Customer Journey Mapping

🗺️ AirBnB Customer Journey Blueprint, a wonderful practical example of how to visualize the entire customer experience for 2 personas, across 8 touch points, with user policies, UI screens and all interactions with the customer service — all on one single page. AirBnB Customer Journey (Google Drive): https://lnkd.in/eKsTjrp4 Spotify Customer Journey (High-res): https://lnkd.in/eX3NBWbJ Now, unlike AirBnB, your product might not need a mapping against user policies. However, it might need other lanes that would be more relevant for your team. E.g. include relevant findings and recommendations from UX research. List key actions needed for next stage. Add relevant UX metrics and unsuccessful touchpoints. That last bit is often missing. Yet customer journeys are often non-linear, with unpredictable entry points, and integrations way beyond the final stage of a customer journey map. It’s in those moments when things leave a perfect path that a product’s UX is actually stress tested. So consider mapping unsuccessful touchpoints as well — failures, error messages, conflicts, incompatibilities, warnings, connectivity issues, eventual lock-outs and frequent log-outs, authentication issues, outages and urgent support inquiries. Even further than that: each team could be able to zoom into specific touch points and attach links to quotes, photos, videos, prototypes, design system docs and Figma files. Perhaps even highlight the desired future state. Technical challenges and pain points. Those unsuccessful states. Now, that would be a remarkable reference to use in the beginning of every design sprint. Such mappings are often overlooked, but they can be very impactful. Not only is it a very tangible way to visualize UX, but it’s also easy to understand, remember and relate to daily — potentially for all teams in the entire organization. And that's something only few artefacts can do. Useful resources: Free Template: Customer Journey Mapping, by Taras Bakusevych https://lnkd.in/e-emkh5A Free Template: End-To-End User Experience Map (Figma), by Justin Tan https://lnkd.in/eir9jg7J Customer Journey Map Template (Figma), by Ed Biden https://lnkd.in/evaUP4kz Free Figma/Miro User Journey Maps Templates https://lnkd.in/etSB7VqB User Journey Maps vs. Service Blueprints (+ Templates) https://lnkd.in/e-JSYtwW UX Mapping Methods (+ Miro/Figma Templates) https://lnkd.in/en3Vje4t #ux #design

Most workshop evaluations questions are ineffective. Try these two questions to drive behaviour change and generate insights. In my 23 years of designing and running learning and development experiences, I've found that asking the right questions can be a gamechanger. Especially if you're self-employed. And you want to charge more for your services. Because you drive behaviour chance. So, forget the mundane sliding scale rating: ❌ The session ❌ The material ❌ The facilitators Here are two simple questions that support impact 📝 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩? This question forces participants to commit to a specific action. ↳ It’s not just about learning; it’s about doing. 📝 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩? This question uncovers potential obstacles. ↳ It also shows that you care about their long-term success, not just the workshop. Why these questions work: ✅ Prompt reflection on learning. ↳ A critical step in the learning process. ✅  Provides proxy measure of impact ↳ Reflections guided to consider action. ✅ Provides insights on obstacles ↳ Allowing you to improve the workshop Next time you run a workshop, ditch the old evaluation forms. Try these questions instead. Support behaviour change Demonstrate impact Increase your fees Give it a go. ~~ ♻️ Share if you found useful ✍️ What other powerful questions do you use in your evaluations?

MIT researchers spiked beer with vinegar and gave it to 400 people. Some they told and some they didn’t. The results show why your pre-purchase messaging and expectation setting is equally (if not more) important than your product. Leonard Lee, Shane Frederick and Dan Ariely served pub patrons two beers at MIT. One was regular beer. The other was “MIT Brew” (same beer + a few drops of balsamic vinegar). They split people into 3 groups: 1️⃣ Group 1: Tasted blind (never told about vinegar). 2️⃣ Group 2: Told about vinegar before tasting. 3️⃣ Group 3: Told about vinegar after tasting. Here’s what happened: Group 1 (blind): Actually preferred MIT Brew over regular beer. Group 2 (told before): Disliked MIT Brew significantly. Group 3 (told after): Still preferred MIT Brew same as blind group. Only the people who knew about the vinegar beforehand had their experience ruined. They found that the timing of information had a major impact. This proves something important about customer experiences. Expectations don’t just change how people rate products. They change how products actually taste and feel (essentially hacking the brain). When you expect something to be bad, your brain makes it worse. When you have no negative expectation, you judge based on the actual experience. This explains why Coke tastes better with the label when people know it’s Coke inside the can. Most marketers miss this opportunity. The study shows expectations create real changes in how customers experience your product. This is why premium pricing often works and why people get excited when they finally get the call to buy a Rolex or a Birkin bag. Higher price sets expectation of higher quality, which makes the product perform better in customers’ minds. Remember, you’re not simply selling a product... You’re selling an experience. Here’s some ways you can apply this to your marketing: ✅ Build positive expectations before customers try your product. ✅ Use testimonials and social proof early in your funnel. ✅ Avoid leading with price objections/discounts or complexity. ✅ Position your brand to enhance product perception. Your marketing messaging shapes customer experience just as much as your actual product does.

