 or
it can cost $500,000.
It can take a month, or it can take a year, depending on your
regulatory environment and other factors.
At minimum, you’ll want:
 A strategist
 1-3 researchers
 A designer, depending on the fidelity of the map
 Someone who can coordinate and facilitate stakeholders

40. Planning a
journey
mapping
initiative
40
Key questions for consideration
 Do I need survey methodologists or statisticians?
 How will I analyze and synthesize qualitative data?
 Where might I need to travel, recruit, or book facilities?
 Can I work collaboratively and asynchronously on the
hypothesis journey map?
 What level of fidelity and format works best for stakeholders for
the final product?
 Should I use research methods in parallel, in succession, or
both?
 How easy or difficult is it to reach my target audience? What
kinds of incentives will I need?
 What kinds of regulatory, IRB, internal and other approvals are
needed for research?
 Can I make my study more focused, rather than including
multiple products, services, or segments?
 What departments may have input (or be sensitive) toward this
project?

41. Thank You
41
Let’s Build Something
Beautiful Together!
41
Feel free to reach out to me with questions or ideas!
✚ josh.delung@icfnext.com
✚ https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuadelung
Josh DeLung
Partner, ICF Next
I would love to discuss your
next CX, UX, content strategy,
digital analytics or similar
project and share ideas!