What Is a Journey Map?

A journey map or user journey map is a visual representation of the stages a persona will move through during the course of their relationship with your organization. For each stage, the map reflects the content needed to help a persona progress along their journey.

This is different from a task flow, which maps a journey through a specific task by showing how individual pieces of content connect. A journey map is more expansive: It shows how a customer moves from awareness to consideration to purchase and ultimately loyalty—including the questions they have along the way and all the content that helps them answer them. It’s therefore a useful tool to identify gaps and opportunities for creating targeted, effective content. The journey depicted is also known as the purchase journey, buyer’s journey, customer journey, or user journey.

It’s important to note: The buyer’s journey doesn’t end at purchase. Subscription models are increasingly common in B2B. This means that the customer’s experience with a product continues after they’ve completed a transaction. Businesses must continue to provide a positive content experience for regular users of a product so that they keep coming back.

Journey Mapping Elements

An effective map usually begins with a detailed buyer persona. From there, consider:

• The user’s needs at each stage of the buyer’s journey
• The content that can help fulfill those needs
• The channels where they’re most likely to discover that content
• The goals of your organization, or what you want the user to do

Different organizations will have different needs for journey mapping. So, you’ll probably want to customize your map with additional criteria or information specific to your business. Once you’ve mapped these out, you’ll have a good idea of how to move a customer through the stages of the buyer’s journey and what content to create to help them advance to the next stage.

Mapping Examples

Why Journey Maps Matter for B2B Marketing

Done properly, journey mapping can reveal gaps and content needs at every stage of the buyer’s journey. This map is a foundational document that teams can use to plan content marketing around user needs. It allows you to understand the user, identify opportunities for targeted content, and build a cohesive content experience.

Journey mapping is particularly important in B2B situations because there are multiple people involved in the B2B buying process. Different personas influence the process at different points. It’s important to understand which personas come into play and when, so that you can be sure you’re targeting the right audience at each stage of the buyer’s journey.

Need Help Mapping Your Target Audience’s Journey?

Tendo can support you with our journey mapping services, detailing your customers’ specific informational needs at every stage—just as we have for some of the world’s top B2B brands. Let us know what your needs and goals are. Contact us today.