Most marketing strategies fail for 2 reasons: - They don't adapt to the prospects' buying journey. - They don't show what the buyers need to see, to buy. Actually, they do the opposite: - They brainstorm internally, and skip research. - They are seller-centric, and plan randomly. Now here's what you need to do instead: You need to develop a 'customer-centric' marketing. Problem: every customer is different, and buying journeys are complex. But across 9 years, I've identified a pattern. Customers often go through 4 stages: 1/”We’re always listening” 2/”We have a problem to fix” 3/”Let’s look for potential solutions” 4/”Let’s compare 3 providers and decide” It can take weeks, months, or years. And across these 4 stages, the champion has a decisive role. - He collects content about the problem; - He identifies the best potential solutions; - He leads the buying committee & negotiations. Now the question is: "how do you adapt to these 4 stages?" - You need to research your buyers' journeys - You need to adapt your marketing & content - You need to align marketing and sales efforts Here's exactly how you should do that: 1/ Create educative content to position your brand as a choice To cover stageS (1) and (2), you should not create salesy content or aggresive sales sequences. Instead, publish easy-to-digest educative content about the industry, its problems, and ways to solve them. → Keywords: Thought Leadership & Educative Content 2/ Prove that your company is the best choice with trustworthy content To cover stage (3), you need to position your business as a solid option. You can't rely on short videos anymore; you need in depth content that shows you can really fix the problem and how. → Keywords: Clarity & Trust 3/ Close the deal with high quality sales-enablement content For stage (4), the most important factors are (a) the relationship between the champion and the seller, and (b) the quality of sales-enablement content. Here, you need to align sales and marketing efforts. → Keywords: Relationship & Sales-Enablement Content *** Follow me Pierre Herubel for daily marketing tips. Subscribe to my newsletter for weekly marketing guides.

Employees often miss what #CX is about, so I have an ice-breaker activity I've used at the beginning of #CustomerExperience workshops. Now, I offer this idea to you: At first, this will seem obvious and perhaps unhelpful, but stick with me, please. The activity is to have small groups spend 10 minutes discussing what drove their satisfaction and dissatisfaction with recent air travel. No, the outcomes will not be surprising—but that hides a really important point that will shake up participants' expectations and attitudes. Of course, everyone says the same things in this exercise. "I was satisfied because we arrived on time." "The snacks were better than expected." "The seats were surprisingly comfortable." "The flight attendants were attentive and pleasant." And, on the other side, "I was dissatisfied by delays." "Communications about flight changes were poor." "The seat was cramped and awkward." "The staff was grumpy and indifferent." I'll spend a few minutes collecting the drivers of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Everyone will nod in agreement. And then comes the point of this exercise: Absolutely no one will say that a driver of satisfaction was that the airline flew them six miles in the air and delivered them to their destination safely. In other words, the CORE experience--and the most important priority of any airline--drives virtually nothing in terms of customer relationships. Getting there safely is expected, not a driver of satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy. That's the "aha." Whether you're talking to a group of healthcare workers who think their only essential function is reducing mortality and morbidity or a room of telecom execs who feel everything hinges only on uptime, the message is that it's not what we do but how we do it that drives differentiation, satisfaction, and loyalty. We all can become so focused on the delivery of our primary product or service--or achieving the chief KPIs--that we can neglect to understand the experience from the customer's perspective. Forcing people to consider their own experiences and perceptions as customers helps them to perceive that air travelers landing safely (or patients having successful surgeries, or your phone service working) isn't what drives differentiated CX and outstanding loyalty. Don't get me wrong—you can't miss the table stakes. An airline isn't forgiven for lax safety because it has fresh nuts, nor is a telecom company pardoned for unreliable service thanks to rapid call answer times. But delivering table stakes is not what drives the kind of rabid loyalty, sales, and margin enjoyed by brands with differentiated CX. Ensuring people realize this before introducing them to customer-centric concepts and practices opens their minds to new possibilities within their existing job roles.

