The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Right Mapping Method for Your Team

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When to Use Which Mapping Method

The most common question I probably get is when to use which mapping method and when mapping methods are really helpful. They help align a team, they help create a visual representation of all of our different mental models, but there's a lot of them out there and they're often confused. I'm gonna run through four that are commonly used – what their defining characteristics are and when to use them. The first being an empathy map.

The Empathy Map

An empathy map is divided into four quadrants – thinks, does, feels. It helps us get into the user's mindset – who they are and what drives them.

The Customer Journey Map

The customer journey map creates a narrative of what users are going through as they interact with our product or service. It can lead to insights of where the pains are and what delights them.

The Experienced Map

The experienced map is often confused with the customer journey map, but the primary distinction is that the experience map is not affiliated with a specific product or service. Rather, it highlights a general human behavior like childhood development or pregnancy.

The Service Blueprint

The service blueprint is a part two to the customer journey map. It highlights what the employees have to do in order to produce that customer journey.

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