user journey flow diagram

User Journeys vs. User Flows

April 16, 2023 2023-04-16

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User journeys and user flows are both UX tools that capture how people accomplish goals with certain products or services. They share some similar traits. Both user journeys and user flows are:

• Used during design ideation or evaluation activities for the purpose of understanding and optimizing experience.
• Structured around a user goal and examined from the perspective of the user or customer (not a company or product).
• Captured and communicated via UX- mapping methods .

Their main distinction, however, is the level of detail and focus for each: User journeys describe a user’s holistic, high-level experience across channels and over time. User flows zoom in to describe a set of specific, discrete interactions that make up a common user pathway through a product.

In This Article:

What is a user journey, what is a user flow, combining user journeys and user flows, comparison: user journeys vs. user flows.

User journey: (Or customer journey) A scenario-based sequence of the steps that a user takes in order to accomplish a high-level goal with a company or product, usually across channels and over time.

The underlying goal of a user journey is high-level. Describing the journey will involve understanding the experience of a user across many points of interaction, because, in a journey, users might use with multiple channels or sources of information.

Consider a new-patient journey as an example. For any person finding and evaluating a new doctor, there will be many touchpoints  over a long time (days, weeks, or months): researching information on the practice’s website, calling to schedule an appointment, receiving email communications, visiting the physical office, accessing information in a patient portal, and following up via phone if necessary.  

Because of the complexity of the journey, contextualizing these actions with information about users’ emotions and thoughts can be useful for analyzing and optimizing the experience.

Journey maps are a common artifact for visualizing journeys, as they are narrative and descriptive. Effective journey maps don’t just relay the steps taken to achieve a goal; they tell a user-centered story about the process.

The best research methods for journey mapping are usually context methods , such as field studies and diary studies , which uncover longer-term user goals and behaviors in the moment. These methods can be combined with user interviews to uncover first-hand frustrations and needs.

Definition: A user flow is a set of interactions that describe the typical or ideal set of steps needed to accomplish a common task performed with a product.

Compared to a user journey, the underlying goal of a user flow is much more granular, and the focus is narrowed to a specific objective within one product.

Some appropriate goals to capture in user flows might be: purchasing a tennis racket on a sporting goods site, signing up for email updates on a credit-score-monitoring application, or updating a profile picture on a company’s intranet. These goals can be accomplished in the short-term (minutes or hours, at the most), and with a relatively limited set of interactions.

User flows can be represented with artifacts such as low-fidelity wireflows , simple flow charts, or task diagrams. These maps capture key user steps and system responses; they do not contextualize the process with emotions and thoughts like a journey map does.

The best research method for obtaining the data to map user flows is usability testing , which allows us to watch users interacting directly with the product in directed scenarios. As with user journeys, tools that capture analytics (e.g., click heatmaps) are a useful secondary source of insights.

It’s often useful to capture both user journeys and user flows and combine them to understand both macro- and micro-level views of experience. User flows can be thought of as a deep dive into specific areas of the high-level user journey.

For example, let’s go back to the high-level activities that make up the new-patient journey described earlier. Some of those activities entail using digital products (e.g., researching information on the practice website, accessing results in the patient portal). By documenting the associated user flows for these goals, we could further understand the micro-level experience in context of the greater journey.

Unfortunately, most teams do not have systematic processes in place to connect these views, due to gaps in internal team structures, lack of holistic measurement programs, or plain lack of capacity and competency to do the work.

The main differences between user journeys and user flows are captured in the table below:

To determine whether a user journey or a user flow is best for your specific context, consider the following questions:

• Does your user process involve more than one channel or more than one, known product (e.g., your company’s website)? User journeys are best for capturing activities dispersed over multiple channels; user flows are well-suited for interactions within one product.
• Can users generally accomplish the goal in minutes or hours, at the most, or will they need to complete activities over days, weeks, or months? User journeys are better for communicating activities over longer periods of time; user flows are better for relatively short-term goals.
• Will it be critical to understand not only the actions but the emotions and thoughts of users across more complex decision-making? User journeys capture those; user flows are limited to sequences of steps, with no additional information about users’ emotional states.

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User flow diagram — what it is, why it’s important, and how to create one

The user experience (UX) on your website or app can make or break whether someone buys from you, becomes a long-time user, or moves on to a competitor. A user flow diagram can help you develop the ideal user experience to keep visitors on your site and convert them into long-term customers.

This guide will explain:

• What user flow is

Why user flow diagrams are important

How to create a user flow diagram, examples of user flow diagrams, what is user flow.

User flow is any path a customer could take through a website or application. The term user flow can also refer to a visualization or map of that journey — sometimes called a flowchart or a UX flow . It maps movement through a product, illustrating every possible step a user could take from an entry point to the end of their engagement.

The purpose of a user flow diagram is to help you identify where on your site or app you need to provide certain information that convinces users to take specific actions, moving them toward a successful final interaction.

User flow and user journey are often confused. While user flow focuses on the user's path through your site or app, a user journey or customer journey encompasses a user’s entire interaction with your brand on any platform or channel. This path starts long before a user visits your site or uses your app and can continue well after they’ve left your product. A user flow is one part of the overall customer journey.

User flow diagrams are like road maps that help you create the best possible user experience . They accomplish several essential purposes.

Show how users navigate

Get a glimpse into your users’ experience as they navigate your website or app. It’s easy to get so familiar with your company’s product that the navigation and user experience seem simple and straightforward, but that may not be the customer’s experience.

A user flow diagram helps you see your site or app’s flow from a user’s perspective. You can observe what they encounter, identify friction and hurdles, find methods to make the experience seamless, and ensure you align your goals with your users' needs.

Visualize UX

A user flow can also provide a bird’s-eye view of your app and illustrate how every piece and page works together. It’s easy to get focused on one part of the website for a specific project to season, and lose sight of the big picture. A user flow visualizes the entire experience so you can optimize for every journey.

A user flow diagram helps illustrate how pages and steps work together to bolster or hinder a user's experience navigating your product. With this view, you can easily identify dead ends, orphaned pages, and poorly constructed paths

Optimize your user flow easier

Another reason user flow diagrams are essential is that they allow you to experiment with changes before pushing them live. If a navigation change is proposed or a new site section needs to be added, draw it into the user flow diagram first. This allows you to easily demonstrate and discuss where it fits not just on the site architecture, but in the user’s journey.

Visualizing changes in the user flow keeps the app user-focused and helps your team catch problems before they launch. You avoid rushing untested changes that could seriously impact user flow and cost you considerable time and resources to fix after the fact.

Make it easy to receive feedback

When consolidating feedback from multiple team members — especially non-UX colleagues in sales and marketing — a user flow diagram is an efficient way to gather everyone's insights.

Since user flow diagrams are a visual medium, they make it easier to demonstrate app navigation to stakeholders of all departmental backgrounds. A user flow diagram has a simple key of shapes, easy-to-follow paths, and minimal text so critical collaborators can offer their valuable feedback easily.

Making a user flow diagram requires user research, deep knowledge of your product’s value, and creative thinking.

1. Understand your customer journey

The first step to designing a user flow diagram is understanding your user and their customer journey.

You can get to know your users by creating engaging buyer personas . A buyer persona is a representation of a critical audience segment and can help you understand your users' needs, wants, motivations, and behaviors. Buyer personas can help you determine what information to include on each page of your site that convinces users to navigate to the next step in the flow.

In addition to personas, consider building a customer journey map that outlines every step a customer takes with your organization, from introduction to purchase. Understanding the entire customer journey for each persona highlights where your website or app comes in and can provide crucial insights for the UX it should offer. Users engaging with the website early in their customer journey will need a different user flow than personas interacting with the app toward the end of their journey.

2. Identify and align your goal with your user’s goal

Specific sections or pages of your website have different goals from making a purchase, to subscribing to your newsletter, signing up for a free trial, or registering for a webinar. But these might not accurately reflect your users’ goals.

Identifying a user's objective can be trickier, but you can reference the personas and customer journey map you’ve created. Examine customers’ pain points at the journey stages when they turn to your apps. Once you know your users' goals, you can design or adjust the user flow to meet them where they are in their journey, deliver what they're looking for, and take them to the endpoint you desire.

It may seem counterintuitive to start with the user’s goals rather than your own, but you have to know what users want before you can convince them to navigate to the end of your flow.

3. Figure out how users find you

Now that you know where your user flow ends, it's time to figure out where it starts. Review your customer journey maps and make a list of all the ways users find you, your product, and your site. These are the many starting points of your user flow.

Some common entry points you may have in your user flow diagram include:

• Direct traffic
• Organic search
• Social media
• Referral sites

How users enter your site will tell you a lot about their needs and how long they will take to reach your endpoint. For example, a user who reaches your site through direct traffic may already know what they want and head straight to your product, while a user who clicks on an ad may not be familiar with your brand and randomly click around on your site.

4. Determine what information your users need

Next, you need to fill in the blanks between the endpoint and various starting points of your user flow to figure out exactly how to optimize your audience’s experience and lead people through your site. Use your buyer personas and customer journey map to determine these steps, which should address pain points, alleviate fears and doubts, and give buyers the information they seek.

For example, if potential customers consistently enter your website through a paid ad and then click over to the “About page,” it means your audience wants to know who they might be buying from. In order to streamline that user experience, you might include some company info on the target landing page or create a clear CTA from the product page to the About page.

The timing of information is also crucial to ensuring users get what they need to move forward in the user flow. Consider what users want to achieve, what’s making them hesitate, and what questions they have at every stage. Then optimize the steps in your user flow to address those issues at the right time.

5. Map and visualize the flow

At this stage, you know what users need and when they want it at every step of the user flow — from entry to the endpoint. Now, it's time to visualize it. To map your user flow, you can use a physical or digital whiteboard or a software program that makes it easy to build and collaborate.

Regardless of your tool, there are some standard symbols you'll use in your user flow.

Shape and symbol meanings

User flow diagrams have a relatively universal language of shapes and symbols, making each one easy to understand. Use these shapes to communicate the different paths and decisions in a user flow.

• Ovals represent the start and end of a user flow.
• Rectangles symbolize a step in the process, usually a page on your website or app.
• Arrows connect the shapes and show the direction of the user’s path.
• Diamonds represent decisions that users make on each page or at each step.
• Parallelograms indicate where the user must input something like contact information.

Combined with small amounts of text, these shapes and symbols make it easy to follow what’s happening in each stage of a user flow.

6. Get feedback, refine, and finalize

Once you’ve completed your user flow diagram, share it with other team members to get feedback.

Give it to stakeholders across your organization including designers, developers, product engineers, sales reps, and marketing team members. All these perspectives can help you identify possible friction in the flow and find better ways to streamline and improve the user experience. Apply feedback and make changes as necessary.

Once approved, bring your finalized user flow diagram to the UX designers, web and software developers, and engineers who will turn this flow into a practical digital resource. They can test the user flow with actual users and apply that feedback to improve your website or app further.

Here are two examples of real-life user flow diagrams:

This simple UX flow uses most of the universal shapes and symbols as well as colors to communicate each step.

This user flow adds additional text along the arrow lines to communicate the results of each decision, such as whether the user clicked “yes” or “no.”

Start building user flows

User flow diagrams help you plan digital assets and provide an optimal user experience, making it easier to convert visitors to customers and customers to life-long users. When you’re ready to transform the UX of your website or app, start with insights from your customer personas and their journey maps.

Adobe Customer Journey Analytics provides your business with vital data to develop customer journeys you can use to make user flow diagrams for your website or app.

Watch an overview video on how Customer Journey Analytics can help you build robust user flows by combining years’ worth of customer behavior data from every channel into a single interface.

• Case studies
• Expert advice

User journey vs. user flow: what they are, how to create, differences

Understanding user flows and user journeys is crucial for the UX design process. It helps designers create a seamless and intuitive experience for users and develop a successful UX strategy that prioritizes users' needs and aligns with marketing goals.

At first glance, the difference between user flow and user journey may not be obvious. Both terms describe the overall story of user interactions with a service or product. Both are great UX designers' tools for understanding and interpreting customer behavior. However, there is a lot of confusion going on. After all, if the purpose and scope of the application are the same, are they synonyms? Not at all.

Let’s take a closer look at the user journey vs. user flow tool couple, dive into their differences and similarities, and determine what each is better for using illustrative examples. Once and for all.

• 1.1 Key elements of a user journey
• 2.1 Gather a team
• 2.2 Do research
• 2.3 Define your user personas
• 2.4 Map out the map skeleton
• 2.5 Fill in the journey map sections with data
• 2.6 Identify pain points and develop solutions
• 2.7 Create a digital visualization
• 2.8 Continuously update
• 3.1 User flow’s key elements
• 4.1 Define the purpose of your user flow chart
• 4.2 Define the user's goal
• 4.3 Map out the steps
• 4.4 Identify decision points
• 4.5 Spice it up with details
• 4.6 Test and review
• 4.7 Share and collaborate
• 5 The similarities between a user flow and a user journey
• 6 The difference between a user flow and a user journey
• 7 How to map out user flows and journeys
• 8.1 User flow for booking a hotel room online
• 8.2 User flow for ordering food via a mobile app
• 8.3 User flow for submitting a support ticket on a website
• 8.4 User flow for purchasing a product in a physical retail store
• 9 User journey vs. user flow: wrapping up
• 10.1 What are the differences between user journey maps and user flows?
• 10.2 How do they complement each other?
• 10.3 What is a user flow in short?
• 10.4 When should you use a user flow?

What is a user journey?

A user journey is how a user interacts with a product or a service from their point of view. Being visualized, it turns into a user journey map that covers different stages and scenarios, captures key touchpoints, highlights user’s emotions as they interact with a business, and contains other journey map layers .