My workshop feedback method has a 100% response rate — and uses zero forms. I ditched post-workshop surveys because… no one filled them out and the ones who did wrote things like “Great workshop 🤗 ” (helpful… ish ⁉️ ). So now I use my four-question, four-colour sticky-note system at the closing of a workshop. It’s fast, visual, and human. It surfaces real language, real commitments, and real insight. Reflection becomes baked into the workshop instead of bolted on. Here’s the magic. I ask everyone to respond to these phrases individually 🟡 “I learned / liked / aha!” - Quick bursts of insight. One idea per sticky. No faffing. 🟢 “I will…” (What ideas do you plan to implement immediately?) - The gold. Actual commitments. I can instantly see what’s going to live beyond the room. 🔴 “I wish…” (What support do you need or what else do you wish we had explored today?) - Constructive, honest improvement ideas and what they need to succeed post-workshop. Better than any anonymous text box. 🔵 One word (What single word best describes your overall reaction to the session?) - These become my word cloud*, and it tells me the emotional temperature in one glance. Then, in small groups, participants choose their top insights, star them, and share them with the room. It turns into this joyful moment where you can see what activities really landed and what learning truly stuck. Impact? • I can literally see what resonated. • The “I will…” notes show behaviour change starting before people even leave the room. • The “I wish…” notes help me evolve each workshop immediately. • And the one-word cloud gives me a pulse check that’s surprisingly accurate. (see word cloud from 10 workshops* - 210 words - in comments) Yes, I still type them all into a spreadsheet by hand (there’s something human and connective about reading people’s handwriting). Then I let AI help me spot themes and patterns. It’s simple. It’s human. It works. And gives clients tangible, meaningful insights... Curious: how do you gather feedback that actually helps you get better? #PlayMore #JudgeLess #feedback #facilitation

🆕 New Essay: The Expectation Reset 7 Ways AI Is Redefining Customer Expectations (w/ tons of examples)… Full Essay → https://lnkd.in/giUm_gFn I’m a huge believer in AI. As I wrote in AI Native Product Teams (link in comments), I believe AI is changing how product teams will think, work, and build. But, I feel like a lot of the conversation is focused on the wrong thing. Many think they need to predict the future of what AI is capable of in order to build. But: 🧞♂️ No one can perfectly predict AI’s capabilities years from now 😤 Trying to leads to paralysis 🚂 You risk overbuilding speculative features Trying to predict what AI might be able to do multiple years from now might be a fun exercise, but for many we should be focused on how AI is changing the expectations and needs of our customers. If we don’t, we risk Product Market Fit Collapse (link in comments). Here are 7 ways AI is shifting customer expectations with examples: "A Place For Me To Create" → "Do The Work For Me" AI is changing customer expectations from “give me a tool where I can create” to “do the work for me.” Examples: EvenUp, DevinAI, Midjourney, 11x, Artisan "One Size, I Customize" → "Custom Made For Me" Day.ai is my fav example here. Using AI a Day takes your email, calendar, and answers to a one-page questionnaire to automatically generate a CRM that is tailored to your business. "I Expect To Wait" → "I Expect It Now" AI is also changing the expectation from customers at how fast and convenient you deliver the value. In other words, users are getting “lazier.” (like we weren’t lazy enough already!) Examples: GitHub CoPilot, Intercom Fin, ChatGPT (homework) “I’ll do the busy work” → “The busy work is done for me” Many products require you to perform a lot of manual tasks in order for the team to get value out of it. But most of the time value out < effort to put in. Many are automating this busy work around the real work: Abridge, Anterior, Reforge Insight Analytics, Tana, Truewind, Otter.ai “I’ll Pay Per Seat” → “I’ll Pay For Output” Kyle Polar has written about this. Instead of paying for an approximation of value (per seat) customers are starting to pay for work delivered. Examples: EvenUp, Intercom, Synthesia, Clay, Copy.ai, Imagen “The tool has no context” → “The tool can see what I’m doing” This is one of the coolest IMO that is being under-leveraged. Most software has no idea what you are doing outside of their app. With AI, it can see/understand your screen to create new value. Examples: Gemini Live, Reforge AI Extension, Squint "I'll Learn This Interface" → "The Interface Adapts To Me" Today every time a user adopts a new product they need to learn the UI to get value. AI is able to create a dynamic experience designed for the intent. Examples: Gemini, Perplexity I’d be interested to hear other examples in the comments.

