How to Create a Customer Journey Map

Mark S. Rosenbaum*
Associate Professor, Externado University, Bogota, Colombia
Kohl’s Corporation Professor of Retail Marketing
Northern Illinois University
College of Business, Department of Marketing
DeKalb, IL 60115
630.414.6989 (phone)
815.753.6014 (fax)
mrosenbaum@niu.edu

Mauricio Losada Otalora

Assistant Professor
Externado University
Department of Management
57.3420288 (phone)
57.2839421 (fax)
mauricio.losada@uexternado.edu.co

Germán Contreras Ramírez

Assistant Professor
Externado University
College of Business
Management Department
german.contreras@uexternado.edu.co

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 How to create a realistic customer journey map

Abstract

Although many articles discuss customer journey mapping (CJM), both academics and

practitioners still question the best ways to model the consumer decision journey. We

contend that most customer journey maps are inherently flawed because they assume that

all an organization’s customers experience the same organizational touchpoints and hence,

that customers view these touchpoints as equally important. Further, management lacks an

understanding of how to use CJM as a cross-functional strategic tool that promotes service

innovation. This article proposes a solution to the CJM complexity by linking customer

research to the CJM process and by showing managers how to develop a customer journey

map that improves a customers’ experience at each touchpoint. We show in the case of an

actual retail mall that CJM assumptions regarding the equal importance of all touchpoints

are fundamentally wrong and how retail managers, and strategic planners, may easily make

incorrect decisions about customers’ experiences. This article demonstrates how customer

research helped a mall’s strategic management team understand which touchpoints were

more and less critical to customers’ experiences. Next, we proposed key strategic initiatives

at each touchpoint that resulted in cross-functional input regarding service innovation at the

mall.

Keywords: Mall management; retail; Customer experience; Customer journey mapping;

service innovation

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1. The customer journey map confusion

Customer journey mapping (CJM) is an increasingly popular strategic management tool

praised by both academics and practitioners for its usefulness in understanding an

organization’s customer experiences. Although CJM articles are replete in academic and

managerial literature and many service organizations employ CJM, confusion still exists as

to how best to create a CJM. Indeed, the Marketing Science Institute (MSI; 2014) identifies

research that addresses the best ways to model the customer decision journey process as a

major research priority for practitioners and academics alike.

This article clarifies the confusion surrounding CJM by putting forth a method that

blends consumer feedback and research into the CJM process, using an actual retail mall as

an exemplar. We show how organizations can create and implement realistic customer

journey maps that are integral to understanding the customer experience and to maximizing

CJM as a strategic management tool for service innovation within a service innovation.

2. Understanding the CJM process

The fundamental idea behind CJM is relatively simple; it is a visual depiction of the

sequence of events through which customers may interact with a service organization,

during an entire purchase process. That is, CJM represents a graphical representation of all

the possible organizational “touchpoints” that customers may encounter during an entire

exchange process. Once management clearly understands it customers’ touchpoints, senior

management may work with its cross-functional team members to employ various tactics

that foster service innovation. The goal of these tactics is to enhance customer-service

provider interactions by improving customer experiences associated with each touchpoint.

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 Touchpoints are typically depicted horizontally on customer journey maps in

accordance with a process time line. The time line is then separated into three periods: pre-

service, service, and post-service. The pre-service period refers to customer experiences

before an actual service begins. In the CJM process for a mall, pre-service customer

experiences may include touchpoints such as seeing mall advertisements, listening to a

radio advertisement, or receiving an e-mail solicitation. The service period refers to

touchpoints that customers experience during an actual service, such as entering the mall’s

parking lot, interacting with employees, entering stores, and interacting with mall kiosks.

The post-service period refers to customers’ experiences that take place after the actual

service. Touchpoints in this period may include a customer posting a picture of a purchased

item on Facebook, returning merchandise, or receiving an incentive to return to the mall.

Once managers have identified all the customer touchpoints in the three periods,

they are encouraged to develop strategic categories, along a so-called vertical axis, which

depict managerially-relevant strategic initiatives that are associated with each touchpoint.

Whereas the horizontal axis is relatively easy to comprehend, the development of the

vertical axis in the CJM process is significantly more complex. However, the effectiveness

of a customer journey map as an innovation tool depends of the vertical axis.

