| name | customer-journey-map |
| description | Maps the full customer journey from awareness through advocacy, identifying touchpoints, emotions, pain points, and conversion gaps. Use when a user wants to understand their customer experience end-to-end, find drop-off points, improve conversion at specific stages, or design a better onboarding/purchase flow. |
| allowed-tools | Read Write Bash(mkdir:*) |
Customer Journey Map
When to Use This Skill
- User wants to understand how customers move from discovery to purchase to loyalty
- User is experiencing drop-off at a specific stage and wants to diagnose why
- User is launching a new product/service and needs to design the full experience
- User wants to compare their current journey against an ideal journey
- User says things like "where am I losing customers" or "map my funnel" or "customer experience"
Core Principle
EVERY JOURNEY STAGE MUST INCLUDE: what the customer DOES, what they THINK, what they FEEL, and what GAPS exist between their expectation and reality.
Workflow
Step 1: Gather Context
Ask the user for:
- What product or service is this journey for?
- Who is the primary customer persona? (role, goals, frustrations)
- What channels do customers use to find you? (organic, paid, referral, social)
- Where do you think customers are dropping off today?
If the user cannot answer all four, proceed with what they provide and flag assumptions.
Step 2: Define Journey Stages
Map the journey across these 6 standard stages:
| Stage | Customer Goal | Key Question |
|---|
| Awareness | Realize they have a problem | "How do they first hear about you?" |
| Consideration | Evaluate options | "What are they comparing you against?" |
| Decision | Choose and purchase | "What triggers the final yes?" |
| Onboarding | Get first value | "How fast do they see results?" |
| Retention | Continue using/buying | "Why do they stay or leave?" |
| Advocacy | Recommend to others | "What makes them tell a friend?" |
Step 3: Map Each Stage
For every stage, document:
- Touchpoints — Every interaction (website visit, email, call, ad, etc.)
- Actions — What the customer literally does at this stage
- Thoughts — What questions or concerns they have
- Emotions — Their emotional state (excited, confused, anxious, delighted)
- Pain Points — Friction, confusion, or frustration they experience
- Opportunities — Gaps where you could improve the experience
Step 4: Identify Critical Gaps
Analyze the map for:
- Drop-off points — Where customers leave and never come back
- Emotion dips — Where positive sentiment turns negative
- Missing touchpoints — Stages with no proactive communication
- Handoff failures — Where the customer is passed between systems/people and context is lost
- Time gaps — Where too much time passes between interactions
Step 5: Deliver the Journey Map
Output a complete text-based journey map using this format, plus a prioritized list of 3-5 improvements ranked by impact and effort.
Example 1: Online Course Creator
Context: Sarah sells a $497 online course on email marketing for small businesses.
CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP: Email Marketing Mastery Course
Customer Persona: Small business owner, 1-5 employees, $50K-$200K revenue
Primary channels: Instagram, podcast guesting, Google search
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STAGE 1: AWARENESS
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Touchpoints: Instagram Reels, podcast guest appearances, blog posts (SEO)
Actions: Sees a reel about email open rates > clicks profile > reads bio
Thoughts: "My emails get terrible open rates. Maybe I'm doing it wrong."
Emotions: Frustrated (with current results), Curious (about better way)
Pain Points: Hard to tell if Sarah is credible from a 30-second reel
Opportunities: Add social proof to bio; pin a testimonial reel
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STAGE 2: CONSIDERATION
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Touchpoints: Free lead magnet (Email Subject Line Swipe File), email nurture sequence, sales page
Actions: Downloads swipe file > reads 3-4 nurture emails > visits sales page > checks reviews
Thoughts: "This free stuff is good, but is the course worth $497?"
Emotions: Interested but skeptical, price-sensitive
Pain Points: Nurture sequence is 14 days — too long, loses momentum
Opportunities: Shorten nurture to 7 days; add case study email on day 3
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STAGE 3: DECISION
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Touchpoints: Sales page, checkout page, cart abandonment email
Actions: Reads sales page > adds to cart > hesitates > leaves > gets abandonment email > purchases
Thoughts: "Can I get a refund if it doesn't work? Will I actually finish it?"
Emotions: Anxious about spending, fear of wasting money
Pain Points: Guarantee policy buried at bottom of sales page; no payment plan visible
Opportunities: Move guarantee above the fold; add 3-payment option prominently
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STAGE 4: ONBOARDING
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Touchpoints: Welcome email, course platform login, Module 1
Actions: Gets login > enters platform > watches Module 1 intro > completes first exercise
Thoughts: "OK, where do I start? This is a lot of content."
Emotions: Excited but overwhelmed
Pain Points: No clear "start here" path; platform navigation is confusing
Opportunities: Add a "Quick Win in 24 Hours" guided path; simplify dashboard
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STAGE 5: RETENTION
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Touchpoints: Weekly check-in emails, community forum, office hours
Actions: Completes 3 of 8 modules > stops logging in > gets re-engagement email > returns
Thoughts: "I got busy. I'll finish it later. Did I even make progress?"