Want more productive workshops? Try stopping them sooner. Workshops often lock people in a room for two or three hours and expect them to do their best thinking on demand. Do we really have to hold people hostage to be productive? Lately, I’ve been using a technique I call "Echo Sessions." Instead of forcing deep work to happen in real time, we kickstart an activity, get clarity, but then stop just as people are getting into it. That pause is intentional. It’s based on the same principle as the Pomodoro technique—when you leave something unfinished while still feeling engaged, you'll find it easy to return to it later and give it space to percolate. Instead of dragging out a long workshop, I schedule an Echo Session later—often in the same day—where everyone brings their independent or small group work back for discussion, iteration, and action. Why does this work? ✅ Encourages Deep Work – People get time to think, research, or create in their own way, rather than being forced into artificial collaboration. ✅ Optimizes Meeting Time – Workshops should be for shared understanding, decision-making, and iteration—not for quiet focus time. ✅ Respects Different Work Styles – Some need time to walk and think. Others need to sketch. Some want to research or tap into AI. Echo Sessions give people time and space to work in the way that’s best for them. ✅ Creates Natural Momentum – Stopping at a high-energy moment makes people want to continue later, giving them space to create, rather than leaving them drained from a marathon session. ✅ Reduces Calendar Lockdowns – Instead of monopolizing hours at a time, work is distributed more effectively and meetings are only used when necessary. Most importantly, this approach treats participants like adults. It gives them flexibility and agency while ensuring that meetings serve a clear, valuable purpose. We don’t need long workshops. We need better workshops. Curious—how do you approach workshop fatigue? Would this work in your team?

Have you ever faced a situation where things did not go as planned when you were in front of a live audience? Maybe the projector broke down, the audience was too tired or distracted, or your allocated time slot was cut short. How did you handle it? In December, I faced such a challenge. I was delivering a communications workshop as part of a broader training to a group of colleagues from Indonesia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Panama, and other countries. Many had travelled more than 24 hours to get to the training site. On the third day of the training, I noticed the participants looked exhausted. The jet lag and the intensive programme were taking a toll on them. I knew that I had to improvise. I could not deliver my session as planned in the afternoon when the energy and attention of the room would be at their lowest. So, over the lunch break, I completely redesigned my workshop. I eliminated all the non-essential parts and made the session half as long. With the extra time, I took the group outside for some fresh air and sunshine. The result? The participants walked out of my session happy and refreshed, and they learned what they needed to learn. The lesson? Whether you are delivering a training or speech, you must be prepared to improvise and adapt to any situation. You need to: • Know your content inside out so that you can adjust it according to the time and attention of the group. • Prepare for the worst scenarios and have a backup plan for each one. • Keep your cool and stay calm, whatever happens. Improvisation is not a talent. It is a skill powered by extensive preparation. And when you are prepared, you can turn any challenge into a memorable experience for your audience. #Facilitation #FacilitationSkills #PublicSpeaking

Do you ever feel like as a CSM, no matter how hard you work for your customers, you just can't win. Well, the bad news is....you're right. When you're serving customers, the sky is the limit - so you just keep going (and going, and going, and going). Without clear value-drivers, that limitless potential can quickly turn into burnout. And here's the kicker—many CSMs feel isolated in this struggle, not realizing their whole team is experiencing the same pressure. But there's good news. You can deliver more value for your customers, better outcomes, and ditch burnout by being more intentional in your approach. It’s time to let go of the old safety net of “check-ins.” Yes, it feels safe to always be available, but in reality, you’re just training your customers to expect less value from you. So what should you do instead? Have clear goals, metrics, and outcomes you are trying to drive with each touchpoint that are going to drive meaningful impact for their business. Aim for at least 10 discovery questions per touchpoint. Make sure at least half focus on your customer’s business—not just your software. Document initiatives (that can be replicated with other customers) that'll drive these goals. Test, measure, repeat. The bottom line? Cut the fluff. Skip the check-ins. After every call, ensure there are tangible next steps that move the needle for your customers.