Tilda Education
What Is a Customer Journey Map (CJM)
A beginner's guide to CJMs: What they are, how they differ from user flows, and how to create an effective one
March 23, 2026
11 min
Contents:
What Is a Customer Journey Map (CJM)
A CJM (Customer Journey Map) is a detailed visualization of the customer's experience with a brand: From the moment a customer starts looking for a solution to the moment the customer leaves a review after the purchase. CJM is one of the key tools used in marketing. It can be applied to both digital and offline products. By mapping the customer journey, companies can improve every stage of interaction with their audience. When brands anticipate obstacles and improve each interaction, customers are more likely to stay satisfied, return, and recommend the company to others.
Example: Customer Journey Map For an Online Store
What Problems CJM Helps Solve
Design a typical customer journey when creating a product. This helps product teams, designers, and developers identify potential pain points early and include clear, convenient solutions in the product. The approach is especially valuable when building an MVP, where the goal is to deliver a comfortable user experience with limited resources.
Eliminate unnecessary tools and optimize the budget. A customer journey map shows which elements should be added or removed at each stage to influence user decisions. The wide variety of marketing tools often tempts teams to use everything at once, but this can overwhelm customers and spread resources too thin. CJM helps teams focus on what truly matters, saving both time and budget.
Improve the user experience. CJM clearly highlights the stages where customers experience frustration or confusion. This might be something small, such as a poorly placed button or a complicated product description. Gradually refining these details helps increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Identify weak points and growth opportunities. Analyzing user behavior can reveal missed opportunities. For example, if customers regularly search for a feature that doesn't exist yet or try to use the product in unexpected ways, it may signal the need to introduce new features.
How CJM Differs From User Flow & Why User Flow Alone Is Not Enough
User Flow is a visual scenario that shows how a person interacts with a website or another digital product. It outlines all the steps and transitions users take on web pages to complete a specific task. For example, ordering groceries online or registering for an educational platform.
By analyzing a user flow, teams can identify stages where users perform unnecessary actions that distract them or make the process more complicated. It also helps add steps that simplify and speed up task completion.
Example
Users of an online store rarely log into their accounts and instead complete purchases as guests. As a result, the business cannot analyze individual purchasing behavior, create personalized offers, or improve its product range.
An analysis of the user flow revealed that the problem was forgotten passwords. Many users didn't remember their login details and didn't want to spend time resetting them. To increase the number of logins, the store added an option to sign in using a phone number. Now users no longer need to remember or reset their passwords: They simply enter a verification code sent via text message.
Users of an online store rarely log into their accounts and instead complete purchases as guests. As a result, the business cannot analyze individual purchasing behavior, create personalized offers, or improve its product range.
An analysis of the user flow revealed that the problem was forgotten passwords. Many users didn't remember their login details and didn't want to spend time resetting them. To increase the number of logins, the store added an option to sign in using a phone number. Now users no longer need to remember or reset their passwords: They simply enter a verification code sent via text message.
User Flow describes how people navigate a website or mobile app, but it does not explain why someone decided to interact with a brand in the first place. The tool is mainly used to improve or simplify interaction with a digital product.
However, User Flow does not capture the motivation behind a purchase or the customer's emotions at each stage of the journey, which are essential for marketing strategy. For this reason, it is typically used by UX designers and analysts, while marketers rely more on customer journey maps.
However, User Flow does not capture the motivation behind a purchase or the customer's emotions at each stage of the journey, which are essential for marketing strategy. For this reason, it is typically used by UX designers and analysts, while marketers rely more on customer journey maps.
Key Stages Of a CJM
Need Awareness
The journey begins when a person realizes they have a problem or need that should be addressed. For example, during hot summer months, many people start dreaming about taking a vacation somewhere by the ocean.
A marketer's task is to strengthen this desire using triggers: Targeted ads, limited-time offers, and strong visual cues.
After a long, exhausting workday in the summer heat, an office worker Alex leaves his office building and notices a large banner from a travel agency called Banana Paradise Travel. The banner shows a beautiful beach resort and an invitation to take a vacation in Vietnam. This visual becomes the trigger that turns a vague desire into a concrete need to take a trip.
Information Search
Once people recognize their need, they begin looking for ways to solve it. They might ask friends for advice, browse online forums, watch travel reviews on YouTube, and explore websites that appear in search results.
At this stage, it's important that information about the product is easy to find and trustworthy. Marketers support this by publishing case studies in media outlets, maintaining active social media profiles, and collaborating with bloggers and influencers.
