Evaluating Customer Journey Map, Emotion Capture

Card and Mental Model for a Better Grasp of

Changing Experience
Sen Lin
(316) 42172997
Delft, the Netherlands
sunless77@gmail.com

ABSTRACT answer is How can we map dynamic elements of

Many methodologies have been frequently used for
mapping out the user experience. However, these
models and theories often measure peoples
experience in a static state while experience is a
dynamic process and should not be limited to a
certain moment. In this paper, we explore the
dynamic elements in experience that trigger the
change. Based on that, Customer Journey Map,
Emotion Capture Card and Mental Model as three
representative methods are tested in a real case. The
evaluation of their capabilities in capturing dynamics
of experiences are presented as the evidence, for
indicating how designers can map changing
experiences overtime in a better way.
Keywords
User experience, dynamics, method, customer journey,
emotion
INTRODUCTION
The experience economy has already come [1] while user
experience is nowadays indeed a hot issue and key factor
in the saturated consumer markets. Donald Norman
introduced the term user experience in mid-1990s and
it has been used broadly in many fields as a new black
horse in business culture. The rise of user experience (or
UX) raised the attention of companies and many of them
have dedicated teams consist of UX designers
specialized in it.
In general, designers apply certain kinds of
methodologies to map out the overall experience with
various models focusing on different aspects after
conducting user research and interviews. They collect
users feedbacks on several moments and after that they
try to map out the overall experience with these points.
This sometimes could be inaccurate because emotion or
feeling is not only influenced by the context where the
interaction takes place at that moment. The past
experience also has an impact on the future. For instance,
a frequent flyer accepts it as natural to get the travel
package offering by the airline while a new passenger
will be surprised when receiving it. That is to say, factors
distributed in different periods instead of a same timeline
lead to the changing experience overtime. If we are able
to capture this kind of dynamics of experiences,
designers could gain insight into more related and correct
factors that cause the low satisfaction of users as well as
opportunities. Hence the key question this paper aims to
experience in a more insightful way?
Within this paper, the dynamic elements in experience
are being discussed. Then Customer Journey Map,
Emotion Capture Card and Mental Model are tested
through a real case, using the dynamic elements
previously listed as the evaluation criteria in order to find
their pros and cons in grasping the changing experiences.
Furthermore based on the reflection, possible direction of
improvement is suggested.
EXPERIENCE STRUCTURE
Experience has different definitions which can mean
immediate personal feelings and emotions, a past history
of earlier interactions also the knowledge and skills
people gained from that past [2]. The user experience we
focus on in this paper is more related to the personal
feelings during a period of time. The conceptual model
of passenger experience adapted from Harrison et al. in
Figure 1 shows the relationship between user
expectations, perceptions and satisfaction [3] which also
has correlation with the basic model of product emotions
adapted from Desmet [4]. The emotion or feeling at one
moment is attributed to the perceived stimulus from
human-product interaction in that context and the
concern raised by past experience [5].
Figure 1: A conceptual model of passenger experience
(adapted from Harrison et al., 2012)
Figure 2: Basic model of product emotions (adapted from
Desmet, 2002)
From the two models of experience and emotion, it can
be apparently concluded that the present satisfaction is
influenced by both current perceived stimulus and

