3 best tools for mapping customer journey stages

Hello. You’ve found this article. That means, this information is interesting to you in some way.

You might read our recommendations and decide to download some of these tools.

You might enquire about our services, perhaps sign up as a client.

You might do a lot of things; you’re a very busy person.

A customer journey looks something like what we’ve just described. Customer journey mapping tools, then, help you visualise each stage along the way in greater detail. In so doing, you can understand the thoughts and motivations of your customers, and how best to engage them.

Here are three of the best tools to get your customer journeys on the right track.

1. Articulate’s digital customer journey template

This is our very own free tool for mapping customer journeys. So of course it had to make the list!

The format is your straight-forward PDF. It comes with a ready-to-go example, an interactive version and a printable version. (Don’t feel too guilty if you prefer to print it off — we’ll plant a tree when you fill in the form to access this tool.)

Articulate’s customer journey map is split into seven columns, one for each stage of the journey from ‘Awareness’ to ‘Advocacy’.

The rows, then, illustrate how that journey is experienced. Not only do we cover the customer perspective, but also the company perspective, each from several different angles. This means you get a comprehensive understanding of how to apply your assets to best align with the goals, thoughts and activities of your customer. And you can visualise any gaps in your processes.

There’s a video tour on this page so you can see exactly what you’re getting ⬇️

Link: Digital Customer Journey Template

TL;DR: Good for an all-in-one, ready-to-use customer journey template.

2. HubSpot’s 7 customer journey templates

HubSpot is a fab place to go for marketing resources and don’t disappoint here. Taken together, their seven customer journey map templates give you a real insight into your customers. Although, it’s worth noting that these won’t provide you with a one-and-done documented customer journey. Moreso, they offer food for thought.

We particularly like the ‘day in the life’ template, which envisions a customer’s thoughts and feelings from dawn ‘til dusk. You can take the ‘current state’ template and compare it with the ‘future state’ template. And the customer churn template is thought-provoking — what can we learn from customers that choose to leave?

Try running a customer journey workshop where you fill these in as a team or in groups.

Link: 7 Customer Journey Map Templates

TL;DR: Good for considering the customer journey from unique angles.

3. Smaply’s customer journey mapping tools

With a client roster including Microsoft and Google, Smaply takes your customer journey mapping to the next level. Yes, this is pay to play, but there is a free version so you can try out some of the features.

We enjoyed Smaply’s visualisation tools and dynamic interface, which allows you to build layers into your customer journey map. Meaning, you are able to open out text boxes, graphs and other features by interacting with them. With paid tiers, you can even integrate data insights into your customer journey so that it becomes a tool to track real metrics, rather than simply a plan of action.

This is more of an advanced tool, but it’s worth investigating if you’ve already got a solid idea of your customers’ journey and want to use to data to optimise each stage.

Link: Customer Journey Mapping Tool

TL;DR: Good for advanced and dynamic customer journey mapping.

Organised wonder

Author and naturalist Peter Steinhart said ‘maps are a way of organising wonder.’

A customer journey map reflects the structure you’ve put in place to guide people’s curiosity — their wonder — towards the answers that you offer.

Your job, at each of the customer journey stages, is to find the best ways to encourage further exploration. By viewing the customer journey through this lens, you go from, ‘How do I sell more stuff?’ to, ‘How do I optimise each stage of the customer journey?’.

A much more productive mindset, we can all agree. And one supported by the tools we’ve listed above.

Happy mapping!