Creating a user path map for dummies

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We continue our experiments with not quite programmer courses and are now on the waiting list for the launch of “Designing UX / UI” and here is an interesting material that we would like to share with you.

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What is a User Path Map?

The user path map (or sometimes the user experience map) is a mirror of the client's interaction with your product / service.

Last month, I wrote a Google Analytics guide for UX designers. Useful article for owners of sites or products that already have traffic. But what if you start from scratch? How to create a product that they want to use?

A user experience map helps you sketch a UX and predict potential interference before creating an actual site or prototype. It is important to see the big picture before starting development or even design. If you already have a product, this can be a great exercise in identifying the clutter that your customers face.

Images

A great example of an image from Keep It Usable

If you do not have users, then how to create a map of their travel? First you need to create images of several types of users. The images are a completely separate beast, so if you have no experience in creating them, read this article on Hubspot.

The user's path map shows the needs of consumers, their expectations and needs, potential ways to achieve certain goals. This is similar to a behavioral scheme that determines how a customer can interact with your product or service.

Usually, businesses have enough data on their customers, but sometimes the data are not able to help eliminate consumer interference or indecision in achieving a business goal. When using narration and visualization, a map of the user's path will help to understand the user's relationship with your brand for a certain period of time. A thoughtful narrative of user actions is more useful for design than just guesses.

Why do you need a User Path Map?

Amazing route map for Emirates Airlines by Robert Dersley

You and the team did everything possible to create the most functional and beautiful product, but now you need to understand what kind of journey the consumer makes when confronted with the product for the first time. Acquaintance with user experience makes it possible to customize it even more accurately.

A good understanding of customer travel provides the following benefits:

1. See the overall picture of the user's travels;
2. To establish interaction between design, technical and business teams;
3. Optimize ux, identifying and eliminating negative ux;
4. Optimize the conversion funnel by working on the interference points;
5. Detect customer dumping points, find solutions for their return;
6. Improve user travel design.

Creating a User Path Map

The purpose of creating such a card is to identify and correct the pain points of your customers.


Via Visual Paradigm

01 Creating images

User images help you understand who your customers really are, what they need and how they interact with your business.

Most of the information needed to create a user experience map comes precisely from customer images.

You can create images of different types of clients, such as an actual client, a potential buyer, a completely separate client segment. Ideally, you need to create an image that reflects a common set of clients / behaviors. Use these images on the user experience map to display customers' paths at various points.

Example:

You have a learning platform with a conditionally free business model. Your target audience is schoolchildren and adults aged from 35 to 60. You need to create images for each of these groups - one for young schoolchildren, and the second for adults 40+.
The basic course is free, but you need to pay for an advanced course or degree. The main customers are a young group.
You motivate a group of 40+ to spend time translating a free course into other languages.

Both images will strive for different goals using your website. They have varying degrees of technological knowledge and understanding of interaction models. It is necessary to create an experience that satisfies the needs of both groups.

02 Custom stages

Stages of clients consist of their targeted actions. They can be visualized through a multistage sales funnel.

It is necessary to define user stages. The stage should illustrate the buyers motive or purpose of their journey. Why do they appear on this page / this step? What is their motive, and how will their journey develop on the following pages / steps?
Each stage should embody the client’s purposeful journey, not your business steps. The purpose of the user may be “to find a gift to his wife,” and the actions will be as follows:
product search> comparison> basket> purchase

How do you define these stages? Very simple, determine the individual steps from the very beginning of the journey to purchase your product / service.

In the learning platform example, you can define the following user steps for the client image (schoolchildren):

1. Go on the website;
2. Find a suitable course;
3. Decide to pass it for free or for a fee;
4. See the desired and see the details;
5. Select the desired course;
6. Pay the final amount if a paid course was chosen.

03 Define user interactions

Each client interaction point with your business is called a touchpoint. The user must go through a huge number of such points on the way to achieve their goal. Points of contact include (but are not limited to): subscribe to a newsletter, create an account, subscribe to your service, purchase a product.


Touchpoint interferences in the Emirates Robert Dersley user experience map

We'll have to make a detailed list of points of contact. It will surely turn out to be very long, but at the same time it will help to optimize each step of your client’s journey.

04 User Testing

This may cost you a lot of money, but this way you will receive accurate information from the visitors to your site. Test results will help to understand:

1. The goals of users on your site;
2. Impressions of the site in the process;
3. How do users relate to points of contact;
4. Their interaction with points in the way of achieving the goal;
5. Emotions and customer expectations when interacting with points;
6. What exactly caused the selected action;
7. What kind of interference they encountered during the passage of various client phases;
8. How quickly the goal was achieved.

05 Interference Detection

The user experience map helps to see the overall picture of the customer's journey in your product / service. You can take a fresh look at the image of the client and his path.

Ideally, the card design and identification of client images and stages should be discussed with the team. This is the easiest way to find interference at the points of contact.
You and your team know your customers best. But here are some common questions that can help identify interference:

1. What potential interference can customers find at points of contact?
2. Are they familiar with all the content before moving to another page?
3. Do they give up because of too much or too little content?
4. Are customers in the communication cycle for future interaction?
5. Does the page have all the details necessary for the client?
6. Is slow loading speed causing high dump levels?

06 interference elimination

As mentioned in the last section, you need to look at the process through the eyes of your target audience in order to identify interference.

The goal of the user experience card is not only to write and visualize the consumer’s journey, but also to look at the journey from the client’s point of view, to identify interference and find ways to eliminate them.

Creating a map will help you find a course of action aimed at improving the experience. Ideally, you should follow the thought process of the client's image and try to find solutions to the detected interference. If there is a team, each of its members should think about it using images and record the result.

Discuss all possible solutions with your team. So you will have the exact way to eliminate the interference. Embed this into the user's path map.

Now try using the custom image to get to the goal from the very beginning to see if the proposed solution works. Is everyone happy with this decision? If yes, use it.

Do not be afraid to repeat the process for all the bugs that you or your team will encounter. Correct all found interference points. This will help to optimize and polish ux and increase ROI.

Click here to download the client experience card template. Use it to create your own map.

Conclusion

Creating a user experience map can significantly improve customer travel even before you start prototyping. It helps to learn to see the consumer’s point of view and visualize the interference found. Solving these problems contributes to the creation of a super-class product that real customers will definitely want to use.

THE END

As always, we are waiting for comments and questions, or visit us at the Open Day .