Journey Mapping: The Path to Great Experiences

People experience products all the time. Ours is just one more. Naturally, we will be judged based on the user's previous experiences. So, we need to understand expectations and where we surpass or fail them.

Journey mapping is a useful technique for that. It helps us track critical interactions within the product and how the user felt in each of them.

Here's how to run a session:
• Create a chart with three emotions on the Y-axis: delighted, disoriented, frustrated
• List on the X-axis significant moments/touchpoints and evaluate the interaction in each of these sections
• Observe at least ten users using the product and notice the patterns that will emerge

Although the focus is on the current experience, this exercise allows us to visualize how great the product could be if:
• What is confusing becomes clear and straightforward
• What is frustrating ceases to exist or becomes delightful
• What is delightful becomes extremely delightful

Take that and start shaping the experience you want people to have with your product in two or three years. Build a narrative based on it and share this vision with your team. Go and start building the vision. A much better experience will follow.