When talking about a user or customer journey, we consider the entire path people take while interacting with a company: from the awareness stage, when they realize they have a need or learn about a business through digital marketing or a friend, through all the points of interaction with your brand, up until the moment they leave you, being satisfied (or not) customers.

Here is what user journeys typically look like:

You can see that this user journey map focuses on users’ goals and emotions as they move from one journey stage to another. We follow their steps, stage to stage, identifying channels they use, grasping their quotes, listing their actions, and coming up with journey-related problems and then ideas on how to fix those.

Pro tip: Customer journey maps or user journey maps can be used not only to understand current user experience but also to create prototypes and optimize a website user journey .

Of course, for everything to work out, you need to consider all the most critical components of the user journey to base your business, marketing, or any other strategies and actionable plans.

Key elements of a user journey

As a designer, product, or marketing manager, or anyone involved in this journey, understanding the key elements of a user journey is essential for creating a successful product or service.

• Persona: The users' characteristics, motivations, and goals that influence their behavior and decision-making.
• Stages: All the steps a user persona takes when interacting with a business.
• Touchpoints: The various interactions consumers have with a product or service, such as getting emails, seeing marketing ads, checking out social media pages, or chatting with customer support agents.
• Emotions: The user's feelings and reactions throughout the journey, influencing their overall experience and impacting satisfaction and loyalty .
• Goals: The users' desired outcomes or objectives, which drive their behavior and decision-making.
• Pain points: The persona's frustrations, challenges, or obstacles that may hinder their progress or satisfaction.
• Opportunities: The potential areas for improvement or innovation in the user journey; are based on user feedback and data analysis.
• Metrics: The quantitative measures used to evaluate the success of the user journey, such as conversion rate or customer retention. This kind of information makes a user journey map more solid in the eyes of the top management.

How to create a user journey map

Building user journey maps might seem daunting at first. But when broken down into specific steps, the process becomes much more manageable and even enjoyable.

Gather a team

Or just think about people who will help you along the mapping path. You can start alone, but believe me, you will need mates to finish this initiative. So, bring people from the marketing team, sales, customer support department, and even senior management.

Do research

All the data you are going to use needs to be real and proven to get actionable insights. Review your customer base, conduct interviews, monitor statistics, etc.

Define your user personas

Identify the different types of customers or users who interact with your products or services and then turn them into personas .

Map out the map skeleton

Identify all the stages the user persona goes through. These could include website visits, social media interactions, customer support calls, etc. Come up with your soon-to-be user journey map sections, too.

By the way, the sections are the key elements of a user journey we previously talked about, but there are more things to cover if you really want to understand your user's journey: actions, feelings, interactions with other journey participants, etc.

Fill in the journey map sections with data

Maps can vary in format, and by "sections," we mean the points where journey stages intersect with the specific information we want to highlight. For instance, sections might reveal which channels the persona uses at each stage, the actions they take, or the challenges they face, among other details.

Don't forget to list actions they take and include some of their quotes (e.g., from user reviews, surveys, and NPS forms) to increase empathy for the persona and strengthen certain points reflected on the map. Add an emotional graph so any stakeholder will know your persona's emotional state at a particular stage without reading the entire map.

Identify pain points and develop solutions

Determine where the user persona experiences difficulties or frustrations during their journey. For example:

• A user adds items to their cart but becomes frustrated when discovering unexpected shipping fees during checkout. 
• The requirement to create an account instead of using a guest checkout complicates the purchasing process, leading to cart abandonment. 
• A user trying to cancel a subscription struggles to find the "Cancel Subscription" option, which is buried deep within the settings. Additionally, they are required to contact customer support to complete the cancellation, causing unnecessary frustration and delays.

Then, get your team onboard to brainstorm ways to improve the user's experience at each stage, address pain points, and come up with new marketing strategies.

Create a digital visualization

If you started with a whiteboard, say, in your office, use a customer journey mapping tool to create a visual representation of the user journey in the digital format. First, the map will always be at hand. And secondly, it will be convenient to share it both inside the tool and export it as a designer-looking file.

Continuously update

Regularly review and refine the user journey as you gather more data and user feedback.

What is a user flow?

In simple terms, a user flow describes the specific actions people take to accomplish their goal at a particular stage within their journey. It focuses on the technical aspect of user path and interactions with products and services.

Unlike a user journey, user flows would cover the technical details of a single stage. For example, if it’s the installation stage, then a user flow will cover all the specifics of this stage: e.g., the sequence of the dialog windows that will appear on the user’s screen, the information they contain, and the button a user will have to click to proceed further.

The user flow is a great help in developing or redesigning interfaces, introducing new features, and other manipulations with a service or product. It's a great tool for finding inconsistencies in the steps that the user has to take, missing hints, unnecessary actions, buttons-to-move, a bugged process, and so on. User flows can also be used to communicate design ideas and collaborate with stakeholders.

User flow’s key elements

• Entry point: The point at which the user enters the product or service, such as a homepage or landing page.
• Actions: The steps the user takes to complete a task or achieve a goal within the product or service. E.g., the user calls a virtual business phone number to get the necessary information.
• Decision points: The points at which the user must make a decision, such as choosing between two options or deciding whether to proceed.
• Feedback: The information provided to the user throughout the process, such as error or confirmation messages.
• Exit point: The point at which the user leaves the product or service, such as completing a purchase or closing a window.
• Obstacles: Any barriers or challenges that may prevent the user from completing their task or achieving their goal. E.g., a mobile app is not supported in a given country.
• Context: A user's environment, situation, or mindset that may influence their behavior and decision-making.
• Time: The duration of each step in the user flow and the overall time it takes for the user to complete the required process, finish their task, or achieve their goal.

How to create a user flow chart, diagram, or any other scheme

Creating a user flow scheme is both an analytical process and a design adventure. Now, let's break down the steps to create one, making it more approachable and systematic.

Define the purpose of your user flow chart

Before starting, determine what you want to achieve through the user flow chart. For example, it could be identifying the steps new customers take to complete a task or analyzing the user experience of a website or app.

Define the user's goal

Start by identifying the user's objective for using your website or app. What task do they want to complete or what problem do they want to solve? User research will help you with this step.

Map out the steps

Once you have identified the user's goal, map out the steps they need to take to achieve it. This can be done using a flowchart or diagram.

Identify decision points

Along the way, there may be decision points where the user has to choose between different options. Identify these decision points and map out the possible paths the user can take.

Spice it up with details

Add more details to the user flow, such as the specific actions the user needs to take at each step, any inputs they need to provide, and any feedback they will receive.

Test and review

Once you have created a user flow, test it with real users to see if it accurately represents their experience. Use feedback from users to refine and improve user flows.

Share and collaborate

Share the user flow chart with team members and stakeholders to ensure everyone is on the same page. Collaborate on updates and changes as needed.

The similarities between a user flow and a user journey

Now you know the difference between a user flow and a user journey in the way they look like. No more questions? But wait, there are similarities, too. Here is what they have in common:

• User-centered approach. Despite the different incarnations, the user is at the heart of both methodologies. You always keep in mind the user's perspective;
• Research-based. Both user flow and user journey require research and analysis of user behavior, preferences, and needs to be actionable.
• They watch user steps. Both tools deal with various stages of interactions between a user and a product or service, following the steps the user takes to complete a task or achieve a goal;
• Better understanding. Both can help people who utilize them understand user behavior and experience and identify pain points and/or areas for improvement;
• Optimization. User flow charts and user journeys can be used to identify opportunities for optimization and conversion rate optimization.
• UX insights. A user journey and a user flow provide insights for better customer and smooth user experience design.

The difference between a user flow and a user journey

In addition to the nuances mentioned above, here are some key differences between a user flow and a user journey:

• Application. A user flow is often used in the development and design process, while a user journey is used to inform overall product strategy and customer experience.
• Level of analysis . A user journey provides the macro view of the interactions between the user or customer with your business from start to finish, while a user flow focuses on the micro-level and shows the specific steps users take to achieve their goal;
• Key focus . User journey maps are more concerned with the emotional state of the users and their brand perception, while user flows concentrate on technicalities, usability, and functionality. They are more task-oriented;
• Purpose . A user journey map is a technique that helps you understand the overall experience your users have across touchpoints and channels. User flow is just a zoomed-in interaction of a user with a system at a given touchpoint within a bigger journey. Based on the user flow definition, user flow is more tactical and specific, while user journey is more strategic and holistic.
• Structure . In terms of design, when you create a user flow diagram you should aim for a more linear and structured artifact, while a user journey can be more complex and intricate.
• Representation . A user flow is often represented visually through diagrams or flowcharts, while a user journey is often represented through storytelling or user journey mapping.

How to map out user flows and journeys

Well, now we know what user journey and user flow are, their similarities and differences, as well as how to work with both design methodologies. Last but not least, the superpower left is the combination of both.

Everything is simple. A user flow helps you define everything your audience goes through while interacting with the service or product you offer them. All these actions can form the basis of journey map stages, and by analyzing the user experience at each stage, you can validate or correct the technical side of the service or product and generally optimize the user flow.

Or may go vice versa and start with a journey map then come up with a user flow based on the user journey stages.

And, of course, you may map out user journeys and user flows together within the same map. This is how it may look like in UXPressia:

1. Divide stages into substages . Substages can visually represent the user flows within each particular stage of a user journey.

2. Identify the processes and channels . This section will give you a high-level representation of the user flow at each particular stage of the journey.

3. Use text fields . You can go with the text fields and type in the entire user flow in plain text.

That way, you can have user flows within your user journey, giving you a detailed overview of all the interactions between users and your business.

As you can see, it doesn't matter what you will do first. The main thing is that by combining methodologies, you can improve the user experience from all sides, making your audience even happier and your product more competitive.

Expert tip: To map out user flows and journeys in a single document, you can use the Personas section, which effectively illustrates both the process and all its participants.

User flow examples and user journey examples

Let’s walk through several examples of user flows, illustrating the step-by-step processes users follow to accomplish specific tasks. 

User flow for booking a hotel room online

• Viewing a landing page : The user lands on a hotel booking website.
• Searching for hotels : The user enters the destination, check-in, and check-out dates.
• Selecting a hotel : The user browses the list of available hotels and selects one.
• Choosing a room type : The user picks a room type and reviews the price and amenities.
• Entering guest details : The user fills in guest information, such as name and contact details.
• Paying : The user enters payment details and confirms the booking.
• Getting a booking confirmation : The user receives a booking confirmation and a reference number.

User flow for ordering food via a mobile app

• Opening the app : The user opens the food delivery app on their mobile device.
• Browsing restaurants : The user browses or searches for restaurants.
• Selecting a restaurant : The user selects a restaurant from the list.
• Choosing items : The user adds food items to the cart.
• Reviewing order : The user reviews the selected items and their total price.
• Entering delivery details : The user enters the delivery address and chooses a delivery time.
• Payming : The user selects a payment method and completes the transaction.
• Receving anrder confirmation : The user receives an order confirmation with the estimated delivery time.

User flow for submitting a support ticket on a website

• Visiting a support page : The user navigates to the website's support or help page.
• Choosing an issue category : The user selects the category that best matches their issue.
• Filling out ticket form : The user fills in the support ticket form with details about their issue.
• Attaching files (optional) : The user attaches any relevant files, such as screenshots.
• Submitting a ticket : The user submits the support ticket.
• Getting a confirmation : The user receives a confirmation email with a ticket number and expected response time.
• Following up : The user can check the status of their ticket via a link in the confirmation email.

User flow for purchasing a product in a physical retail store

• Entering a store : The user enters the store.
• Browsing products : The user walks through the store and looks at products.
• Selecting products : The user picks the desired products and adds them to their cart.
• Proceeding to checkout : The user heads to the checkout counter with the cart.
• Paying : The user pays for the products using cash, card, or another payment method.

Receipt and exit : The user receives a receipt and exits the store with the purchased items.

User journey vs. user flow: wrapping up

Although user flow and user journey may seem to be similar deliverables, they focus on different aspects of the overall customer experience. However, it’s worth creating both when designing a product. This way, you will ensure that you will deliver the best UX possible on all levels.

To create a successful user experience, it's important to consider both user journeys and user flows. By mapping out the user journey and identifying key stages, you can design user flows that are aligned with users' needs and goals. 

We hope this article will help you create a frictionless and enjoyable experience that encourages users to engage with your product or service.

What are the differences between user journey maps and user flows?

User journey maps and user flows are tools used in UX design to improve the user experience, but they serve different purposes.

A user journey map is a visual representation of the user's experience throughout their interaction with a product or service. It outlines different stages of the user's journey, including touchpoints, emotions, and pain points. It helps designers understand the user's perspective and identify areas for improvement in the overall user experience.

On the other hand, a user flow is a visual representation of the steps a user takes to complete a specific task or goal within a product or service. It helps designers understand the logical sequence of steps required to achieve a particular goal and identify areas for optimization.

How do they complement each other?

User journey maps and user flows are not competitors; they complement each other by providing different perspectives on the user experience. User journey maps provide a high-level view of the user's overall experience, while user flows provide a more detailed view of specific tasks or goals. By combining both tools, designers can gain a comprehensive understanding of the user experience and identify opportunities for improvement.

What is a user flow in short?

A user flow is a visual representation of the steps a user takes to complete a specific task or goal within a product or service. It outlines the sequence of actions a user needs to take to accomplish their objective.

When should you use a user flow?

Use a user flow when you want to understand how users interact with a specific feature or functionality within a product or service. User flows help identify areas where users may get stuck or confused and optimize the steps required to achieve their goals.

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I think the main difference between user flow and user journey is in the scale of things. We used to focus too much on flows during each stage and overlooked the bigger picture a journey gives you. Customers kept getting lost somewhere in between our perfect flows.

