A user experience map visualizes the entire end-to-end user journey that a user will take to complete a task. It is utilized to study general human behavior in a bigger context because it is product and service agnostic. It enables a company to envision a basic understanding of an experience before considering a specific product or service.
UX designers employ a variety of approaches to assist them in establishing empathy and understanding with their users to improve a product's user experience. UX mapping is one of these approaches.
A huge team of people with varied backgrounds and experiences must be on the same page understanding the project goals, user demands and behaviors, and even the component procedures involved while designing and producing a product.
Visualizations are frequently used to achieve this universal understanding (commonly referred to as mappings). UX Mappings are used to make sense of and describe the different features and processes.
Four different types of mapping
This article provides an overview of four popular mappings, their distinguishing features, and when to utilize them:
- Empathy mapping
- Customer journey mapping
- Experience mapping
- Service blueprinting
Empathy Mapping
Empathy maps aid team members in comprehending the user's perspective. An empathy user experience map is a tool used to express what we know about a specific sort of user. It externalizes user information to
- Facilitate decision-making
- Develop a shared understanding
Characteristics
- Says, Thinks, Feels, and Does are the four quadrants of the map.
- Each persona or user type has its empathy map (1:1 mapping).
- It demonstrates the user's perspective on the product's tasks.
- It isn't arranged in a logical or chronological order.
When should you utilize it?
- Any UX design process starts at the beginning.
- When it comes to putting research notes from a user interview into categories.
Why should you utilize it?
- Empathy with your users is a good thing to have.
- To compel alignment and comprehension of a user type
Customer Journey Mapping
Customer journey maps show how a customer interacts with a product or service. A customer journey map is a visual representation of a person's steps to achieve a goal related to a certain business or product. It's utilized to figure out what customers want and solve their problems.
In its most basic version, journey mapping begins with creating a timeline skeleton from a set of user goals and actions. The skeleton is then built out with user thoughts and emotions to construct a narrative. Finally, the story is reduced into a representation that may be used to communicate insights that can be utilized to inform UX design processes.
Characteristics
- The map is associated with a specific product or service.
- It reflects the viewpoint of the user.
- It's broken down into four sections: phases, acts, thoughts, and mindsets/emotions.
- Her mindset, feelings, and emotions are all included.
- Each persona/user type has its map (1:1 mapping).
- The majority of the procedure specifics have been omitted.
- It's in chronological order.
When should you utilize it?
- Throughout the product design cycle, as a reference point for a team at any time in the process.
Why should you utilize it?
- To identify precise touchpoints in the consumer journey that create pain or happiness.
- To assign internal departments ownership of critical trip touchpoints.
- To dismantle divisions and develop a single, common understanding of the customer journey across the enterprise.
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Experience Mapping
Experience maps extend the notion of customer journey maps to a wider range of users and goods. An experience map is a graphic representation of a whole end-to-end experience that a "generic" person goes through to achieve a goal.
This experience is independent of any particular company or product. It's utilized to figure out how people behave in general (instead of a customer journey map, which is more specific and focused on related to a specific business).
Characteristics
- It isn't linked to any particular product or service.
- The events are depicted in chronological sequence.
- It provides a broad human perspective tailored to a single consumer or product/service.
- It's broken down into four sections: phases, acts, thoughts, and mindsets/emotions.
Why should you utilize it?
- To have a better understanding of human behavior in general
- To develop a product/service agnostic baseline understanding of an experience
When should you utilize it?
- When combining numerous experiences (agnostic of tool or a specific user) into a single visualization
- Before creating a customer journey map, learn about typical human behavior.
Blueprinting for Services
Service blueprints are employee-focused alternatives to customer journey maps. The relationships between distinct service components —props (physical or digital evidence), people, and procedures — that are directly linked to touchpoints in a particular customer journey are visualized in a service blueprint.
Consider service plans to be the follow-up to customer journey maps. Blueprints, such as customer journey maps, are useful in complex situations involving a range of service offerings. Blueprinting is a great method to create omnichannel, multi-touchpoint experiences that also need a cross-functional effort (coordination of multiple departments).
Characteristics
- It is linked to a certain service.
- It reflects the viewpoint of the organization.
- The four swim lanes are backstage actions, frontstage actions, customer actions, and support processes.
- Omitting the majority of consumer information.
- Concentrating on the service provider as well as he or her workers.
- It's arranged in hierarchical and chronological order.
Why should you utilize it?
- To identify the organization's flaws
- Identifying changes for improvement
- To dismantle silos and provide a single, shared knowledge of how the service is delivered across the business.
- To bring cross-departmental activities together
When should you utilize it?
- Before making any organizational or process changes, make sure you have everything you need.
- Following the customer journey mapping.
- When determining the interior location of a funnel or breakpoint
Five compelling reasons to make use of a user experience map
- A user experience map allows you to see the big picture of your customer's journey to better understand their requirements and problems.
- It enables companies to prioritize actions in their experience strategy and product roadmap.
- It helps to achieve targeted results by identifying and reducing bad customer encounters.
- It facilitates and concentrates collaboration between designers, developers, and management.
- A user experience map identifies the causes of churn, addresses them, and creates opportunities to re-engage people.