Customer Experience Map Examples: Templates and Guide (2026)

Quick answer: A customer experience map (or journey map) visualizes every touchpoint a customer has with your brand, from first awareness to post-purchase. Below are 5 real examples with templates you can adapt for your business.

What Is a Customer Experience Map?

A customer experience map is a visual document that plots out every interaction a customer has with your brand across their entire journey. It identifies:

• Touchpoints, where customers interact with you
• Emotions, how they feel at each stage
• Pain points, where friction causes drop-off
• Opportunities, where you can improve the experience

Experience Map vs. Journey Map

These terms are often used interchangeably, but there's a subtle difference:

5 Customer Experience Map Examples

Example 1: E-Commerce Purchase Journey

Stages:

1. Awareness

• Touchpoints: Social media ad, blog post, influencer mention
• Emotion: Curious, interested
• Action: Clicks to website

2. Consideration

• Touchpoints: Product page, reviews, comparison shopping
• Emotion: Evaluating, slightly anxious
• Action: Adds to cart, reads reviews

3. Purchase

• Touchpoints: Checkout, payment, confirmation email
• Emotion: Excited but cautious
• Action: Completes purchase

4. Delivery

• Touchpoints: Shipping updates, tracking, delivery
• Emotion: Anticipation, impatience
• Action: Tracks package

5. Post-Purchase

• Touchpoints: Unboxing, product use, support, review request
• Emotion: Satisfied or disappointed
• Action: Leaves review, repurchases, or returns

Key insight: The biggest drop-off happens between cart and purchase. Simplify checkout to one page.

Example 2: SaaS Onboarding Journey

Stages:

1. Discovery → Finds product via search, ad, or referral 2. Free Trial Signup → Creates account, enters email 3. First Use → Completes onboarding flow, tries core feature 4. Activation → Achieves first success ("aha moment") 5. Conversion → Upgrades to paid plan 6. Retention → Regular usage, feature expansion 7. Advocacy → Refers others, leaves review

Key pain points identified:

• Step 3 → 4: Users who don't reach the "aha moment" within 48 hours churn
• Step 5: Pricing page confusion causes hesitation
• Step 6: Feature discovery is poor, users don't know advanced features exist

Solution mapped: In-app tooltips at step 3, simplified pricing at step 5, monthly feature emails at step 6.

Example 3: Restaurant Customer Experience

Stages:

Key insight: The 5-minute wait between requesting the bill and receiving it is the #1 negative touchpoint. Mobile payment options eliminate this entirely.

Example 4: Social Media Marketing Agency Client Journey

Stages:

1. Awareness, client sees your content, case studies, or referral 2. Inquiry, fills out contact form, books discovery call 3. Proposal, reviews scope, pricing, timeline 4. Onboarding, account access, brand guidelines, content calendar setup 5. Active Management, content creation, scheduling, reporting 6. Review & Renewal, quarterly review, contract renewal

Common pain points:

• Onboarding takes too long (2+ weeks)
• Clients don't know what's happening between reports
• Renewal conversations happen too late

Solutions:

• Standardized onboarding checklist (3-day completion)
• Weekly automated progress updates
• Use a social media report template for client-facing updates
• Renewal conversation at month 10 of 12

Example 5: Content Marketing Funnel

Stages:

Top of Funnel (Awareness)

• Blog posts, social content, SEO
• Planning this stage? See our content planning tool
• Emotion: "This is interesting"
• Metric: Traffic, impressions

Middle of Funnel (Consideration)

• Email newsletter, webinars, case studies
• Emotion: "Could this work for me?"
• Metric: Email signups, content downloads

Bottom of Funnel (Decision)

• Free trial, demo, pricing page
• Emotion: "Is this worth the investment?"
• Metric: Trial signups, demo requests

Post-Funnel (Retention)

• Onboarding, support, community
• Emotion: "Am I getting value?"
• Metric: Retention rate, NPS

How to Create Your Own Experience Map

Step 1: Define Your Customer Persona

Who is the customer you're mapping? Be specific about demographics, goals, and frustrations. Use a free user persona generator to define your ideal customer profile.

Step 2: List Every Touchpoint

Write down every interaction, digital and physical. Include:

• Website visits
• Social media interactions
• Email communications
• Phone calls
• In-person experiences
• Post-purchase follow-ups

Step 3: Map Emotions at Each Stage

Rate the emotional experience from negative to positive at each touchpoint. This reveals where you're losing people.

Step 4: Identify Pain Points

Circle every touchpoint where emotion drops. These are your priority fixes.

Step 5: Define Opportunities

For each pain point, brainstorm solutions. Prioritize by impact and effort. A SWOT analysis can help you evaluate which improvements to prioritize.

Step 6: Visualize It

Use a tool like Figma, Miro, or even a spreadsheet to create the visual map. Share with your team. Need to measure the impact of your changes? Track your customer lifetime value before and after implementing fixes.

Customer Experience Map Template

Use this simple framework for any business:

STAGE:          [Awareness] → [Consideration] → [Purchase] → [Retention] → [Advocacy]
TOUCHPOINTS:    [List each]   [List each]       [List each]   [List each]   [List each]
CUSTOMER GOAL:  [What they want at this stage]
EMOTION:        [😊/😐/😟]
PAIN POINTS:    [What frustrates them]
OPPORTUNITIES:  [How to improve]
METRICS:        [What to measure]

Tools for Creating Experience Maps

• Miro, best for collaborative mapping with teams
• Figma, best for polished, designerly maps
• Lucidchart, best for flowchart-style journey maps
• Google Sheets, best for simple, shareable templates
• Canva, best for visually appealing presentations

For the social media touchpoints in your map, a social media content calendar helps you plan and track customer interactions across platforms.

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