1
previous experience. It is important to trace the dynamic
elements in these phases as they are the triggers that
cause the transition of experience. And they are the
sections that create the framework of experience
mapping diagrams as well. The conceptual model for
aircraft passenger comfort in Figure 3 indicates the inter-
relationship among those related elements in the big
context [6]. Based on this, the model from Harrison and
Desmet, the dynamic elements can be concluded.
Figure 3: Conceptual model for aircraft passenger comfort
(Ahmadpour, N., Robert, J.-M., Pownall, B., 2014)
DYNAMIC ELEMENTS IN EXPERIENCE
1. Personal Characteristics
The characteristics of users unlike most other elements
are uncontrollable as the properties. On the one hand,
they are stable because psychological, physiological and
socioeconomic factors [6] will not change abruptly. On
the other hand, they are dynamic because various people
just have very different personalities and background
which can be the inner triggers.
2. Expectations
An expectation is something that people wish to happen
imaginatively. Expectations are generated from past
experience and related to the characteristics as well. In
addition, expectations are also influenced by the personal
impression of the organization or brand, such as public
relation and brand reputation [6].
3. Goals
Goals are the end results people want to achieve while
expectations are more like the imagination of experience.
Goals vary from different stages and people.
4. Environmental Factors
Environmental factors include physical, social and
situational factors [6]. They are the main stimulus of
perceived experience with touchpoints and are changing
through time and location.
5. Actions
Actions are what people actually do and interact during
the experience. Usually it is interesting to compare
actions with expectations and goals.
6. Thinking
Thinking is the thought process behind actions. It
expresses users detailed feeling and opinions towards
the experience. Designers can gain a deep insight into the
real case happened to users through their quotes of
thinking.
7. Emotions
An emotion is elicited by an evaluation of an event or
situation so it is the interpretation of an event [4].
Emotions are intuitive outcome of experience and have a
large impact on users appraisal of satisfaction [7].
METHODS FOR EXPERIENCE MAPPING
Experience mapping is a collaborative, iterative process
for synthesizing and visualizing the holistic customer
experience which can help create value for both users and
organization [8].
Design teams apply different methods to map out
experience, among which Customer Journey Map,
Emotion Capture Cards and Mental Model are most
frequently used for capturing feeling and emotions [8].
Customer Journey Map is the process of creating a
graphical representation of the steps and stages a
customer goes through to experience a product or
service.
Emotion Capture Cards (ECC) refers to the procedure
that researcher notes the emotion and corresponding
concern of a user on a separate card by using the
laddering-type interview technique [9] asking for a
specific experienced emotion [10]. Many ECCs can be
collected for the experience mapping.
Mental Model is a two-layer model which the top part of
the model is a visual depiction of the behavior of a
particular audience, representing root motivations, while
the bottom part of the model shows various ways of
supporting matching behaviors [11]. It shows what
people need to conduct the behavior in detail in their
experience.
EVALUATION WITH EXPLORATORY TEST
I conducted a test with the topic First-time Netherlands
Railway Experience of International Students on two
people, by applying the three representative methods
(Customer Journey Map, ECC and Mental Model). The
goal of the test is to evaluate the capability of current
methods on capturing the dynamic elements listed above.
The large version of the diagrams are included in
Appendix 1, 2 and 3.
Customer Journey Map
Customer Journey Map is one of the most prevailing
methods for experience mapping. Figure 4 and 5 are the
graphical maps of two customers experiences. Goals,
actions, touchpoints and emotions are listed in the
journey maps which show the overview of steps and
interactions of the customer going through the timeline.
It clearly points out the strengths and weaknesses of each
stage, especially those that affect the user experience.
Opportunities and improvements can be pointed out for
further development of service blueprint.

However, Customer Journey Map is not able to dig

deeper into the inner part of users revealing the vivid
characters. Dynamic elements like characteristics,
expectations and thinking are lacked because of the
breadth it provides.

Figure 7: Experience Map of Yee Jek Khaws First-time

Netherlands Railway Experience

Mental Model
Mental model offers a deep understanding of peoples
motivations and thought processes along with the
Figure 4: Customer Journey Map of Xinjie Zhangs First- emotional and philosophical landscape in which they are
time Netherlands Railway Experience operating [11]. The relationship between the behavior
and support section generates opportunities. Mental
Model is hierarchical which displays the hierarchy of
behavior, emotions and philosophy in a journey. It dives
deep into the human behavior to bring the actual needs
of users to light and it depicts the whole of the users
environment. And that is why it doesnt focus on things
at psychological level (expectations, emotions, thinking)
but behavioral level (actions, environmental factors).
Mental Model is quite scientific and rational in
Figure 5: Customer Journey Map of Yee Jek Khaws comparison with Customer Journey Map and Experience
First-time Netherlands Railway Experience Map. It is not intuitive and inspiring enough for grasping
the dynamics of experience.
Emotion Capture Cards (Experience Map)
The Experience Maps in Figure 6 and 7 are made based
on the Emotion Capture Cards I collected through the
laddering-type interviews with customers. I collected 9
ECCs with quotes, feelings and the general context
happened to customers. Mapping all these milestones
in an integrated map provides an approach to access
customers real concerns, such as expectations, thinking
and complaints. Comparing to Customer Journey Map,
Experience Map zooms into vital moments uncovering a
rich and truthful profile of a character. Whats more, the Figure 8: Mental Model of Xinjie Zhangs First-time
use of raw quotes provides designers with great help to Netherlands Railway Experience
gain empathy immersing into the context.
While Experience Map targets on the emotional and
feeling part of the overall experience laying emphasis on
reverting the detailed context, it fails to review the
experience from the Macro perspective. Lacking
evidence of the broad environmental factors may lead to
fixation of problem solving and adhere to the small
details when deciding the transition part. Figure 9: Mental Model of Yee Jek Khaws First-time
Netherlands Railway Experience

