Customer Journey Map: What It Is, Examples and How to Make One

A customer journey map is a visual of every step a customer takes to reach a goal with your brand, from the first moment they notice you to the moment they are done. For each step it shows what the customer does, which touchpoint they use, what they think and how they feel, so your team can see where the experience breaks and what to fix first.

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What Goes into a Customer Journey Map

Keep one map to one persona and one goal. A map that tries to cover everyone usually ends up describing no one.

A Simple Customer Journey Map Example

Take a driver charging an electric car at a public station:

1. Find a charger. Opens the app, checks which stations are free nearby.
2. Arrive and start. Parks, plugs in, starts the session in the app.
3. Wait. Leaves the car, goes for coffee, checks progress.
4. Charging ends. Gets a notification, or does not see it.
5. Leave. Unplugs, pays, drives away. The next driver takes the spot.

Mapping it this way makes step 4 and 5 stand out. If the driver does not come back on time, the experience of the next customer starts with waiting. That is a pain point you only see when you map the whole journey, not one screen.

How to Make a Customer Journey Map

1. Choose the persona and goal. One segment, one job to be done.
2. Gather real evidence. Interview customers, watch them use the product, read support tickets and reviews. A map built only from internal assumptions repeats what the team already believes.
3. List the stages and touchpoints. Include the offline parts: the store, the parking lot, the phone call.
4. Mark actions, feelings and pain points. Use quotes and observations, not guesses.
5. Turn pain points into opportunities. Rank them by impact on the customer and effort for the business.
6. Test the fixes. Prototype the top ideas and test them with customers before you build.

What Journey Maps Found in Real Projects

• EV charging research. While testing an EV charging service in a mobile app, we used in-depth interviews and usability testing. We found the expected issues, such as confusing navigation and missing information. The most disruptive problem was off the screen: cars stayed plugged in after charging finished, so the next driver waited longer and the station served fewer cars. The answer combined product (status and reminders), policy (rules for occupied spots) and operations (fair turnover). The opportunity was an idle fee with a clear grace period, countdown and final reminder, because a fee feels fair when people understand it and can avoid it.
• Mirae Asset Sekuritas. Before launching the M-Stock trading app, Mirae wanted proof that the customer journey worked. We ran usability testing with 30 traders, investors and beginners, wrote a UI improvement strategy and consulted with senior management on the app's direction. 89% of the strategy was implemented, and the app holds a 4.7 rating.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Mapping only the app. Customers do not separate the screen from the store, the call or the queue. Neither should the map.
• Making it once and filing it. Update the map after each research round or major release.
• No owners. Every opportunity needs a team that is responsible for it, or the map stays a poster.
• Skipping consent. Interview recordings and photos of customers are personal data under UU PDP No. 27/2022, so ask for consent and store them safely.

How to Start

Pick the one journey that matters most to your business this quarter, such as onboarding or repeat purchase. Talk to 8 to 15 customers, map what you hear and see, and choose the three pain points worth fixing first.

Want help mapping a journey and turning it into a UX strategy? Contact us.