Did you know nearly 70% of online shoppers abandoned their carts in 2021? Why would a customer spend hours looking through a store and adding products to their cart just to close the tab right at the last second?
Well, here’s the thing — understanding your customers’ minds can be extremely challenging.
And even when you think you’ve considered every possible factor, the journey from awareness to purchase for each customer will always be unpredictable, at least to some level.
That said, while it isn’t possible to predict the customer journey with 100% accuracy, customer and user experience (UX) journey mapping will allow you to understand as much as possible.
This post will explain everything you need to know about customer journey mapping — what it is, how to create a journey map, and best practices.
Table of Contents
What is the customer journey?
What is a customer journey map?
The Customer Journey Mapping Process
What’s included in a customer journey map?
Steps for Creating a Customer Journey Map
Types of Customer Journey Maps
Customer Journey Map Best Practices
Benefits of Customer Journey Mapping
Customer Journey Map Examples
Free Customer Journey Map Templates
What is the customer journey?
The customer journey is the entire buying experience from pre-purchase to post-purchase.
It covers the path from the customer’s awareness of an existing pain point to becoming a product or service user.
In other words, buyers don’t wake up and decide to buy on a whim. They go through a process to become aware of, consider and evaluate, and decide to purchase a new product or service.
For example, the typical Hubspot customer’s journey is divided into 3 stages — pre-purchase/sales, onboarding/migration, and normal use/renewal.</p
