What is User Journey Mapping? And how will you design a website that meets customers?

Beautiful website ... but customers are missing? Open the world. User Journey Mapping. Maps that the customer must know!

Have you ever wondered? Why the website that invests beautifully designed Use the latest technology But instead could not create sales in accordance with the target ... why the customer came in and then pressed off ... or the heavier is Add the item to the basket But disappeared quietly in the payment process? If you are encountering this classic problem I can say that you are not alone. And the main reason may not be because your website is not beautiful But because you still "Do not know customers" are good enough.

As an executive or business owner All decisions affect the direction of the company. But often we tend to decide to design "experience" online from "Our perspective". We think this button should be here. We guess customers like that ... all of which are "guessing" that is dangerous and has a high cost. Today I will take you to know one of the most powerful tools. That will help change the "guess" into a "understanding" and change the "visitor" into a "real customer". This tool is "User Journey Mapping" or "customer travel map".

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Why do customers "lost" on our website?

This problem does not happen because of bad luck. But it is caused by a large "gap" between "What we think customers want" and "what customers really want". We, as web people Often see all the overview of the website Know where every button is and what duties are doing. But for customers who just came in for the first time Our website is like "The mall that has never been to walk." They do not know which floor they want? Which way to the bathroom? Or can pay any cashier?

The main reason that causes this problem is:

• Design using hypothesis (Assumption-based Design): We "think instead." All customers Without real information to support that the path that we design is easy and reasonable for them.
• Lack of Lack of Empathy: We didn't try to play the role of a customer. Did not feel the feeling of frustration, confused, or not sure that they may encounter on the way
• Overlooking the little touch (Overlooking Micro-Moments): We may focus on large images, such as the first page, must be beautiful. Page must be complete. But forgot that the customer's experience arises from a small point Hundreds of together From reading emails, seeing advertisements, to confirmation messages after order

Creating a website without a customer's travel map It is no different from building a house without ever talking to the residents of how many bedrooms they want. Or where do you want the kitchen to be? Finally, we may get a "beautiful house" but "no one wants to stay". Understanding the data structure or Information Architecture is an important foundation for this path.

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If letting the customer "lost" next ... How will the business be damaged?

Having a website that customers use is confusing or "bad user experience" is not just a small matter that makes you feel upset. But it directly affects the business numbers And this is the cost that you may have to pay if releasing this problem:

• Lost the marketing sound for free: You can throw money to advertise Google Ads, Facebook Ads to pull people into the web. But once they came in, they couldn't find things. Can't use Then press off ... every baht that you pay is equal to "zero"
• Conversion rate plummeted down the abyss: Even if your product is good But if the order process is complicated or difficult to contact Customers will abandon their intentions. The rate of change to customers (Conversion Rate) is low.
• Lost the opportunity to create regular customers: The first bad experience is to guarantee that customers will "Do not come back again" and worse is They may continue to tell about these bad experiences to others.
• Break the brand's reliability: hard -to -use websites reflects ignorance in detail. And causing the customer to ask "Just a simple matter This is not well done. And the quality of the product or service is really reliable? "This is a big problem, especially with businesses that need high credibility. Investor Relations website
• Losing customers for competitors easily: In the online world, everything is only one click apart. If your website makes customers irritated He is ready to press off and go to a competitor that provides better experience immediately. A small problem like the web loads slowly. It may be the reason that you Lost customers without knowing

Letting customers get lost Is like opening the shop door But there are no staff to advise or help Finally, the customer will walk out to bare hands. And go to the competitor's shop that is better service

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"Customer travel map" (User Journey Map) is the solution! And where will it start?

At this point, many people have already seen that "Understand customers" how important it is and the tools that will help us achieve this target is ** User Journey Mating **

Speak as easily as possible. ** User Journey Map is drawing that shows all the steps and experiences that your customers have with your business. From the beginning that has not yet known us To be a regular customer and tell ** It's not just a click on the website. But including every touch point (Touchpoints) both online and offline It is truly trying to see the world through the eyes of customers.

The main components of good User Journey Map are often consisting of:

• 1. Persona (customer identity): Who are we making this map? Who is he with what? What concerns? The clear Persona creation is the most important starting point.
• 2. Timeline / Phases (time / steps): Divide the customer's journey into the main steps, such as creating awareness, consision (Decision), use (Service), and loyalty to the brand (Loyalty).
• 3. Touchpoints (touch points): in each step What channel customers meet or interact with us? Such as Facebook advertisements, search on google, read reviews on the web board, come to the first page of the website, talk to the administrator in Line
• 4. Actions & Mindsets (actions and ideas): in each touch point What do customers do? What are you thinking? What questions in mind? For example, "Does this website look reliable?", "Complete product information?", "Will the payment process be complicated?"
• 5. Emotions (Emotion): How do he feel in each step? excited? confused? confident? Or frustrated? The emotions in the graph will help us see the overall very clearly.
• Pain Points From all information We will clearly see that "where" we do well and "where" is a Pain Point that makes customers become frustrated or want to quit mid -vehicles. And how can we change that point to "opportunity" in development?

The beginning of the user journey mapping is not a waste of time. But is an investment to understand all the "big pictures" of customer experience Leading sources like the Nielsen Norman Group have emphasized the importance of this map to create products and services that truly meet users.

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Examples from the real thing: when online stores use Journey Map to increase sales 200%.

Theory may still look boring. Let's take a look at the case. There is a online store that sells pet equipment. They have a beautiful website on the webflow that is well designed. But instead encountered a problem with the rate of abandoning the basket (Cart Abandonment) and the purchase amount is very low.

