Creating a Customer Journey Map Step 4: Your Visual Map

It’s the final step on what has amounted to your own journey… the act of making a visual map that your customers move through as they interact with your business at various points.

With everything you’ve put into this so far, this step is going to be a breeze.

Begin with your company’s touchpoints

The foundation of your customer journey map is going to be the touchpoints you’ve outlined.

If you are still auditing and refining these, it’s okay.

The main thing is to get them marked out in a visual way – whether it’s through post-its or a tool like LucidChart.

Each touchpoint should literally be a point on the map. The trajectory of the map should move ultimately from touchpoints that have to do with discovery (like landing on a social post), to awareness and research (like getting emails in a nurture sequence), to the ultimate goal of your business (making a purchase, or booking a service).

There may be touchpoints that don’t form in a line and that’s okay.

For example, when someone signs up for your email newsletter, you may have them refine their interests. That action may segment them to another part of your list where they journey on a path that slightly veers away from the main one but still ends up with them making a purchase.

Whatever it may look like for your company, be sure to map out each touchpoint.

Make the map accessible by everyone in your company

This step is what pulls all of your work together.

Everyone, no matter their “rank” in your company, should be aware of the customer journey map and should have access to it.

The map should help members of your operations team understand how they fit into the bigger picture, and it should do the same for members of customer service, fulfillment, product supply, and so on.

When each team looks at the map, they should understand how their efforts have a trickle up and down effect.

And, above all, they should understand how collaborating across teams can result in the company achieving its ultimate goal.

Set aside time to revisit the map periodically

Your customer journey map shouldn’t remain static. It’s a living document that must be revisited periodically to ensure it stays fresh and relevant.

This is especially important when you notice a big shift in customer behavior, or if you’re planning on making major changes to your website or core product offerings.

At minimum, the map should be revisited semi-annually, though you may want to increase this depending on what market your company is in.

Don’t underestimate the power of having micro-maps

A micro customer journey map is exactly what it sounds like – a miniature, zoomed in version of your large map but specific to a certain team.

Your operations team, for example, may want their section of the map broken down to a micro map so they can really dig into what is expected of them. It can assist in keeping team members on tasks, and accountable for their work. It can also assist in sparking creativity and collaboration.

Another way to think of a micro map is based on a seasonal or promotional schedule. Some businesses have cyclical promotions – for example, maybe every year around Black Friday your company runs a similar promotion. If you create a journey map for that promotion, you can stop reinventing the wheel each time October rolls around as you prep for the upcoming promotion.

And that wraps it up! You’ve now gone through all four steps necessary to create your own customer journey map. Give yourself a HUGE pat on the back because what you’ve just created is going to be irreplaceable for your business.