/customer-journey-mapping-workshop

name: customer-journey-mapping-workshop
description: Run a customer journey mapping workshop with adaptive questions and outputs. Use when you need to map stages, actions, emotions, pain points, and opportunities for a persona and scenario.
intent: >-
  Guide product managers through creating a customer journey map by asking adaptive questions about the actor (persona), scenario/goal, journey phases, actions/emotions, and opportunities for improvement. Use this to visualize the end-to-end customer experience, identify pain points, and create a shared mental model across teams—avoiding surface-level feature lists and ensuring discovery work focuses on real customer problems, not assumed solutions.
type: interactive
best_for:
  - "Running a workshop to map an end-to-end customer experience"
  - "Finding pain points across a user's journey"
  - "Aligning teams on the stages, emotions, and breakdowns in an experience"
scenarios:
  - "Help me run a journey mapping workshop for new customer onboarding"
  - "Map the experience of a buyer from trial signup to first value"
  - "Facilitate a workshop on the support journey for churn-risk customers"

Purpose

Guide product managers through creating a customer journey map by asking adaptive questions about the actor (persona), scenario/goal, journey phases, actions/emotions, and opportunities for improvement. Use this to visualize the end-to-end customer experience, identify pain points, and create a shared mental model across teams—avoiding surface-level feature lists and ensuring discovery work focuses on real customer problems, not assumed solutions.

This is not a feature roadmap—it's a discovery and alignment tool that uncovers where the experience breaks down and where improvements will have the greatest impact.

Key Concepts

What is a Customer Journey Map?

A journey map (NNGroup) visualizes "the process that a person goes through in order to accomplish a goal." It compiles user actions into a timeline, enriched with thoughts and emotions to create a narrative, then condenses and polishes into a visual artifact.

Five Key Components (NNGroup Framework)

1. **Actor** — A specific persona or user whose perspective anchors the map 2. **Scenario + Expectations** — The situational context and associated goals 3. **Journey Phases** — High-level stages organizing the experience (e.g., discover, try, buy, use, seek support) 4. **Actions, Mindsets, and Emotions** — User behaviors, thoughts, and emotional responses throughout phases 5. **Opportunities** — Insights identifying where experience can improve

Journey Map Structure

Actor: [Persona Name]
Scenario: [Goal/Context]

Phase 1: Discover → Phase 2: Try → Phase 3: Buy → Phase 4: Use → Phase 5: Support
   ↓                  ↓                ↓               ↓               ↓
Actions:           Actions:         Actions:        Actions:        Actions:
Thoughts:          Thoughts:        Thoughts:       Thoughts:       Thoughts:
Emotions: 😊😐😞    Emotions:        Emotions:       Emotions:       Emotions:
   ↓                  ↓                ↓               ↓               ↓
Opportunities:     Opportunities:   Opportunities:  Opportunities:  Opportunities:

Why This Works

• **Forces conversation:** Teams align on shared understanding of customer experience
• **Reveals pain points:** Emotions + actions highlight where experience breaks down
• **Prioritizes improvements:** Opportunities ranked by impact guide roadmap decisions
• **Human-centered:** Focuses on customer perspective, not internal processes

Anti-Patterns (What This Is NOT)

• **Not a service blueprint:** Journey maps focus on customer perspective; service blueprints map internal operations
• **Not a user story map:** Journey maps support discovery; user story maps facilitate implementation planning
• **Not an experience map:** Journey maps target specific users and products; experience maps explore broader human behaviors

When to Use This

• Starting customer discovery (understanding current experience)
• Identifying pain points for retention/engagement initiatives
• Aligning cross-functional teams on customer perspective
• Prioritizing which problems to solve first

When NOT to Use This

• When you already understand the customer journey deeply
• For technical refactoring (no customer-facing journey)
• As a substitute for user research (maps require research input)

---

Facilitation Source of Truth

Use [`workshop-facilitation`](../workshop-facilitation/SKILL.md) as the default interaction protocol for this skill.

It defines:

• session heads-up + entry mode (Guided, Context dump, Best guess)
• one-question turns with plain-language prompts
• progress labels (for example, Context Qx/8 and Scoring Qx/5)
• interruption handling and pause/resume behavior
• numbered recommendations at decision points
• quick-select numbered response options for regular questions (include `Other (specify)` when useful)

This file defines the domain-specific assessment content. If there is a conflict, follow this file's domain logic.

Application

This interactive skill asks **up to 5 adaptive questions**, offering **3-4 enumerated options** at each step.

Interaction pattern: Pair with `skills/workshop-facilitation/SKILL.md` when you want a one-step-at-a-time flow with numbered recommendations at decision points and quick-select options for regular questions. If the user asks for a single-shot output, skip the multi-turn facilitation.

---

Step 0: Gather Context (Before Questions)

**Agent suggests:**

Before we create your journey map, let's gather context:

**Customer Research:**

• User interviews, discovery notes, support tickets
• Churn reasons, exit surveys, NPS feedback
• Analytics data (drop-off points, feature usage)
• Personas or proto-personas

**Product Context:**

• Website copy, product descriptions, positioning
• Competitor journey maps or reviews (G2, Capterra)
• Existing journey doc