UX METHODS
USER JOURNEY MAP
There are good and bad travel experiences and the same applies to a user journey. The user journey map is a visual report of a user's experience while interacting with a website or application.
On the way to the goal, the user journey map shows necessary decisions, successful experiences, but also negative feelings and even the cancellation of an activity.
I use user journeys to audit and design websites, online shops or applications. But they can also be useful in the development of new products. Just like a real journey, the user journey is about the experience and understanding different users and their motives.
THE TRAVELLING GROUP: PERSONAS
Users start their "journey" on the web with very different goals, needs and abilities. In order to develop a user journey, you need to know the target group as precisely as possible. The most important user groups are defined with the help of personas, archetypal representatives of the target group. You then have an idea of their personality, attitude and ability/accessibility with regard to the various online channels. At the same time, the specific objective of the company with this persona is clarified. Personas are based on data collected through studies or the expertise of sales and service staff, who have the relevant insights into the sensitivities of their customers.
THE MOST IMPORTANT SCENARIOS
The most important scenarios result from the needs of the individual persona and the goals of the company with this persona. For an online shop, for example, this could be «select and order a produc», , for an insurer's website «report a claim» or for an intranet «search for and find employees or specific skills in the company».
USER JOURNEY MAP - THE TRAVEL DIARY
When developing a user journey, an expert mentally puts themselves in the shoes of a persona. In a cognitive walkthrough, the expert goes through the individual steps to achieve a goal and documents the experiences made.
The result is visualised in a user journey map or customer experience map. It shows the path that a user takes within a specific scenario, which touchpoints/contact points (call centre, shop, consultant, website) they use or where a channel change was made. At the same time, the user's emotions can be shown. The map can be supplemented by the underlying business processes or data sources. The aim is for all project participants to have a common understanding of the high and lowlights of an application or a specific process.
In larger projects, such a user journey map can quickly look like the metro stop map of a major city.
TRAVEL OPTIMISATION: FROM THE ACTUAL TO THE TARGET SCENARIO
The optimal target scenario can now be developed based on the user journey map. The content, structure and interaction concept can be built and supported on this.