Customer Journey Mapping Exercise (With Debrief)

Do you want to conduct the customer journey mapping exercise with your teams?

Understanding your customer is the key to business success. A customer journey map visually represents a customer’s experience with your company. It highlights their feelings, motivations, and pain points at every touchpoint. By mapping this journey, your teams can identify opportunities to improve the customer experience and build stronger relationships.

In this article, let’s see how to conduct a customer journey mapping exercise with your teams.

Here is an overview of the sections in this article:

• The primary goals of conducting a customer journey mapping activity.

• Five different variations of the exercise, complete with instructions.

• Key tips for facilitators to ensure a smooth and productive session.

• Answers to frequently asked questions about the process.

Objective of the Activity

The main purpose of a customer journey mapping exercise is to foster a deep, shared understanding of the customer experience across your team. It shifts the focus from internal processes to the external user perspective.

Below are the key objectives you can achieve with this activity.

Develop Empathy for Customers

This exercise encourages team members to step into the customer’s shoes. By tracing their steps, thoughts, and emotions, participants develop a stronger sense of empathy. This emotional connection helps teams make more customer-centric decisions. They start to see customers not just as data points but as real people with specific needs.

Identify Customer Pain Points

A journey map is an effective tool for uncovering obstacles and frustrations a customer faces. These “pain points” are moments where the experience breaks down or fails to meet expectations. Identifying these issues is the first step toward resolving them. Teams can pinpoint exact stages where customers might feel confused, annoyed, or unsupported.

Pinpoint Opportunities for Improvement

Beyond just finding problems, journey mapping reveals opportunities for innovation. As teams analyze each stage of the journey, they can brainstorm ways to enhance the experience. These opportunities might include simplifying a process, adding a new feature, or providing more helpful information. The map can highlight moments where a small change could create a “wow” moment for the customer.

Align Teams Around a Shared Vision

When different departments like marketing, sales, and product work together on a journey map, they build a unified view of the customer. This collaborative process breaks down internal silos. Everyone gains a common language and understanding of the customer’s path. This alignment is crucial for delivering a consistent and seamless experience across all touchpoints.

Create a Customer-Centric Culture

Regularly engaging in this exercise reinforces a customer-centric mindset throughout the company. It makes understanding the customer a continuous and collective responsibility, not a one-time task for a specific department. This activity fosters a culture where every employee feels empowered to contribute to improving the customer experience. Over time, this focus on the customer becomes embedded in the company’s DNA.

5 Variations of the Customer Journey Mapping Exercise

Here are 5 variations of the customer journey mapping activity you can conduct with your teams.

#1. The Classic Journey Map

This version provides a comprehensive overview of the customer’s entire experience from initial awareness to post-purchase loyalty. It is an excellent starting point for teams new to journey mapping.

Time: 10-20 minutes
Materials: Whiteboard, sticky notes, and markers
Participants: 3-8 people per group

Instructions

• Ask each team to define a specific customer persona and a scenario, such as a first-time buyer purchasing a product online.

• Have them brainstorm and write down the key stages of the customer’s journey on the whiteboard (e.g., Awareness, Consideration, Purchase, Service, and Loyalty).

• For each stage, teams should use sticky notes to map out the customer’s actions, thoughts, and feelings. For instance, under the ‘Purchase’ stage, a thought might be “Is this the best price I can find?”.

• Encourage teams to identify pain points and moments of delight at each stage, marking them with different colored notes.

Debrief

• What was the most surprising insight you gained about our customer’s experience?

• Which pain point should we prioritize addressing first and why?

• How can we transform a neutral or negative touchpoint into a positive one?

#2. The “Day in the Life” Map

This activity focuses on the broader context of the customer’s life, showing how your product or service fits into their daily routine. It helps uncover needs and opportunities beyond direct interactions with your brand.

Time: 10-20 minutes
Materials: Large paper sheets, colored pens, and magazines for images (optional)
Participants: 3-8 people per group

Instructions

• Provide each group with a persona and ask them to map out a typical day for that person from morning to night.

• Ask them to identify all activities, tools, and interactions the customer has throughout the day, not just those related to your company.

• Instruct the groups to pinpoint moments where your product or service is used, or could be used. For example, a customer might use your project management app during their morning commute on the train.

• Have them note the customer’s goals and frustrations during these moments.

Debrief

• Where does our brand fit into the customer’s daily life, and where are the missed opportunities?

• What external factors influence our customer’s decision to use our product?

• How can we make our solution more integrated into their daily routine?

#3. The Future State Map

This forward-looking exercise challenges teams to design the ideal customer journey of the future. It encourages creative thinking and innovation by focusing on what could be, rather than what currently is.

Time: 10-20 minutes
Materials: Flip chart paper, sticky notes in multiple colors, and markers
Participants: 3-8 people per group

Instructions

• Ask teams to choose a specific pain point from a current-state journey map.

• Instruct them to brainstorm and map out a new, ideal journey that completely eliminates this pain point.

• Have them think big, ignoring current technical or budget limitations. For instance, if the pain point is long wait times, the future state map might include instant AI-driven support.

• Encourage teams to describe the new actions, tools, and emotions the customer would experience in this improved journey.

Debrief

• What is the most impactful change we envisioned in the ideal journey?

• Which elements of this future state are actionable for us in the next quarter?

• What would be the biggest benefit to the customer if we implemented this new journey?

#4. The Empathy Map

This variation zooms in on the customer’s internal experience, focusing on what they think, feel, see, and hear. It is a powerful tool for building deep emotional understanding of your user.

