Visualisation – Journey Mapping

The Challenge

I work for a subscription TV company, we’re responsible for improving the user experience of our  products primarily focusing on the user interface. We needed to identify pain-points and frustrations  that customers were having with our flagship product and then improve upon them. Our goal was to  remove these pain-points and streamline the experience. This is particularly important for a TV  product as after a hard day of work our customers want to relax in front of their TV’s and everything  to just work. They have a low tolerance for frustration and an easy means to change to a different  subscription service or free to air TV.

Selection

We selected a visualisation technique called journey mapping, as described on day 1 during the  Good Kitchen story where Hatch and Bloom reimagined a food delivery service for the elderly of  Denmark. We selected this tool because it was highly visual, and we felt that internal stakeholders  could grasp very quickly. This was important because not everyone was aligned to what the  problems were. We also needed a tool that would allow us to connect customers experiences with  the emotions that were generated along the way. These customers journeys were well known but  not well understood. Our goal was to visualise these journeys to align our internal stakeholders to  the most important pain points that our customers were experiencing.

Application

We started by digging into a body to research we had previously done of the last couple of years. We  quickly drew up what we thought were the 3 most important journeys for our customers. We  mapped out each step that our customers took during these journeys. Then we used the research  and our own experiences to add pain-points and frustrations to each step where appropriate. We  used colour coding and happy or frowny faces to ensure the steps in the journey where the most  frustration was felt were clearly visible. We printed these journeys out and stuck them onto a big  wall. We then invited stakeholders from the business for short sessions to walkthrough the journeys  we had visualised and brought their attention to our customers frustrations. Later we used  visualisations to brainstorm ideas on how we could improve upon the pain-points. We then pitched  the best of these ideas to our internal stakeholders. A couple of the ideas went ahead to be  implemented on the product and they did improve the experience slightly, but we didn’t see a huge  change in what our customers thought about our product.

Insight

Somethings worked well. The visualisation of the journey maps were easy to grasp by our senior  stakeholders. Printing them out and sticking them to the wall worked exceptionally well for

collaborating and alignment among our internal stakeholders. However, in hind sight and with the  help of this course we could have done two things differently for a much greater effect.

We should have done more research and really dig into our customers pain-points. I felt we went  too shallow and didn’t get to the heart of these issues. Our ideas ended up only addressing  symptoms and not solving the root-cause.

Another area of improvement... We took the starting point of our 3 journeys as when customers  began to interact with our set top box, that’s where our visualisation began. In hindsight a better  approach would have been begin the journey well before they started interacting with our product  and find a way of visualizing the mindset of our customers as they began to interact with our  product.

Looking back visualising the journeys worked well, however thinking more broadly we missed the  sprit of what Design Thinking is and our actions came from more of a product perspective rather  than from a customer perspective. This caused us to focus our visualisation around the product  which was more limiting than focusing the visualisation around the customer.

Approach

In doing this again, I think being more customer centred and less product centred would produce  better results. Digging deeper into customers and their mindsets to gain more insight up front and  visualising these on the journey map would be more effective. And of course we will still print out  and stick the journeys on the wall to make them more visible and encourage collaboration and  alignment, since it worked really well previously.


Visualisation – Journey Mapping The Challenge I work for a subscription TV company , we ’re responsible for improving the user experience of our products primarily focusing on the user interface . We needed to identify pain - points and frustrations that customers were having with our flagship product and then improve upon them . Our goal was to remove these pain - points and streamline the experience . This is particularly important for a TV product as after a hard day of work our customers want to relax in front of their TV ’s and everything to just work . They have a low tolerance for frustration and an easy means to change to a different subscription service or free to air TV . Selection We selected a visualisation technique called journey mapping , as described on day 1 during the Good Kitchen story where Hatch and Bloom reimagined a food delivery service for the elderly of Denmark . We selected this tool because it was highly visual , and we felt that internal stakeholders could grasp very quickly . This was important because not everyone was aligned to what the problems were . We also needed a tool that would allow us to connect customers experiences with the emotions that were generated along the way . These customers journeys were well known but not well understood . Our goal was to visualise these journeys to align our internal stakeholders to the most important pain points that our customers were experiencing . Application We started by digging into a body to research we had previously done of the last couple of years . We quickly drew up what we thought were the 3 most important journeys for our customers . We mapped out each step that our customers took during these journeys . Then we used the research and our own experiences to add pain - points and frustrations to each step where appropriate . We used colour coding and happy or frowny faces to ensure the steps in the journey where the most frustration was felt were clearly visible . We printed these journeys out and stuck them onto a big wall . We then invited stakeholders from the business for short sessions to walkthrough the journeys we had visualised and brought their attention to our customers frustrations . Later we used visualisations to brainstorm ideas on how we could improve upon the pain - points . We then pitched the best of these ideas to our internal stakeholders . A couple of the ideas went ahead to be implemented on the product and they did improve the experience slightly , but we did n’t see a huge change in what our customers thought about our product . Insight Somethings worked well . The visualisation of the journey maps were easy to grasp by our senior stakeholders . Printing them out and sticking them to the wall worked exceptionally well for collaborating and alignment among our internal stakeholders . However , in hind sight and with the help of this course we could have done two things differently for a much greater effect . We should have done more research and really dig into our customers pain - points . I felt we went too shallow and did n’t get to the heart of these issues . Our ideas ended up only addressing symptoms and not solving the root - cause . Another area of improvement ... We took the starting point of our 3 journeys as when customers began to interact with our set top box , that ’s where our visualisation began . In hindsight a better approach would have been begin the journey well before they started interacting with our product and find a way of visualizing the mindset of our customers as they began to interact with our product . Looking back visualising the journeys worked well , however thinking more broadly we missed the sprit of what Design Thinking is and our actions came from more of a product perspective rather than from a customer perspective . This caused us to focus our visualisation around the product which was more limiting than focusing the visualisation around the customer . Approach In doing this again , I think being more customer centred and less product centred would produce better results . Digging deeper into customers and their mindsets to gain more insight up front and visualising these on the journey map would be more effective . And of course we will still print out and stick the journeys on the wall to make them more visible and encourage collaboration and alignment , since it worked really well previously .