On the subway ride home, Alex pulls out his phone and starts searching for reviews of last-minute trips to Vietnam. In the search results, he finds an article that includes expert commentary from Banana Paradise Travel. He then discovers the agency's Facebook page, reads customer reviews, and even sees a mention from a blogger he follows.
Evaluating Alternatives
When users discover multiple options, they begin comparing them based on price, quality, features, and other factors.
To stand out from competitors, businesses need a clearly defined Unique Selling Proposition (USP). This might include guarantees, a free trial, exclusive features, or simply more attractive terms.
Before calling the agency, Alex compares prices from several tour operators. Most offers are similar, but Banana Paradise Travel includes free trip cancellation insurance. The extra protection makes the offer feel safer and more appealing, nudging him toward choosing this agency.
Purchase Decision
At this stage, the customer has already reached the website, but the final decision can still change at the last moment.
Impulse triggers can help secure the purchase: Discounts, convenient payment options, installment plans, or bonus offers.
Alex is almost ready to pay for the trip on the website but hesitates for a moment. Suddenly, a message appears in his cart: "Book within the next hour and get 5% off." He also notices that the trip can be paid for using an installment plan. These small incentives remove the final doubts, and he completes the booking.
Post-Purchase Experience
The customer has already bought the product, used it, and now evaluates whether it met their expectations. This stage is where customer loyalty is formed. If the experience is positive, the person is likely to return. If it's negative, they may not only avoid buying again but also leave a bad review.
That's why a CJM shouldn't stop at the moment of purchase. Companies should also plan post-purchase interactions: Sending helpful instructions, sharing support contacts, and introducing loyalty programs.
After booking the trip, Alex receives a short travel guide with the resort contact details, helpful vacation tips, a discount for his next trip, and a link to a customer support chat. During the vacation, he has a small question, and the support team resolves it quickly. The positive experience makes him far more likely to book his next trip with the same agency.
How To Create a CJM: A Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Understand Who Your Customer Is
Start by researching your audience. Use surveys, social media analysis, and purchase data to build a profile of your typical customer. For example, a nail salon might identify its core audience as women between 25 and 35 who follow beauty trends and care about personal style.
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Step 2: Create Customer Personas
Divide your audience into several groups. For example: Young mothers, office professionals, and college students. For each group, describe key characteristics such as age, income, lifestyle habits, and what matters most to them when choosing a service.
Step 3: Interview People
Conduct a series of short interviews with two groups: Your existing customers and people who have never heard of your product. Ask them how they choose nail salons, what they expect from the service, and what they wish salons offered but rarely find.
Example questions:
- How do you usually choose a nail salon, and where do you start your search?
- What is the first thing you pay attention to when choosing a salon?
- What problems have you experienced when visiting salons? What aspects of the service disappointed you?
- What would your ideal salon visit look like?
- What ultimately made you choose your favorite nail salon?
Step 4: Map the Entire Customer Journey
Create a table that lists every step a person takes from the moment they think, "I want to get a manicure," to paying for the service at the salon. Include every touchpoint between the customer and your business, along with their actions, thoughts, emotions, and pain points at each stage. This helps identify weak spots and opportunities to improve the experience. For example, the phrase "the customer books an appointment with us" is too general. A CJM should show how they book it: Through Instagram, the website, a booking app, or by phone, and whether they encounter any obstacles along the way.
An example of a CJM applicable to retail or eCommerce: Source
Step 5: Document Key Insights
The final document should include detailed customer personas, their motivations, and the obstacles they encounter between discovery and purchase.
These insights help you identify specific improvements. For example: Adding a price list to the homepage instead of sending it only upon request, offering a discount for repeat visits, or creating a loyalty program for regular customers.
These insights help you identify specific improvements. For example: Adding a price list to the homepage instead of sending it only upon request, offering a discount for repeat visits, or creating a loyalty program for regular customers.
Customer Journey Maps are often created in visual collaboration tools such as Miro, FigJam, or Mural, which work well for team brainstorming. Team members can map stages together, add sticky notes with customer thoughts or pain points, and connect ideas with arrows.
If you prefer a more structured format, you can also build a CJM in Google Sheets or Excel, organizing each stage into columns such as actions, pain points, and opportunities.
If you prefer a more structured format, you can also build a CJM in Google Sheets or Excel, organizing each stage into columns such as actions, pain points, and opportunities.
Mind mapping tools like Miro often include built-in CJM templates like this: Source
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