Some CJM pundits scrap the importance of the vertical axis altogether, and focus on

considering CJM as solely a graphical representation of a customer’s touchpoints with an

organization. Although this visualization technique may aid managerial understanding of its

customers’ experiences with an organization, it leaves management with a dysfunctional

tool that is essentially useless in helping promote service innovation within a service

system. Other CJM pundits encourage mangers to develop the vertical axis as an emotional

journey which encourages managers to consider how its customers’ thoughts, beliefs,
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feelings, and emotions that cannot be observed directly (Craig, 2011; Lingqvist, Plotkin, &

Stanley, 2015). This emotional emphasis transforms CJM into a very specific management

tool; namely, an empathy mapping exercise (Tschimmel, 2012). Although an empathy map

represents a useful service design tool, its ability in helping managers understanding the

complexity and interdependence inherent within service systems is extremely limiting.

Finally, other CJM advocates consider the vertical axis as a “managerial

hodgepodge,” essentially a space where managers may plan a myriad of activities such as

design opportunities, customer objectives, employee tasks, branding opportunities, omni-

channel retailing opportunities and so forth role of omni-channel retailing (Court, Elzinga,

Mulder, & Vetvik, 2009; Dasu & Chase, 2010; Skinner, 2010). The issue here is that as

CJM expands vertically, its complexity, and confusion, may also expand. Managers should

consider the vertical axis of a customer journey map as specifying the key components of

its entire service system, which show how marketing, human resources, operations, and

information technology may work together to meet a customer’s expectations at every

touchpoint. By doing so, the CJM process is inherently linked to the service blueprinting

process, which is another service innovation tool (Bitner, Morgan, & Ostrom, 2008).

3. A realistic customer journey map that fosters innovation

We believe that three major factors limit mangers from fully employing the CJM for

service innovation and improvement. First, although scholars have constructed CJM from a

theoretical perspective (Clarke, 2014), studies offering real examples and instructions for

managerial interpretation remain scarce. Second, an inherent assumption in CJM is that all

customers experience each horizontal touchpoint and that each touchpoint is equally

important from the customers’ perspectives. Thus, customer journey maps for complex

services, with many touchpoints, may be difficult to create and to understand. Third,
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managers may become disillusioned with the CJM process due to a lack of understanding

how the vertical-axis illustrates cross-functional interdependencies of a service system at

each touchpoint. We address these limitations in an actual CJM example.

3.1. Develop the horizontal axis with customer research

Highland Park Mall (HPM), a pseudonym of its real name, is one of the world’s largest

indoor shopping malls, offering customers a diverse range of shopping, entertainment, and

food/beverage options. In addition, HPM operates its own website, actively participates in

social media, uses online and in-store promotions, and is active in building community

relations by serving as an event venue for many community groups.

We began the CJM process by meeting with HPM’s management team to identify

the touchpoints customers may experience during a trip to the mall; these touchpoints were

diagrammed on the horizontal axis. The touchpoints were categorized into three periods:

those that transpire before, during, and after service. This activity resulted in the

identification of sixty customer touchpoints illustrating moments when customers have a

point of interaction in the mall. Of these, thirty-seven represent pre-service touchpoints,

fourteen represent service touchpoints, and nine represent post-service touchpoints.

As we previously discussed, a limitation of the CJM process is an assumption that

that each customer touchpoint is equally important in the planning process and thus, should

be managed with the same level of importance. To address this limitations, we linked

marketing research to the CJM process. We obtained customer response data through self-

administered questionnaires that were randomly distributed to 100 customers in various

parts of the mall. Seventy-five respondents were women and 25 were men; their ages

ranged from 18 to 75 years. The respondents represented a convenience sample of mall

customers who volunteered to take part in the study, and each respondent received a small
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monetary incentive from the mall for their time. We asked the respondents to complete a

questionnaire on whether they had engaged in each of the 60 identified touchpoints that day

(0 = no, 1 = yes). We then worked with senior management to select the top 10 touchpoints

based upon the respondents’ stated importance.

Table 1 illustrates the percentage of mall customers who self-reported experiencing

each touchpoint; in doing so, the table dispels the assumption that all touchpoints are

equally important from a strategic managerial perspective. That is, not a single touchpoint

was truly experienced by every respondent, with results ranging from 95% (recommend a

store that is located in HPM to others) to 46% (received comments from others that were

shopping with you. It is worth noting here that management had originally put forth sixty

customer touchpoints; however, less than 50% of mall shoppers had experienced fifty of

them. The traditional disconnect between the CJM process and marketing research results

in customer journey maps that overestimate the number of strategic touchpoints that most

customers experience, and, inadvertently, cause managers to become overwhelmed by the

concept of “experiential marketing” as depicted in a complex customer journey map.

