Free Customer Journey Map Template for SaaS Teams (Steps + Examples)
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What is a customer journey map?
A customer journey map is a structured visual representation of the steps a user takes across the customer journey, from first awareness to long-term use. It documents the user journey by mapping goals, touchpoints, pain points, emotions, and measurable outcomes at each stage, so teams can understand real behavior, not assumptions, and improve the customer experience systematically.
How to build a customer journey map template
Ahead, we’ll explain how to create your very own customer journey map template, so you can apply it directly to your product.
Start by anchoring the map to one specific user
Before adding stages or fields, define one clear user persona. A customer journey map becomes overly complex when it tries to represent multiple users at once.
For this exercise, write the map for a single user in a specific context. Define:
- Who the user is
An admin setting up a workspace for their team. - Their main job-to-be-done
What they are trying to accomplish by using your product. - Their goal at this point in the journey
What success looks like right now. - Their biggest blocker
A constraint validated by data, such as product analytics, customer interviews, or support tickets.
Fill the journey map stage by stage
Don’t treat the customer journey map as one large table that you fill in all at once. Instead, complete the map one stage at a time, starting with awareness and moving through advocacy.
Each stage uses an identical mini-template. You’ll answer the same set of questions for every stage; the only thing that changes is the user’s context. This repetition is intentional: it keeps the journey map template easy to scan, compare, and update as behavior changes.
Use the same six fields for every stage
For each stage of the user journey map, you’ll fill out the same six fields below. Think of this as a reusable table you’ll repeat for every stage.
1. User goal
Describe what the user is trying to accomplish at this exact stage of the customer journey. Keep this behavior-focused, not aspirational.
Example: “Decide whether this product fits our team’s workflow.”
2. Touchpoints
List the actual interactions the user has at this stage. Include both in-product and external touchpoints, such as product pages, onboarding screens, emails, documentation, or contacting customer support.
3. Pain points/friction
Document where users struggle, using evidence, not assumptions.
Common sources include:
- Funnel drop-off data
- Survey responses
- Customer interviews
- Support conversations
4. Emotions
Choose one or two simple emotional descriptors that reflect the user’s mindset at this moment.
Examples: Curious, skeptical, confident, frustrated.
5. Metrics
Select one or two measurable signals that indicate whether the user succeeded at this stage.
Examples: Activation rate, time-to-value, feature adoption, or repeat usage.
6. Opportunities/improvements
Identify what you can fix, clarify, or streamline to improve the experience at this stage. This is the most actionable part of the customer journey map template; it turns user insights into concrete product decisions.
By repeating this same structure for every stage, your journey map stays consistent and easy to maintain. More importantly, it gives product, design, and sales teams a shared, behavior-driven view of the customer experience they can act on.
Drive Growth with this Customer Journey Map Template and Userpilot
Stage 1: Awareness
Key question: How do users first discover your product, and what are they trying to solve?
At this stage, the user is not evaluating features yet. They’re trying to make sense of a problem and decide whether it’s worth investing time to explore solutions.
Customer journey map stage template (Awareness)
| Field | What to capture |
|---|---|
| User goal | Understand whether their problem is real, urgent, and worth solving now. For example, a product manager noticing low activation and trying to figure out if onboarding is the root cause. |
| Touchpoints | Where initial discovery happens, such as search results, blog posts, social media, peer recommendations, review sites, webinars, or content shared by sales teams. |
| Pain points/Friction | The problem often feels vague or overwhelming. Users may struggle to define what’s actually broken, see too many tools claiming to solve everything, or encounter messaging that doesn’t match their reality. |
| Emotions | Curious, skeptical, overwhelmed, cautiously optimistic. |
| Metrics | Signals like click-through rate from search, time on page, bounce rate, return visits, or brand search lift. These show whether users are engaging or dropping off early. |
| Opportunities/Improvements | Clarify the problem users are trying to solve, align messaging with real jobs-to-be-done, and use specific use-case examples instead of broad claims. This helps users recognize themselves in the problem faster. |
This section sets the foundation for the rest of the customer journey map. Once users clearly understand the problem they’re trying to solve, they can move forward into evaluating whether your product fits their needs.
Stage 2: Sign up/Evaluation
Key question: What happens when users decide to try the product?
At this stage, the user has decided the problem is worth solving and is now testing whether your product can realistically help. The goal is to enter the product quickly and assess value without friction.
