Shashank DubeyMarketing

Steps to Creating a Customer Journey Map

Steps to Creating a Customer Journey Map
When I first sat down to create my own customer journey map, I’ll admit it looked more like a messy spider web than a map. I had sticky notes everywhere, arrows connecting in all directions, and about twelve “aha!” moments that led me back to square one. But as I refined my process, I realized something important: creating a customer journey map isn’t just a data exercise, it’s an act of empathy. It’s about stepping into your customer’s shoes, feeling what they feel, and designing an experience that makes them say, “They really get me. ”Over the years, I’ve found a structured approach that balances research with storytelling. Here’s how I now create a customer journey map that actually works, one that doesn’t just sit in a strategy document but transforms how you think about your audience.

1. Define Your Purpose

Before you even open a whiteboard or template, ask yourself: “Why am I creating this map?” There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Maybe you want to:

  • Identify friction points in your website flow.
  • Improve post-purchase engagement.
  • Align your marketing, sales, and support teams.
  • Launch a new product and understand potential user behavior.

For me, I always start with a clear intent statement, such as: “I want to understand how new customers discover my brand and what obstacles stop them from signing up.” Once that purpose is defined, every decision from data collection to action steps stays focused.

You can connect this clarity with what we discussed in Understanding the Customer Journey Map, where we explored how journey maps are built around user perspective, not company perspective.

2. Identify Your Target Customer (Persona)

The second step is knowing who you’re mapping for. Without that, your journey map will be too generic to inspire real change. I usually create two to three personas based on actual data, not assumptions. Each persona represents a type of customer with distinct goals, frustrations, and motivations.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what I include in each persona:

  • Demographics: Age, location, profession (just enough to add context).
  • Goals: What they’re trying to achieve with your product.
  • Challenges: What’s holding them back or frustrating them.
  • Emotional Drivers: What fears, hopes, or values influence their decisions.

For example, when I was mapping for a learning platform, one of my personas was: “Priya, a 28-year-old marketing manager who wants to learn AI tools to stay ahead in her career but struggles to find time and affordable options.”

Having Priya in mind helped me design experiences that spoke directly to her, from awareness to retention.

If you want to see how emotions and motivations play a role throughout the journey, revisit Customer Journey Map vs Buyer Journey Map.

3. Map Out the Stages of the Journey

Now comes the backbone of your map, the stages your customer goes through. While these vary by business, I usually work with five key stages:

  • Awareness: The moment your customer realizes a need or problem.
  • Consideration: They start exploring solutions, including your brand.
  • Decision: They compare options and make a choice.
  • Retention: They experience your product or service post-purchase.
  • Advocacy: They become loyal supporters and recommend your brand.

What I love about these stages is that they remind me that every stage is a chance to strengthen trust. For instance:

  • In Awareness, I focus on storytelling content and helpful blogs.
  • In Retention, I design email sequences that feel personal, not robotic.

Each touchpoint either builds or breaks connection. To see how this concept has changed over time, check out The Evolution of the Customer Journey Map.

4. List All Touchpoints

This step is where most people get overwhelmed, but it’s also the most eye-opening. A touchpoint is any interaction a customer has with your brand. Some are direct, like your website or emails, while others are indirect, like social media mentions or word-of-mouth.

Here’s how I usually list them:

  • Pre-purchase: Blog articles, ads, social posts, influencer mentions.
  • During purchase: Checkout flow, payment experience, confirmation emails.
  • Post-purchase: Onboarding guides, customer support chats, follow-up surveys.

When you visualize these touchpoints, patterns emerge. Maybe your customers love your content but drop off during sign-up, or they enjoy your product but never receive post-purchase communication. Those small gaps are where the biggest opportunities lie.

You can cross-link this with Components of a Customer Journey Map for a breakdown of how each touchpoint connects to emotions and outcomes.

5. Capture Customer Emotions

This is my favorite part because emotions are what make data human. At each stage and touchpoint, I note how customers feel and why. Frustration, excitement, confusion, relief—they all matter.

Here’s an example:

  • Awareness: Curious, unsure
  • Consideration: Hopeful, slightly overwhelmed
  • Decision: Confident but cautious
  • Retention: Satisfied or disappointed
  • Advocacy: Proud, loyal

When you map emotions visually (I often use mood lines or emojis), it becomes instantly clear where people struggle and where they smile..

6. Identify Pain Points and Gaps

Every great journey map is part detective work. Once you’ve mapped emotions and touchpoints, start asking:

  • Where do users drop off?
  • Where do they seem frustrated?
  • Where does communication stop?

These pain points highlight where your experience is breaking down. For example, if customers feel confused during checkout, you don’t need a new ad campaign—you need a better UX flow.

I often link these insights to Benefits of Customer Journey Mapping because fixing these gaps usually leads to higher satisfaction and conversions.

7. Align Internal Teams

Here’s a step many people skip, bringing everyone together. A journey map is only as powerful as its adoption across your teams. Once I finish mine, I walk through it with marketing, sales, product, and support teams.

We talk through:

  • Which touchpoints each team owns.
  • How we can improve transitions between teams.
  • What KPIs we’ll use to measure success at each stage.

This step transforms the journey map from a document into a shared vision. When everyone sees where they fit in the customer experience, collaboration becomes natural and consistency follows.

8. Visualize and Validate

Now it’s time to bring everything to life. I use visual tools like Miro, Figma, or even simple Excel sheets to create the map. Each stage, persona, emotion, and touchpoint gets plotted visually so patterns are easy to see.

Once it’s mapped, I always validate it with real users through interviews, analytics, or surveys. It’s surprising how often assumptions differ from reality. If your customers’ stories don’t align with your map, go back and refine, that’s how real insight happens.

9. Update and Optimize

Customer journeys are not static. They evolve as trends, technology, and behaviors shift. I revisit my maps every quarter to see what’s changed:

  • Has a new social platform emerged as a touchpoint?
  • Are customers discovering us through AI search instead of Google?
  • Are there new post-purchase needs we can fulfill?

Treat your map as a living document, not a final product. That mindset keeps your brand adaptive, empathetic, and ahead of the curve.

My Takeaway

When I first began mapping customer journeys, I thought it was a strategy exercise. Now, I see it as a relationship exercise. Each map is a mirror showing how well we truly understand the people we serve. And the better we understand them, the better we can design experiences that make them stay, not just buy.

Next, we’ll explore Benefits of Customer Journey Mapping, where I’ll show you how all this effort translates into real growth, loyalty, and smarter decisions.

Interesting read

Real-World Examples of Customer Journey Maps