3.2. Develop the vertical axis for service innovation

We developed the vertical axis of the CJM by focusing on managerial practices that in

tandem help ensure that mall customers experience each touchpoint in a satisfactory

manner. Further, we believe that the vertical axis should depict managerial cross-

functional actions within a service system which are inextricably linked at the touchpoint,

as doing so links the CJM process to service blueprinting and to service innovation. In the

case of the HPM, we define the vertical axis and the department responsible for strategic

management regarding the particular customer touchpoint.

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 1. Mall shopper (customer) requirements: Specify the mall shopper (customer)

requirements that are required at the touchpoint (Marketing).

2. Employee actions: Specify the mall employee actions that are required at

the touchpoint to meet the customer requirement (Human resources).

3. Employee support: Specify training, information technology, licenses,

certification, tools, materials, and so forth, that mall employees need to meet the

requirement at the touchpoint (Human resources and operations management).

4. Mall design: Specify the environmental stimuli that customers should sense,

and should not sense, at each touchpoint to help them judge service quality (Marketing,

operations management, building engineering).

5. Service innovation: Brainstorm on how all departments may work together

at the touchpoint to improve the customer experience (all departments). Consider

eliminating potential service failures and customer “pain points” at the touchpoint.

4. Lessons learned: A practical guide to CJM

Table 2 represents the HPM’s CJM for its pre-service period. The key customer

touchpoints during this time period are a mall shoppers previous visit to the mall,

conversations about the mall to others, as well as seeing a highway billboard on the way to

the mall. Once the mall realized the importance of these three pre-service touchpoints, it

then planned strategic initiatives at each of the touchpoints, and most importantly, service

innovation strategies that improved shoppers’ experiences with the mall. For example,

given the importance of a shopper’s past experience in encouraging future behavior, the

mall decided to station customer ambassadors at each mall entrance to encourage shoppers

to provide feedback and to enter into a raffle at the desk by “checking-in” on social media

or using the mall’s hashtag. Also, based upon the research knowledge that the majority of
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mall shoppers noticed the mall’s highway billboards on their way to the mall, management

worked with a third-party specialist on improving signage by implementing three-

dimensional billboards, which featured moving parts (e.g., a mall shopping bag).

Table 3 represents four major customer touchpoints that occur during the service

period. These touchpoints deal with mall shoppers using the parking lot, using coupons

(received prior to the visit), using in-store incentives and discounts, and receiving

comments from others during shopping. This information led mall management to

implement a real-time parking lot technology system that counted spaces available in the

lot for customers. Also, give the knowledge that many shoppers responded to incentives

during the pre-service and service periods, the mall worked with its advertising agency and

tenants to ensure a consistent branding strategy when the mall logo is employed. Next, the

mall implemented free Wifi throughout the mall, to encourage shopper communication, and

integrated real-time promotions with its mobile application and Facebook page.

Lastly, Table 4 represents three major touchpoints that transpire after a shopper

leaves the mall; these are, recommend a particular store, talk to others about purchases, and

plan a return trip to the mall. During the CJM process, mall management discovered the

importance of shopper communication about the mall to others. This encouraged the mall

to launch online initiatives that encourage shoppers to share their experiences, and

recommendations, on the mall’s interactive blog and online customer forum. In addition, to

encourage shoppers to spread word-of-mouth, the mall designated two areas with an

interactive mall display that encouraged shoppers to post pictures of themselves enjoying

their new products or simply enjoying the mall experience.

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5.0 Conclusion: CJM can be a strategic innovation tool

This HPM customer journey map offers all service organizations valuable insights into the

mapping process. First, we encourage managers to resist designing “all-inclusive”

customer journey maps that contain all possible touchpoints, in turn resulting in highly

complex CJM that customers may or may not follow. To build a useful CJM, managers

need to gather customer information and identify critical and less important touchpoints.

We encourage managers to follow HPM’s approach and directly ask customers which

touchpoints they experience when making their journey throughout a service organization.

This approach may be demanding in time and resources at the beginning; however, this

extra effort may be compensated by benefits in CJM simplicity and usability. CJM must

diagram what customers really “do” instead of what managers “imagine” they do.

We further encourage managers to develop the vertical axis categories so that they

represent cross-functional strategic initiatives that inextricably link together marketing,

human resources, operations, and information technology at each touchpoint. By doing so,

a customer journey map becomes a strategic tool for service innovation and a visual

depiction of how an entire service system may work together at each touchpoint to improve

a customer’s experience. It is worth noting here that managers may develop additional

planning categories along the vertical axis, such as categories that deal with branding

opportunities and customer emotions; however, as the vertical axis expands in complexity,

its efficacy as a management tool may decrease. Overall, the HPM customer journey map

was successful because mall management focused on visually detailing impactful customer

touchpoints and drew upon cross-functional teams to implement strategic initiatives that

improved a mall shopper’s experience at each of touchpoint.