Emotions: Guilty, disengaged
Pain Points: No progress tracking; community feels dead (low engagement)
Opportunities: Add progress bar + milestone celebrations; seed community with daily prompts
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STAGE 6: ADVOCACY
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Touchpoints: Completion certificate, referral program, testimonial request
Actions: Finishes course > gets certificate > shares on LinkedIn > refers a friend
Thoughts: "That was worth it. My open rates went from 18% to 34%."
Emotions: Proud, accomplished, generous
Pain Points: No referral incentive; testimonial request comes too late (30 days after)
Opportunities: Ask for testimonial at moment of completion; offer 20% referral commission
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TOP 3 IMPROVEMENTS (Impact vs Effort)
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1. Shorten nurture sequence from 14 to 7 days [HIGH impact, LOW effort]
2. Add "Quick Win in 24 Hours" onboarding path [HIGH impact, MEDIUM effort]
3. Move guarantee + payment plan above the fold on sales page [HIGH impact, LOW effort]
Example 2: Local Service Business
Context: Mike runs a residential cleaning company in Austin, TX.
CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP: CleanPro Austin — Residential Cleaning
Customer Persona: Dual-income household, kids, $100K+ HHI, values time over money
Primary channels: Google search, Nextdoor, referrals from friends
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STAGE 1: AWARENESS
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Touchpoints: Google "house cleaning Austin", Nextdoor recommendations, friend referral
Actions: Searches Google > sees CleanPro in map pack > clicks website
Thoughts: "I need someone reliable. Last cleaner was inconsistent."
Emotions: Hopeful but guarded (burned before)
Pain Points: Website loads slowly on mobile; no reviews visible on homepage
Opportunities: Speed up mobile site; embed Google reviews on homepage
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STAGE 2: CONSIDERATION
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Touchpoints: Website, Google reviews, quote request form, phone call
Actions: Reads services page > checks Google reviews (4.6 stars) > submits quote form
Thoughts: "Are they insured? Do they bring their own supplies? Can I trust them in my home?"
Emotions: Cautious, comparing 2-3 options
Pain Points: Quote form asks too many fields (12); no instant pricing estimate
Opportunities: Reduce form to 4 fields; add instant price calculator
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STAGE 3: DECISION
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Touchpoints: Quote email, follow-up call, booking confirmation
Actions: Receives quote email > calls with questions > books first cleaning
Thoughts: "Price is fair. Let me try one cleaning before committing to recurring."
Emotions: Cautiously optimistic
Pain Points: Quote email is plain text, looks unprofessional; no photos of team
Opportunities: Design branded quote template; include team photo + bio
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STAGE 4: ONBOARDING (First Clean)
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Touchpoints: Pre-clean checklist email, day-of text from cleaner, post-clean follow-up
Actions: Receives prep checklist > lets team in > inspects after > responds to follow-up
Thoughts: "Did they get the corners? Will they be consistent next time?"
Emotions: Evaluating critically — this clean determines everything
Pain Points: No way to leave specific instructions for the team; post-clean follow-up is generic
Opportunities: Add a "special instructions" field; send personalized follow-up asking about specific rooms
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STAGE 5: RETENTION
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Touchpoints: Recurring booking reminders, quality check calls, seasonal upsell emails
Actions: Continues biweekly service > occasionally skips > gets loyalty discount at 6 months
Thoughts: "They're consistent. I don't even think about cleaning anymore."
Emotions: Relieved, loyal
Pain Points: Different cleaners each visit — no consistency in who shows up
Opportunities: Assign a dedicated team; notify client if team changes
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STAGE 6: ADVOCACY
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Touchpoints: Referral card, Google review request, Nextdoor mention
Actions: Tells neighbor > posts on Nextdoor > leaves Google review
Thoughts: "Mike's team is great. Happy to recommend."
Emotions: Satisfied, generous
Pain Points: No referral reward; never asked directly for a review
Opportunities: Offer $25 credit per referral; send review request after 3rd clean (not 1st)
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TOP 3 IMPROVEMENTS (Impact vs Effort)
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1. Add instant price calculator to website [HIGH impact, MEDIUM effort]
2. Assign dedicated cleaning teams to recurring clients [HIGH impact, LOW effort]
3. Send Google review request after 3rd clean with direct link [HIGH impact, LOW effort]
Recovery and Fallback
- If the user only knows 1-2 stages well, map those in detail and mark other stages as "NEEDS DISCOVERY — schedule customer interviews to fill this gap"
- If the user has no customer data, build a hypothesis journey and label it "ASSUMED — validate with 5 customer conversations"
- If the user's business model does not fit 6 stages (e.g., one-time purchase with no retention), collapse stages and note why
- If 3 attempts to clarify the persona or channels fail, proceed with the most common persona for their industry and flag all assumptions
Constraints
- NEVER fabricate customer data — if the user does not provide data, label assumptions clearly
- ALWAYS include emotions — this is what separates a journey map from a basic funnel
- ALWAYS output a prioritized improvement list — the map without actions is just a diagram
- Keep each stage section to 6-8 lines maximum
- Use text-based formatting only (no images, no Mermaid, no external tools)
- One persona per map — if multiple personas exist, create separate maps
