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Journey mapping

Customers & audiences · a story in six chapters

See where the customer journey breaks

We map the steps customers take with you, from first hearing about you to buying again, and measure how each step feels. You see where people get stuck or give up, in numbers and in their own words.

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Fig. 1How each stage felt, from first search to first useSatisfied, out of 100
72Finding the store64Comparing options81Buying36Delivery70First useLowest point

Chapter 01 · The problem

Each team sees its own step, not the whole journey

Marketing sees the first visit, sales sees the order and support sees the complaint. Customers go through all of it, one step after another. A fall in repeat orders may start at delivery, or with a confusing first bill. A journey map puts every step on one line, shows where it works and where it breaks, and points to the step where a fix will make the most difference.

Chapter 02 · How it works

How we build the map

  1. Agree the stages

    We start from how you think the journey runs, then check it against what customers describe. The stages on the final map are the ones customers go through, not the ones on an org chart.

  2. Hear the stories

    Customers describe a recent experience in their own words. Video questions with AI follow-ups capture the detail, and the answers are transcribed and grouped into themes. In-depth interviews or diary tasks can be added where a step needs more depth.

  3. Measure every step

    A survey asks a larger group how each stage went: how satisfied they were, how much effort it took, which channel they used, and where they stopped or went elsewhere.

  4. Rank the pain points

    Steps are ranked by how many people hit a problem there and how low the stage scores. The map leads with the weakest step, with the reasons and quotes behind it.

Fig. 2Online furniture store, recent buyers, step by step

Fig. 2.1The stages, in customers’ words

How the team drew it

  1. Ad
  2. Website
  3. Checkout
  4. Delivery

What customers described

  1. Finding the store
  2. Comparing options
  3. Buying
  4. Delivery
  5. First use
  • Comparing and first use were missing from the team’s version

Fig. 2.2Their stories

Tell us about your last order with us.

Transcript · Recent buyer, first orderThe sofa was lovely. Getting it here was the hard part. The tracking said out for delivery all day and nobody came.

AI follow-upWhat did you do when it didn't arrive?

Recent buyer, first orderCalled support twice, then took another day off work.

  • Transcribed
  • Relevance 0.96
  • Attention 0.91
  • 2 AI follow-ups

Themes so far

  • Delivery slots
  • Tracking updates
  • Judging size online
  • Assembly

Fig. 2.3Every stage, rated

How satisfied were you with the delivery?

  • 21%Very dissatisfied
  • 26%Dissatisfied
  • 17%Neither
  • 24%Satisfied
  • 12%Very satisfied

Satisfied or very satisfied, by stage

  • Finding the store72%
  • Comparing options64%
  • Buying81%
  • Delivery36%
  • First use70%

Fig. 2.4Pain points, ranked

  1. 1
    Delivery: missed slots, vague trackingStage score 36 of 100Nobody told me the slot had moved.
    46%hit a problem
  2. 2
    Comparing: hard to judge size and fabricStage score 64 of 100I ordered swatches from three shops.
    31%hit a problem
  3. 3
    First use: assembly took longer than expectedStage score 70 of 100Two hours for one wardrobe.
    18%hit a problem

Chapter 03 · What we measure

What we measure at each step

  1. 3.1

    Satisfaction

    How the stage felt, on a labeled scale.

  2. 3.2

    Effort

    How easy it was to get through the stage.

  3. 3.3

    Drop-off

    Where people stopped, paused or went to a competitor, and why.

  4. 3.4

    Channel

    Where each step happened: website, app, store, phone or chat.

  5. 3.5

    Moments that matter

    Which stage people say shaped their overall view the most.

  6. 3.6

    The end result

    Overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend, so each stage can be read against the outcome.

Chapter 04 · The example

Example: why furniture buyers do not come back

A US online furniture store gets plenty of first orders but few second ones.

Short video answers from recent buyers suggest five stages: finding the store, comparing options, buying, delivery and first use. A survey of recent buyers then rates each stage and asks where things went wrong. The map shows which stage scores lowest and how many buyers it affects, and the open answers explain what happened there, for example missed delivery slots or unclear tracking updates.

“Nobody told me the slot had moved. I waited in all day.”
Recent buyer, video answer
“The sofa was lovely. Getting it here was the hard part.”
Recent buyer, video answer
Fig. 3The journey on one line, delivery first
How it felt
Fix first
StageFinding the storeComparing optionsBuyingDeliveryFirst useSatisfied72%64%81%36%70%Found it easy78%61%84%29%66%Main channelSearchWebsiteWebsitePhoneAt homeTop themeClear adsSize hard to judgeSmooth checkoutMissed slots, vague trackingAssembly time

Chapter 05 · What you get

What you get

  • 5.1

    The journey map

    Every stage on one line, with satisfaction and effort scores for each and the channels people used.

  • 5.2

    Pain points, ranked

    Where people stall, drop out or switch, ordered by how many people each one affects.

  • 5.3

    Reasons in customers' words

    Themes from open and video answers for each stage, with quotes.

  • 5.4

    Groups compared

    New and repeat customers, or one region and another, side by side, with markers where the difference is significant.

  • 5.5

    What to fix first

    Recommendations drawn from the evidence, starting with the step where problems are most common.

Built on CatalyseAI

What runs underneath the story

  • Video answers, read for meaning

    People answer on camera inside a normal survey. An AI interviewer asks up to three follow-up questions, and every accepted answer is transcribed, searchable and scored for relevance to the topic from 0 to 1.

  • Themes, with the quotes behind them

    Open and video answers are grouped into themes, each with a sentiment bar and the quotes that support it. Ask the study reads the transcripts and answers your questions in plain English.

  • Groups side by side

    Compare up to five audience groups in every chart, with markers where a difference is significant, plus crosstabs and weighting.

3AI follow-up questions at most, per video answer
0–1relevance score on every accepted video answer
5customer groups compared side by side, at most

Chapter 06 · Questions

Questions, answered

Do you need our customer data to start?

No. We can start from what customers tell us. If you know from your own data where people drop out, sharing it helps us choose the stages and the questions.

Is journey mapping qualitative or quantitative?

Both. Open and video answers show what happens at each step and why. A survey then measures how common each problem is, so the fixes can be ranked.

How is this different from an NPS study?

An NPS study measures the overall relationship. Journey mapping breaks the experience into steps, so you can see which step pulls the score down. The two work well together.

Related

Goes well with

SolutionCustomer satisfaction & NPSMeasure satisfaction, then find what to fixProductAI video interviewsReal people, on camera, in their own wordsProductQualitative researchRecruitment and fieldwork for qualitative researchOverviewAll solutionsEvery study we run, by the decision it supports.

Put your customer journey on one page

Tell us which journey you want to map and who takes it. We will propose the stages to test and the people to ask.

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Nearest office: Orlando, FL (corporate office)