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References

Bitner, M. J., Ostrom, A. L. & Morgan, F. N. (2008). Service blueprinting: A practical

technique for service innovation. California Management Review, 50(3), 66-94.

Clarke, S. (2014). Your digital journey is being mapped by your customers. MIT Sloan
Management Review, (January). Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/capgemini/mit-
digital-journey-2014.

Court, D., Elzinga, D., Mulder, S., & Vetvik, O. J. (2009). The customer journey map.
McKinsey Quarterly, 3(June). Retrieved from
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/the_consumer_decision_journey.

Craig, S. (2011). How to navigate the customer journey. Marketing, 15(June), 28–29.

Dasu, S., & Chase, R. B. (2010). Designing the soft side of customer service. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 52(1), 32–39.

Lingqvist, O., Plotkin, C., & Stanley, J. (2015). Do you really understand how your
business customers buy? McKinsey Quarterly, (February), 1–12.

MSI. (2014). 2014–2016 research priorities. Retrieved March 20, 2015, from
http://www.msi.org/research/2014-2016-research-priorities/.

Norton, D. W., & Pine II, J. (2013). Using the customer journey to road test and refine the
business model. Strategy & Leadership, 41(2), 12–17.

Skinner, C. (2010). The complete customer journey: Avoiding technology and business
barriers to measure the total value of media. Business Strategy Series, 11(4), 223–226.

Tschimmel, K. (2012). Proceedings from the XXIII ISPIM Conference: Design thinking
as an effective Toolkit for innovation. Retrieved from:
http://www.idmais.org/pubs/KatjaTschimmel/2012/actas_internacionais%20c
%F3pia/2012.4.ISPIM.KatjaTschimmel1.pdf

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Table 1. HPM’s key horizontal axis customer touchpoints
(% yes)
Pre-service period

Before you decided to travel to Highland Park Mall (HPM) today, did you…
1. Visit HPM in the past? 89
2. Talk to others about HPM? 72
3. See an advertisement on a street or highway billboard about products, services, or brands that are available at HPM? 74
Service period
While you were in HPM today, did you…:
4. Use the parking lot? 75
5. Plan on taking advantage of advertised in-store incentives or coupons 49
6. See special prices or discounts that you discovered while shopping in a store 48
7. Receive comments of others that were shopping with you 46
Post-service period
After you made your purchase today at the mall, do you plan to engage in this activity:
8. Recommend a store that is located in HPM to others? 95
9. Talk to friends or family about today’s purchase or activities? 85
10. Plan on returning to HPM in the very near future? 92

