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To create a customer journey map, choose a specific user and task, gather evidence from people who have experienced it, arrange what happened into stages, and map the touchpoints, needs, reactions, and obstacles along the way. Review the draft with the people who understand or deliver the service, then use it to decide what to improve.
What a customer journey map shows
A customer journey map is a visual account of a person’s experience over time: what they do, think, and feel as they try to meet a need. It can follow a service from the moment someone needs it until they stop using it. GOV.UK describes experience maps in these terms in its Service Manual guidance.
Mapping is useful when an experience crosses multiple steps, channels, locations, people, services, or organizations. It helps teams see how the service works as a whole, including handoffs and dependencies that may be invisible when each team sees only its own transaction. For example, an online form may be only one step in a process that also requires a phone call, a mailed document, or action by another organization.
1. Define the journey and the decision
Before collecting material or choosing a template, write down the question the map needs to answer. Be specific about:
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- Who: the user or customer group whose experience you are mapping.
- What starts the journey: the need, event, or task that leads the person to act.
- Where it ends: the outcome or point at which the person stops using the service.
- What the map should inform: a concrete decision, such as where to reduce repeated information requests or clarify a handoff.
Decide whether the journey is mostly linear, loops back on itself, or has distinct routes. If multiple organizations or teams control different steps, identify them early; the map may need to show their roles and the information or actions passed between them. GOV.UK recommends mapping the user’s whole problem rather than stopping at the boundary of one service or organization (Map and understand a user’s whole problem).
2. Gather evidence from people who have experienced it
Build the map from real user experience, not a team’s idealized process. Choose research methods suited to the question, and consider whether distinct user groups need to be represented separately. GOV.UK’s guide to researching user experiences recommends considering different user groups when recruiting participants.
In research sessions, ask people to describe what they did and what happened next. Capture their actions, questions, expectations, thoughts, and feelings where the evidence supports them. GOV.UK suggests allowing 60 to 90 minutes for research sessions depending on complexity; this is planning guidance, not a universal session length.
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Record events in a consistent format so the team can sort and reconstruct them later. An event card can include:
- What happened and when in the sequence.
- Who or what was involved, such as a person, service, organization, or system.
- What the participant did.
- What they thought or felt, when supported by their account.
- A short quote or reference to an artifact that anchors the event in evidence.
Keep participant and sequence identifiers on the records. This makes it possible to distinguish one person’s path from another’s and trace a finding back to its source.
3. Turn events into stages and steps
Lay out the participant journeys in time order. Look for events that recur, align common steps, and group them into stages with names that make sense to the people who will use the map. Start with a simple structure and refine it as the evidence becomes clearer.
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Do not combine journeys just to make a single, tidy story. If participants share broadly similar stages and steps, a combined map can show the common experience. If groups follow substantially different routes, preserve those differences in separate maps or clearly marked variants. A map that shows only the easiest route can hide the problems the team needs to address.
4. Add the details that explain the experience
Once the journey’s sequence is clear, add the information needed to answer your original question. A practical map may include:
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- Actions and events: what the person does at each step.
- Touchpoints and channels: where an interaction happens, including digital and offline channels.
- Needs and questions: what the person is trying to accomplish or understand.
- Thoughts and reactions: what participants report, rather than what the team assumes they feel.
- Friction: delays, confusing or duplicated content, dead ends, repeated requests, and difficult handoffs.
- Service dependencies: relevant teams, systems, or backend processes that shape what happens next.
- Evidence markers: quotes or artifacts that keep findings connected to participants’ accounts.
A common layout runs time horizontally, with stages, activities, and steps organized in a grid. The format is a means of making the evidence understandable, not a substitute for it: show what people actually experienced rather than the process the organization intended them to follow.
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5. Review the map with the people who know the service
Keep the draft visible and review it with the research team, observers, service-delivery teams, and other colleagues who understand the relevant steps. Check whether the sequence is clear, whether the map reflects the evidence, and whether important channels or handoffs are missing. Revise labels and placement where discussion exposes a misunderstanding.
Collaborative review can also reveal dependencies between teams that contribute different parts of the experience. GOV.UK’s experience-mapping guidance and whole-problem mapping guidance describe mapping as a way to help teams understand how a service works and where pain points occur.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.6. Share the map and turn findings into action
Keep a detailed version for working discussions and make a concise summary for wider audiences. The summary should make the stages and key findings easy to scan, use only a few useful quotes or images, and remain readable on screen or paper without someone having to explain it.
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Use the map to choose improvements and clarify which team owns each one. Focus on the problems tied to the journey and the decision you set at the start; a map is useful when it helps people act on what users experience, not simply when it looks complete.
Choose a format that supports the work
For an in-person session, a wall or large table, event cards, and differently colored sticky notes or index cards can help participants arrange stages, process steps, and emotional highs or lows. GOV.UK describes these as practical materials, not requirements. Once the structure is agreed, the map can be drawn in a graphics application and printed large for team use.
A template can provide a starting layout, but it should not dictate what the map contains. GOV.UK’s service-mapping guidance says there is no single map or best template for every purpose. Choose a representation that makes the scope, evidence, variations, and findings clear to its intended audience. Nielsen Norman Group also provides journey-mapping guidance and a template resource.
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