Thank you, that’s a very informative and useful article for UX designers. I knew the the difference between a user flow and user journey, yet mapping them out together is a must-try for me now. I’m pretty sure that can help visualize the entire user experience and will lead to better decision-making and ultimately improve user satisfaction. It’s great to see that the article also provides practical tips on how to build these diagrams and map them out using UXPressia tool.

It’s thank you for your thoughtful comment! We glad to hear that you found it informative and useful.

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How to create an effective user journey map

No matter what you’re working on, the key to customer satisfaction and business growth is understanding your users. A user journey map helps you uncover pain points, explore the touchpoints from their perspective, and learn how to improve your product.

Imagine you just launched a new ecommerce platform. Shoppers fill their carts with products, but they abandon their carts before checkout. With a user journey map, you can pinpoint where the customer experience is going wrong, and how to enable more successful checkouts.

Read on to find out:

• What is a user journey map, and how it captures user flows and customer touchpoints
• Benefits of user journey mapping to refine UX design and reach business goals
• How to make user journey maps in five steps, using FigJam’s user journey map template

What is a user journey map?

Think about the path a user takes to explore your product or website. How would you design the best way to get there? User journey maps (or user experience maps) help team members and stakeholders align on user needs throughout the design process, starting with user research. As you trace users' steps through your user flows, notice: Where do users get lost, backtrack, or drop off?

User journey maps help you flag pain points and churn, so your team can see where the user experience may be confusing or frustrating for your audience. Then you can use your map to identify key customer touchpoints and find opportunities for optimization.

How to read a user journey map

Most user journey maps are flowcharts or grids showing the user experience from end to end. Consider this real-life journey map example of a freelancing app from Figma's design community. The journey starts with a buyer persona needing freelance services, and a freelancer looking for a gig. Ideally, the journey ends with service delivery and payment—but customer pain points could interrupt the flow.

Start your user journey map with FigJam

5 key user journey map phases.

Take a look at another Figma community user journey template , which uses a simple grid. Columns capture the five key stages of the user journey: awareness, consideration, decision, purchase, and retention (see below). Rows show customer experiences across these stages—their thoughts, feelings, and pain points. These experiences are rated as good, neutral, and bad.

To see how this works, consider a practical example. Suppose a new pet parent wants to learn how to train their puppy and discovers your dog-training app. Here's how you might map out the five key user journey stages:

• Awareness. The user sees a puppy-training video on social media with a link to your product website. They're intrigued—a positive experience.
• Consideration. The user visits your product website to preview your app. If they can't find a video preview easily, this could be a neutral or negative experience.
• Decision. The user clicks on a link to the app store and reads reviews of your app and compares it to others. They might think your app reviews are good, but your price is high—a negative or neutral experience.
• Purchase. The user buys your app and completes the onboarding process. If this process is smooth, it's a positive experience. If not, the customer experience could turn negative at this point.
• Retention. The user receives follow-up emails featuring premium puppy-training services or special offers. Depending on their perception of these emails, the experience can range from good (helpful support) to bad (too much spam).

2 types of user journey maps—and when to use them

User journey maps are helpful across the product design and development process, especially at two crucial moments: during product development and for UX troubleshooting. These scenarios call for different user journey maps: current-state and future-state.

Current-state user journey maps

A current-state user journey map shows existing customer interactions with your product. It gives you a snapshot of what's happening, and pinpoints how to enhance the user experience.

Take the puppy training app, for example. A current-state customer journey map might reveal that users are abandoning their shopping carts before making in-app purchases. Look at it from your customers' point of view: Maybe they aren't convinced their credit cards will be secure or the shipping address workflow takes too long. These pain points show where you might tweak functionality to boost user experience and build customer loyalty.

Future-state user journey maps

A future-state user journey map is like a vision board : it shows the ideal customer journey, supported by exceptional customer experiences. Sketch out your best guesses about user behavior on an ideal journey, then put them to the test with usability testing. Once you've identified your north star, you can explore new product or site features that will optimize user experience.

How to make a user journey map in 5 steps

To start user journey mapping, follow this step-by-step guide.

Step 1: Define user personas and goals.

Gather user research and data like demographics, psychographics, and shopping behavior to create detailed customer personas representing your target audience.  In your dog-training app example, one key demographic may be parents. What’s their goal? It isn't necessarily "hire a puppy trainer"—it could be "teach kids how to interact with a puppy."

Step 2: Identify customer touch points.

Locate the points along the user journey where the user encounters or interacts with your product. In the dog training app example, touchpoints might include social media videos, app website, app store category search (e.g., pets), app reviews, app store checkout, in-app onboarding, and app customer support.

Step 3: Visualize journey phases.

Create a visual representation of user journey phases across key touchpoints with user flow diagrams , flowcharts , or storyboards .

Step 4: Capture user actions and responses.

For each journey stage, capture the user story: at this juncture, what are they doing, thinking, and feeling ? This could be simple, such as: "Potential customer feels frustrated when the product image takes too long to load."

Step 5: Validate and iterate.

Finally, show your map to real users. Get honest feedback about what works and what doesn’t with user testing , website metrics , or surveys . To use the dog-training app example, you might ask users: Are they interested in subscribing to premium how-to video content by a professional dog trainer? Apply user feedback to refine your map and ensure it reflects customer needs.

Jumpstart your user journey map with FigJam

Lead your team's user journey mapping effort with FigJam, the online collaborative whiteboard for brainstorming, designing, and idea-sharing. Choose a user journey map template from Figma's design community as your guide. With Figma's drag-and-drop design features, you can quickly produce your own professional, presentation-ready user journey map.

Pro tip: Use a service blueprint template to capture behind-the-scenes processes that support the user journey, bridging the gap between user experience and service delivery.

Ready to improve UX with user journey mapping?

How to Make a User Flow Diagram

User flow diagrams are indispensable in mastering user experience. They allow you to understand how users interact with your app or website, and the steps they take to complete a task or achieve a goal on your website. This will help you create a superior user experience for the user and meet their needs more efficiently.  

In this guide, we’ll take a look at the important role user flow diagrams play in UX design, how to make a user flow diagram, and the best practices you should keep in mind. We’ve also got you covered with some handy templates that you can use throughout the process of designing your user flow.

• What is a User Flow Diagram

Best Practices to Keep in Mind When Creating a User Flow Diagram

Common mistakes to avoid when creating user flow diagrams, user flow diagram templates, what is a user flow diagram  .

A user flow can be interpreted in many ways. It can be regarded as an overview that describes where users can navigate in your product. It can also mean the actual quality and experience of the path users take to accomplish a task.

Or it can mean the actual sequence of steps the user takes to complete a task. Flowcharts can be useful in visualizing these routes users take when they are using your solution (i.e. website or app).

Such tools that help with visually tracing the steps of interaction between user actions and program interfaces are called user flow diagrams or user flow maps.

They help work out the logical path a user should take when interacting with the system, and they depict the relationships between the functionality of the system, potential user actions, and the associated consequences.  

User flow diagrams can have different looks based on the stage of the design process you are in. If you have the wireframes for your app or website already made, you can use them to create your flowchart. Such wireframe flowcharts are called Wireflows.

User flow diagrams are also referred to as interaction flow, activity flow, user interface flow, navigation flow, or task flow diagrams.

User flow diagram symbols are as follows

User Flow Diagram Symbols

Refer to this resource to understand more flowchart symbols that might be useful when creating user flows diagrams.

Importance of a User Flow Diagram

• User flow diagrams come in handy when you want to understand your designs based on the goals of your users.  
• They can be used to communicate the intended flow of users as they navigate through the pages of your website or through the actions in your app
• Engineers, designers, and architects can use them to understand the complexities, scope, and paths of the design of a system as well as identify gaps, dependencies, and deficiencies in it.

Without further ado, let’s discuss how to make a user flow diagram.

Step 1: Understand the Customer Journey

A user flow is based on what the user does – therefore understanding who they are, their motivations, needs, and behavior is crucial to making an effective user flow diagram.

It may seem like an additional step, but conducting proper user research and designing user personas will help you create smoother user flows.

We have already covered how to create user personas in an earlier post, refer to it to learn how to create a buyer persona in a few simple steps. Or if you are already familiar with the process, here’s a template to begin with.

Once you have created the customer profile, you are a step closer to understanding your user journey.

You can use a customer journey map here to properly analyze what your customers do, feel, and expect when they are interacting with your business (i.e. visiting your website), the various touchpoints, and pain points.  

We’ve also covered the process of creating a customer journey map in 6 simple steps. Do check it out.

The rest of the steps of creating a user flow will be easier once you know your user’s journey.

Step 2: Identify Your Goals and Your User’s Goals  

The next step is to get an idea about the objectives of your business as well as that of your users.  

You may already be aware of your business’s goals; e.g. to increase conversion on your website, to boost the sale of your product, etc. It’s usually the final outcome of the actions you want your users to take.

On the other hand, your users’ objectives include the desires and needs they want to satisfy. And different users also may have varied goals in mind. This is where the user personas and the customer journey maps you created earlier will help you out in figuring out what they are.

Step 3: Identify Where Your Users are Coming From

If you are designing a website, you may want to know where your customers are coming from or in other words what the entry points are. These usually include,

• Direct traffic
• Organic search
• Social media
• Paid advertising
• Referral sites
• Press or news items

You can use Google Analytics to get the percentages for these entry points. They may also indicate different user behaviors.

For example, a direct visitor would search your brand name, while an organic search visitor would first Google the product they want before discovering you as a suitable seller.

And it is important to map out these different user flows based on the different entry points. It’s key to developing a better experience for the users.

Step 4: Identify the Information the Visitor Needs

In order to design the best possible user flow, you need to get into the shoes of your customers.

This means understanding what their needs and motivations are by heart. So you need to know what problems they have, their doubts, and hesitations, what questions they have about the product, and what answers they seek.

Since you have already created your buyer personas and the journey map , this step is easier to complete.

Step 5: Visualize Your User Flows

By now you are aware of the users you are creating the user flow for, what their objectives are, and where they are coming from. The next step is to create the user flow.

Think of what your users do before and after they visit a particular page on your website. What do they see, and what action do they take to reach their goal? This will help you identify the pages you need to create, what information/ content you need to provide, and how they should be connected to each other.

Pay attention to the start and end of each task. This may change based on the goal of different users.

Once you have filtered out the necessary information, visualize it with a user flow diagram.

Step 6: Prototype Your Flow

You can use low-fidelity prototypes wireframes or UI mockups to test out the user flow outlined in the previous step. The prototype helps add more detail to the flow and helps you understand the flow between user actions and content.

It will also help you validate that your product is designed according to your and your users’ objectives.

Step 7: Review, Refine and Test

You can share your user flow diagrams with stakeholders and discuss where adjustments need to be made.

And once a high-fidelity prototype is ready, you can also test it out with actual users.

This way you can collect data on each step of the user flow and understand how your users navigate through your product. You can then identify areas for improvement and apply solutions before the release of the final product.  

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Stick to the best practices below to make sure that the user flow diagrams you create are actually effective in helping you out.

• Always give your user flow diagram a name that describes its purpose. This will help anyone who refers to it understand its basis.
• Stick to one direction when drawing the flowchart . Since the chart maps out a story, it helps to read and understand it better when the map flows in one direction.
• Limit the number of decision points to make it clutter-free/ less complicated.
• Make sure the scope of the user flow diagram covers a single task or a single goal of your user. If the user flow only covers half of the task or maps out the steps to cover more than one user goal, it will not serve its purpose.
• Make sure to only add the necessary information and avoid any other detail that doesn’t help you describe the flow and actions of the user.
• Use a digital flowchart tool like Creately , to speed up the process. Plus it will allow you to get the input of others and keep your work saved in one place and in the cloud, which will enable you to refer to it and work on it from anywhere. Moreover, it will help you save up space with its infinite canvas area; otherwise, it may take up several walls of your conference room!  

Create effective user flow diagrams by avoiding the following common mistakes.

• Avoid making assumptions about what the user wants or needs. Conduct thorough user research to understand the needs and behaviors of the target audience to create an accurate representation of the user journey.
• Avoid including too much detail or getting bogged down in specific interactions or UI elements as the user flow diagram should show the high-level journey of the user through the application.
• The user’s goals should be at the center of the user flow diagram. Prioritize user goals and ensure that the flow supports them.
• Avoid using ambiguous or confusing language. Use clear and concise labels and symbols to represent each step of the user’s journey.
• Don’t assume that the user will follow a linear path through the application. Consider all possible scenarios and edge cases when creating the user flow diagram.
• Involve all relevant stakeholders in the creation of the user flow diagram, including designers, developers, and product owners to ensures that everyone is on the same page and that the flow accurately reflects the product vision.
• User flow diagrams are a starting point, not a final product. Therefore, it’s crucial to continuously test and refine the flow based on user feedback and data to ensure that it’s meeting the needs of the intended audience.

Ready to Make Your Own User Flow Diagram?

User flows are a powerful tool in a designer’s toolkit. They make it easier for designers to see the big picture – what pages they need to create and how they should be connected. We’ve pretty much-covered everything you need to know to make a user flow diagram – including templates you can use to start right away.

Now we would like to know your opinion on user flow diagrams. Type away in the comments section below.

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FAQ on the User Flow Diagram

What is the role of user flows in ux design, what are the different types of user flows.

There are different types of user flow diagrams based on how you choose to visualize the user journey.

