ROI【🔏CLASSIFIED CASE FILE】 No. X021 | What is Customer Journey Map

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Detective's Note: A methodology frequently observed in UX design and marketing departments - the "Customer Journey Map." This tool visualizes the chronological experience from customer discovery of products/services through purchase, usage, and recommendation, allegedly possessing the power to connect fragmented customer touchpoints as a "story" and uncover true customer experience. However, reports consistently indicate that many companies are satisfied with "touchpoint enumeration," losing sight of the original purposes of emotional change analysis and improvement opportunity identification. Why is it important to view customer experience as a "journey"? We must uncover the true identity of the experience design mechanism and how chronological touchpoint mapping promotes organizational transformation and customer value enhancement.

What is Customer Journey Map - Case Overview

Customer Journey Map - a customer experience visualization methodology developed in UX design and service design fields since the late 2000s. Recognized among our clients as a strategic tool that chronologically organizes all processes where customers interact with products/services, comprehensively mapping behaviors, thoughts, emotions, and touchpoints at each stage. However, in actual practice, most companies use it superficially as "touchpoint enumeration work," with insufficient concrete utilization for customer emotion change analysis and experience improvement, unable to connect to true customer-centric management transformation.

Investigation Memo: Customer experience structuring through chronology and emotion change visualization. Seemingly complex, yet behind this lies clear design philosophy: "understanding fragmented touchpoints as integrated experience" and "sharing customer perspective beyond organizational silos." We must uncover why "journey" and the mechanism connecting experience design to business results.

Basic Structure of Customer Journey Map - Evidence Analysis

Primary Evidence: Components of Customer Journey Map

Chronological Phases

"Staged development of customer experience"
・Awareness: Discovering existence
・Consideration: Comparing and considering
・Purchase: Deciding and purchasing
・Usage: Using and experiencing
・Retention: Continuing and repurchasing
・Advocacy: Recommending to others

Customer Actions

"Specific behaviors customers take at each stage"
・Information search and collection behavior
・Comparison and consideration behavior
・Inquiry and consultation behavior
・Purchase and contract behavior
・Usage and utilization behavior
・Evaluation and sharing behavior

Thoughts & Emotions

"Customer inner states at each stage"
・What they think and feel
・Expectations, anxieties, joy, dissatisfaction
・Motivations, concerns, questions
・Satisfaction, stress, surprise
・Trust, disappointment, excitement

Touchpoints

"Contact points between customers and companies"
・Website, SNS, advertisements
・Stores, sales, call centers
・Products, services, packaging
・Bills, emails, apps
・After-sales service, support

Channels

"Places and media where touchpoints occur"
・Online: Web, apps, SNS, email
・Offline: Stores, phone, face-to-face, print media
・Devices: PC, smartphone, tablet
・Physical: Products, stores, delivery, events

Pain Points

"Challenges, dissatisfactions, obstacles customers feel"
・Information shortage, unclear communication
・Complex procedures, waiting times
・Gaps with expectations, quality issues
・Insufficient support, inadequate responses
・Price and cost burden perception

Opportunities

"Possibilities for improvement and innovation"
・Experience enhancement points
・New service and feature possibilities
・Opportunities for creating excitement and surprise
・Room for efficiency and simplification
・Sources of differentiation and competitive advantage

Evidence Analysis: The brilliance of Customer Journey Map lies in viewing customer experience as a "line" rather than "points," simultaneously visualizing emotion changes and organizational responses. This incorporates structure for converting organizational activities prone to partial optimization into overall optimization from customer perspective.

Customer Journey Map Implementation Process - Investigation Methods

Investigation Discovery 1: Concrete Journey Map Example (Online English Conversation Service)

Case Evidence (30s Office Worker's English Learning Journey):

【Awareness Phase】
Actions: Google search for "career change English skills"
Thoughts & Emotions: Need English for promotion, but no time (anxiety, urgency)
Touchpoints: Search ads, comparison sites, SNS ads
Channels: Smartphone, PC
Pain Points: Too much information, can't choose
Opportunities: Clear purpose-specific course proposals

