Customer Journey Map Skill
This skill produces a complete customer journey map covering every stage from awareness through advocacy. Each stage includes touchpoints, customer actions, emotions, pain points, and specific improvement opportunities. Output is ready for use in product discovery, UX design, or cross-functional alignment workshops.
Required Inputs
Ask the user for these if not provided:
- Product or service being mapped
- Customer persona — which customer segment is this map for? (be specific — one persona per map)
- Journey scope — full end-to-end (awareness → advocacy), or a specific phase (e.g. onboarding only)?
- Current state or future state? — mapping how it works today, or designing how it should work?
- Data sources — any research, user interviews, support tickets, NPS comments, analytics available?
- Goal of the map — what decision will this inform? (redesign, prioritisation, stakeholder alignment, new feature)
Output Structure
Customer Journey Map: [Product / Service]
Persona: [Name — e.g. "Sarah, the overwhelmed HR manager"] Journey scope: [Full end-to-end / Onboarding / Purchase / Renewal] Current or future state: [Current state / Desired future state] Prepared by: [Name / Team] Date: [Date] Based on: [Research sources — interviews, analytics, support data, assumed/hypothetical]
Persona Summary
| Name | [Sarah] |
| Role | [HR Manager at a 200-person professional services firm] |
| Goal | [Reduce time spent on manual employee data management] |
| Frustrations | [Too many tools that don't talk to each other; always chasing approvals] |
| Tech comfort | [Moderate — comfortable with SaaS tools but not a power user] |
| Decision power | [Recommends tools; budget approved by CHRO] |
Journey Overview
AWARENESS → CONSIDERATION → DECISION → ONBOARDING → ADOPTION → ADVOCACY
[Stage 1] [Stage 2] [Stage 3] [Stage 4] [Stage 5] [Stage 6]
Overall experience rating (current state): [😤 Frustrating / 😐 Neutral / 😊 Positive]
Stage 1: Awareness
How does the customer first discover the product exists?
Customer goal at this stage: [e.g. Realise they have a problem worth solving — or find a solution to a specific pain]
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Trigger | [What event makes them start looking? — e.g. Manual process breaks down / peer recommendation / saw ad] |
| Where they are | [Google search / LinkedIn / conference / colleague conversation / email newsletter] |
| What they do | [e.g. Searches "automate employee onboarding" / asks peers in HR community / clicks LinkedIn ad] |
| Emotion | [😤 Frustrated — overwhelmed by manual processes and hoping for a better way] |
| Pain points | [Overwhelming number of options / hard to know which tools are credible / can't tell what's B2B vs B2C from homepage] |
| Opportunities | [SEO content targeting the trigger keyword / LinkedIn thought leadership / peer community presence] |
Stage 2: Consideration
The customer is actively evaluating options. What do they do to decide?
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Customer goal | [Narrow down from many options to a shortlist of 2–3] |
| What they do | [Reads G2/Capterra reviews / watches demo video / downloads comparison guide / asks peers who use something similar] |
| Touchpoints | [Website / review sites / social proof / demo request flow / sales email] |
| Emotion | [😕 Anxious — worried about making the wrong choice; past tool purchases haven't delivered] |
| Pain points | [Pricing not visible on website / demo requires a call before seeing the product / unclear if it works with their existing stack] |
| Opportunities | [Self-serve demo or interactive product tour / transparent pricing page / ROI calculator / case studies from similar company size] |
Stage 3: Decision
The customer is ready to buy — or not. What makes them commit?
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Customer goal | [Get sign-off from CHRO and justify the decision with a business case] |
| What they do | [Books sales call / requests security questionnaire / builds internal business case / negotiates contract] |
| Touchpoints | [AE / sales call / security review / contract / procurement process] |
| Emotion | [😬 Cautious — doesn't want to be wrong; presenting to leadership adds pressure] |
| Pain points | [Sales process is slow / security questionnaire takes weeks / contract terms are non-standard and require legal] |
| Opportunities | [Security FAQ self-serve / standard contract with predictable terms / champion toolkit (slides, business case template) to help them sell internally] |
Stage 4: Onboarding
The customer has bought. Now they need to get value fast.
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Customer goal | [Get the product working and show their CHRO it was a good decision] |
| What they do | [Receives welcome email / attends kickoff call / configures integrations / invites team] |
| Touchpoints | [Onboarding email sequence / in-product onboarding checklist / CSM / help centre / integrations marketplace] |
| Emotion | [😬 Anxious but hopeful — excited about potential but stressed about the setup work] |
| Pain points | [Setup is more complex than expected / IT required for SSO but IT is slow to respond / generic onboarding doesn't match their use case] |
| Opportunities | [Role-specific onboarding paths / IT connector with pre-filled request template / quick win email at day 3 (show them one thing that already works)] |
Key moment of truth: [What single moment in this stage determines whether they'll become an active user or ghost? — e.g. "First time the product saves them 30 minutes on a task they used to do manually"]
Stage 5: Adoption
The customer is using the product. Are they getting consistent value?
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Customer goal | [Make the product a regular part of their workflow; demonstrate ROI to leadership] |
| What they do | [Uses core features daily / discovers new features / hits a limitation / contacts support / attends webinar] |
| Touchpoints | [Product UI / in-app notifications / email / support / community / customer success manager] |
| Emotion | [Variable — some days 😊 when the product works well; some days 😤 when hitting a gap or bug] |
| Pain points | [Feature they expected isn't there / reporting doesn't show the metric leadership wants / power features are too complex / feels like they're underutilising what they're paying for] |
| Opportunities | [Proactive CSM check-in at day 30 / in-product feature discovery / usage dashboard for the customer to see their own ROI / community for peer learning] |
Adoption health indicators:
- [DAU/MAU ratio — what does healthy look like?]
- [Feature X used by Y% of seats within Z weeks]
- [First NPS survey at 60 days — target score]
Stage 6: Advocacy
The customer loves the product. How do you turn them into a referral engine?
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Customer goal | [Solve problems faster; feel like an expert; feel valued as a customer] |
| What they do | [Refers a peer / writes a G2 review / participates in case study / speaks at event / becomes a power user / joins community] |
| Touchpoints | [CSM / community / review request email / referral programme / case study outreach / conference sponsorship] |
| Emotion | [😊 Proud — the tool is part of their professional identity; they feel smart for choosing it] |
| Pain points | [Referral programme is clunky / no structured way to connect with peers / case study process is slow and effortful for them] |
| Opportunities | [One-click G2 review request at high-satisfaction moment / peer community / referral programme with meaningful reward / case study process that do |