• Task flows: a task flow chart focuses on a single feature or a single task the user performs without showing other pathways. They are linear charts that don’t show options for variability.  
• Wire flows: this type of user flow diagram visualizes the flow through a combination of wireframes and flowcharts. Instead of shapes, they use wireframes of each page showing what users see on the screen.
• User flows: user flowcharts map out how a user interacts with a product as a whole. They illustrate the different paths or journeys users can take to reach the end goal.

What is the difference between a user flow and a user journey?

What are the major components of a user flow diagram.

Typically a user flow diagram should represent the following elements.

• A starting point
• Content that is presented to the users
• Actions offered
• The buttons that take the user to the next stage once clicked
• An ending point

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Amanda Athuraliya is the communication specialist/content writer at Creately, online diagramming and collaboration tool. She is an avid reader, a budding writer and a passionate researcher who loves to write about all kinds of topics.

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User Journey vs User Flow

Carlos González De Villaumbrosia

Updated: May 6, 2024 - 5 min read

Design is having a moment right now, with Product Managers across the board realizing that they need to be more in touch with what their UX and UI designers are doing.

It is high time Design was involved from the beginning of the product, rather than handing it over to them at the end to ‘pretty it up.’

To do this, Product Managers need to feel more comfortable communicating with designers in their language. That means getting to grips with some key concepts.

User Flows  and  User Journeys  are two key parts of design that Product Managers should be very interested in, as they both heavily affect how the user interacts with and experiences the product…which is what it’s all about at the end of the day!

However, these two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, and at first glance, they can look incredibly similar. So let’s clear up the confusion and take a look at the difference between them.

What are User Flows?

User Flows are perhaps the easier of the two to understand. Usually depicted by flow charts,  they are a set of steps taken by a user to achieve a goal within a digital product . Rather than demonstrating how the customer’s are supposed to feel, a User Flow is the breakdown of the actual user interface.

User Flows can be very simple, or very complex, depending on how many different things you want users to be doing inside your product. Designing how a uses interacts with a product is a key step in figuring out where the issues may be in your task flows. Unless an app is  incredibly  simple, your user flow diagram is unlikely to be completely linear. Think about the different steps you can take on any one mobile app, and even without being a UX design expert you can imagine how complicated the process might be!

How should I use User Flow diagrams?

User Flows are a great tool for communicating what the product will do to non-technical people, especially stakeholders. If you’re a non-technical Product Manager they’ll be extra-useful before the  MVP stage.

Working with your design team on User Flows can be a great way to  strengthen your working relationships , and  better your understanding of your product’s design .

Many a friendship has been built over a shared whiteboard! But take care to listen,  really listen,  to your designer’s wisdom.

You’re not getting involved just so you can tell them how to do their job. Being at war with Design will do neither you nor your product any good in the long run.

Read to create your own? Check out this free User Flow Template

What are User Journeys?

You’d be forgiven for looking at a User Flow diagram and immediately thinking of the User Journey. However, User Journey Mapping is much more complex and needs a hefty dose of a Product Manager’s tip-top customer knowledge!

While User Flows depict the physical journey of the user through an app or piece of software,  User Journeys deal with the emotions, the pain points, and the motivations of the customer .

Your map is a visualization of the step by step experience the user goes through. Done right, it shows you the entirety of a customer’s relationship with a brand. It also helps the product teams take a more user-centric approach to how they build.

How should I use User Journey Maps?

User Journey Maps, or Customer Journey Maps, are particularly useful to Product Managers for a number of reasons.

Discovering pain points.  By walking in your customer’s shoes, you might find issues that you didn’t know were there.

Discovering opportunities. On the flip side, you can discover ways to go above and beyond for your customers, and find opportunities to delight.

Encouraging a customer-centric mindset . By focusing on your customer’s emotions and motivations, your teams will be more driven to build customer-focused products.

Creating a single vision.  Having User Journey maps is a great way to make sure everyone has the same understanding of who they’re building for, and what’s important to them.

Marketing your product . Top product managers recommend that we build marketing into our products from the beginning as well as design. User Journey maps can help you and the marketing team do just that.

Top tip for User Journeys: Get creative!

The best part of getting involved in Design is being able to flex your creative muscles!  Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box . Create storyboards to visualize your user narratives. Use color codes, moodboards, and anything else you can think of. Go back to your user personas, and Your User Journey Maps aren’t just for you, they’re a visual representation of your customers and how they experience your product, which is useful for everyone involved. Make them visually appealing and help them to inspire your teams.

When building anything based on users, data is critical. User research will help you to create a user journey, understand your user’s emotional state and even their point of view. User research is part of the design process across the board, and not something you can afford to ignore.

Interested in how Design and Product can collaborate? Check out this talk from Abigail Hart Grey from  ProductCon :

Updated: May 6, 2024

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A guide to user flow diagrams

As a product manager, you’re responsible for ensuring that you create a functional product with an intuitive user journey. To help you accomplish this, you can use a user flow diagram to visualize how users interact with your product in each stage. This will allow you to see the way users move through your product and come to a better understanding of the user decision-making process.

User flow diagrams also enable you to streamline navigation, remove pain points, and create a more engaging experience.

In this article, you will learn what a user flow diagram is, the different types of user flows, and how you create and implement them within your team.

What is a user flow diagram?

A user flow diagram is a visual representation of a user’s journey through your product. It shows the sequence of actions that a user takes from their initial interaction all the way through to their end goal.

User flow diagrams are usually used by product managers and UX designers to better understand and improve the user experience. The diagrams help to identify pain points and areas of confusion to make informed decisions about functionality.

3 types of user flow diagrams

According to the NN Group , user flows can be represented in three ways:

Task diagrams

Wireflows are a visual representation of the screens in an app, alongside their user interactions. They can vary from very low fidelity (see example below) to high fidelity screens with arrows linking them. Wireflows provide an overview of all the interactions on a screen, where they lead, and any decision points:

A flowchart is “a diagram of the sequence of movements or actions of people or things involved in a complex system or activity (Oxford Languages).” It shows a user’s journey through an application, including business logic and alternate flows. They can be used to map out flows inside an application, but also to map business processes:

Key components of a flowchart

When creating a flowchart for a product, use the following elements:

Task diagrams are similar to flow charts, but they represent a single task within a larger path. Because of this, you can think of a task diagram as a subset of a flowchart. A task diagram utilizes the same components as a flowchart.

Benefits of user flow diagrams

User flow diagrams allow you to:

• Describe how the user interacts with the product
• Avoid missing steps or inconsistencies in the process
• Gain shared understanding and validation
• Identify pain points

A user flow diagram shows how the user interacts with the product to achieve a goal. You can use flows to understand existing applications, especially when you want to create a new product or a new feature.

User flow diagrams help you identify any inconsistencies or dead ends early in the process. By mapping out your user flow (either through a wireflow or through a flowchart), you make sure you don’t have any dead ends.

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User flow diagrams are very useful for validating your concepts and aligning stakeholders.

The development team can better understand your concept and determine your interactions on the page. Subject matter experts can review your process and ensure that everything is in the correct order with the right conditions.

You can also use user flow diagrams to analyze situations and identify pain points and improvement opportunities. At any point in the journey you might notice that users consistently pause over a particular issue, or that they need more assistance to progress forward.

User flow diagram example

Now let’s walk through an example to better understand how you can create a user flow diagram in practice. Say you want to define the user flow for an application that allows friends from different banks to split bills, facilitating a seamless and secure money transfer. The steps would look like:

• Define the user persona
• Determine the user goal
• Set the entry point
• Map out the steps the user takes to achieve the goal
• Revisit and identify alternate flows
• Sketch the wireframes and add arrows for the interactions
• Communicate the results

1. Define the user persona

You should conduct user research and base your persona on actual data and pain points.

For this scenario, you’re looking at an individual who frequently shares expenses with friends and wants a convenient way to split bills, even if their friends are at different banks.

2. Determine the user goal

The user’s goal here is to initiate a bill split with a friend from a different bank and transfer the funds securely.

3. Set the entry point

In this case, the entry point would be to open the app. The user would trigger this because they need to split a bill.

4. Map out the steps the user takes to achieve the goal

To achieve the goal, the user will need to navigate through the following:

• Open the app and navigate to the split bill feature
• Enter the total amount of the bill to be split
• Select the option to split with a friend from a different bank
• Enter the friend’s bank account details, such as bank name, account number, and routing number
• Verify the entered bank account details for accuracy
• Confirm the split and initiate the fund transfer
• Receive a confirmation of the successful transfer

5. Revisit and identify alternate flows

Once you map out the flow, try to come up with any alternative steps that could come into play, such as:

• Friend verification — After entering the friend’s bank account details, the app could prompt the user to verify the friend’s identity to ensure the accuracy of the information. This verification step can be done through various means, such as sending a verification code to the friend’s registered email or phone number
• Error handling for incorrect bank details — If the user enters incorrect bank account details for their friend, the app can provide an error message specifying the issue and offer suggestions on how to correct the information. This may involve prompting the user to double-check the account number, routing number, or bank name
• Request confirmation from a friend — In specific scenarios, the app might send a request to a friend at a different bank, asking them to confirm the bill split. The friend would receive a notification or message with the details of the split and an option to accept or decline the request. This step adds an extra layer of confirmation and consent from the friend before proceeding with the transaction

6. Sketch the wireframes and add arrows for the interactions

To create a wireflow, you want to sketch the wireframes at this stage. After you have all the screens, use arrows to show their interactions.

While a UX designer can provide more detail, here are the screens we could have for this flow:

• Split bill feature in the app’s main menu
• Bill split form with an input field for the total amount
• Friend selection screen with an option to choose a friend at a different bank
• Bank account details entry screen with fields for bank name, account number, and routing number
• Verification screen showing the entered bank account details for confirmation
• Confirmation screen with a success message and transaction details

7. Communicate the results

Once the flow is complete, you can share it with your stakeholders to receive feedback. Try to identify areas of improvement and work to optimize the user experience.

The user flow diagram for this example would look like:

Tools for creating user flow diagrams

There are a variety of tools to help you create user flows. Here are a few that also have free versions:

• Lucid chart

Final thoughts

User flow diagrams are powerful tools to help you validate concepts and identify pain points. They allow you to fail fast with minimum effort and ensure that you build the right thing for your users.

By using user flow diagrams, you can:

You can follow the example included in this article to build out a user flow diagram for your own product.

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A comprehensive guide to effective customer journey mapping

A brand's user experience shapes its target audience's entire perception of your organization. Maximize audience engagement with customer journey mapping.

Discover key challenges today's marketing teams are facing, as well as opportunities for businesses in 2024.

Incorporating customer journey mapping into your web design process helps elevate consumer engagement to drive loyalty and sales.

Many in-house teams and web designers strive to better serve users by optimizing their customer experience (CX). Considering how your customers use your platform or service helps you see your website from a user perspective, letting you shape your design to better meet their needs. To achieve this, web designers can look to customer journey mapping.

A particularly handy tool for user experience (UX) design , this process helps teams understand who their users are and how to fulfill their expectations, guiding development decisions for improved audience engagement. Learn more about customer journey mapping and how you can implement it to enhance your CX.

User journey mapping: an overview

User journey mapping, also known as customer journey mapping (CJM), maps a website visitor's experience from their perspective. Presented through a visual diagram, the customer journey map charts the user’s path as they seek information or solutions, starting at the homepage and tracking their routes across other menus and links.

To create a customer journey map, you begin by researching who users are, what they want from your site, and how positive or negative their experiences have been. 

There are two main purposes for mapping your customers’ journey.

1. Improve customer experience

This is the ultimate goal of CJM. Site navigation can be especially tricky to assess because you’re already familiar with the layout. A fresh perspective on your site often uncovers overlooked details such as navigation issues or broken links.

By conducting research on UX trends and visually mapping your results, you’ll identify any parts of your design that confuse or frustrate visitors. This process also reveals areas that work well, which you can repurpose elsewhere in the design.

2. Maintains ease-of-use as your site grows

A customer journey map can make even a simple site more straightforward to navigate. When your website or business grows, you may need to add content and features to accommodate the expansion. Implementing customer journey mapping ensures your website's fundamental flow remains intuitive and that new material and features are easily discoverable and usable.

Primary user journey map types

There are various ways to approach customer journey mapping based on the specific insights you’re seeking. The end result of each map will look similar, but the focus of each is different — which changes the information it offers. Here are three standard types of maps to get you started.

Current state

The current state map is the most common type. It evaluates your website’s present state to better understand visitors’ current experiences, helping identify improvement opportunities for its existing design.

Future state

A future state map explores a hypothetical "ideal" website, considering the visitor’s experience if every site component were optimized. This map is helpful when planning a total redesign or a specific change. When you collect user research and translate the results into your map, you can present a visual outline to your client or company for a straightforward explanation.

Persona-based

A persona-based map lays out the journey of a single designated type of user, or persona (which we will define below). This type of diagram is useful when optimizing your website for a specific sector of your audience with particular needs.

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The 5-step customer journey mapping process

Once you’ve set clear goals for your map’s achievements, you can select the appropriate diagram type. To begin visualizing your user journey, follow this five-step process.

1. Define the map’s scope

Your map may focus on just one customer interaction or outcome, such as finding the newsletter sign-up sheet or making a payment, or it could cover the entire website’s navigation. A focused scope helps you troubleshoot a problem area or ensure an especially critical element functions properly. Alternatively, a larger-scope map provides a big-picture perspective of how the site works as a whole. Creating a comprehensive map is more complex, but high-level mapping helps comprehend the entire user experience from beginning to end.

2. Determine your user personas

A persona describes a particular type of visitor using your site. When imagining and defining these users, you can assign a name to each and include details about who they are, what they’re looking for, and why.

Focus on users who contribute most to your business goals, consulting your marketing or sales teams for insights. To define your customer personas, explore current user behavior through surveys, online reviews, and email list responsiveness.

