Emotional User Journey Map

This visual demonstration of the emotional journey of a user can help your team align on the highs and lows of your customer's experience — whether its with a product, feature, or process. After you've mapped the emotional journey based on inputs from research (ex. user interviews, feedback, sentiment analyses, etc.), you can brainstorm ways to double-down on the emotional "highs," and ways to support users through the "lows." Use this journey map on its own, or within a larger user research presentation.

Here's how to use the template

1. Understand the goal: This template visually maps a user's emotional journey to highlight their highs and lows during their interaction with a product, feature, or process. It provides a foundation for identifying opportunities to enhance positive experiences and alleviate pain points.

2. Prepare your inputs: Gather insights from user research, such as user interviews, feedback surveys, sentiment analysis, support tickets, and/or reviews. Use Miro AI to synthesize your inputs and sort the main themes along the emotion spectrum.

3. Add emotional highs:

   • Use the green bubbles to mark the positive emotional moments users experience.

   • Write brief descriptions of these highs (e.g., "Feature worked flawlessly," or "Enjoyed quick setup").

   • Annotate along the arrow to provide context about why this moment is a high. Consider user motivations, environment, and specific triggers.

4. Add emotional lows:

   • Use the red bubbles to identify pain points or moments of frustration.

   • Include details like "Confusing UI" or "Error messages unclear."

   • Again, annotate along the arrow to explain the cause of the emotional dip and the circumstances surrounding it.

5. Mark cycles of frustration:

   • Use the arrow wheels to show where users may get stuck in recurring emotional cycles (e.g., repetitive errors, repeated failed attempts).

   • Add short notes on why these cycles occur and their impact on the overall experience.

6. Customize the template

   • Adjust the central through-line arrow to better reflect the flow of your specific journey (linear, branching, etc.).

   • Move, add, or remove green and red bubbles as needed to match the complexity of the experience you're analyzing.

7. Analyze and action: Once the journey is mapped, discuss as a team...

   • How to amplify emotional highs: Explore ways to repeat or expand positive moments.

   • How to improve emotional lows: Brainstorm solutions to reduce friction and improve user support.

   • Document actionable insights and assign follow-up tasks.

This template serves as a dynamic tool to iteratively improve your user experience based on their real emotional journey.