DISCUSSION
From the evaluation of the three methods. We can come
up with two main problems of current experience-
mapping methods:

Proportion of scope and focus

Alignment at single moment

Figure 6: Experience Map of Xinjie Zhangs First-time Proportion of scope and focus means the length of time
Netherlands Railway Experience and the completeness of details that the method would

like to present. Customer Journey Map and Mental
Model mainly show the complete experience (in different
ways) while Experience Map from Emotion Capture
Cards chooses to focus on highlight points. If we could
combine methods with different scope and focus, then
experience could be either zoomed in and out which
enables designers to control the overall experience and
discover the subtle triggers.
Alignment at single moment is the common format for
most experience mapping tools. However, as discussed
before, the factors which lead to the changing experience
are scattered from the past to now. Paying attention to
only one moment is not precise enough to indicate the
future development. Building connections with all
possible factors throughout the timeline will generate
rich insights while roadmap could be an analogue. If we
can add the dynamic elements listed or more into the
experience map and make linkages from bottom to top,
we can then have a clear understanding of why and how
the emotion or feeling comes into being.
RECOMMENDATION: EXPERIENCE ROADMAP
After reflecting on the problems of methods being used.
I make a draft of Experience Roadmap as an
exploratory try to deal with these barriers by applying the
logic of roadmapping to experience-mapping. Also it
combines the advantages of Customer Journey Map,
Emotion Capture Cards and Mental Model.
Figure 10: Basic Structure of Experience Roadmap
Roadmap is used to align technology investments with
innovation strategy. One feature of roadmap is that it can
map out all the factors needed bottom-up to achieve the
final goal [12]. Similarly, we can also connect the
essential dynamic elements to grasp the transition of
emotions. Figure 10 (Appendix 4) shows the basic
structure of Experience Roadmap. The dynamic elements
are listed aside in which emotion and feeling is at the top
as the intuitive outcome of experience. Bottom-up
linkages of different factors throughout the timeline are
made to indicate how certain emotion is aroused.
Figure 11: Part of Yee Jek Khaws Experience Roadmap
Figure 11 (Appendix 5) is an example of how Experience
Roadmap works simply. It is a zoomed-in part focusing
on the experience of buying tickets. We can find out that
the expectation and action in the stage of Planning also
have impact on the stage of Buying Tickets. In addition,
the characteristics in the persona part explain the inner
reasons why other elements occur. More importantly,
designers can gain more insights on how the things
happened during the process of making the linkages.
However, making a complete Experience Roadmap in
detail is lots of work and the map will become very
complex and messy. So before zooming in, a general map
showing overall emotional changes should be made to
have a big picture of the experience. After that, designers
and researchers can decide to lay emphasis on a certain
part and conduct the detailed roadmap
REFERENCES
1. LaSalle, Diana and Terry A. Britton (2003). Priceless.
Turning Ordinary Products into Extraordinary
Experiences. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
2. Pieter Jan Stappers and Froukje Sleeswijk Visser
(2007). A gentle introduction to context. Context and
Conceptualization ID.
3. Deconstructing Expected Passenger Experience in
Airports, Philip Kirk, Anna Harrison, Vesna Popovic,
Ben Kraal. DRS 2014: Design's big debates, Umea,
Sweden, June 16-19, 2014.
4. Desmet, P. M. A., & Hekkert, P. (2007). Framework
of product experience. International Journal of
Design, 1(1), 57-66.
5. Schifferstein, H.N.J., Sleeswijk Visser, F. (2013).
Designing for user experiences in specific contexts:
Contributions from contextmapping. Advanced
design methods for successful innovation, 78-93.
6. Ahmadpour, N., Robert, J.-M., & Pownall, B. (2014).
The dynamics of passenger comfort experience:
understanding the relationship between passenger
and the aircraft cabin interior. DRS2014. Umea.
7. Diane M. Phillips, Hans Baumgartner (2002). The
Role of Consumption Emotions in the Satisfaction
Response. Journal of Consumer Psychology.
8. Jim Kalbach. (2016). Mapping Experiences: A
Complete Guide to Creating Value through Journeys,
Blueprints, and Diagrams.
9. Thomas J. Reynolds and Jonathan Gutman (1988).
Laddering theory, method, analysis, and
interpretation. Journal of Advertising Research.
10. Herbert L Meiselman (2016). Emotion Measurement.
11. Indi Young (2008). Mental Models: Aligning Design
Strategy with Human Behavior.
12. Robert Phaal (2015). Roadmapping for strategy and
innovation.