For example, if you’re creating a website for a store that sells artisanal coffee-making tools, your personas could be:

• The gift giver. This user only knows a little about coffee but wants to select an impressive gift for someone else. They’ll need help with purchase decisions, so they might interact with an FAQ or chat feature before visiting the products page. They may also leave your site if overwhelmed by options, so it’s important to offer helpful information proactively. This will keep them engaged and more likely convert them to paying customers.
• The coffee nerd. This person is knowledgeable and always seeks the highest-quality tools, so easily accessible product details and customer reviews are important to them. To support their user experience and encourage them to purchase, ensure these elements are easily discoverable.
• The tourist. This user is on vacation and looking for a cute brick-and-mortar shop to visit. They aren't interested in your online store, but an appealing photo of your physical store with easily accessible hours and location information may convince them to come by in person.

These three types of users have very different needs and goals when visiting your website. To capture all of their business, create a map for each of them to ensure you accommodate their specific wants and circumstances.

3. Give the personas context

User context is the “when” and “how” of each persona visiting your site. A user will have a different experience loading your site on a mobile device than on a laptop. Additionally, someone in no rush may use your website differently than someone looking more urgently with a specific purpose.

Figure out when, how, and in what mindset your personas most commonly visit your site to map their experience accurately. This context has very concrete impacts on your finished design. If visitors tend to look for one specific page whenever in a hurry (like contact or location information), placing those details on the front page or prominently linking to it will smooth the user experience for those users.

Here’s an example of how to place a persona in context.

Persona: Jo is an apartment hunter in her early 20s and is still in college. She's looking for off-campus housing for herself and some roommates. The collective group values location and cost more than apartment features.

Context : Jo is in a hurry and trying to visit as many apartments as possible. She’s looking at property rental websites that clearly state apartment addresses in each listing.

Method : Jo is browsing the sites on her iPhone.

4. List persona touchpoints

Touchpoints mark when the user makes a purchase decision or interacts with your user interface (UI) . They include visitors' actions to move toward their goals and consider each associated emotion. The first touchpoint is how they reach your website — such as tapping a social media ad, clicking on a search result, or entering your URL directly.

First, list each action the visitor took and their corresponding emotional reactions. Subsequent touchpoints include instances when they navigate a menu, click a button, scroll through a gallery, or fill out a form. When you diagram the route through your site in an A-to-Z path, you can place yourself in the persona's mind to understand their reactions and choices.

A met expectation — for example, when clicking a "shop" button takes them to a product gallery — will result in a positive emotional reaction. An unmet expectation — when the “shop" link leads to an error page — will provoke an adverse reaction.

5. Map the customer journey

Illustrate the user journey by mapping these touchpoints on a visual timeline. This creates a narrative of users’ reactions across your entire service blueprint. To represent your users’ emotional states at each touchpoint, graph their correspondences like this:

The map helps you understand the customer experience as a whole. 

For example, based on the diagram above, touchpoint 3 is the largest navigation challenge on the website. The graph also shows that the user's mood eventually rebounds after the initial setback. Improving the problem element in touchpoint 3 will have the biggest impact on elevating the overall user experience.

Customer journey mapping best practices

Now that you understand the mapping process, here are some best practices to implement when charting your customer journey. 

• Set a clear objective for your map: Define your CX map’s primary goal, such as improving the purchase experience or increasing conversions for a specific product.
• Solicit customer feedback: Engage directly with customers through surveys or interviews so you can implement data-driven changes. Ask users about their journey pain points and invite both positive and negative feedback on the overall navigation.
• Specify customer journey maps for each persona: To specifically serve each customer persona, consider charting separate paths for each based on their behaviors and interests. This approach is more customer-centric, as not all user types interact with your website the same way.
• Reevaluate your map after company or website changes: As your business scales, your website must evolve — and so will your customer’s path. Review your map when making both large and small website adjustments to ensure you don’t introduce new user challenges. Navigational disruptions can frustrate visitors, causing would-be customers to leave your site and seek competitors .

Optimize your user journey map with Webflow

A user journey map is only as effective as the improvements it promotes. When redesigning your website based on insights your map provides, explore Webflow’s vast resource bank to streamline your design processes. 

Webflow offers web design support with diverse guides , tutorials , and tools for straightforward web design. Visit Webflow today to learn how its site hosting , e-commerce , and collaboration resources support enhanced user experience for better engagement.

Webflow Enterprise gives your teams the power to build, ship, and manage sites collaboratively at scale.

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User flow VS user journey: Similarities & differences of two UX design essentials

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With UX design constantly evolving to adapt to new trends, as well as user needs, there’s often a lot of confusion around different tools and processes that become available to designers. User flow diagrams and user journey maps are two such terms. Although they are used interchangeably by some, in reality they are significantly different both in terms of approach, as well as scope.

This article outlines the main similarities and differences between these two popular UX processes, so that you can choose the one that works best for you, based on where you currently are in the product design process.

What is a user flow?

In simple words, a user flow is the visual representation of the path(s) a user can take, in order to achieve a specific goal. In their most basic form, user flow diagrams combine visuals (screens, shapes, or images) with connectors, in order to define the sequence of steps towards the desired outcome. More complex or presentation-ready user flow diagrams can comprise extra elements, such as labels, device skins, branding details, etc.

Let’s take as an example the above user flow diagram of an online retail app. Upon logging in, the end goal of the user is to be able to buy products by completing the payment and ordering process. They can do so in more than one way, depending on different factors, such as if they already have an account or not, if they are signing in via email or Facebook, and so on. User flows take all those scenarios into consideration and showcase different paths to success in a digestible, easy to follow way.

What are the benefits of user flows?

User flow diagrams are a great way to focus on the UI of each individual screen that comprises a website, app, or digital experience. That makes presenting easier for UI designers, while also allowing for more targeted feedback from stakeholders. User flows are visually engaging and, if built right, they follow a logical path that any audience can keep up with with no difficulty, even without much prior knowledge of a project’s whereabouts.

Additionally, user flows are often credited with bridging the gap between designers and developers in a quick and easy way. A handoff that normally requires a couple of meetings and might lead to miscommunications can be condensed in a visual format that leaves very little room for misunderstanding. Our tip is to always make sure all screens are properly annotated and all connectors have labels to give your developer some much needed context.

What is a user journey?

A user journey (also known as a user journey map) is the visualization of the user experience of a specific product or service through a longer period of time and throughout multiple channels. Rather than being just an outline of steps or actions, however, user journey maps also heavily focus on the user’s feelings, benefits, and losses throughout the whole experience. For that reason, user input is essential beforehand, in the form of interviews, panels, or other feedback-collecting processes.

Another interesting thing about user journeys is that their starting point is usually not the moment a user first interacts with the product in question. The mapping process already starts from the realization of a need or problem that the user wants to solve by using that specific product. SImilarly, the ending point is not when the user stops utilizing the product but, rather, when they leave reviews, spread the word, or leave a complaint.

What are the benefits of user journeys?

User journeys are more human-centric by nature. They are a great way to understand the average user and empathize with them, by understanding their deeper motivations, desires, and fears. That way, the team can make product decisions that are more likely to provide a positive experience and create a long-term dependence of the user on the product.

User journey maps are a great tool to build a shared vision within a product or design team. They function as handbooks of sorts for whenever big decisions need to be made and, thus, it’s important that a big number of people in the organization have access to them. Similarly to user flows, user journeys are quite visual and digestible and can be easily understood even by people who don’t have a direct connection to the product development or design process.

Similarities of user flows and user journeys

Although it’s obvious from the above that there are significant differences between these two Product Design essentials, there are some note-worthy similarities. These, however, should not be perceived as points of overlap but rather as a guide on how teams should view them, when trying to incorporate them in their workflows:

Differences of user flows and user journeys

Apart from the obvious, visual differences in execution, user flows and user journeys also differ significantly when it comes to the approach and methodology behind them. We have summarized the main differences in the table below:

One thing is for sure: no matter their similarities and differences, both tools can provide teams with extremely valuable information and help them deliver a much better user experience. Since the two do not overlap significantly in methodology or output, they are considered complementary techniques throughout different stages of the product development or improvement process.

Useful tools to get you started

Depending on the purpose and fidelity of your desired user flow or user journey, there’s a variety of tools that can make your job easier.

You can build simple user flows with basic prototyping capabilities (screen to screen transitions) on any of the popular design tools, such as Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD. However, if user flows are a critical part of your daily work and you are looking for a more interactive end result that helps the audience see both the big picture and the design details, we recommend specialized diagramming tools instead, such as Overflow .

When it comes to user journey mapping, whiteboard tools like Miro usually contain templates that can guide you in your first attempts. Alternatively, you can still design and present user journey maps in any of the aforementioned tools, especially if you have some prior experience or you prefer to build your own custom template. Additionally, since user journeys require user input, it’s important that you first conduct user interviews, either via conference call (Zoom, Skype, etc.) or by using the expertise of a more elaborate testing platform, such as Lookback or Userlytics.

Are you familiar with user flows, user journeys, or both? Which ones do you and your team like to use in your internal workflows? Let us know by sharing your thoughts via comment here or on our Twitter , Facebook , or Instagram accounts!

Article written and curated by Constantinos Vitoratos .

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User Journey vs User Flow: What’s the Difference and Why You Need Both?

What’s the difference between user journey vs user flow? In UX design , there’s a lot of confusion about what these terms mean—even amongst experienced designers.

After all, they both describe a similar idea: a visual representation of a user’s actions when interacting with a product.

But despite their close relationship, they differ in several ways.

In this article, we’ll take a look at why you need both, the difference between them, and when to use each to improve your entire user experience.

Let’s get started.

• User flow is a detailed representation of the path that shows the specific steps users take to complete a particular task.
• User flows focus on identifying friction points in the journey and removing them from the UI design, keeping users on a happy path.
• A happy path is the shortest path users can take to achieve their desired result without encountering any errors.
• User flows are used by designers to map out feature functionality and technical requirements when building products.
• The user journey is the representation of the overall experience a customer has while engaging with your product across their journey.

With a journey map, product teams can carry out user research, improve user flow , and design a personalized product experience.

• Create a user journey map at the initial research phase of a project to understand user behavior and communicate the entire experience to stakeholders.
• The key difference between a user flow and a user journey is that a user journey gives a macro view of a customer experience, while a user flow gives a more zoomed-in view of the actions of a user.
• The key similarity between these two tools is that they’re user-centered.

Want to build a better user experience without the stress of coding from scratch? Book a demo call with the Userpilot team and get started!

What is a user flow?

A user flow is a detailed illustration that shows the specific steps a user takes to complete a task using your product.

Think of it as a visual map of all the UI interactions the user has.

A user flow is visualized with flow charts, made up of boxes and arrows. Each box represents a step in a user’s action, like entering information or clicking a button.

Example of a user flow

Let’s say we want to get users to create an account and complete their profiles. Here’s an example of what a signup flow might look like for a social media app:

• The user launches the app and lands on the signup screen
• The user clicks on signup to create a new account.
• At the point of registration, they provide information like email and password
• After the user creates an account, they’re asked to verify their email address
• When they’ve successfully verified their email, they’re redirected to the profile page to set up their account
• When this is completed, they save the changes and go to the home screen

The example stated above is known as a happy path . This simply means the path users take to achieve their desired result without encountering friction. In real life, however, things could go differently.

For instance, a user might take other alternative paths, like providing invalid credentials. These unhappy paths can be a gold mine when you’re looking into improving the user experience.

What’s the purpose of a user flow?

A user flow describes what a user sees on the screen and how they interact with the screen to move forward. This is critical for designing good product experiences, without getting lost in the details.

In summary, user flow should answer questions like:

• What should the user see first?
• How will they navigate between screens?
• What do users want to accomplish when they use this feature?
• What actions will users take at each stage of their journey?

It is also important to note that user flow is crucial for the development phase. Developers use this tool to translate designs into physical features.

Also, during a project, it’s possible to have several user flows.

So, every user flow diagram should have a name and a well-detailed description to communicate what each of the steps is and what it is accomplishing.

When should you use a user flow?

A user flow is used by designers to map out features and technical requirements. It can be used at any stage—before or during development—but it’s most effective when introduced in the early stages of the design process.

By understanding a user flow, you can analyze where a user drops off and debug the reasons before they become costly issues.

Did they encounter a bug? How can the flow be improved to reduce drop-off? Do we reduce the steps or the number of screens?

These are questions that can be answered by mapping the user flows.

What is a user journey in UX?

A user journey , also known as a customer journey, is the experience your customers have when interacting with your product at each touchpoint.

Think of it as the “story” of all the interactions and experiences between a user and your product, starting from the awareness stage to the activation point .

A user journey is a comprehensive tool.

Unlike user flows, it takes into consideration the overall customer experience, including the customer’s emotions, pain points, and expectations across various channels.

With a user journey, you can identify gaps in the customer’s experience and how you can improve.

Example of a user journey

User journey maps can be built in different stages and for multiple user personas. For example, you can map:

• A day in the life journey to discover the activities of your users on a regular day- this helps you better understand them and how they interact with multiple products, not just yours. It also makes you more mindful when making decisions.
• The current state of your user and how the product and experience are so you can uncover friction points in their journey.
• The future state user journey map to predict what their experience will look like. This often involves assumptions.

What’s the purpose of a user journey?

A user journey tracks users’ behavior when they’re interacting with your product.

A well-designed user journey map will give you insights into your personas’ minds to see what they’re thinking, feeling, and seeing at every point of interaction.

It also identifies possible friction points and potential areas for improvement.

The bottom line is, that without “seeing” the user’s journey, it’s hard to work on improving the overall product experience.

When should you use a user journey?