【Consideration Phase】
Actions: Comparing multiple services' pricing and reviews
Thoughts & Emotions: "Will I really improve?" "Can I continue?" (anxiety, concern)
Touchpoints: Official websites, review sites, friends' testimonials
Channels: PC, smartphone, face-to-face
Pain Points: Complicated trial lesson procedures
Opportunities: Simple aptitude assessment and level testing

【Purchase Phase】
Actions: Trial lesson application, attendance, contract
Thoughts & Emotions: "Teacher is kind" "I think I can continue" (expectation, relief)
Touchpoints: Trial lesson, sales explanation, contract procedures
Channels: Online, phone, web
Pain Points: Complex contract procedures
Opportunities: Smooth payment, same-day start

【Usage Phase】
Actions: Regular lesson attendance, preparation/review, progress monitoring
Thoughts & Emotions: "Feeling improvement" → "Routine" → "Motivation decline"
Touchpoints: Lessons, materials, app, progress reports
Channels: PC, smartphone, tablet
Pain Points: Booking difficulties, motivation maintenance challenges
Opportunities: AI learning assistant, gamification

【Retention Phase】
Actions: Course renewal, additional service usage
Thoughts & Emotions: "Getting results" "Feeling investment value" (satisfaction, continuation desire)
Touchpoints: Results measurement, renewal proposals, additional service information
Channels: App, email, phone
Pain Points: Cost burden feeling, reduced growth sensation at advanced levels
Opportunities: Results visualization, special programs for advanced learners

【Advocacy Phase】
Actions: Recommendations to colleagues/friends, SNS posts
Thoughts & Emotions: "Want to share good service" (gratitude, pride)
Touchpoints: Referral program, SNS, review sites
Channels: SNS, face-to-face, email
Pain Points: Insufficient appeal of referral benefits
Opportunities: Enhanced benefits for both referrers and referees

Investigation Discovery 2: Organizational Impact and Utilization Methods

Cross-departmental Improvement Actions:

Marketing Department:
・Information provision improvement at awareness stage
・Anxiety-relief content at consideration stage
・Targeting accuracy improvement

Sales & Customer Service Department:
・Trial lesson quality enhancement
・Contract procedure simplification
・Continuation support strengthening

Product Development Department:
・App feature improvements
・Gamification introduction
・AI learning function development

Management:
・Investment decisions for customer experience enhancement
・Inter-departmental coordination promotion
・KPI setting review

Investigation Discovery 3: Creation Process

Step 1: Target Customer and Scenario Setting
・Persona and target customer clarification
・Analysis scope and period determination
・Team formation and role assignment

Step 2: Current State Research and Information Gathering
・Customer interviews and surveys
・Behavioral observation and data analysis
・Existing customer response record collection
・Competitor experience research

Step 3: Journey Map Creation
・Phase and stage setting
・Element organization for each stage
・Team workshop implementation
・Visual map completion

Step 4: Problem and Opportunity Identification
・Pain point prioritization
・Improvement opportunity evaluation and selection
・Feasibility and impact analysis
・Department-specific action plan formulation

Step 5: Execution, Measurement, and Improvement
・Specific initiative implementation
・Effect measurement and KPI monitoring
・Customer feedback collection
・Continuous map updates

The Power of Customer Journey Map - Hidden Truths

Alert File 1: Organizational Silo Elimination Converts traditional departmental and functional thinking to integrated thinking from customer perspective. Builds foundation for marketing, sales, development, and support to collaborate and design/provide consistent customer experience.

Alert File 2: Differentiation Through Emotion Design Enables experience design conscious of emotional value, not just functional value. Achieves differentiation from competitors and long-term relationship building by predicting and managing customer emotion changes.

Alert File 3: Clear Improvement Priority Setting Identifies areas with highest customer value and business impact from numerous improvement candidates. Maximizes investment efficiency through effective resource allocation.

Alert File 4: Preventive Problem Solving Predicts problems before customers feel dissatisfaction or churn, implementing preventive measures. Improves customer satisfaction and efficiency through shift from reactive to proactive response.

Limitations and Cautions of Customer Journey Map - Potential Dangers

Alert File 1: Idealization and Oversimplification Trap Actual customer behavior is complex and non-linear, but journey maps tend to represent it as simple chronology. Real customers often move back and forth, following multiple paths simultaneously.

