ADAPTIVE PATH'S GUIDE TO ce —First Eton Published August 2088 Adaptive Path Por Ono, Bay 2 San Frencieca, CA 947 atapivopath com Witten and designed in Sn Frencieco and Austin adaptive path ©@O8 We ove our ies to spread This conse allows yu to emi tweak, and uid won aur work non commer, When doing £, you mst ‘soknowldge Adoptive Path Whon in doubt just ask us We wari bite Fer mare information on what you can do with tho conan snd ideas contained in this guid, go hee: htplereatwecammons.orglcensea/ by-nc3.for son leter to Cratve Commons, 4 Castro Stret, Suite 800, Mountain View, Calflora, 94041, USA.BRANDON SCHAUER MAPPING THE FUTURE Organizations colectvely spend billons of \otars each year on experiences intended to attract serve, and retain customers. Thay build naw stores and launch new websites; answer thousands of questions incall centers; markt, advertise, and ‘Promote in multiple channels; experiment with trendy mobie apps; roll out new rotiucts; and reengineer service. In short, ‘organizations create and manage a myriad of touchpoints that they want to add up to 1 cifferentiatad customer experiance. sustomers dont care about these efforts. They care about meeting thelr needs across touchpoints and across the ‘competitive landscape. When done well an experience map lluinates the holistic ‘customer experience, demonstrating the highs and lows people ‘ool while interacting with your preduct or service. The process ‘of mapping uncovers the key customer moments that, once impraved, wil unlock a mere compeling and rore valuable over experience. We've used experience mapping in our practic, ‘among other methods, to generate insights, support new initiatives, and build stronger futures forthe organizations we partner with, ‘Our mission at Adaptive Pat isto guide our clients towards great human experiances. We've created this quide for others who are ready to take on that challenge. {As you collaboratively create and use your experience map, let us know what you discoverThe Value of Experience Mapping [An experience map isa strategic tool for capturing and presenting key insights into the complex customer interactions that ‘occur across experiences witha product, service, or ecosystem. At the heart of an ‘experience map lies the customer journey an archetypal journey created frm ‘an aggregate of all customers going from point A to paint Bas they attempt to achieve a goal or satisfy 2 need. made ‘The ectivity of mapping builds knowledge and consensus across teams and stakeholders, and the map as artifact slows you to ereste and support better customer experiences. n short, experience ‘mapping isa journey that can involve and Impact your entire organization, Customers are increasingly choosing products and services based on the quality of the experiences they have with them. ‘These expences often break dawn when they span multile| channels. As a resut orgaizations need a holistic, human. centered view of the experiences they ereate, In short, they need a map. ‘Advances in technology and changes in customer expectations {are placing more emphasis on the interconnectedness of ‘channels and touchpoints that support customers attempting to satotytheic goals and needs. Smart organizations have realized ‘lack of interconnectadiness is a major competitive risk. A few examples: Retailers are grappling with new customer behaviors that have changed the very essence of what an instore ‘experience is and can be Healthcare providers era seeking new ways to provide patient-centered continuity of care while maintaining quality ‘and minimizing cost > Financial institutions, in response to growing regulation, ‘are adopting new crass-channel service approaches to lferentiate their brand and products.os New challenges raquire new approaches. Organizations a recognizing the need to thnk holistically, but they ae struggling +060 so, Project often focus on individual touchpoints, technologies, and festures without clear picture of the total customer experianee, and ownership exists for touchpoints and products, but nat for the customer journeys that cut ‘across them, This verticalzaion of functions and rolas within organizations prevents individuals from colaborating, and prevents them fram seeing how ther work fits within the overall customer experince A failure to examine the customer experience hoistcaly and in context can lead t flue in meting your customers! needs. Making sound decisions and investments requires a sold understanding of those needs, associated behavior, and underlying motivations, Experience mapping is directly aimed at ‘rapping with and conquering this type of complexity ‘SOME KEY DEFINITIONS. ‘ouchpoint: point of interecton Channel: A mau of intrsction botweon a person and any agent with customers or users Prt, artifact of an orgaizaton, the we mabe, vies call. end These interactions take pace _—rek and mortar lacatians ae all atacrtsin point in time, ina___cormmon channos fr reaching out Cartan conte, nd with the toandinteracting with customers, A intanton of meeting 2 specie _channal defines the opportunites or customer need anstrant of touchpoint ore hit:ladaptivepath comfdeasitheres no spoon the contructofchannels ‘THE VALUE PROPOSITION Create a shared frame of reference around the