Customer journey maps should be created during the research phase of a project. Using this tool, project teams can capture a complete picture of the customer’s journey and see the product from the user’s point of view.

A journey map is also a great tool to walk stakeholders through the entire user journey, irrespective of their technical background.

In addition to this, customer journey maps also serve as a way to track user interactions and obtain feedback at every touchpoint that is valuable for product improvements.

With the collected feedback, it’s easy to prioritize the features important to the users.

What is the difference between user journey and user flow?

User journeys and user flows are two different types of user experience mapping. Although they both map out the path of a user, they do so in different ways.

The key difference between a user journey and a user flow is that a user journey focuses on the overall experience of an individual user, while a user flow focuses on each step in the design process. Here are other things that make them different:

• The number of users considered

A user flow concentrates on individual micro-interactions, while user journeys examine the macro-interactions of multiple user personas at once. Because of this, it’s often easier to create and maintain a user flow than a full-blown user journey map.

• The purpose

User journey helps you understand the overall experience of your customers at different touchpoints. User flow, on the other hand, outlines the process that each user takes to achieve their goal.

• The specificity of actions

User journeys are more generic. It gives you a bird’s-eye view of customer behavior across different platforms (mobile apps, web apps, etc.). In contrast, user flows are a lot more detailed and centered around one interface, e.g. web apps, capturing one step at a time.

• The key focus

A user journey is experience-focused; it deals with the users’ experience at each stage of interaction. User flow is action-focused; it concentrates on the details of the actions a user takes.

• Time range measured

User flow details the steps taken at a specific time, whereas a user journey map concentrates on the steps taken over time—from the awareness stage to when they actually buy from you.

What are the similarities between user flows vs user journeys?

Now that we’ve covered the differences between user flow vs user journey, it’s time to focus on what they have in common. Here are some similarities:

• They both have a common end goal—the user
• Both focus on creating the best user experience
• Both monitor how a user interacts with a product during its lifecycle
• Both tools are used for identifying users’ goals and pain points
• They can also be used as a communication tool for stakeholders and developers
• They give us insight into users’ needs and which features to prioritize

What comes first, user flow or user journey? Do you need both?

The short answer is neither.

Just like it’s hard to know if UI or UX comes first, it’s hard to tell if the user flow should come before the user journey. But here’s a better way to look at it.

The user interface (UI) is mapped using user flows. This means that the user flow determines what appears on the user’s screen at different times.

Meanwhile, the user experience is mapped using user journeys. They go hand-in-hand with each other.

Start by mapping the main stages of the user journey, then add experience details with user flow maps. Also, it’s important to note that user journeys are used to map the entire journey of a user or specific interactions for a more granular view.

For example, you can map a user’s journey from trial signup to the activation point.

This will help you to understand the main steps the users go through to convert. It will also reveal points of drop-off and why. That is why it’s best practice to create multiple flows that look at the UI steps the user takes.

Both user flow and user journey are great tools for creating an enhanced user experience. While user flows describe the specific steps a user takes to complete an action, the user journey considers the emotional response to each step.

Combining both tools creates a good user experience that increases customer satisfaction.

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What are User Flows in User Experience (UX) Design?

User flows, UX flows, or flowcharts, as they are sometimes called, are diagrams that display the complete path a user takes when using a product.

The user flow lays out the user’s movement through the product, mapping out each and every step the user takes—from entry point right through to the final interaction.

In this post, we’ll be discussing several aspects of user flows to gain a better understanding of what they are and how they are used in the design process .

We’ve broken our guide down into the following sections:

• What are user flows?
• Why do we use user flows?
• Types of user flow charts (with examples)
• Where do user flows fit into the UX design process?
• Key takeaways

Let’s explore the wonderful world of user flows.

1. What are user flows?

There are many different pathways a user can take when interacting with a product. A user flow is a visual representation, either written out or made digitally, of the many avenues that can be taken when using an app or website.

The flowchart begins with the consumer’s entry point on the product, like an onboarding screen or homepage, and ends with the final action or outcome, like purchasing a product or signing up for an account. Depicting this process allows designers to evaluate and optimize the user experience and therefore increase client conversion rates.

Each touchpoint on the user’s journey is represented by a node in the flow chart. These nodes are characterized by shape, and each shape indicates a particular process.

For instance, a diamond means a decision is being made and is therefore followed by “Yes” and “No” arrows. A rectangle indicates a task or action that needs to be taken, like “Log in” or “Purchase”.

2. Why do we use user flows in UX design?

Now that we’ve established what UX flows are, we can look into why they are so beneficial to the design process. Studying the user flow of a website or app can prove useful whether you are designing a brand new product or revamping an old one.

User flows are extremely useful if you need to:

Create an intuitive interface

The main benefit of designing a product where users can get “in the zone” quickly is the ability to increase the probability of a user purchasing or signing up for the client’s product.

Another benefit is enhancing the ease of movement through your platform, making sure the user’s time isn’t being wasted looking for what to do next. Of course, there is often more than one route a user could follow to complete the task. User flows portray these possible patterns in a way that makes it easy for designers to assess the efficiency of the interface they are creating.

Evaluate existing interfaces

For products that are already in use, user flow charts help determine what’s working, what’s not, and what areas need improvement. It helps to identify why users might be stalling at a certain point and what you can do to fix it.

Does one screen flow into the next? Does the pattern of the screens make sense? Mapping out the movement within an interface in a blueprint type fashion helps you see what options the user has on each page and if the routes available help the user accomplish a task innately and without wasting time.

Present your product to clients or colleagues

User flows also easily communicate the flow of the product to your stakeholders and provide a general view of how the interface you’ve created is intended to work in its most efficient form.

They provide a step-by-step breakdown of what the customer will see and do in order to purchase, log in, sign up, etc. Helping your design team visualize how users will move through the product ensures everyone is on the same page—which allows for a more productive and rewarding work environment.

3. Types of user flow charts

UX flows can be used for all kinds of interface and web design, but certain types of flowcharts are more valuable than others depending on what you are creating. Here we describe a few of the user flow variations and when to use them.

Task flows focus on how users travel through the platform while performing a specific task. They generally show only one path and don’t include multiple branches or pathways like a traditional user flow might. These are best used when the task being analyzed is accomplished similarly by all users. When using task flows, it is assumed that all users will share a common starting point and have no variability in the way the task is carried out.

Wireflows are a combination of wireframes and flowcharts . They utilize the layout of individual screens as elements within the diagram.

Wireframes on their own help convey the layout and design on each individual page, but lack the ability to communicate the page-to-page flow of heavily dynamic interfaces. Wireflows add page context to UX flows, since what users see on each screen greatly impacts their experience through the app or website.

Wireflows are especially great when creating mobile screens. The relatively small size of the mobile screens are easily used to replace the more abstract shapes of flow charts.

User flows focus on the way your target audience will interact with the product. They emphasize that all users might not perform tasks the same and may travel in different paths.

They are typically attached to a specific persona and entry point. Therefore, when using this type of flowchart, you may have many different scenarios that start at different places. However, the main task or accomplishment is usually always the same.

4. Where do user flows fit into the UX design process?

UX flows are synthesized early, during the planning stages of your design—after user research has been conducted. They form an important part of the foundation on which your product is built, and can serve as a reference for other designers.

Once you have gathered your data from user testing, user flows help determine how many screens are needed, what order they should appear in, and what components need to be present. By the time you get to creating a user flow, your affinity diagrams and empathy mapping as well as persona development have all been completed. Flowcharts can also be made for existing interfaces to enhance the user’s experience or clear up any trouble users are having with the interface.

User flows are considered part of your deliverables, the elements you provide to the client and design team when your product is finished. Presenting a detailed flowchart can help validate your design decisions to your colleagues. However, designs are constantly being revised and user flows may be revisited and edited if further research deems it necessary.

5. Key takeaways

The mark of a successful app or website is in the intuitiveness of its design.

When users can easily flow through an interface without hesitation or confusion, there is a greater likelihood that they will purchase the client’s product or visit the site again.

User flows are a great tool for any designer’s toolbox as they can assist in evaluating the efficiency and simplicity of your creative design. At the same time, flowcharts and UX flows assist other members of the design team and easily communicate the layout of an interface to partners and investors.

By providing a visual representation of what consumers will encounter, you can ensure your users’ experience will be gratifying and free from frustration.

Ready to create your own user flows? Follow our step-by-step guide to creating effective user flows.  Want to learn more about UX and product design ? Check out the following:

• User flows vs. wireframes: What’s the difference?
• What’s The Difference Between A Wireframe, A Prototype, And A Mockup?
• Wireframing for mobile apps vs. websites
• What Is User Experience (UX) Design? Everything You Need To Know To Get Started

User Flow for App Development: A Beginner’s Guide

Written by Katie Iannace , Dec 17, 2021

User flows are the foundational outline that’s key to every successful app, even though they’re rarely thought about by people who aren’t developers. A user flow diagram lays out the path a user might take as they travel between screens or individual features on an app. Understanding what comprises an efficient user flow can be what makes or breaks an app. 

In this guide, we’ll unpack everything you’ll need to know to feel confident about user flows for app development. Topics discussed include what a user flow is, how to design a good user flow, and how it differs from user journey, along with implementing user flow wireframes and effectively testing your user flows.

What is a User Flow? 

Think of user flows like a map. They paint a picture of where a user starts on an app then show that users’ forward movement through different features and screens on the app until they complete a goal. It describes the steps a user takes to achieve a desired outcome, like making a purchase or submitting a form.

The best way to describe a user flow is to give it some context. A common user flow is one that describes how someone on a clothes shopping app might make a purchase. If the goal is to buy a new shirt, the user flow could look like this: 

1.User opens up the app to the homepage →

2. Scrolls through “recently listed” → 

3. Finds a shirt. Add to Cart? Yes or no?  → 

3a. If yes, proceed to the payment screen → 

3b. If no, return to browsing clothing items (step 2) → 

4. From the payment screen, the user completes the purchase. 

Another example of a user flow in it’s illustrative form is below, which shows the flow for how a user might log in to an app:

To use an analogy of developing a new town, user flows are what a city planner would create to layout the road systems. Some roads go from point A to point B, some roads are one-way streets, and some roads cut through downtown while others don’t. Eventually, people will drive on those roads to get around, just like how real users will take the pathways defined by a user flow. This is why it’s so important to have clear user flows defined while developing an app. These flows make the foundational structure of an app, so it’s important that they are designed to make the user’s movement through features intuitive and efficient.

How to Make a Good User Flow?

User flows diagrams shouldn’t be one giant diagram with many arrows going every which way and two dozen pathways illustrated as going out from the home screen. That would be overwhelming. 

Instead, break a user flow down into separate steps and depict just one goal that a user might take during that flow. For example, logging on to their banking app and going from the home screen → checking their accounts overview. Then make a separate flow for going from the home screen → reviewing past account statements.

Adding on to that, try to avoid having a lot of circular or multidirectional arrows within a flow. If all the directional arrows between step A, decision B, and step C lead back and forth to each other in a loop, it creates a convoluted flow that is confusing both for the user and the developers. 

Here is an example of a clean app user flow that covers a carefully selected portion of an app’s functionality. In this example, it’s the flow surrounding receiving support tickets.

User Flow vs User Journey 

User flow and user journey are commonly used interchangeably. However, there is a nuanced difference between the two terms. Though both depict user pathways through an app, a user journey takes into consideration the user’s feelings and thoughts as they explore the app. It’s less about assigning context to how screens and features relate to each other and more about graphing a user’s first to last interaction with the app and their emotions along the way. 

For example, a user journey about Spotify would be a segmented high-level overview.

• It would begin with the different ways a user could come to download the app, maybe from hearing a Spotify radio commercial or a friend’s recommendation. At this point, the user is intrigued by the new app. 
• Once downloaded, the user can listen to music. There are a few ways to listen to music- such as the “browse” feature on the home screen, viewing a playlist, or searching directly for a specific artist. The user gets excited to see the music library. 
• From here, the user could want to cycle through an album’s songs, but only be able to play it on shuffle with the basic account. This could leave the user feeling frustrated. 

A user flow for the same process would be more specific, saying what screen is seen immediately after a user logs in for the first time and from there, what other features the user can access, like a search bar, a folder of favorite artists, and a “recommended for you” browse feature. It would answer questions like “from the browse new music screen, what does the user click next if they want to play music?” 

Grafting a user journey can help identify potential pain points and negative user experiences. So it is important in its own right while remaining distinct from user flows. 

Why is a User Flow Important? 

There are many reasons why having a clear visual representation for a user flow is vital to an app’s success. A lot can be revealed in the process of designing one. While something might sound easy on the surface when it comes to app development, diving into the details can reveal how complicated an idea might be. Thinking through these scenarios upfront will help minimize complexities and make sure the whole development team is on the same page. 

Benefits of Making a User Flow

• Less time iterating a product: It is much easier to change an idea than to re-code an already built app. Creating a user flow diagram can show how a pathway might not be ideal. Instead of getting into the thick of it and then having to backtrack to change both UX and UI for that feature, problems can be spotted and avoided from the beginning. 
• Creating an intuitive interface design : With a clearly defined user flow, UI developers don’t have to sit around waiting for the UX team to create something just to get started. Designers can get the jump on making mockups for features and screens, ensuring it’s easily navigable and aesthetically pleasing. Because a “lot of the fat” can be cut out in drafting user flows, the interface can be designed to be intuitive and pleasing. 
• Clarifying the idea to colleagues and backers : It’s surprising how different assumptions can be from person to person when it comes to developing an app. Let’s say a creator says their app should have the ability for users to log in to their account. The app creator imagines this will be done with a username and password, then take you to your profile page. Maybe a developer hearing the idea of a log-in screen assumes that a user logs in with their email address, then is taken directly to a feed on their home screen, not their profile page. Specifying a user flow removes accidental assumptions and makes sure everyone has the same clear understanding of the concept. 
• Predicting potential frustrations : Visually having to write out how a user goes from one point to an end-goal can reveal if a pathway is too complicated. Sometimes features are revealed to be more complex than initially suspected, so they need to be retooled to create a more fluid user experience. Instead of building an app and patching complexities together, developers have the opportunity to create a flow that is instinctive and efficient for users, which will keep them coming back to the app. 