Alert File 2: Creation Work Becomes Purpose Cases where creating beautiful maps becomes the goal, failing to connect to actual improvement actions or results creation. "Create and satisfy" syndrome preventing true customer experience enhancement.

Alert File 3: Generalization and Averaging Limitations Maps based on specific personas or typical examples may overlook differences among diverse customer segments. Risk of undervaluing experience differences by age, region, usage purpose.

Alert File 4: Static Snapshot Constraints Confined to single-point journey map creation, unable to respond to customer behavior or market environment changes. Customer behavior is changing rapidly, especially with digitalization progress.

Alert File 5: Internal Perspective Contamination Cases where company convenience and assumptions infiltrate, losing true customer perspective. Divergence between "journey companies want to show" and "journey customers actually experience."

Applications and Related Methods of Customer Journey Map - Related Case Files

Related Evidence 1: Integrated Use with Empathy Map

Empathy Map (Customer Understanding) → Journey Map (Experience Design):
・Persona psychological state detailed description
・Emotion change refinement at each stage
・Experience design based on deeper customer empathy
・Team customer understanding unification

Related Evidence 2: Coordination with 4P Analysis and BSC

Journey Map → Marketing Strategy:
・Product: Function design according to needs at each stage
・Price: Pricing strategy at value realization timing
・Place: Optimal channel selection and integration
・Promotion: Stage-specific messages and content

Journey Map → BSC Indicators:
・Customer perspective KPI refinement
・Results measurement indicator setting for each stage

Related Evidence 3: Combination with RFM Analysis

Integration of Quantitative Analysis + Experience Analysis:
・[RFM](/behind_case_files/articles/X014_RFM) segment-specific journey creation
・Purchase behavior pattern and experience relationship analysis
・Experience optimization according to segment characteristics
・Effective customer development strategies

Related Evidence 4: Integration with Omnichannel Strategy

・Consistent experience design across multiple channels
・Customer data integration between channels
・Optimal channel mix determination
・Seamless customer experience realization

Related Evidence 5: Coordination with Agile and Design Thinking

・Short-term prototype and testing
・Continuous customer feedback collection
・Rapid improvement cycle realization
・Experience improvement based on hypothesis validation

Conclusion - Investigation Summary

Final Investigator Report:

Customer Journey Map represents "a strategic map that integrates customer experience as a story and promotes organizational transformation." Chronological visualization of touchpoints, behaviors, and emotions possesses the power to convert fragmented customer responses into integrated experience design, promoting transformation toward true customer-centric management.

The most impressive aspect of this investigation was the "organizational transformation promotion effect" of Customer Journey Map. Beyond a mere customer understanding tool, it eliminates departmental silos and promotes company-wide customer experience enhancement efforts. When marketing, sales, development, and support share the same customer "journey," organization-wide customer-centric thinking is fostered.

The importance of differentiation through emotion design also became apparent. Experience design conscious of customer emotions at each stage, not just functional value, enables differentiation from competitors and long-term relationship building. The shift from "what to provide" to "what kind of experience to create" becomes the key to modern business success.

However, the trap many companies fall into—"creation work becomes the purpose"—also emerged clearly. Cases frequently occur where satisfaction with creating beautiful maps fails to connect to actual improvement actions or results creation. The true value of Journey Map lies not in "creating" but in "continuously utilizing and improving actual customer experience."

Integrated utilization with other customer understanding and strategic analysis methods was also an important discovery. Deep customer understanding through Empathy Map, quantitative segmentation through RFM analysis, and strategic planning through 4P analysis enable construction of more effective customer experience improvement systems.

The potential for evolution in the digital age is also significant. Omnichannel response, real-time data utilization, AI predictive analysis—more dynamic and precise journey map creation and operation using new technologies becomes possible.

The most important discovery is that Customer Journey Map functions beyond an "analysis tool" as a "transformation tool." By visualizing customer journeys, it converts organizational perspective from inward to outward, promoting behavioral change toward true customer value creation. This represents the true power of this experience design methodology.

Customer Experience Maxim: "Superior companies accompany customers on their journeys, continuously creating excitement and value at every step."

Case Closed