customer cexparience Build organizational knowledge of customer behaviors and needs across channels Identity specific reas of ‘opportunity to drive ideation and innovation, Distribute key customer insights in a form that is bath usable and easy to understand. Further orgarizational evolution towards customercentered thinkingExperience Mapping The four steps to making sense o: cross-channel customer journeys f ~p—-o lew)< UNCOVER THE TRUTH CHART THE COURSE TELL THE STORY USE YOUR MAP. ‘Study customer tehavor and _—_Collboratvely synthesize key _—Visuaizoacompaling story Follow the map to new ideas interactions arose channels insights into a journey model that creates empty and and better customer exparencos an touchoints ncerstanding Ll st 1 ‘The Activity ‘The Arifact Experience mapping ls 9 eolebrativ, teatve proces for synthesizing ond vauazing the holt customer experince. The activty of experiance mapping eau in an arfact~an exparence mop. ‘An experience map presets, wth riches and depth hay ‘sights int your customers! comple experlanc. tis @ toa! that supports charting new courses af action07 STEP 01 You want to tell a story, but it has to be a true story. The value of an experience map is directly tied to the quality of insights it communicates. Piecing together the big picture of how ‘and why customers are interacting with different channels, touchpoints, products ‘and services is where your journey begins. ‘Start withthe obvious, don't reinvent the ‘whee, tak to your customers, never rely on just one data source, and be iterative! 'As abest practice, we recommend you scour your organization {or existing data and insights relevant to the experiences you. are attempting to map. It wil help you get started, while binging ‘focus to your reszarch around remaining, unenawered questions new research takes mare investment of time and ‘mane, i's a critical step in the experience mapning process, ‘to ensure you end up with an artifact you can confidently Use to support strategic thinking.‘TOl VALENTINE Experience Designer DISCOVERY WITH RIGOR The research and discovery process Is an essential investment to ensure that your experience map captures the full customer story. Nat averything you find will end up in your experience map, but the value at this stage is developing 2 firmer understanding ofboth the customer ‘experience and the context around it. 'As you work toward this understanding, look to a variety of information sources. For early stage discovery, call center logs, customer satisfaction surveys or existing personas could be sxcallent resources. Your research should collect insights that ‘add breadth and depth to the existing knowledge you uncover, ‘and for this, talking to customers is indispensable Leverage your existing research and subject matter experts, but never rely on ust one data source. Tangulate your problem space to get the ful picture, and let the process tell you if you stil have knowledge gaps. In order for others to buy into the story your map wil tel they need to know i's an authentic story built from strong insights based on real data ‘As you collect your data, don't expec it to be organized. Research and discovery is all about assembling the parts that lot you build a strong foundation for your experience mapos The Building Blocks of Experience Mapping Human experience is complex, and mastly intangible. Yot the challenge of experience ‘mapping isto uncover ttle by itl, critical information about your customers ‘experiences. Through til and ero, we've ‘developed a simple framework to guide the dscovery and research work required inthe experience mapping process. We call them building blocks. The key building blocks are Doing, Thinking, and Feeling, but to understand the full context of eustemer ‘experience, we also consider Place, Tin, Devices, and Relationships. Don't forget Channel and Touchpoints! ‘We recommend sorting your research and discovery work into building blocks by asking yourself key questions along the way. We've provided a few examples for Doing, Thinking, and Feeling to help you get started g Quattatie —— Quanttatve Quattatve Quantitative Doing What actions ‘re customers taking to meet ther nade? Thinking How do people frame end fvauste thai ‘experiance? What do they expect? Feeling What emotions a poople have song the journey? iat are the high? The lava?10 Quantitative Research Many insights can be drawn from reviewing web analytics and digging deep into data sources that reveal what currant customers are doing when they Interact with your organization. Paired With customer satisfaction data, you can spot issues in your customer funnel or see hich channels and touchpoints generally {get bigher or lower marks. In addition to analyzing existing data, You may find it useful to create a survey targeted at existing and prospective customers. A survey can answer basic ‘questions, help validate what you learn in {qualitative studies, or veld insights that help prioritize the focus of your customer interviews. may also make stakeholders feel more comfortable that the experience ‘map is based ona large enough sample size of customer data, ‘We're big fons of quantitative research when it comes to experience maps. However, customer conversations and observations