User Flow for App Design with Wireframes 

After user flows establish what a users’ needs are and how they would go about achieving goals within an app, wireframes can be used to take these ideas a step further. Though typically user flows are made before wireframes, these two elements of app development go hand-in-hand. 

Wireframes allow developers to sketch out different ways a screen on an app might look and how that design leads users to other pages. It piggybacks off a flow establishing that an app user could go from a home screen and to their notifications inbox, to mocking up what that home screen looks like and if they would access their inbox from a button, a static menu category, or some other way. 

A hybrid of user flows and wireframes are “wireflows.” This is where the user flow is pictured by using mobile screen mockups. Mobile screens naturally are easier to make a mock version of than full web pages. So sometimes you can see developers create their user flow through basic illustrations of what the app screen could look like, showing the user flow pathways between them. 

Below is an example of a user flow depicted in wireframes:

Testing User Flows 

The best evidence for if you have created a workable user flow is to test it with actual users. Design your app to include just the minimal viable products , so you can A/B test your user flows. Let users travel through the different pathways during beta testing, then take notes on their feedback. If one pathway provides a lot more friction for a user or a less enjoyable experience, then you’ll have your answer! 

How to Make a User Flow Yourself

User flow diagrams are one of the most helpful tools in developing an app. Even if you don’t have technical knowledge, you can get started simply by drawing boxes on paper and sketching out how users might interact and travel through your app idea. User flow diagrams don’t have to be complex to be effective in defining pathways. 

Think about the needs of your user and what problems they want to solve. Then pick one of the actions that they would take. Make a circle for an entry point, then draw the screen or experience the user would see next. This could be a rectangle saying “Welcome.” The next rectangle could be a task, like “browse library.” And from here, maybe there is a decision the user makes, such as “add to cart” or “see details.” It’s possible to have two pathways branch off from here with different outcomes. 

This can be done by drawing on paper, crafting something in Adobe illustrator, using graphics in Figma, or any number of user flow/wireframe tools on the market. Simply thinking through this process helps streamline production down the line, by taking an abstract idea and explaining how this would actualize for the user. 

So before you go full steam ahead in creating an app, take a moment to create an example app user flow diagram. 

Interested in discussing what a user flow for your app would look like? Let’s talk about it! 

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What is a User Flow Diagram, and How Do You Create It?

Mastering the art of user flow diagrams is a game-changer for crafting intuitive digital experiences. User flows assist in understanding and predicting user behavior. This knowledge helps create products that convert your website or app visitors into customers.

The user flow diagrams aren’t just blueprints; they ensure seamless navigation for your audience. By dissecting user behavior, these diagrams empower you to spot bottlenecks, optimize pathways, and enhance overall user satisfaction. 

In our upcoming blog post, uncover how the user flow diagrams unlock insights, streamline interactions, and elevate your digital space. Stay tuned for an eye-opening journey into user-centric design!

User Flow Definition

User Flow, or UX flow or flowcharts, illustrates a user’s complete journey through a product. It maps every step from entry to the final interaction. It’s a visual guide showcasing user actions within an app or website.

In an e-commerce site, the flowchart starts with the user landing on the homepage and ends with actions like making a purchase or creating an account. Each step in this journey—represented as nodes in the chart—features different shapes denoting processes.

Consider the diamond shape, indicating decision points followed by “Yes” or “No” arrows. Rectangles represent tasks like “Log in” or “Purchase.” 

These diagrams help optimize user experiences, enhancing conversion rates by refining touchpoints and streamlining user journeys. They allow for evaluating and enhancing user interactions to drive successful outcomes within the product experience.

User Flow vs Customer Journey – What is the Difference?

User Flow and Customer Journey, often mistaken, differ significantly. The Customer Journey encapsulates all touchpoints with a brand—from seeing ads to purchasing and support interactions. It spans across platforms.

Conversely, a User Flow focuses solely on a customer’s navigation within an app or website. For instance, a user’s path from landing on an e-commerce homepage to completing a purchase constitutes a User Flow.

Think of the Customer Journey as a grand narrative and User Flow as a single chapter. While User Flow refines interactions within the site or app, the Customer Journey orchestrates the coherent brand experience across all channels.

Why You Should Use a User Flow Diagram?

Having clarified the essence of UX flows, let’s delve into their advantages in the design process. Examining the user flow within a website or app holds value whether you’re creating a new product or revitalizing an existing one.

Enhanced Interface Intuitiveness

User flows drive intuitive interface design by optimizing user navigation within apps or websites. This efficiency elevates user conversions and ensures a seamless user experience.

User-Centric Design Focus

User flows prioritize user perspectives, prompting the product team to envision interfaces from the user’s standpoint. Early identification of potential user challenges or frustrations empowers teams to craft more intuitive, user-friendly products that boost customer satisfaction and engagement.

Evaluation and Communication

Userflows aid in evaluating existing interfaces, identifying bottlenecks, and making enhancements. Analyzing user flow diagrams helps identify opportunities for upselling, cross-selling, or introducing new features. 

By comprehensively mapping user paths, teams can identify potential drop-off points or areas causing user abandonment. This insight allows for targeted improvements.

Additionally, these diagrams serve as practical tools for presenting product functionality to stakeholders, fostering a shared vision and productive collaboration.

Envision UX

A user flow offers a comprehensive view of your project. It’s common to get absorbed in specific sections during work and lose sight of the overall perspective. The user flow presents the complete experience, enabling optimization for every user journey.

By harnessing user flow diagrams, teams can align efforts, enhance user experiences, and drive product success through a comprehensive understanding of user journeys.

How to Create a User Flow Diagram?

Developing a user flow diagram necessitates extensive user research, a profound understanding of your product’s inherent value proposition, and applying creative problem-solving skills. Discover the pathways to crafting a user flow diagram.

Get the Idea of the User Journey

Begin by comprehending your user’s journey. Develop detailed buyer personas and customer journey maps to understand user needs, motivations, and behaviors. These tools aid in determining information placement on your site, helping users navigate seamlessly through your flow.

Align Your Goals with User Objectives

Identify your site’s objectives and align them with user goals. Explore customers’ pain points at different journey stages to understand their objectives. Design or adjust the user flow to meet user goals and guide them to your desired endpoint.

Identify Entry Points

Determine users’ various entry points to reach your site, such as direct traffic, organic search, social media, or email. Each entry point offers insights into user needs and expected durations before reaching your endpoint.

Address User Information Needs

Fill gaps between entry and endpoint by providing crucial information. Utilize buyer personas and journey maps to address user pain points, allay fears, and deliver sought-after details at each stage.

Map the Flow

Visualize the user flow using standard shapes and symbols—ovals for start/end, rectangles for process steps, arrows for direction, diamonds for decisions, and parallelograms for user inputs. These visuals elucidate user pathways and decisions.

Collect Feedback, Make Refinements, and Finalize

Share the userflow across your team to gather diverse perspectives. Collaborate with designers, developers, and marketing teams to identify and eliminate friction points. Apply feedback, refine the diagram, and finalize it for implementation.

Creating a user flow diagram demands a holistic understanding of user needs, aligning goals with objectives, and continuous refinement through collaborative efforts. This iterative process ensures a seamless and intuitive user journey across your digital platform.

Form Submissions

Understanding the steps involved when a user fills out a form, such as a registration form or a contact inquiry, assists in refining the form’s layout and fields for smoother interactions.

Content Consumption

Analyzing how users navigate content on a website or app, like articles, videos, or product listings, helps optimize content placement and accessibility for better engagement .

Account Management

Illustrating a user’s path when managing their account settings, updating information, or changing preferences aids in simplifying these processes for improved usability.

User flow diagrams decode user behavior, aid in conversion rate optimization, enhancing collaboration, and refining user interactions. They optimize interfaces, drive engagement, identify bottlenecks, and foster intuitive navigation, crafting compelling digital experiences. 

Begin enhancing your website or app’s UX by leveraging the insights gleaned from your user flows. And if you are just planning to create a website, try the website builder Weblium . Quickly test your hypotheses and attract visitors.

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What are User Flows?

User flows are diagrams that depict the path a user can take to complete a task while interacting with a product. A user flow focuses on the user's needs and the most efficient way to meet them.

© Interaction Design Foundation, CC BY-SA 4.0

How Do You Design a User Flow?

Designing a user flow means guiding users through a website or app smoothly. It starts with understanding their journey. You aim to create a path that meets their needs. 

1. Understand the User's Journey

Start by understanding the user and their path through your service. Create detailed personas to grasp their needs and motivations. Develop a customer journey map to cover every interaction with your organization. This understanding is crucial for designing a user flow that aligns with their experiences.

2. Match Your Goals with User Aspirations

Your product will have distinct aims, from sales to sign-ups. However, these might differ from user objectives. Focus on the personas and journey map to pinpoint user goals. Align your user flow with these goals to create a more effective user experience.

3. Pinpoint User Entry Points

Determine where your user flow begins. Analyze your customer journey maps to list all possible entry points like direct traffic, organic search, and social media. This knowledge will help you tailor the user flow to meet various user needs effectively.

Considerations for Point of Entry

With each point of entry, you may want to consider:

What is the user’s context when they enter the flow??

Do they seek active involvement with our site or product, or will they stumble upon us?

Will they be looking to solve a problem, and if so, what?

As Scott Belsky, the VP of Products and Community at Adobe, says, “Rule of thumb for UX: More options, more problems.”

Remember to exercise caution as you simplify the diagram—too simple a flow may look elegant on paper but extremely cryptic and unusable for the user.

The simpler and clearer the process, the easier it is for a user to follow. Take the process above and consider how to simplify it for your organization.

© Interaction Design Foundation, CC BY-SA 3.0

4. Craft the Steps to Help Users Complete Their Tasks

Identify the content needed between the starting points and the final goal. Use personas and the journey map to outline steps that tackle user concerns and questions. This approach helps in optimizing the user journey through your site.

Considerations for Process Steps

User flow diagrams vary in size and complexity, depending on the user goals and the product. Here are a few general tips to help you design an optimal user flow:

How can you minimize steps in the process?

Can you complete the process first and then seek additional information? If so, how can you incentivize that?

Once these flows are mapped for each point of entry and process, you will discover large areas of overlap. Streamline and simplify your user flows.  

5. Visualize the User Flow

Now, visualize the user flow. Utilize tools like whiteboards or specialized software. Use standard UML conventions like ovals for start and end points, rectangles for steps, diamonds for decisions, and parallelograms for user inputs. Combined with concise text, these symbols clarify each stage of the flow.

6. Refine the Flow with Feedback

Share your initial user flow diagram with team members for feedback. Incorporate insights from various departments to refine the flow. After finalization, the flow guides UX designers and developers to enhance the digital experience.

You should design the task completion funnels to flow from the point of entry to the funnel to complete the task.

This will normally involve:

Design of the entry point (Banner Ad, Search Text, Email, etc.)

Design of the landing page (How will you welcome the visitor and initiate the process they came for?)

Design of the process itself

User Flow Diagram Examples

Now, let’s talk about three sample UX flow diagrams that illustrate the complexity and clarity of user flow charts in action. Each example shows how user flow chart examples can guide the design process.

1. Health App User Flow

Marian Mota designed the "HealthMes App Diagram" for the Apple Watch. It highlights the path from a notification to various user actions.

© Marian Mota’s Dribbble, Fair Use

For instance, it starts with a simple notification on the home screen. This is our entry point—like the beginning of a chapter. The user glances at the short-look notifications and decides to engage. If they want more detail, they move to the custom long-look notifications. It can lead to further actions, such as sending a voice message or using a pre-set template.

The diagram doesn't stop at notifications. It shows users navigating the app's main menu to change their status, view messages, or check their favorites. Each decision point branches out. They offer options but keep the journey smooth.

Consider the "Change Status" screen. It’s a great example of offering a tailored experience without overwhelming the user. They land on a screen, choose a status, and move on—no fuss, no clutter.

2. E-commerce User Flow

© Salinthip Kaewkerd Behance, Fair Use

In e-commerce, you use user flow diagrams to visualize the shopping experience. Salinthip Kaewkerd’s diagram shows an e-commerce user flow with elegance and simplicity.

Starting at the homepage, a user can navigate various paths. They can explore products, learn about the company, or get in touch via the contact page. 

For example, when users find a product they like, they proceed to the product page. It offers a wealth of information, such as price, description, and reviews. If satisfied, they add the item to their cart, a straightforward and intuitive step.

The journey continues through the cart page in a clear and user-friendly manner. The user can review their selected items, adjust quantities, and proceed to checkout. It's a crucial step where design can minimize cart abandonment.

3. Login Interface User Flow

© Sonali Banerji's Behance, Fair Use

This flowchart highlights various user paths, from the initial signup page to successful registration.

The app offers users multiple pathways to create an account, starting at the signup page. Users can use social media platforms like Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn or register with an email. This flexibility caters to the user's preference to make the process inclusive and user-friendly.

The flowchart details each step in the user path. If the user opts for email registration, they must complete a form. The system then sends a verification email, a crucial functionality, to ensure the user owns the email address they provided.

