How to create a customer journey map, step by step

This guide walks through the method in nine steps. The example throughout is an online shop mapping what happens when a customer returns a faulty product, but the steps are the same for any journey. If you're not sure what goes in a map, start with what a customer journey map is.

What do you need before you start?

• A question the map should answer. "Why do so many returns end in a complaint?" is a good question. "Let's map the customer experience" isn't: it has no end.
• A few hours for a first version, ideally spread over several days.
• People who know the journey: someone from each team the customer deals with, and ideally someone who talks to customers every day.
• The evidence you already have: complaints, reviews, survey comments, analytics.
• Somewhere to draw it. Sticky notes on a wall work. A tool like Journey Maps saves typing it up afterwards and draws the feeling curve for you.

Step 1: Which journey should you map?

Pick one journey with a clear start and end, described from the customer's side. "From opening a faulty parcel to getting the money back" is a journey. "Our online shopping experience" is too big for one map.

Choose a journey where you already suspect a problem: rising complaints, a step where many people drop out, or a process that's about to change. A map that leads to a decision is worth more than a complete map of everything.

Step 2: Who is the customer?

Write down which customer you're following, in one or two sentences: who they are, what they want and what they already know. For example: "A first-time customer who ordered a kettle online, received it with a cracked lid, and wants a replacement or a refund."

Keep to facts that change the journey. A first-time customer and a regular customer return things differently; a customer's favourite hobby makes no difference. If different customers have very different journeys, make one map for each.

Step 3: What are the big phases?

Split the journey into three to six phases. For the return: Problem Discovery, Return Decision, Return Process, Refund/Exchange and Resolution.

Name them in the customer's language, not after your internal stages. "Return Decision" is something the customer goes through; "returns authorisation" is a step in your system.

Step 4: What does the customer do at each step?

Under each phase, list the steps in order. Write each one as something the customer does or something that happens to them: "Reads the Returns Policy", "Contacts Customer Support", "Waits for the Return to Be Processed".

Include the steps you don't see, like checking a bank app or searching online for how to return an item. Ten to fifteen steps is plenty for a first map. If one phase needs many more, it may be a journey of its own.

Step 5: Where does each step happen?

For each step, note the touchpoints: the channels, people and documents involved. In the return, they include the packaging, the help centre, live chat, the returns label, the drop-off point and the bank app.

Look for changes of channel. When a customer starts in a form, moves to chat and ends up on the phone, information gets lost and they have to repeat themselves. That's usually a pain point.

Step 6: How does the customer feel at each step?

Give each step a feeling on a simple scale: angry, frustrated, neutral, happy or delighted. Journey Maps draws them as a curve, so the low points and the sudden drops stand out.

Don't aim for precision. The shape matters more than the exact level: where the journey drops, and whether it recovers. In the returns example, the customer is frustrated from the moment they open the parcel, and the curve only rises above neutral when the refund arrives.

Step 7: What goes wrong at each step?

Add pain points under each step. Make them specific and, where you can, measurable: "the email reply takes more than three working days" says more than "slow support". Use the customer's own words where you have them. A quote from a complaint carries more weight in a meeting than a summary of it.

Step 8: Where does the evidence come from?

Your first draft will mix facts and guesses. That's fine, as long as you check the guesses. Good sources:

• Support tickets and complaints: what customers ask about most, in their own words.
• Reviews and survey comments, sorted by the step they're about.
• Analytics: where people drop out, how long steps take, how often they come back.
• Staff who talk to customers: support agents, salespeople, shop or reception staff.
• Customer interviews: even a handful of conversations about a recent experience can show steps nobody inside knew about.
• Doing it yourself: order something and send it back. You'll notice things no report shows.

Step 9: What should you fix first?

Now look at the whole map. Start with the steps where the feeling is lowest and where it drops most from one step to the next. In Journey Maps, the Report view lists these for you: the overall score, the biggest drop and the steps that need attention.

For each low point, write one or more ideas next to the pain point they fix. Then choose, asking three questions:

• How much would it help the customer? A fix at a low point, or one that saves the customer a second contact, usually helps more than polishing a step that already works.
• How hard is it? Some fixes are a new email or a sentence on a page; others need a new system.
• Who owns it? An idea without an owner doesn't happen.

Pick two or three changes, give each an owner and a date, and decide how you'll know it worked, for example fewer "where is my refund?" messages.

How do you keep the map useful?

• Share it with the people who weren't involved. A one-page PDF or a read-only link is easier to pass around than a photo of a wall.
• Date it. A map describes the journey at one point in time.
• Update it after each change, and check whether the curve moved where you expected.

Can you start from a template instead of a blank page?

Yes. If your journey is close to a common one, a template gives you phases, steps and typical pain points to react to, which is quicker than starting from nothing. Treat it as a first draft: rename the steps to match your process and replace the example feelings with your own evidence. See all customer journey map templates, or start with a blank map:

If you're mapping with a group, the next guide covers how to run a customer journey mapping workshop.

More guides

• What is a customer journey map? (With examples): What a customer journey map is, what goes in one (phases, steps, touchpoints, feelings, pain points and ideas), when to use one, and examples to open.
• How to run a customer journey mapping workshop: How to run a customer journey mapping workshop: who to invite, how to prepare, a 90-minute agenda, common mistakes and what to do after the session.