Problems that have been encountered: The team thinks the problem may come from the price of the product or shipping. They try to do a discounted promotion. But still does not improve Every decision comes from "Sitting on a candle" in the meeting room

How to solve with Journey Map: They decided to create a user journey map for Persona. The main customer "May, the owner of the dog who cares for health" by starting the route from "Finding premium grade dog food" to "Repeat back"

What is discovered (The "AHA!" Moment):

• Pain Point 1 (Considering period): Customers are not sure which recipes are suitable for their own dogs. Because the information on the product page only has technical terms I don't understand
• Pain Point 2 (during the purchase decision): Checkout procedure forces "Apply for membership" first, which causes complications and causing many customers to abandon
• Pain Point 3 (after sales): No communication after delivery makes customers feel like being abandoned.

Changed results:

• They add "tools to help select food recipes". Answer simple questions in the product page.
• Change the checkout process to have options. "Order without membership" (Guest Checkout)
• Create an automatic email sending system to give feeding advice and request feedback after the customer has received.

Just adjust to the "opportunity" found in Journey Map within 3 months. The rate of baskets decreased by more than 60% and the overall sales increased by 200% without having to use more marketing budgets at all. This is the power of stopping and turning to "listen to" true customers. And all of this starts with having a UX/UI design team that understands the business deeply

Want to do Journey Map for your own website? Easy start in 5 steps

Read here Many people would like to try their own User Journey Map. The good news is that you don't need to use a luxurious tool or a large team. Just have a Whiteboard, Post -it, or even a simple program like Miro or Google Sheets. Start and try to follow this 5 simple steps.

1. Set goals and select Persona: Start with the question that "What are we going to make this map?" (For example, to reduce the rate of baskets, to add people to receive news), then select 1 "Persona" (Persona) that you want to understand his path the most. Do not try to do all customers at the same time. Start one by one
2. Step list (Phase) and touchpoints: Write the main steps. That the customers should come out, such as recognizing> Compare> Buy> Use> tell each step To brainstorm where customers meet us? (Such as Google Search, Social Media, Website, Email, Live Chat, Page Branch)
3. Explore actions (actions) and mindsets: at each touch point Try wearing the spirit as a customer and answer the question that "What am I doing?" And "What am I thinking or wondering?" For example, in my product page, "Read reviews" and think of "others who bought him?"
4. Specify emotions (Emotions) and draw graphs: Giving emotions in each touch point may be just simple as plus (happy), medium (only), or delete (frustrated) and then try to draw a graph. You will immediately see when the "peak point" and when the "point" of the experience.
5. Find "Pain Points" and "Opportunities": This is the most important step! Looking for the point where the emotional graph Or the point where customers have negative ideas, that is "Pain Point" that you must hurry to fix Then brainstorm that "What will we do to change the bad feeling? Can this be better? "The answer is" opportunity "in your business development. The source of data from Hubspot provides in -depth guidelines for specifying and utilizing these opportunities as well.

Just follow the 5 steps, you will get the first draft of the User Journey Map that is full of in -depth information, which is more valuable than the customer's meeting.

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Questions that executives often doubt (And the clear answer)

When talking about User Journey Mating, there are often popular questions that I often encounter. From executives and business owners Please compile and answer here.

Q1: Where are we going to get the information about how customers think or feel? Can you guess?
A: Guess is what we try to stop doing! The best information comes from "Real customer" you can do many ways, such as customer interviews, short questionnaires, reading reviews on social media or web boards, viewing data from Google Analytics to see where most people leave the website. Or even talking to the customer service team because they are people who talk directly to customers every day

Q2: Does the user journey map take a long time? And must use the big team or not?
A: It's not necessary. The first time it may take a bit (maybe 1-2 days for workshop), but the result is very worthwhile. You can start with a small team of only 3-5 people from various departments (such as Marketing, Sales, Support) to get a surrounding perspective. You don't have to be a large team.

Q3: Do it once and end, right?
A: No, the User Journey Map should be a "living document" because of the behavior of customers, technology and markets always change. You should come back to review and update this map at least once a year. Or every time there is a major change in your business

Q4: How is it different from Sales funnel?
A: It's a very good question! SALES FUNNEL, looking at the "business angle" about how we can "push" customers through each step, but the user journey map looks from the "corner of the customer", which will focus on the "experience, ideas and emotions" of the customer. Which provides deeper and more dimensions Makes us able Improve to increase conversion at the more point

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Stop guessing customers And start creating a "map" to your success!

At this point, I believe that everyone will agree that The design of online experience without understanding the customer deeply. It's like traveling without a map ... the opportunity to "lost" and "waste time" is very high.

User Journey Mapping is not just a beautiful tool. For the designer team, but it is "business compass" for executives and business owners. It is a process to change the corporate culture from "Think about customers" to "think like customers". It helps us to discover the "blind spots" that we have never seen and meet "opportunities" that we never know that exists. Investment, time and resources, and understanding the customer's path Is one of the most worthwhile investment in this digital age.

Don't let your website be just "Beautiful but empty shows" anymore Try to use the simple user Journey Map technique that I told you today, starting from Persona, just the only one you want to understand him the most. And you will be amazed by the in -depth information obtained

It's time to change the "lost person" into a "important customer"! If you are ready to upgrade the customer to the next level And want to have an expert like a navigator Our user experience design team (UX/UI) is ready to give advice and help you create a map that will lead the business to sustainable success.

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