Customer journey map stage template (Sign up/Evaluation)
| Field | What to capture |
|---|---|
| User goal | Get access to the product with minimal effort and confirm it’s relevant to their use case. For example, a product manager signing up to quickly explore whether the onboarding flow can be customized. |
| Touchpoints | Sign-up forms, pricing pages, free trial screens, email verification, welcome emails, documentation, and any early sales or support interactions. |
| Pain points / Friction | Long sign-up forms, unclear pricing tiers, forced demos, confusing permissions, or early requests for information the user isn’t ready to provide yet. These issues often surface in form drop-off data or support questions during trial setup. |
| Emotions | Motivated, cautious, impatient, uncertain. |
| Metrics | Sign-up completion rate, time to first login, form abandonment rate, and trial start rate. These show whether users are making it past the initial commitment step. |
| Opportunities / Improvements | Reduce required fields, clarify what users get at each pricing or trial level, and remove unnecessary steps between sign-up and first login. The faster users enter the product, the sooner they can evaluate real value. |
Once users successfully sign up and enter the product, the focus shifts from access to value realization. The next stage, Activation, examines how quickly users reach their first meaningful outcome.
Stage 3: Activation
Key question: How quickly do users reach their first “Aha!” moment?
Activation is where users experience their first meaningful outcome. This is the point where the product proves it can solve the problem that brought the user in.
Customer journey map stage template (Activation)
| Field | What to capture |
|---|---|
| User goal | Achieve a first clear outcome that confirms the product works for their use case. For example, a product manager successfully launching their first in-app flow or seeing initial engagement data populate. |
| Touchpoints | In-app setup steps, onboarding checklists, empty states, product tours, tooltips, emails triggered after first login, and help documentation. |
| Pain points / Friction | Too many setup steps, unclear next actions, generic onboarding that doesn’t match the user’s role, or delayed value due to required configuration. These issues often show up as stalled accounts or repeated visits without progress. |
| Emotions | Curious, focused, encouraged, frustrated if progress stalls. |
| Metrics | Time-to-value, activation rate, completion of key onboarding actions, or first-use success events. These indicate whether users are reaching value quickly or getting stuck. |
| Opportunities / Improvements | Reorder setup steps, remove non-essential actions, and guide users toward one high-value workflow instead of multiple options. Helping users reach value faster increases the likelihood they’ll continue using the product. |
At this point, users have validated the product’s value once. The next stage, adoption, focuses on whether they can repeat that value consistently as part of their workflow.
Stage 4: Adoption
Key question: How do users turn early value into recurring value?
After activation, users decide whether the product becomes part of their regular workflow. Adoption is about moving from a one-time win to repeat usage that supports the user’s ongoing needs.
Customer journey map stage template (Adoption)
| Field | What to capture |
|---|---|
| User goal | Use the product consistently to achieve the same outcome with less effort each time. For example, a team lead returning weekly to monitor engagement instead of checking metrics manually. |
| Touchpoints | Core product workflows, recurring in-app actions, dashboards, notifications, email summaries, and documentation referenced during regular use. |
| Pain points / Friction | Users may forget how to complete key actions, struggle to find high-value features again, or rely on workarounds outside the product. These issues often appear as inconsistent usage patterns or partial feature adoption. |
| Emotions | Confident, productive, occasionally frustrated if workflows feel repetitive or unclear. |
| Metrics | Feature adoption rate, weekly active users, frequency of key actions, or completion of repeat workflows. These signals show whether users are forming habits. |
| Opportunities / Improvements | Surface high-value workflows more clearly, reduce steps in repeat actions, and guide users back to features that deliver the most value. Consistent success here sets the foundation for long-term retention. |
Once users rely on the product as part of their routine, the next question becomes whether that value continues over time. The Retention stage looks at what keeps users coming back, or causes them to disengage.
Stage 5: Retention
Key question: What keeps users coming back, or causes them to leave?
Retention reflects whether users continue to get consistent outcomes from the product over time. At this stage, even small breakdowns in reliability or clarity can lead users to disengage or look for alternatives.
Customer journey map stage template (Retention)
| Field | What to capture |
|---|---|
| User goal | Achieve reliable results without having to rethink how the product works each time. For example, a product manager expecting engagement metrics to be available and accurate every time they log in. |
| Touchpoints | Recurring product usage, notifications, lifecycle emails, customer support interactions, help documentation, and account or billing touchpoints. |
| Pain points / Friction | Inconsistent results, unexpected changes to workflows, unclear value over time, or unresolved issues that require repeated contacting customer support. These problems often surface as declining usage or increased support requests. |
| Emotions | Confident when things work smoothly, frustrated or uncertain when outcomes feel inconsistent. |
| Metrics | Usage trends over time, retention rate, renewal likelihood, churn risk signals, or declining engagement with key features. |
| Opportunities / Improvements | Stabilize high-value workflows, proactively address drop-offs, and reinforce the outcomes users rely on most. Reducing friction here helps prevent slow, silent churn. |
At this point, users are either seeing sustained value or starting to question it. The next stage, Expansion, focuses on when and why satisfied users choose to deepen their investment in the product.
