Journey Basics: Create and Configure Journeys
Learn how to create journeys, add details, and set up the foundation for effective customer experience mapping.
Table of Contents
Journeys are the main container for your customer experience maps, representing complete customer flows from initial awareness through final outcomes. Creating well-structured journeys provides the foundation for meaningful customer experience insights.
Creating Your First Journey
Creating a journey in Journey Mapper starts with defining the scope and context of the customer experience you want to map. Navigate to your team workspace and click “Create Journey” to begin the setup process.
Journey Name and Description should clearly communicate what customer experience the journey represents. Choose names that indicate the customer segment, scenario, or timeframe, such as “New User Onboarding” or “B2B Sales Journey.” Add a description that explains the journey’s scope and objectives.
Journey Scope Definition establishes boundaries for what customer experience areas the journey will cover. Define the starting point (first customer interaction), ending point (final outcome or next journey), and key phases or milestones that structure the customer experience.
Essential Journey Configuration
Journey Settings control how your journey operates and displays. Set the journey visibility within your team, choose default touchpoint templates, and configure analytics tracking for customer experience metrics.
Customer Context defines who this journey represents and under what circumstances. Specify the target customer segment, persona, or use case that the journey addresses. Document assumptions about customer needs, goals, and constraints that influence the experience.
Business Context explains how the journey connects to business objectives and success metrics. Define what business value the journey creates, which departments own different phases, and how journey performance will be measured.
Journey Structure and Organization
Journey Phases provide logical organization for complex customer experiences. Common phases include Awareness, Consideration, Purchase, Onboarding, and Advocacy, but you can customize phases to match your specific customer experience patterns.
Success Metrics define how you’ll measure journey effectiveness. Identify key performance indicators for each journey phase, such as conversion rates, completion times, customer satisfaction scores, or business revenue attribution.
Journey Dependencies document how this journey connects to other customer experiences. Note prerequisite journeys, follow-up experiences, and touchpoints that bridge between different customer experience areas.
Journey Content Guidelines
Consistency Standards ensure journey maps maintain quality and comparability across your team’s work. Establish guidelines for touchpoint naming, detail levels, and information completeness that support effective analysis and communication.
Update Frequencies define how often journey maps should be reviewed and refreshed based on new customer data, business changes, or experience improvements. Regular updates ensure journey maps remain accurate and actionable.
Collaboration Expectations establish how team members will work together on journey development. Define roles for journey creation, review, approval, and maintenance that ensure quality while promoting efficient teamwork.
Journey Templates and Starting Points
Template Selection provides structured starting points for common journey types. Choose from pre-built templates for user onboarding, customer acquisition, support experiences, or renewal processes that match your customer experience scenario.
Custom Templates allow teams to create reusable starting points for organization-specific journey patterns. Develop templates that capture your unique customer touchpoints, business processes, and experience standards.
Import and Migration supports bringing existing customer experience documentation into Journey Mapper format. Import journey maps from other tools or convert existing customer experience documentation into interactive journey maps.
Journey Validation and Quality
Completeness Checks ensure journey maps contain sufficient detail for analysis and action. Verify that key touchpoints are documented, customer emotions are captured, and business metrics are defined for meaningful insights.
Stakeholder Review validates journey accuracy with team members who own different customer experience areas. Schedule regular reviews with marketing, sales, product, and support teams to ensure journey maps reflect current customer reality.
Customer Validation confirms journey maps accurately represent actual customer experiences. Use customer interviews, surveys, or behavioral data to validate journey map assumptions and identify gaps between intended and actual experiences.
Next Steps
With your journey created and configured, you’re ready to start mapping the specific customer touchpoints and interactions that create the complete customer experience.