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Table 2. The Highland Park Mall customer journey map: Pre-service
Toucpoint/Strategic Action
Mall shopper requirements
Employee actions
Employee support
Mall design
Service innovation
Visit HPM in the past
To have the same experience
as the prior visit.
Station employee customer
ambassadors at informational
desks near every mall
entrance/exit. Ensure that that
mall shoppers are satisfied
during and after their shopping
trip.
Customer ambassadors
receiving training on service
quality, active listening,
problem resolution, and mall
policies.
Attrractive help desks that
encourage shoppers to provide
the customer ambassadors with
feedback. Customer
ambassadors wear a uniform
with the mall’s logo.
Use raffles to encourage mall
shoppers to complete
satisfaction, “check-in” on
social media, and use the mall
hashtag.
Talk to others about the mall See highway billboard
To have a positive attitude Advertisements must be
about shopping at the mall. visually appealing.
Advertisements must be
current and creative.
Mall’s marketing manager Mall’s marketing manager
actively works with advertising works with advertising agency
agency to promote the mall’s to plan mall billboard strategy
impact in the area. Emphasize along major highways. The
the mall’s impact in local mall also works with tenants
media (employement, sales). on co-op advertising
opportunities.
The mall’s advertising agency The mall’s marketing manager
and public relations agency and advertising work with a
creates and distributes press third pary that specializes in
release packets. The mall and billboard advertising.
firms actively work with
community organizations and
local government officials.
Published articles, Mall shoppers respond to the
advertisements, social network large-format advertising
posts (Facebook, Instagram, structures that are located on
Pinterest, Twitter), customer major highways that lead
reviews (TripAdvisor, Google) authomobiles and public
should be positive. transoportation into the mall.
The mall’s social media Command mall shoppers’
director is responsible for attention with new three-
social media,email, and mobile dimensional billboard designs
marketing and for social media and moving parts (e.g.,
monitoring with software. shopping bag with mall logo).
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Table 3. The Highland Park Mall customer journey map: Service period
Toucpoint/ Use the parking lot Advertised In-store special prices or Receive comments from
Strategic Action incentives/coupons discounts others during shopping
Mall shopper Ample parking spaces. Advertisements must be Advertisements must be Ease of communication
requirements Clean, safe, well-lighted current, visually creative current, visually creative with others, physical
parking lot and virtual
Employee actions Designate mall Mall marketing Mall marketing Mall install ample
employees responsible managers works with managers works with seating in common areas
for parking lot retail tenants to obtain retail tenants to obtain throughout the mall.
maintence. Parking lot promotional strategies promotional strategies Operations responsible
attendant during mall six to nine months in six to nine months in for maintaining
operating hours advance. Mall advance. Mall complimentary WiFi
maintains customer and marketing manager marketing manager throughout the entire
ensure video monitoring must approve all co-op must approve all co-op mall.
of all cars advertisements and advertisements and
entering/exiting the promotions that feature promotions that feature
mall. the mall logo. the mall logo. Rotate
signage frequently.
Employee support Parking lot attendants Mall marketing manager Mall marketing manager Mall cleaning services
are trained on mall and advertising agency and advertising agency ensure that seating areas
satefy, video work together to ensure work together to ensure are clean. Operatoins
moniotring, and parking consistent message consistent message works with WiFi
management software across all channels. across all channels. technology vendor. Mall
technology. management approves
seating, tables, and
landscaping.
Mall design Shoppers respond to Shoppers respond to the Shoppers respond to Mall interiors need to be
mall attendant upon advertisements in paper tenant in-store signage, bright, attractive,
arrival, parking tickets, or virtual format. All mall signage, brochures, aesthetically pleasing,
video cameras, lighting co-op advertisements and online comfortable.
fixtures, physical and coupons meet mall advertisements.

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 structure, parking lines. standards.
Service innovation Employ parking lot The branding strategy Shoppers may obtain Offer free WiFi
technology system that must promote a mall specific tenant updates throughout the mall.
combine real-time brand as: sophistication, regarding in-store prices Install charging stations
vehicle counting with premium status, the or discounts via the so that mall shoppers
space available signage unexpected, style, mall’s iphone, iPod can easily gather in
as cares enter the approachability and touch, and iPad app. common areas and
parking lot. high quality. Real-time promotions engage in face-to-face
and discounts are and virtual
integrated with communication.
Facebook.

Table 4. The Highland Park Mall customer journey map: Post-service

Toucpoint/Strategic Action
Mall shopper requirements
Employee actions
Employee support
Recommend a store to others Talk to others about purchases
To have a positive attitude To have a positive attitude
about mall retailers about recent purchases at mall.
To be able to obtain memories
during their shopping
experiences.
Station customer ambassadors Encourage mall shoppers to
at help desks near share purchase and activity
entrance/exist door to informaiton with other via
encourage shopper feedback. social media. Provide
Encourage mall tenants to shoppers with two screening
display return policy. areas that encourage shoppers
to post pictures. Shoppers may
have an incentive to use the
mall’s hashtag.
Mall’s social media director is Mall’s marketing manager,
responsible for all post-service, social media director, and
online communication with operations is responsible for
Plan on returning to HPM
Mall shoppers need reasons,
product, service, information,
entertainments needs, to return.
Mall marketing manager,
social media manager, and
operations plan email and
mobile application strategies
that allow shoppers to receive
real-time updates about
shopping center activities,
show times, links to retailers
and their specials
Marketing manager, social
media manager, and operaitons
must be knowledgable on

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 mall shoppers.
Mall design Mall shoppers will respond to
online initatives, web design
efforts, that encourage
dialogues among mall shoppers
Service innovation Launch online initatives that
encourage shoppers to spread
positive word-of-mouth: semi-
monthly newsletter, interactive
blog and online customer
forums.
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maintaining the two screening
areas in the mall.
Mall shoppers will respond to
screeing area that features the
mall’s name, website name,
and interactive background.
Two designated areas in the
mall that encourage shoppters
to post pictures of themselves
enjoying their mall
experiences, products.
Internet technology.
Shoppers will react to the
mobile applications interface,
ease of use, links, reliaiblity,
and overall design appeal.
The mobile iphone application
allows mall shopopers to
interface with the mall, learn
about mall activities, and with
indidividual retailers. Mobile
application is also linked to
social media: Facebook,
Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter.