Customer Journey Map
Stage 2 · Customer understanding
Customer Journey Map
A Customer Journey Map follows the customer's activity cycle, from recognizing a need to using and replacing a product, to find pain points, workarounds and moments where you can add value. It is especially useful for understanding non-users.
Questions it answers
1What does the customer go through before, during and after buying?
2Where are the pain points and workarounds?
3Why aren't some potential customers buying at all?
How it works
The steps teams follow in our programs and projects.
Step 1
Pick the customer
A segment or non-user group.
Step 2
Map the steps
Their activity cycle in their own words.
Step 3
Find pain points
Friction, workarounds and unmet needs.
Step 4
Design the offer
Products and services that remove barriers.
What you get
The output
A step-by-step journey with pain points and opportunities marked.
Where AI helps
Where judgment decides
Summarizes interviews and observations into draft journeys.
Talks to real customers and spots the pain point that matters.
From our client work
How clients apply it
Paraphrased and anonymized from recent programs and engagements.
Application 1
Lean marketing teams use journey mapping and discovery frameworks so the sales force brings back customer problems, not just product requests.
Application 2
Teams growing a market with non-users map why they don't buy before designing an offer.
Point of view
Seen in the market
All points of view →Recent Market Edge points of view that apply this tool.
Linked tools
The output of one tool becomes the input to the next.
Where it's used
Academy program
Market Activation & Campaigns
See dates →Expertise
Innovation, Portfolio & Customer Insight
Explore →Expertise
Strategic Marketing & Growth
Explore →Problem it solves
Stage-gates without customers
Read more →Problem it solves
Reports that don't answer your question
Read more →Situation
Deciding which innovation projects to fund
How we help →Questions about Customer Journey Map
When is a journey map most useful?
When growth depends on new users, or when service and experience differentiate more than the product.
Can we build it from internal knowledge?
Start there, then test it with customers; internal assumptions about barriers are often wrong.
Other tools in stage 2: Needs-based segmentation · Critical Purchase Criteria · Customer Journey Map · Influencer Map · Targeting tool
Want to use Customer Journey Map on a live plan?
Book a 20–30 minute sounding board conversation with a senior consultant who has sat in your seat. No cost, no commitment.