journey-mapping
Journey Mapping is a skill for creating visual representations of customer experiences across all touchpoints, from awareness through advocacy. Use it when teams lack a shared understanding of the user experience, when friction points need diagnosis across multiple channels, or when aligning cross-functional stakeholders on service design. The skill produces customer journey maps showing user emotions and pain points plus service blueprints revealing back-stage systems and employee actions supporting the experience.
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/rampstackco/claude-skills /tmp/journey-mapping && cp -r /tmp/journey-mapping/dist/pi/.agents/skills/journey-mapping ~/.claude/skills/journey-mappingSKILL.md
# Journey Mapping Build journey maps and service blueprints that surface friction, align teams, and identify opportunities. Stack-agnostic. Tool-agnostic. This skill is for mapping the experience. For testing specific touchpoints, use `usability-testing`. For broader generative research, use `ux-research`. For analyzing conversion, use `cro-optimization`. --- ## When to use - Departments have different mental models of the customer experience - Customer experience feels disjointed across touchpoints - Specific friction or drop-off points need diagnosis - Strategic planning needs a shared view of the user - Service design (front-stage and back-stage) needs alignment - New product or feature needs to be designed in context of broader experience ## When NOT to use - Testing a single touchpoint or page (use `usability-testing`) - Generative research before journey mapping (use `ux-research`) - Operational process mapping that doesn't involve users - Funnel optimization (use `cro-optimization`) --- ## Required inputs - Identified user persona or segment to map (one map per segment) - Existing research and data about that segment - Cross-functional access (you cannot map back-stage without ops/support/engineering input) - Time and stakeholder commitment (a real journey map is a project, not an afternoon) --- ## The framework: 3 deliverables ### 1. Customer journey map The user-facing view of the experience. **Structure (rows / lanes):** - **Phase.** The major stages in the journey (e.g., Awareness, Consideration, Onboarding, Activation, Retention, Advocacy). Phases vary by product type. - **Steps.** Specific things the user does within each phase. - **Touchpoints.** Where the user interacts with the product, brand, or service (web, app, email, support, social, in-person). - **Goals.** What the user is trying to accomplish at this step. - **Thoughts.** What's going through their mind. - **Emotions.** The emotional state (often visualized on a curve). - **Pain points.** Where things go wrong, friction, frustration. - **Opportunities.** Where the experience could improve. **Format:** Typically a horizontal timeline with vertical lanes for each row. Phases across the top, touchpoints, thoughts, emotions, etc. underneath. ### 2. Service blueprint The back-stage view that supports the customer-facing experience. **Adds these layers below the journey map:** - **Front-stage actions.** What employees do that the user sees (sales calls, support chats, in-store interactions). - **Back-stage actions.** What happens behind the scenes (order fulfillment, data processing, internal handoffs). - **Supporting processes.** Systems, vendors, infrastructure (CRM, payment processors, fulfillment partners). - **Lines of visibility.** The line between front-stage (visible to user) and back-stage (invisible). The service blueprint shows where customer-facing problems originate in back-stage failures (e.g., the user's "shipping is slow" experience traces to a vendor handoff issue). ### 3. Synthesized opportunity map Output of the mapping work. **Captures:** - **Top friction points.** Where the experience consistently fails users. - **Untapped opportunities.** Moments where the experience could surprise and delight. - **Disconnects.** Where front-stage and back-stage are misaligned. - **Strategic gaps.** Where competitors have something the brand lacks (or vice versa). - **Quick wins.** Low-effort, high-impact improvements. - **Strategic bets.** Higher-effort transformations. This is the deliverable that produces decisions. The journey map and service blueprint are inputs; the opportunity map is the output that drives action. --- ## Common phases by product type ### Most products ``` Awareness → Consideration → Decision → Onboarding → Active use → Renewal/Repurchase → Advocacy ``` ### SaaS ``` Trigger → Discovery → Evaluation → Trial → Onboarding → Activation → Habit → Expansion → Renewal → Advocacy ``` ### Ecommerce ``` Need recognition → Discovery → Research → Decision → Purchase → Wait/Anticipation → Receive → Use → Reorder/Recommend ``` ### Service ``` Awareness → Inquiry → Quote → Decision → Service delivery → Resolution → Follow-up → Repeat business ``` ### Healthcare / high-stakes purchases ``` Trigger → Research → Provider selection → Appointment → Treatment → Recovery → Follow-up → Long-term outcome ``` Phases are not mandatory. Start with the user's actual experience and let the phases emerge from the steps. --- ## How to gather the inputs A good journey map combines multiple sources of truth. ### From users - **In-depth interviews.** Walk users through their actual experience. Ask for specifics from a recent occurrence. - **Diary studies.** Users log their experience over the duration of the journey. - **Surveys.** Quantitative signal at scale; less depth. ### From the business - **Internal interviews.** Sales, support, success, ops. They see the experience from different angles than product or design. - **Operational data.** Funnel data, support ticket categories, NPS responses, churn reasons. - **System inventory.** What touchpoints exist, what tools support them, what data flows where. ### Cross-validate - The user's experience as they describe it - The data the business has about their behavior - The internal team's perception of the experience These three views often disagree. The disagreements are themselves findings. --- ## Workflow 1. **Define scope.** One persona, one journey, one timeframe. Trying to map all users in one map produces a mess. 2. **Gather inputs.** User interviews, internal interviews, operational data. Plan 2 to 4 weeks for inputs. 3. **Draft the journey.** Phases, steps, touchpoints. Get to a working draft fast; iterate. 4. **Add the layers.** Goals, thoughts, emotions, pain points. 5. **Build the service blueprint.** Front-stage, back-stage, supporting processes. 6. **Identify opportunities.** Use the friction points and discon
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