APPENDIX E NE AP

CUSTOMER HOME DEPARTURE STATION STATION PLATFORM TRAIN ARRIVAL STATION

JOURNEY
PLANNING BUYING TICKETS CHECK-IN ENTERING PLATFORM WAITING ON THE TRAIN ARRIVAL GET OUT
MAP

Xinjie Zhang

Delft Amsterdam

Find the right Get the right Get in quickly Enter the right Find another friend Have a rest Get off asap Find the right
GOAL train with right tickets platform way to go out
time and location Check the train again

Search for 9292 Use friends OV Use the ticket Walk downstairs Text message Take personal Pack the bag Follow friends
ACTION card to buy tickets to check in to friend things out
Negotiate with Put on clothes Check the ticket
Ducth friend to Watch the timetable Read a book
help buy tickets board & screen Wait at the door
Watch the scenery
Press open button

TOUCH 9292 App Ticket machine Ticket gate Station Mobile phone Train infrastructure Train door Signs
POINT infrastructure Timetable board Broadcast Open button Ticket machine
Screen Screen
Ticket inspector

Cozy
EMOTION
Relaxed
Normal Normal Normal
Hurried Hurried Little upset
Stressed
CUSTOMER HOME DEPARTURE STATION STATION PLATFORM TRAIN ARRIVAL STATION
JOURNEY
PLANNING BUYING TICKETS CHECK-IN ENTERING PLATFORM WAITING ON THE TRAIN ARRIVAL GET OUT
MAP

Yee Jek Khaw

Delft Utrecht

Find the right Get the cheapest Get onto the Enter the right Check the train again Find a seat where can Get off asap Find the closest
GOAL train with right right tickets platform platform on the see the screen way to go out
time and location right time

Search NS.nl Check the Find the place Go downstairs Watch the timetable Find the place with Pack the bag Look at the
ACTION & Google map coin machine to tag ticket board & screen less people direction signs
for trains Put on jacket
Ask reception desk Take off bag & Ask Ns staff
Prepare the coins take personal Find the exit
Exchange coins things out Check Google
in supermarket Wait at the door map
Check mobile phone
Buy tickets Double check
Check the screen the location

TOUCH NS website Coin machine Ticket gate Station Timetable board Train infrastructure Exit sign Signs
POINT Google map Reception desk infrastructure Screen Broadcast Train door NS staff
Supermarket Mobile phone Mobile phone Google map
Ticket machine Screen Ticket machine
Ticket inspector

Excited
EMOTION
Nervous Normal Unsure Bored
Annoyed Worried Chaos
Overwhelmed
APPENDIX E I N AP E A D EXPE IEN E AP

EMOTION HOME DEPARTURE STATION STATION PLATFORM TRAIN ARRIVAL STATION

CAPTURE
CARDS PLANNING BUYING TICKETS CHECK-IN ENTERING PLATFORM WAITING ON THE TRAIN ARRIVAL GET OUT
EXPERIENCE MAP

Xinjie Zhang

Delft Amsterdam

Watching the scenery

Had no idea how to and reading book
buy tickets. Just learn it. made me feel better.

My friends helped me buy

the tickets with OV card.
Couldnt find a Relaxed
Emotion with my friends.
& Feeling
I sat alone with strangers.
A bit confused Normal Normal
Nothing speical. Followed my friends.

Nervous Nervous Bored Bored

Does the machine work? Just I didnt know if the train shown We waited at the door earlier
on the screen is coming or leaving. because we know lots of people
I was quite nervous whether would gt off at Amsterdam.
Angry I found it quite hard to
the ticket gate would work.
I had to change my schedule understand the screen. I waited at the door for several minutes.
in order to catch the train.

The time of the most suitable

train was a bit earlier than the
time we plan to meet.
EMOTION HOME DEPARTURE STATION STATION PLATFORM TRAIN ARRIVAL STATION
CAPTURE
CARDS PLANNING BUYING TICKETS CHECK-IN ENTERING PLATFORM WAITING ON THE TRAIN ARRIVAL GET OUT
EXPERIENCE MAP

Yee Jek Khaw

Delft Utrecht

I was glad it
finally arrived.

