This customer journey map template connects phases, customer actions, information needs, and evidence. The ceramics-class example shows a complete five-phase experience and a proposed pre-visit improvement without treating the proposal as a tested result.
Choose one actor, goal, and stretch of experience
The actor is a first-time ceramics-class attendee. The goal is to choose a suitable class and arrive ready to join it. The map starts with comparing classes and ends with joining the class; it does not claim to cover the entire customer relationship.
Nielsen Norman Group's journey-mapping guidance describes a map built around an actor and scenario, phases, actions, mindsets or emotions, and opportunities. The customer's experience is the organizing viewpoint. Staff procedures may explain part of it, but they are not a substitute for following the person's goal.
This exercise uses original fictional walkthrough notes. No customer research, actual booking, quotations, or measured emotions are represented. The complete practice record is:
| Note | Simulated experience |
|---|---|
| J1 · Compare | The visitor reads the web class schedule. It states beginner level; the listing does not explain materials to bring. |
| J2 · Reserve | The visitor reserves a place and receives a confirmation. The confirmation contains no arrival instructions. |
| J3 · Prepare | A reminder email links to materials information. It contains no entrance photograph or entrance description. |
| J4 · Arrive | The outside sign names the studio, but there are two doors without a clear entry label. The visitor asks which door to use. |
| J5 · Join | At reception, staff explain the correct entrance and where to collect the class kit. The visitor receives those directions before joining. |
Put the questions beside the actions
| Phase | Customer action and touchpoint | Question or information need | Basis and opportunity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compare | Reads the web schedule. | Is the class suitable, and what materials are needed? | Beginner level is stated; materials are unclear in J1. |
| Reserve | Books and reads the confirmation. | What should I do before coming? | No arrival instructions in J2; consider what the confirmation should link to. |
| Prepare | Opens the reminder and materials link. | What should I bring, and how will I find the entrance? | Materials information is linked in J3; entrance information is not supplied there. |
| Arrive | Reads the studio sign and asks about the doors. | Which door should I use? | The entry question is visible in J4; review the pre-visit instruction and arrival sign together. |
| Join | Receives reception directions and kit information. | Where do I collect the kit and go next? | J5 records the explanation; the map does not establish whether earlier information would have removed the question. |
Select Arrive in the example to inspect J4 beside the mapped question. The useful detail is the transition from finding the studio to choosing an entrance. “Improve arrival” would be too broad to tell the team what to inspect.
If your map includes emotions, link them to the actual research that supports them. These notes provide no emotion report, so the example's emotion field stays Not recorded. “All attendees are anxious” would add both a feeling and a population-wide claim that the exercise does not support.
Look across phases for the opportunity
The materials question begins at J1 and gains an information link at J3. The arrival question is not addressed in J2 or J3, then becomes an explicit request at J4. That sequence gives the team something more useful to discuss than a list of separate website and email improvements.
Choose Proposed pre-visit change. The proposal is to give the reservation confirmation a concise preparation summary or link containing materials guidance and verified entrance instructions. Review that content against the reminder and arrival sign so the touchpoints describe the same visit.
Keep the original notes beside the proposal. The page must not rewrite J2 to say the improved summary was sent, or J4 to say the visitor found the entrance easily. Those would be new outcomes requiring actual evidence.
The specific entrance instruction still needs confirmation from the studio. A map can identify the need without inventing an address, a door number, or an entrance photo. Test the proposed information through the team's real design and research process before claiming it improves the experience.
Keep evidence, interpretation, and proposals distinguishable
For your own map, define the scenario and collect the permitted records that cover it. Give observations stable references and preserve their context. A statement about a particular visit is not automatically a pattern across every customer.
Use the map to connect actions and questions across phases. Mark your interpretation when it goes beyond what the record directly says. Keep proposed improvements in their own row or view so a reader can distinguish the current evidence from the experience the team hopes to create.
Revisit the scope if the map grows into several unrelated actors or goals. Someone comparing classes, an instructor preparing equipment, and a customer cancelling a booking may need different scenarios. Combining them without distinction makes the sequence harder to interpret.
Copy a prompt for the complete journey and review page
Create one complete HTML customer-journey review page.
Actor, bounded goal, start/end points and scenario: [PASTE]
Permitted observations with stable IDs and context: [PASTE]
Phases, actions, touchpoints and information needs: [PASTE]
Supported thoughts/emotions and their evidence, if recorded: [PASTE]
Proposed improvements and questions to investigate: [PASTE]
Follow the customer viewpoint. Separate observed records,
interpretations and proposed changes. Do not invent quotations,
emotions, prevalence, bookings or improvement results. An emotion
row can remain Not recorded when the supplied notes do not support it.
Include this original fictional first-time ceramics-class journey.
Goal: choose a suitable class and arrive ready to join.
J1 Compare: web schedule states beginner level but not materials.
J2 Reserve: place reserved and confirmation received; no arrival
instructions in the confirmation.
J3 Prepare: reminder email links materials guidance; no entrance
photograph or description.
J4 Arrive: studio-named outside sign, two doors without clear entry
label; visitor asks which door to use.
J5 Join: reception explains correct entrance and kit collection;
visitor receives those directions before joining.
All are invented walkthrough notes, not actual research or bookings.
Show the complete J1–J5 notes and map. For each phase display action,
touchpoint, question/information need, note reference and opportunity.
Keep emotions Not recorded. Arrive selection shows J4 and its
entrance question. Compare emotion claim contrasts unsupported
All attendees are anxious with supported Visitor asks which door
to use in J4; do not score arbitrary prose.
Current evidence and Proposed pre-visit change views must stay
distinct. Proposal: confirmation provides a concise materials and
verified entrance summary/link; align with reminder and arrival sign.
Basis: J2–J4. Actual entrance wording/photo must be confirmed, not
invented. Do not overwrite J2/J4 with successful proposed outcomes.
No effectiveness, conversion, satisfaction or time-saving claim.
Add a separate blank map and temporary interpretation area.
Preserve typing across phase/proposal changes and confirm reset.
No customer collection, booking, sending, research grading or export.
Use at least 16px text, native labeled controls, visible focus,
and stacked phase records at 360px without page overflow. Inline
CSS/JavaScript, no external assets, network or storage. State typing
is temporary. Return full HTML and unresolved research/design questions.
Read each generated phase against its note. Check that the proposed summary remains a proposal and that the map connects the booking and arrival questions rather than treating each screen as an unrelated task.
Review the transition with the people maintaining the touchpoints
Put the HTML in your NOS workspace when the booking-page and class-visit owners need to read the sequence together. Ask where verified preparation and entrance information should first become available, and which touchpoints need the same wording.
If a phase heading says “Anxious arrival,” clarify the static description to “Visitor asks which entrance to use” in visual editing mode. Save it so colleagues can reopen the existing link and read the evidence-based description. Keep the original research notes and maintained journey record intact; a wording edit does not establish a new customer finding.
Use the discussion to define a specific change to investigate. Return to the map with the actual observations after the team evaluates it.