Journey maps are very important for companies to imagine the thought process behind consumers. According to Nielsen Norman Group, “In its most basic form, journey mapping starts by compiling a series of user actions into a timeline. Next, the timeline is fleshed out with user thoughts and emotions in order to create a narrative. This narrative is condensed and polished, ultimately leading to a visualization.” Looking at journey maps as a whole, it is very useful when it comes to understanding the process and mindset of a customer ordering a specific product.
In this example, I took the example of a college student ordering off of the Dunkin app before an early class and being able to pick it up before that. The journey map goes through the story of Morgan Rodriguez and her morning process. She has a few morning classes, and she orders coffee and food off the Dunkin app beforehand. It shows the process of her deciding she wants food, ordering and customizing it on the app, finalizing the purchase, and eventually picking it up from the Dunkin location. This truly shows the entire process behind a student ordering a meal.
Yale University talks about the benefits of a journey map, saying, “At a high level, journey maps are a combination of storytelling, visual design, and empathy. When completed, your project team will have a complete idea of how your users interact with your website or application and have clear definitions of your pain points. The process of creating a journey map allows your team to have an internal conversation and avoid any possibility of assumption misalignments.” This is really important not only for the company but also to break down the pain points in the process. If Dunkin sees it takes too long for a person to customize their order on the journey map, they might know to adjust that portion of the app. It is very important to take this feedback and develop the app or program to make it work better for consumers.
All in all, it’s very important for companies to take user experiences and develop them into something better that will make more people interact with the app. This example shows Dunkin, but it can really work for any company. Following what the customers want is crucial to making them happy with the product.
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