Build your first customer journey quickly and painlessly with this hands-on step-by-step guide.
Customer journey maps let you visualize the entire customer experience. They’re like a dynamic heads-up display of your business's key touchpoints, making problem areas a breeze to pinpoint and aligning your business with the people who matter most - your customers!
This guide will walk you through the four easy steps to making your first customer journey:
- Creating a blank journey (super easy!)
- Mapping touchpoints (might need a little prep, but no need to overdo it the first time!)
- Adding details and metrics (the fun part!)
- Manage your journey (keep developing!)
1) Create a blank journey
They say the hardest part is just getting started. We made this first step so easy that there’s absolutely no reason not to get started right away. Just go to the Journeys tab, select “New journey”, then click “Blank journey,” name it, and choose create. Nothing could be easier!
They say the hardest part is just getting started. We made this first step so easy that there’s absolutely no reason not to get started right away. Just go to the Journeys tab, select “New journey”, then click “Blank journey,” name it, and choose create. Nothing could be easier!
💡 Tip: Now you can export a PDF of your customer journey map or touchpoints. Simply navigate to the Activity map or Detail view and select "Export to PDF."
2) Add your touchpoints
Now you’ll need to stop and think. What are the top five or so ways you interact with your customers? Here are a couple of common examples to get your creative juices flowing, but it really can be anything, make sure you personalize this list to fit your needs.
- Business website
- Email marketing, newsletter, etc.
- Social media - Instagram, Facebook, TikTok
- E-shop or store
- Customer support center
- Customer reviews
If you need some more ideas, check out our Sample Activities and Touchpoints document where you find lots more examples, plus a template you can use to analyze and prioritize your own touchpoints.
Ok, the hard work’s over. Now, just add your touchpoints to your map using the + button and give it a name. If you know what phase of the journey you want to add it to, you can do so now. If you’re not sure, don’t worry, you can always adjust that later - for now just select the phase that feels right. You can find out more about phases here.
Repeat for all your touchpoints.
💡 Tip: You can quickly rearrange touchpoints along the timeline with a simple drag ‘n‘ drop
3) Add Data to your touchpoints
Now let’s get down to the fun stuff. Add data to your touchpoints to understand how customers are engaging with your business. To begin, navigate to the Detail view either by clicking on a touchpoint or selecting “Detail.”
Here you can
- Add a description
- Add visuals
- Provide links
- Connect your KPIs
- Set an owner, and much more
Describe your touchpoint
Give your touchpoint a clear, concise description that lets your team quickly grasp its essence. Be specific about what you want to achieve and how you want customers to engage with you at this step of their journey. Here’s an example:
“The Dreamcatcher blog is where customers engage with content that highlights our commitment to sustainability. This is where we educate on eco-friendly practices, showcase our expertise, and ultimately drive engagement and conversions.”
Add visuals
They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, and at Out of Dark, we couldn’t agree more. Add images and visuals to your touchpoints to bring them to life, set the tone, and quickly convey what they are about.
Link important sites and documents
Now add one or more important links that relate to your touchpoints to make sure the relevant information is right at your fingertips. These could lead to your website, blog, social media accounts, Google Analytics, Google Docs, important reports, or anything else you choose.
💡 Tip: Need to add more data to your journey? Click the add widget button and select the type of information you’d like to include. To rate how you feel about the touchpoint, add the Satisfaction widget. See more here for a complete description of all the widgets in Out of Dark.
Connect your KPIs
What you measure is what you get. Connect your key KPIs and keep track of how they’re doing.
Start by hovering your mouse over the metrics widget of your touchpoint and then selecting “Add metric.” Next, choose one of the metrics from the drop-down menu, or create your own. For a detailed description of each metric visit Metrics. Click the pencil icon, and add or update your data for this KPI by clicking “Add data.” Now just enter your data and click “Create.” Awesome, you’ve connected your first data point!
Note: Syncing with Google Analytics, Looker, Hotjar, Google Ads, Social meda, HubSpot, and much more coming soon!
💡 Tip: You can set up alerts for your KPIs to help you nip problems in the bud. Learn how to do that here.
4) Manage your journey
Great job, you’ve set up your first journey! Here’s how you can take it a step further.
- Add important metrics to your dashboard - Hover over your metric and click the pencil icon, then go to “Source” and select “Display on dashboard.”
- Assign touchpoint owners - Hover over the “Owners” widget and click the pencil icon. Select an owner from the drop-down menu, set a check-in interval.
- Keep developing! - Regularly review journey progress with your team, evaluate data for individual touchpoints, and look for ways to improve on them.
💡 Tip: Look for ways to improve your customer interactions and touchpoints. Once you have an idea, try adding an opportunity and an action to get the ball rolling and start optimizing!
Ok, so you’ve created a journey, added your touchpoints, and synced up your KPIs. Now what? Find out how to take your journey to the next level.
💡 Tip: Need some help? Set up a 1:1 onboarding session. We’d love to help you get started mapping!