Time: 10-20 minutes
Materials: Empathy map template (pre-drawn on a whiteboard or paper), sticky notes, and pens
Participants: 3-8 people per group

Instructions

• Give each team a persona and a specific situation, like trying to resolve a support ticket.

• Ask them to fill out the four quadrants of the empathy map: Says, Thinks, Does, and Feels, using sticky notes.

• Instruct them to consider the user’s environment to fill out what they might see and hear. For example, a customer might see confusing error messages on a screen.

• Have the teams summarize the customer’s primary pains and gains based on the insights from the map.

Debrief

• What is the biggest disconnect between what the customer says and what they think or feel?

• What external influences (what they see or hear) have the most impact on their experience?

• How can we better address the customer’s underlying feelings of frustration or confusion?

#5. The Service Blueprint

This detailed map connects the customer-facing journey with the backstage employee actions and internal processes that support it. It is ideal for identifying operational inefficiencies and improving service delivery.

Time: 10-20 minutes
Materials: Whiteboard or large paper, and sticky notes of at least three colors
Participants: 3-8 people per group

Instructions

• Have groups map out a simple customer journey on the top line of the whiteboard.

• Instruct them to create parallel lanes below for “Onstage Actions” (what employees do in front of the customer) and “Backstage Actions” (what happens behind the scenes).

• Using different colored notes, ask them to fill in the corresponding employee actions for each customer step. For instance, when a customer clicks ‘buy,’ a backstage action is the system processing the payment.

• Have groups draw lines connecting the different layers to show dependencies and identify potential failure points in the internal process.

Debrief

• Where do our internal processes create bottlenecks or delays for the customer?

• Which backstage action, if improved, would have the biggest positive impact on the customer experience?

• How can we better support our front-line employees to deliver a superior service?

Tips for Successful Facilitation

Facilitating a customer journey mapping activity requires more than just providing materials. A great facilitator guides the process to ensure it is productive, inclusive, and insightful.

Here are some tips to help you lead a successful session.

Set a Clear Goal

Before the session begins, define what you want to achieve. Are you trying to identify pain points in the current onboarding process, or are you brainstorming a future state for customer support? Communicate this specific goal to the participants at the start of the meeting. A clear objective helps keep the team focused. It prevents the discussion from becoming too broad or sidetracked.

Prepare the Right Materials

Preparation is essential for a smooth session. Make sure you have all the necessary supplies, such as a large whiteboard or flip chart paper, plenty of sticky notes in various colors, and good-quality markers. If you are using a specific template like an empathy map, draw it out beforehand. Having everything ready allows the team to dive straight into the activity without delays.

Encourage Diverse Perspectives

A customer journey map is most valuable when it includes a wide range of viewpoints. Ensure your groups include people from different departments, such as marketing, sales, product development, and customer support. Each person brings a unique piece of the puzzle. A developer might understand technical limitations, while a support agent knows the most common customer complaints. Encourage everyone to contribute their knowledge.

Keep the Focus on the Customer

Throughout the activity, it is easy for teams to slip back into an internal mindset, focusing on business processes or technical constraints. As a facilitator, your role is to constantly steer the conversation back to the customer. Use prompts like, “What would the customer be thinking right now?” or “How would this feel from their perspective?”. Use the chosen persona’s name frequently to keep the customer front and center.

Define Actionable Next Steps

A journey mapping session should not end when the map is complete. The real value comes from the actions taken based on the insights gained. At the end of the session, dedicate time to discuss what you have learned. Ask the group to prioritize the pain points and opportunities they have identified. Work together to define clear, actionable next steps. Assign owners and set deadlines for these actions.

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Final Words

Conducting this exercise is a powerful way to unite your team around a shared understanding of your customers. This activity moves beyond assumptions, providing a clear view of the user’s actual experience. By identifying pain points and moments of delight, you can pinpoint exactly where to focus your improvement efforts. The collaborative nature of the exercise breaks down silos and fosters a customer-centric culture. Ultimately, these insights lead to better products, happier customers, and a stronger business.

FAQ: Customer Journey Mapping Exercise

You might have these questions in mind.

How often should we do a customer journey mapping exercise?

It is a good practice to revisit your customer journey maps at least once a month or whenever there is a significant change in your product, service, or market. Regular updates ensure your understanding of the customer remains current. You might also conduct a session when launching a new feature to anticipate the user experience.

Who should be involved in a journey mapping session?

For the best results, include a cross-functional group of employees. This should ideally involve representatives from marketing, sales, product development, design, and customer support. Including different roles provides a 360-degree view of the customer experience, leading to more comprehensive and accurate insights.

What is the difference between a journey map and a service blueprint?

A customer journey map focuses purely on the customer’s experience: their actions, thoughts, and emotions. A service blueprint goes deeper by connecting that customer journey to the internal processes and employee actions that enable it. The blueprint includes both “onstage” (visible to customer) and “backstage” (invisible to customer) actions, making it a more operational tool.

Can we create a journey map for an internal process?

Yes, absolutely. The principles of journey mapping can be applied to map the experience of internal users, such as employees. For instance, you could map an employee’s onboarding journey or their experience using a new internal software. This can help improve employee satisfaction and operational efficiency.

What do we do after creating the map?

The map itself is just the beginning. After creating it, your team should analyze the findings to identify key pain points and opportunities. Prioritize these insights based on their impact on the customer and feasibility for the business. Finally, create a clear action plan with assigned owners and timelines to implement improvements.

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