Do you know about user journey mapping? If not, you may be missing out on an important part of web development. When designing a site, it’s great to make it pretty and have plenty of bells and whistles. But if all these elements are not done well, they can create a bad experience for site users.
The goal is to design a beautiful site, which provides an excellent user experience. User journey mapping is a great tool to use to ensure the UX meets users’ needs and preferences.
What is User Journey Mapping?
User journey mapping, also called the customer journey, is the path a user takes to reach their goal when using the website. User journeys are designed to identify those areas that help the user accomplish their task easily and quickly.
The user journey map can help you learn how the user interacts with the site. User journey mapping requires research on who is using the site, what they need, and their UX with the site.
Why User Journey Mapping is Beneficial
User journey mapping helps you have a good understanding of how to get the user from the homepage to the information they’re seeking, as well as what action is needed.
1. Improve User Experience
When you’re working on a website, you become familiar with the layout and the elements. You might think of it as writing an article and then proofreading the text. Most of the time, it’s difficult to spot your own errors. The same is true when you design a website—it’s possible to miss the errors because you just don’t see them.
However, with user journey mapping, you have a clear visual map of the parts of the site that may be causing problems for site users. The mapping process also helps point out which areas are working and those that may have errors or other issues.
2. Maintains Ease-of-Use as Site Scales
User journey maps also make a simple site easier to navigate. As the website grows, however, adding new content and other elements may cause problems with the UX. Mapping helps ensure the website is intuitive, and the navigation is easy and logical.
Three Types of User Journey Mapping
There are three types of user journey mapping, with each one showing a different perspective of the website. The focus of each method is slightly different. Here are the three main types of user journey maps:
Current state: shows the current state of your website. It’s beneficial for identifying areas that can use improvement. It also helps show you how the website is being used. This is the most common type of user journey map.
Future state: this type of user journey mapping shows what the site will look like when someone uses it, making sure the site is working as you desire. Future state mapping is helpful for site redesigns or when making major changes.
Persona-based: a persona-based map presents the journey of a specific persona. The maps are helpful when you’d like to optimise the site for a specific type of person or improve the site for users who have special needs.
Starting the User Journey Mapping Process
The first step to implementing the user journey mapping process is to decide on the scope of the project. A focused scope makes it possible to easily troubleshoot specific areas with problems or ensure everything is working as it should.
The larger the scope map, the broader the overview of the way your site works. This can be an involved process, but it’s well worth the time and effort to understand your users and their experience with your website.
Find Personas
The first step is to find the personas, which are a type of person that may visit the site. Some developers give the personas names and personalise them with details on who they are, what they want, and why.
The goal is to choose personas that help you achieve your business goals. It may be necessary to have more of a marketing or sales mindset. How should you find personas? Talk with current users, read online feedback, or contact your email list.
Here’s an example of how a persona can work. We’ll say that you’re a pet shop owner who sells high-quality pet foods and other items for pets. Your personas could be:
Gift Giver: these are the people who may not have any idea about the pet care items on their list; however, they want to give the item as a gift. These personas require additional assistance, which means they may access the FAQs or use chat features on the site to get help.
Pet Product Nerd: this is the persona who knows all the details about the products they’re looking for. They want the best tools and usually head over to the product pages. They want the details of each product quickly and easily. These personas tend to have high standards and will not make a purchase without having the information they want.
The Tourist: if you have a pet shop in a tourist location, it’s possible tourists will stop by! They may be on vacation and want to find something cute to take home to their pet. These personas are not interesting in the online shop. Instead, they would be more interested in a picturesque photo of the store, along with information about the location and the hours the store is open.
Each persona has unique needs and goals; however, if you want to get all of their business, it’s essential to map each of them and make sure the site provides what they need.
Translate Your User Journey Map into Action
The user journey map provides valuable insights into your site users’ experience. Use the result to make improvements to the site and then do a repeat journey mapping every so often. This way, you’ll have a great overview of whether the design needs to be changed due to issues users experience.