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8 min read · Foundations
You'll learn
  • How to define phases, touchpoints, and moments that matter.
  • How to choose a journey type and adapt it to your context.
  • A simple starting checklist to run your first fieldwork.
How to use this guide: read the takeaways, then jump to phases and the quick-start checklist.
A simple idea, powerful in practice

Thinking in Journeys

A journey is the sequence of moments someone experiences with your organization—from first awareness to outcomes. It could be a purchase, a support request, or a first week at work. When you map it, you can measure what matters and improve with confidence.

A journey describes experience over time. Instead of a single “Are people happy?” score, you look at each step: what happens, what feels easy or confusing, and where people get stuck.

Journeys make improvement concrete: pick one moment, measure it consistently, learn what drives the score, and decide the next action. Start small, then expand as you learn.

Key takeaways
  • Journeys describe experience over time, not a single moment.
  • Phases keep the story readable; touchpoints are where it happens.
  • Start with a few moments that matter and iterate from real feedback.

Phases, touchpoints, and moments that matter

Start by naming 4–7 phases that cover the full story (for example Discover → Choose → Start → Use → Get help → Renew). Think of phases as your table of contents: they make the journey easy to read, compare, and improve. Keep them simple and chronological, and use verbs when you can (people *discover*, *start*, *use*, *renew*). If a phase feels too big, split it. If two phases feel identical, merge them—clarity beats precision at this stage.

Next, list the touchpoints inside each phase (pages, emails, calls, visits, chats, invoices—anything people actually experience). Then pick the few moments that matter most: the places where confusion, effort, or trust changes outcomes. A good “moment that matters” is specific enough to measure and improve (e.g., “first successful login”, “checkout payment step”, “support case resolution”), and important enough to affect retention, cost, or growth. You don’t need to measure everything—start with the moments that influence decisions, then expand once your first run is repeatable.

Core vocabulary
Phase
A chapter of the experience (for example Discover or Use). Phases keep the journey readable and structured.
Touchpoint
A concrete interaction (a page, email, call, visit). Touchpoints are where the experience happens.
Moment that matters
A touchpoint that disproportionately shapes outcomes—where trust is won or lost, and effort or clarity shifts behavior.

Examples you can picture

Use examples to sanity-check your phases and spot likely “moments that matter”.

A webshop order
Browse → compare → pay → delivery → return. The moment that matters is often not price—it’s confidence at checkout and recovery when something goes wrong.
A public service request
Find the right form → provide documents → wait → resolve. The moment that matters is usually uncertainty: “Did I do it right, and what happens next?”
A new hire week
Day 1 → tools → people → expectations. The moment that matters is often psychological safety: feeling supported enough to ask questions and make progress.

Common journey types

Journeys exist everywhere. Start with the type closest to your situation, then tailor phases and questions to your reality.

Customer Journey
What it is
How customers experience your product or service across time (before, during, and after use).
Moments that matter
First success, support outcomes, and confidence to renew or repurchase.
Employee Journey
What it is
How employees experience key moments at work—from joining to growth, change, and internal services.
Moments that matter
Onboarding clarity, feedback cycles, and change communication that builds trust.
Student Journey
What it is
How students move through enrollment, learning, support, and progression.
Moments that matter
Early confidence, support responsiveness, and friction that causes drop‑off.
Patient Journey
What it is
How patients experience care before, during, and after treatment.
Moments that matter
Clarity, empathy, and follow‑up—especially when uncertainty is high.
Webshop / E-commerce Journey
What it is
How people experience buying online: browsing, checkout, delivery, and returns.
Moments that matter
Checkout confidence, delivery reliability, and fair resolution when things go wrong.
Public Services
What it is
How citizens experience requests: forms, verification, appointments, and resolution.
Moments that matter
Clear next steps, waiting-time transparency, and respectful communication.

How to start (without overthinking)

Start small. Your first journey should be easy to run, easy to repeat, and tightly connected to a real decision.

  1. Choose one journey and one audience (who is this journey for?).
  2. Define a clear outcome (what “good” looks like) and 4–7 phases.
  3. List touchpoints, then pick 3–5 moments that matter to measure first.
  4. Add 1 primary metric and a few “why” questions per moment; keep wording consistent.
  5. Run a short fieldwork window, review results, and iterate (repeatability > perfection).
A note about Journey Studio
In Journey Studio, these journey types are starting templates. The goal isn’t a rigid model—it’s a sensible first draft that helps you launch fieldwork, learn where the biggest moments are, and refine your measurement over time.
Read: Measurement basics