Journey Maps:
Customer journey maps are a useful tool to gain more information about a person’s experience. Like a persona, it provides in depth information and insights about what might influence someone’s behavior. It tells us not only about why a person made a certain decision, but what influenced them to make those decisions, and how they felt about the decisions they made. This type of granularity provides a wealth of information that can be incredibly helpful in targeting certain demographics.
About the Subject:
About the Trip:
Journey Map: A Visual Representation
Takeaways:
The journey map framework is a great way to hear someone’s experience in their own voice. The details they choose to give unprompted are just as revealing as this framework. In my experience it became more like the interview subject was telling a story, and I was interjecting with certain questions in between. It flowed almost as naturally as a conversation. This could be due in part to my familiarity with the subject, but I believe the format of this type of research plays a role as well.
In this case, the interview subject identified “high points” and “low points” in the planning process and their time on the trip, which spoke to how they reflect on the trip given that time has passed. It gave me insight into what parts of the planning and trip stuck out to them most, and I was able to further ask them questions about why they chose to use certain resources or consult certain people.
There is almost an abundance of information to categorize in this type of interview. Having a set journey map template or framework before going into the interview was helpful to organize my thoughts in how to present the information, and also guide my line of questioning. This leads me to believe that the process of creating a journey map for any type of research activity requires a lot of planning and consideration on how to segment someone’s journey, and how to present the information in the most compelling way that will provide more insight.