Your customers have needs and your product, system, or service should fulfil them. A seamless journey from need to fulfilment is the goal of great UX, but to achieve this you'll need to create a customer journey map. The map should start with a user who has a need, showing every touchpoint they will have with your product, system, or service through to fulfilment. Customer journey maps are a great way to identify potential opportunities you can capitalise on.

Ultimately, the goal of mapping is to form a deeper understanding of your customer's current experience to create insights on how you can best serve them. There are many different versions of customer journey maps. Some may be complex while others could be simple, and regardless of this your customers could either be experiencing a positive or negative journey while trying to resolve their need. It's critical that you understand what their journey looks like if you want to improve that experience. 

So, what are the key elements you should include in a customer journey? First up is persona. Personas are fictional representations of your customers and should represent a wide range of people. Second, the starting point. This is the trigger or event that led this person to have a need or want for a product, system, or service in the first place. Third, the end goal of the customer. Ask yourself what outcome they want or need to achieve.

Finally, the steps reflect the journey your potential customers go through in trying to achieve their end goal. The steps are essentially all the bits in between the starting point and the end goal. Once you have a journey laid out based on these four key elements, you'll have a general picture or a blueprint of your customer's perspective of their experience with your product, system, or service. This map is a powerful tool in the right hands and can help you craft the best possible UX for your customers.