Timetable board is confusing

due to the large amounts of Relaxed
Emotion information and abbreviation.
& Feeling Why cant I use the I could not find the train The announcement
notes to buy tickets. at the first glance. is in Dutch.

I didnt have enough coins

so I had to exchange
Annoyed some in supermarket. Nervous Nervous Nervous Confused Overwhelmed
I used different apps to Scared that the gate The station lacked I had to detour
find the right train. door would hit me. enough signs I think. without any idea.

I used both NS website Angry I had a slight delay after I was a bit lost at Angry Lots of construction was
and Google map. tagging the ticket. the beginning. Hard to find a seat in the morning peak. going on in the station and
And the silent carriage was noisy. the map didnt show it.

I walked 4 carriages to find a seat.

People around kept talking aloud.
APPENDIX EN A DE

MENTAL HOME DEPARTURE STATION STATION PLATFORM TRAIN ARRIVAL STATION

MODEL

Xinjie Zhang

Delft Amsterdam

PLANNING BUYING TICKETS CHECK-IN ENTERING WAITING ON THE TRAIN ARRIVAL GET OUT
PLATFORM
Find Borrow
right the
OV Tag Find Find Follow
Check train
card the friend a seat friends
the Follow Walk Watch Watch Read Watch Wait
sche-
Talk Buy ticket
friends down- time- screen book screen at door
dule with tickets Walk Press
stairs table
friend in board button

Time- 9292 Whats OV Ticket Signs Signs Whats Time- Screen Window Screen Handle Button Signs
table app card app table bar
Ticket Escalator Phone Light Phone Ticket
Mess- Ticket gate Mess- NS staff Wall gate
enger machine enger
Lift Desk Seat
board
NS staff
Seat
MENTAL HOME DEPARTURE STATION STATION PLATFORM TRAIN ARRIVAL STATION

MODEL

Yee Jek Khaw

Delft Utrecht

PLANNING BUYING TICKETS CHECK-IN ENTERING WAITING ON THE TRAIN ARRIVAL GET OUT
PLATFORM
Find Exchange
right coins
Tag Find Find
Check train Prepare
the a seat way
the for Find Walk Watch Watch Check Watch Wait
sche- coins
Buy ticket and out
plat- down- time- screen quiet phone screen at door
dule tickets Walk Press
form stairs table place
in board button

Time- NS.nl Wallet Coin Coins Ticket Signs Signs Signs Time- Screen Desk Screen Handle Button Signs
table machine table board bar
Google Ticket NS staff Escalator Phone Phone NS staff
map NS staff Ticket gate NS staff Seat Wall
machine Google Google
Lift Seat
Super- map Mobile map
market NS staff phone
Ticket
gate
APPENDIX 4 Structure of Experience Roadmap

EXPERIENCE HOME DEPARTURE STATION STATION PLATFORM TRAIN ARRIVAL STATION

ROADMAP
PLANNING BUYING TICKETS CHECK-IN ENTERING PLATFORM WAITING ON THE TRAIN ARRIVAL GET OUT

Yee Jek Khaw

Delft Utrecht

Relaxed
EMOTION
& FEELING

Annoyed Nervous Nervous Nervous Confused Overwhelmed

Angry Angry

THINKING

ACTION

ENVIRONMENT

GOAL

EXPECTATION

PERSONA
APPENDIX 5 Part of Experience Roadmap

EXPERIENCE HOME DEPARTURE STATION

ROADMAP
PLANNING BUYING TICKETS CHECK-IN

Yee Jek Khaw

Delft Utrecht

EMOTION
& FEELING

Annoyed Nervous

Angry

THINKING I used different apps to double check the train. Why cant I use the notes to buy tickets?
Scared that the gate door would hit me.
And I knew I should prepare some coins. I didnt know the coin machine was broken.

ACTION Search NS.nl & Google map Prepare the coins Check the coin machine Ask reception desk Exchange coins in supermarket Buy tickets Find place to tag ticket Walk in

ENVIRONMENT NS website Wallet Coin machine NS staff Supermarket Coins Ticket Ticket gate

Google map Coins Wallet Ticket machine Ticket gate

Coins Ticket

GOAL Find the right train with right time and location Get the cheapest right tickets Get onto the platform

EXPECTATION Have all the time schedule in control Get the coins and buy ticket quickly Hope not miss the train

Hope I can get more coins from the coin machine

PERSONA Time Strict

Get fully prepared