are your primary tool to learn, identity patterns, and capture the Fichness of human experience,Qualitative Research Having conversations with customers isa common and reliably successful method used to gain insights for an exparience map, Youll want them to focus on a story that is relevant to the raduet, service, or problem area you are investigating, When possible, interviewing or observing customers in their natural setting wil provide you with the richest data ‘We recommend folowing a directed storytling technique that ‘uides the conversation witha series of open-ended questions. Your goal isto encourage the patcipant to share their story Foster an engaging conversation, rather than pointed questions, and focus your observations onthe experience mapping bulling blocks. Remember that the core bulding blocks are Doing, Thinking, and Feeting, Try to get @ sense for the customers lasting impression ofthe experience, and make sure to dacument with rigor. Combined with the findings from your discovery process, and any adltional {qualitative data youve collected, your customer conversations | ‘and observations wil form the backbone of the story your ‘experience map wil tl ‘SKETCHNOTING Creating skatchotes of your customer! stores 135 they are recounted to you can hap you create visual artifacts that engage stakoholdorsIt's the activity, not the artifact. STEP 02 This is not a solo adventure. We love making experience maps. We By this point n your experience mapping project, you should have want to stress, however, that itis ‘9 koy group of stakeholders from across the organization who colaborative activity. The process of have been kept in the lop of your dscovery and research, ‘experience mapping is just as important Even better, some of them have participated. The discussions ‘as the actual artifact, and stakeholder experience mapping fosters, the consensus it bul, andthe participation erates direct customer _sharedreferanceiteraates will be critical to push your ganization fempatny amang the paople whe ean mast toward embracing naw insights and taking action affect the experiences customers have.CHRIS RISOON Design Director ‘THE ANATOMY OF AN EXPERIENCE MAP AA few years ago, we did a survey of publicly availabe experience maps and ‘compared them to the ones we have created in our practice. Whie there ware few quality examples and major Strategic insights Recommendations > Design principles “Takeaways ae typically edded to the map late in the process, ‘once you have begun to pivot from understanding the current state of your customer experience to emvisioning th future state. There are different takeaways you could include, but they should answer the questions "So what?" and “What now?" More: hts:fadaptvepath com/ideasthe anatomy ofan experionc-map” Rail Europe Experience Map ‘an experience map at its core, is visual narrative af the customer journey. Your {goals to bring this data to life through visually engaging infographic that is easy to comprehend. Your model should include the key building blocks ~ Doing, Thinking, and Fealing- but your information design should emphasize the most important ‘mensions of al of your customers’ Journeys. This could be transitions between phases, switching channels, or the location of interactions.©@ The Experience Mapping Workshop ‘uve formed a group of key stakeholders from aorass the organization. I's now time ta get them all together and take stock of hat you've learned An experience mapping workshop is hard work, but fun and ineradibly productive Your role as faciitator isto create a clear context, outine the goals, guide Participants through the activity, and keep everyone motivated and happy. The {goal of your workshop isto deconstruct your research into the building blocks and then construct a customer journey madel from those pieces. You will ned the right, physical space, attendees, supplies, and 2 autficiant amount of time in order t run 1 succesful session. FACILITATING A SUCCESSFUL WORKSHOP Organizational cultures vay, but a good rule of thumb is to schedule wall in advance, and prepare ta fs with great professionalism, Here are the steps we recommend: ‘Set the context Propare a short presentation to catch ‘everyone up on your discovery and research work Organize yourselves Divide participants into teams of four to ‘sh. Make sure each team has a balance of diferent roles and functions. Deconstruct Each team will need to go through the research ‘notes and pul out the building blocks. ‘Stage As the sticky notes buld up, have one person from ‘each team move them to the butcher paper, starting with Doing Construct From this pont on, the team should start to group duplicate stickies and bagin finding relationships among them, ‘Shape By the end of the session, each group should be ‘moving from figuring cut the customer journey to arranging the key insights into a story. Workshop Supp List Faclitation Tips > Butcher paper > Koop groups to six pple or ower > Printers tape > Crests handouts wth lar > Black sharps instructions > Sticky notes (Gor more> Prevde copies of research notes exer) > Remember to take brosks > Acamera > Share out aroes groups Toko lots of pictures20 ‘THE ROUGH MAP After the dust has settled, you should have @ pretty good