Stage 6: Expansion
Key question: When and why do happy users upgrade?
Expansion happens when users see enough consistent value to justify deeper investment, whether that’s upgrading a plan, adding seats, or unlocking advanced capabilities. This stage only works when earlier stages are stable.
Customer journey map stage template (Expansion)
| Field | What to capture |
|---|---|
| User goal | Unlock more capability or scale usage without disrupting existing workflows. For example, a growing team adding seats to support new collaborators. |
| Touchpoints | Upgrade prompts, pricing and plan comparison pages, in-app notifications, billing settings, sales conversations, and account management screens. |
| Pain points / Friction | Upgrade paths that feel poorly timed, unclear pricing differences, fear of losing access, or uncertainty about whether higher plans will deliver additional value. These issues often show up as stalled upgrades or frequent pricing-related questions. |
| Emotions | Confident, curious, cautious about commitment or cost. |
| Metrics | Upgrade rate, seat growth, plan expansion, expansion revenue, or usage hitting plan limits. These signals indicate readiness to scale. |
| Opportunities / Improvements | Prompt upgrades at natural value ceilings, clearly communicate what users gain with higher plans, and reduce friction in the upgrade process. Expansion should feel like a logical next step, not a sales push. |
Once users have expanded their usage, the final stage focuses on whether they’re willing to advocate for the product. The advocacy stage examines what turns satisfied customers into promoters.
Stage 7: Advocacy
Key question: What turns happy customers into promoters?
Advocacy happens when users not only get value from the product but are confident enough in that value to recommend it to others. This stage reflects trust built over repeated, positive outcomes.
Customer journey map stage template (Advocacy)
| Field | What to capture |
|---|---|
| User goal | Share a positive experience or outcome with peers without risking their own credibility. For example, a product leader recommending a tool after seeing sustained improvements in activation or retention. |
| Touchpoints | In-app prompts, NPS surveys, referral programs, review requests, community forums, case studies, and conversations with peers or industry groups. |
| Pain points / Friction | Requests for referrals that feel poorly timed, unclear incentives, or hesitation to recommend a product before results feel proven. These often surface as low response rates to advocacy prompts. |
| Emotions | Proud, confident, cautious about endorsing publicly. |
| Metrics | NPS promoter score, referral rate, review submissions, social mentions, or customer testimonials generated. These indicate willingness to advocate. |
| Opportunities / Improvements | Ask for advocacy at moments of proven value, make it easy to share success, and reinforce outcomes users are proud of. Well-timed prompts turn satisfaction into organic growth. |
At this point, the full customer journey map is complete, from first awareness through advocacy. The final step is using this map to identify where users struggle and take focused action to improve the experience.
See where users struggle and fix it faster
Once you’ve filled out each stage, patterns start to emerge: where users slow down, where they drop off, and where expectations don’t match reality.
Use the map to prioritize fixes that remove friction at the highest-impact moments. Look for stages where pain points repeat, metrics stall, or users rely heavily on workarounds. These are signals that something in the experience needs clarification, simplification, or better guidance.
If you want to move beyond static diagrams and track how users actually behave across each stage, tools like Userpilot help you collect in-app feedback, analyze usage patterns, and validate improvements as you make changes.
Eliminate User Friction Using a Customer Journey Map Template and Userpilot
FAQ
What are the 7 steps to map the customer journey?
The seven steps align with the main stages of the customer journey:
- Awareness
- Sign up/Evaluation
- Activation
- Adoption
- Retention
- Expansion
- Advocacy
How to build a customer journey map?
To build a customer journey map, start by defining one clear user persona and the problem they’re trying to solve. Then, map the journey stage by stage using a consistent template.
For each stage, document:
- The user goal
- Touchpoints
- Pain points
- Emotions
- Metrics
- Opportunities for improvement
Ground every entry in real data from analytics, user research, and customer interviews. Avoid trying to map everything at once; focus on one stage at a time and update the map as behavior changes.
What is the most popular journey mapping tool?
Many teams document their journey map template using familiar tools like Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint, especially when they’re getting started or collaborating across teams.
However, the tool matters less than how the map is used. Teams see the most impact when journey maps are paired with behavioral data, ongoing feedback, and regular iteration, so the map reflects how users actually move through the product, not how teams assume they do.
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