grasp of your customer journey model and many insights to consider including in your experience map. ‘Your next step isto clean up the outputs from your session. Don't lt too much time go by without sharing what you have modeled Building a draft version of your map wil take some time, because you are beginning to think through your story ints basic, tutline form. Once you're dan It with others. Make sure you can walk through it from top to bottom and end to fend. Explaining your draft map aloud will help you identify whats important and what's extraneous. Iterate in sticky-note form until you feel the basic spine of your story is there but don't make it perfect just yet. Much of Your exiting wil happen when you move from sticks to sketching,a STEP 03 Design for impact. Like any good story, there's a beginning, a middle, and an end. Yur workshop acivitias and sticky note work wil have resulted in a strong autine To ensure your experience mapping project ends with a bang. not a whimper, Invest time in crafting and visualizing a ‘compalng story ‘Yu have correlated your data, modeled the key moments of your customer journey and identified some engaging quotes that summarize key insights, Before you begin visualizing your mop, YOU will ned to make some decisions about what wil be included in your story, and what wort. This means separating important insights from nice-to-have details, while identfyng the eltive| priarties among your bulding blocks. Take a moment to evaluate your work and identify the key components ofthe story your map wal tal22 IRAN NARGES 8 Visual teraction Designers MAKING IT REAL, ‘A good exparianca map has a lot in ‘commen with @ good poster. What makes ‘8 good poster? Above al hierarchy. ‘Your man should make a atrong statement Immediately, but work on mutipl evel. Away to determine the ight hierarchy is taconsder what woul stand out when viewed from different distances and for ferent lngths of tine, What would stand tut after one quick lance? after one minute? After ten minutes? What shoud stand out from across room, and what is OK tobe discovered after closer inspection? “Turning your map into @ compeling visual story means thinking ‘through both the work you've done and the work you want to inspire. Here are some suggestions for haw to reach the end of your journey successfull: @ Have a point of view. Can you summarize the key points you want someone to walk away with after viewing the map? \What story do you want them to tell to other people? ® Consider your audience. What kind of details will help them ‘best understand the story? Which insights ave essential for them to make good strategic and design decisions? ® Design for impact. What immediate next steps do you want ‘your map to initiate? Wht other uses of the map are you hoping to encourage in the short, mid, and long-term? ‘Yur goals ta craft a communication piece that ean stand on its own, inspire new ideas, and have longevity asa strategy and design too. Inthe end, every map is unique More: tp fadaptvepath comideos/expovaterummapping the experience of oxperimonts2 Sketching your story ‘Sketching i a great too for generating ideas and exploring approaches to visualizing your map. Your final visual should convey the essence ofthe story immediately, so if you can't sketch it, you may not have your story yet. ‘As you sketch, experiment with how the different building blocks could drive the naratve. A few examples: @® Take Feeling and draw the emotional journey of your ‘customers. ® ‘Tryusing your customers’ actions (Doing) across time as the spine of the story ® Choose Place and organize your key insights by decision ‘oints within a physical context “Then layer other bulding blocks and data onta that foundation. ‘The key isto realize ideas quichl, iterate your story and visual ‘model, and keep at it unt a compeling narrative emerges. ‘Tottell a great story youl need to focus, communicate hierarchy, sketch fearlessly, and try to keep it simple. When itll comes ‘together, i's time fr the final payoff: using your experience map.25 It's a catalyst, not a conclusion. STEP 04 Your journey has just begun. ‘Your experiance map allows you te chart We recommend you circulate your map far and wide, Gat it into ‘ew courses of actin to better mes ‘the organizational bloodstream, soit can begin to impact decision the needs of your customers. Its alsoa making across your orgarization. Present it in mestings. Print it ‘symbol that can unite people from across large and post it where it will get attention. Produce a tabloid- your organization, supporting a focus on sized version that will make its way onto the desks of executives. the broader customer experiance, Package it with ather insights and recommendations, such as experience principles and personae. Most importantly: use your map 28 a tool26 PATRICK QUATTLE Design Director EMBRACING COMPLEXITY ‘We've seen many of cur clients struggle se of and design for complex customer interactions that cour in a series of moments across channels, touchpoints, time, and place. n cur practice, we've gravitated toward oF invented appreaches that help take an this challenge. We commonly use methods such as ecosystem mapping, service bueprintng, cross-channel architecture, and (ofcourse) experience mapping. ‘This seems to be the heyday of experience mapping, although i is nat a now concept. As organizations struggle to make sen ‘oftheir omsichannel customer interactions, mapping the lar ‘experience is increasingly seen as @ smart and effective way to do so. Asa colaboratve activity witha tangible outcome, it helps stakeholders break free ofthe nearsightedness oftheir ol, their channel, or their touchpoint to look at the organizational copabltes needed to support the holistic customer experience. Because of course, customers don't eare about channels or ‘ouchpoints. Thay cara about achieving their goals and meting their needs. Experience mapping places an outsidein lens on ‘customer behavior and helps stakeholders see the world as their ‘customers do. Understanding the complexity of your customers’ needs is an ‘ongoing challange, and embracing that complexity necessitates new tools and new ways of thinking. As you use your map to develop and support the future of your product and service offerings, remember that the map itself is just apart ofa larger journey in modernizing your organization's approach: from reductioistic to holistic, from touchpoint to ecosystem, and from ‘transactions to relationships. More: ttp/adaptvapath com ideas/valueisnte subtractive process designing fram-theoutsaein27 Insights to Action In our practice, we employ experiance ‘maps to apply systems thinking toward (generating new ideas and concepts colaboratively with our cts. The resuitng ideas better account for the relationships between customers and the broader ecosystem af channels, touchpoints, places, and other people. Ithelps stakeholders feel confident that the strategies derived from thei work will bnefit bath customers and the organization. dust are alike, there isnt ' single epproach to using an experience ‘map to generate new ideas. We often invent new, justintime appraaches to meet the unique strategic objectives of our clients or to work within the constraints of time and budget on an initiative. Here are three examples of how an experience ‘map can be put into practice. What these ‘methods have in common is iterative collaboration with stakeholders. Aways remember: it's nota aoa journey. ro two ma lssue/Opportunity Identification and Prioritization Using the structure provided by your map, chronicle issues or opportunites for addressing customer pain points at each stage ofthe customer journey. Prioritize according to busine ‘and customer value. This method eps you quickly work with stakeholders to identify high valve areas of opportunity Experience Storyboards Using your map and simple storyboard templates, along with daitional tools ike personas or experience principles, use rapid ideation to generate stores of future experiances. This approach provides stakeholders with a forum for ideas grounded in the insights of your customer journey. Future Experience Mapping Using the map as a reference, define the ideal customer journey through mapping out what customers would ideally bo, thnk, and feet 2s they interact with touchpoints on the ‘way to satisfying ther needs, This method encourages cross ‘unctiona collaboration to define cross-channel experience princi28 Uncharted Territories Rigo in your research and creativity in your mapmaking should lead to the use of Your experience map as a strategic tool for mutiple planning and execution cyces. Yet, the static nature of your artifact wil bein opposition to the changing world around it. This isto be expected. Be on ‘the lookout for changes in marketplace, customer needs, and orgarizational objectives. Hopeful, your experience map has helped drive many of these changes; don't be afraid to changeit as needed. ‘ur goal in writing this guide was simple ta get more organizations to focus on the customer journey across channels, touchpoints, time, ad place. Why? Too ‘much thinking goes into the pieces that ‘make up experiences and not the whole ‘Too little work goes into looking at the big Picture and designing to help customers navigate the complex world around them. ‘oo tle time is spent working across silos to support the needs of customers. CHARTING YOUR FUTURE If you've made it this fr through our ‘tide, you know that it takes quite a bit of time and effort to make and use an ‘perience map. We hope the infarmation presented here equips you for the challenge of mapping your customers! journeys. f your organization needs help pulling it off contact us. We're happy to talk about working together For those of you embarking on your own ‘mapping journey let us know how it's ing! We'd love to hear from yau and seo yur maps. Fee! free to use the #xmapping tag on Twitter, or send us photos and stores at xmapping@adaptivepath.com, Happy mapping! ‘ABOUT ADAPTIVE PATH We're experienced guides, strategic thinkers, design doors, and expert juggle We make great expariences happen across ‘ouchpoints, businesses, and industries adaptive path ,‘Thanks to Adaptive Path staff forthe workin creating this guide: Brandon Schauer, Patrick Quattlehaum, Chris Risdon, rya Bowman, Pam Daghian, Rae Brune, Amber Reed, Iran Narges, Toi Valentine, Gabriele Parsons and Evi Hu. A special thanks to our summer interns forall ther help: Shahrzad Samadzadeh and Jason Ham.