For those selecting social logins, the flowchart outlines a smooth redirection for permission. Upon granting access, users receive a pop-up to confirm their login. It integrates social media credentials seamlessly into the user journey.

This diagram excels in depicting a user-centered signup flow. It anticipates user needs and provides clear options and support. Take, for example, the ability to resend a verification email if needed. It captures what a good user journey should be: easy to follow and direct. It centers on essential features that make the experience smooth.

How to Upgrade Your User Flow Diagrams?

A good user flow diagram helps every stakeholder understand the user's journey better.

Here are seven pointers to elevate your user flow diagrams:

Start with user goals : Identify what users aim to achieve and let that drive the wireflow’s structure.

Incorporate feedback : Use insights from user testing on prototypes and wireframes to refine the work.

Simplify pathways : Streamline the user paths to reduce complexity and improve navigation.

Visual design clarity : Use consistent symbols and colors across different types of user flow for clarity. 

Learn about the importance of visual skills to create better designs.

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Detail entry and exit points : Mark where users enter and leave the flow to identify potential drop-off points.

Align with business objectives : Ensure the sample UX flow supports the business's overarching goals for alignment.

Iterate and evolve : Update your diagrams to reflect design or user needs changes.

In this video, Laura Klein, author of Build Better Products, talks about how great agile teams commit to iterating. She talks about what teams can do well to create better products. 

The Difference between Journey Map and User Flow

You can use journey maps and user flows to understand and plan the user's experience. Despite some similarities, they serve different purposes.

A journey map captures the user's full experience with a product or service. It's a broad view, including emotions, pain points, and moments of delight. On the other hand, a user flow focuses on the sequence of steps a user takes to complete a specific task. It's more about functionality and less about feelings.

IxDF’s Journey Mapping Course dives deeper into the different types of maps UX designers create.  

Here's a simple table to break down the differences:

When deciding between a user journey map and a user flow, ask yourself these questions:

Purpose : Do you aim to understand what the user’s current experience is like? Then build a journey map. Are you already designing the ideal experience? If yes, create user flows.

Channel Complexity : Does the user interact across various channels or only through a single product like a website? Use journey maps for the former and user flows for the latter.

Emotional Insight : Do you need to understand the user's feelings and thoughts during complex decisions? Journey maps will capture this depth while user flows stick to action sequences.

When and Why You Should Use User Flow Diagrams?

Here are practical reasons to use user flow diagrams:

Clarity in design : They help clarify the sequence of screens or pages a user will navigate through.

Identify issues early : You can spot potential roadblocks in the user's journey before they become real problems.

Improve team communication: They provide a visual that all team members can easily understand, regardless of technical background.

Facilitate user testing : You can use them to create test user scenarios .

Refine user experience : They allow for the review and optimization of the user's interaction with the product.

Incorporating user flow diagrams at the right time can help you create intuitive and enjoyable user experiences.

Learn More about User Flows

Read Wireframes Site Flows vs. User Flows: When to Use Which for more insights.

UX Pin offers useful tips to create smooth user flows in their article Creating Perfect User Flows for Smooth UX .

Questions related to User Flows

Follow these steps to create a user flow diagram: 

Define the product's objectives and desired user outcomes.

Conduct user research to understand their needs and behaviors.

Develop user personas to represent different user types.

List the main tasks that users will perform.

Sketch a basic flow of how users move from one step to another.

Break down each step in detail, including user actions and decisions.

Test the flow with real users, gather feedback, and improve.

Finalize the diagram, ensuring clarity and comprehensiveness.

User journey and user flow are different but related concepts in user experience design.

User journey shows a user's interactions with a product over time. It includes all touchpoints, emotions, and thoughts. See how the journey map fits into the UX design process in this video.

User flow focuses on the specific paths users take within a product. Unlike journey maps documenting existing user experiences, designers define the ideal user flows. You focus more on the steps and actions taken to complete a task. You want usability and efficiency within the product, like a website or app. User flow details the interactions within the product itself.

You create a user flow to understand and optimize the user experience. We’ll discuss the top six benefits of creating a user flow. 

Clearer User Understanding : You gain insights into how users interact with your product.

Enhanced Usability : The product becomes more intuitive and user-friendly.

Improved Conversion Rates : A smoother flow can lead users to desired actions more effectively.

Identification of Pain Points : You can spot and fix areas where users might struggle.

Efficient Design Process : It helps create a focused, user-centered design.

Increased User Satisfaction : Users enjoy a better experience, likely increasing their engagement and loyalty.

Imagine a user flow for an online bookstore:

A user lands on the homepage.

They browse through a selection of bestsellers and genres.

The user selects a mystery novel.

They add the book to their cart.

The user reviews their cart. They might add another recommended book.

The user proceeds to checkout. They enter the shipping and payment information.

The user reviews the order, confirms it, and completes the purchase.

You send a confirmation email to excite them about their upcoming read.

This flow takes the user from discovery to purchase to create a seamless and engaging experience.

User experience (UX) design professionals typically create user flows. These include:

UX Designers : They focus on the overall feel of the product and user satisfaction.

UI Designers : They work on the interfaces users use to interact with the product.

Product Managers : They oversee the development of the product and ensure the user flow aligns with business goals.

Information Architects : They organize information and content intuitively for the user.

Developers : They may also contribute, especially in understanding technical feasibility and implementation details.

These professionals collaborate to create an efficient and intuitive user flow that aligns with the user's needs.

Literature on User Flows

Here’s the entire UX literature on User Flows by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:

Learn more about User Flows

Take a deep dive into User Flows with our course UI Design Patterns for Successful Software .

Have you ever found yourself spotting shapes in the clouds? That is because people are hard-wired to recognize patterns, even when there are none. It’s the same reason that we often think we know where to click when first experiencing a website—and get frustrated if things aren’t where we think they should be. Choosing the right user interface design pattern is crucial to taking advantage of this natural pattern-spotting, and this course will teach you how to do just that.

User interface design patterns are the means by which structure and order can gel together to make powerful user experiences. Structure and order are also a user’s best friends, and along with the fact that old habits die hard (especially on the web), it is essential that designers consider user interfaces very carefully before they set the final design in stone. Products should consist of such good interactions that users don’t even notice how they got from point A to point B. Failing to do so can lead to user interfaces that are difficult or confusing to navigate, requiring the user to spend an unreasonable amount of time decoding the display—and just a few seconds too many can be “unreasonable”—rather than fulfilling their original aims and objectives.

While the focus is on the practical application of user interface design patterns, by the end of the course you will also be familiar with current terminology used in the design of user interfaces, and many of the key concepts under discussion. This should help put you ahead of the pack and furnish you with the knowledge necessary to advance beyond your competitors.

So, if you are struggling to decide which user interface design pattern is best, and how you can achieve maximum usability through implementing it, then step no further. This course will equip you with the knowledge necessary to select the most appropriate display methods and solve common design problems affecting existing user interfaces.

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User Story Mapping in Design

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User Journey Vs User Flow

User experience (UX) design focuses on creating digital products that are functional, intuitive, and engaging. Central to UX design is understanding user behavior, preferences, and needs to craft products that provide meaningful experiences.

User journeys and user flows are essential tools for UX designers. They offer insights into how users interact with products, navigate interfaces, and achieve their goals. By mapping out these interactions, designers can improve usability, identify pain points, and enhance the overall user experience.

In this blog post, we'll explore the basics of user journeys and user flows, highlighting their roles in UX design and showing how they help create user-centric products.

What is a User Journey?

A user journey is a narrative representation of the overall experience that a user undergoes while interacting with a product or service to accomplish a specific goal. It captures the complete sequence of steps, touchpoints, and interactions that a user encounters from the initial engagement to the final outcome.

Key Elements of a User Journey

A user journey is more than steps; it's a story of the user's entire experience with a product or service. By examining the stages, touchpoints, and emotions involved, designers gain deep insights into user behavior and motivation.

• Stages: A user journey typically consists of distinct stages that map out the user's progression towards achieving their goal. These stages may include awareness, consideration, decision-making, usage, and post-usage reflection.
• Touchpoints: User journeys highlight various touchpoints where users interact with the product or service, such as visiting a website, using an app feature, or contacting customer support.
• Emotions and Motivations: Unlike user flows which focus on functional interactions, user journeys delve into the emotional aspects of user experience. They capture the user's feelings, motivations, frustrations, and moments of delight throughout their journey.

Importance of User Journeys in UX Design

Understanding the significance of user journeys in UX design unveils the crucial role they play in shaping exceptional user experiences. User journeys provide designers with a nuanced understanding of user needs, pain points, and emotional states throughout their interaction with a product or service. This deep comprehension empowers designers to make informed decisions that prioritize user satisfaction and engagement.

• Understanding User Needs: User journeys provide a holistic view of user behavior, helping designers identify pain points, expectations, and motivations at each stage of the journey.
• Mapping Complex Interactions: In cases where interactions span multiple channels or touchpoints, user journeys offer a comprehensive map of the user's path, allowing designers to optimize the experience across different platforms.
• Empathy and Persona Development: By emphasizing emotions and motivations, user journeys foster empathy towards users, aiding in the creation of accurate user personas and customer-centric design decisions.

Example of a User Journey

Let's consider a user journey for an e-commerce platform:

• Discovery: The user discovers the platform through social media or a search engine.
• Exploration: The user browses products, adds items to the cart, and compares prices.
• Purchase Decision: User proceeds to checkout, and completes payment.
• Post-Purchase: The user receives order confirmation, tracks shipment, and provides feedback on the product.

Through this journey, designers can identify pain points (e.g., complex checkout process) and opportunities for improvement (e.g., personalized product recommendations), ultimately refining the overall user experience.

User journeys serve as a foundation for designing user-centric solutions that align with user needs, behaviors, and expectations, ultimately driving product success and user satisfaction.

What is a User Flow?

A user flow , also known as a navigation flow or interaction flow, is a visual representation that illustrates the sequential steps a user takes to accomplish a specific task within a product or service. Unlike user journeys, which focus on the holistic user experience, user flows zoom in on the detailed interactions and navigation paths within an interface.

Key Characteristics of a User Flow

User flows provide a detailed, task-oriented visualization of user interactions within a digital interface, highlighting the sequence of steps required to accomplish specific goals.

• Task-Oriented Visualization: User flows map out the step-by-step journey a user follows to complete a task, such as signing up for a service, making a purchase, or navigating through an app feature.
• Screen-to-Screen Navigation: User flows often depict the transition between screens or interface elements, highlighting the sequence of interactions required to achieve the desired outcome.
• Decision Points and Branching: Complex user flows may incorporate decision points where users choose between different paths or options, leading to branching flows based on user actions.

Importance of User Flows in UX Design

User flows serve as a strategic framework that guides interface design, navigation, and interaction patterns, ultimately shaping the usability and effectiveness of digital products.

• Optimizing Interface Design : User flows aid in optimizing the layout, structure, and navigation of interfaces to ensure a seamless and intuitive user experience.
• Identifying Bottlenecks and Drop-Off Points : By visualizing user paths, designers can identify potential bottlenecks, confusing interactions, or drop-off points that hinder task completion.
• Enhancing Usability and Efficiency : User flows enable designers to streamline user interactions, minimizing cognitive load and friction to enhance overall usability and efficiency.

Example of a User Flow

Consider a user flow for an online booking app:

• The user opens the app and lands on the home screen.
• The user selects a destination and date for booking.
• User views available options (hotels, flights, etc.).
• The user selects a specific option and proceeds to checkout.
• The user completes payment and receives confirmation.

Each step in this user flow represents a specific interaction or decision point, guiding the user towards successfully completing the booking process.

User flows serve as a blueprint for designing intuitive and user-friendly interfaces, ensuring that users can navigate through digital experiences effortlessly and accomplish tasks with ease.

Key Differences Between User Journeys and User Flows

Differentiating User Journeys and User Flows

User Journey : Focuses on the overall experience and emotional aspects of the user's interaction with a product or service.

User Flow : Emphasizes the specific steps and interactions required to complete a task or achieve a goal within the product.

User Journey : Encompasses the entire user experience journey from start to finish, including pre- and post-interaction stages.

User Flow : Zooms in on the detailed interactions and transitions within the product interface, illustrating the path users take to accomplish tasks.

3. Representation

User Journey : Often depicted as a narrative or map, highlighting touchpoints, emotions, and overall experience.

User Flow : Visualized as a flowchart or diagram, illustrating the sequence of screens, actions, and decision points.

Key Points of Distinction

• User Focus : User journeys prioritize understanding user needs, emotions, and motivations throughout the journey, fostering empathy and user-centric design.
• Design Focus : User flows emphasize optimizing interface design, navigation, and interaction patterns to ensure usability and task completion efficiency.
• Collaborative Use : User journeys and user flows complement each other in UX design processes, with user journeys providing context and user insights, and user flows guiding interface design and interaction logic.

How User Flow and User Journey Complement Each Other

User journeys and user flows are not standalone tools but are most powerful when used together. By integrating insights from both, designers can create a comprehensive and cohesive user experience that addresses both the emotional and functional aspects of user interaction.

1. Holistic Understanding

User journeys provide a broad perspective on the user's overall experience by capturing the emotions, motivations, and pain points that occur throughout their interaction with a product or service. They offer a holistic view of what users feel and think at various stages, highlighting key touchpoints and areas that might need improvement. On the other hand, user flows deliver a detailed view of specific interactions and tasks within the product, focusing on the step-by-step navigation that users follow to accomplish their goals. This detailed approach ensures that each step is intuitive and efficient, optimizing the functional aspects of the user experience. By combining these insights, designers can create a seamless and emotionally resonant user experience that is both comprehensive and user-friendly.

2. Context and Detail

Insights from user journeys inform the broader context of user interactions, helping designers understand why users engage with the product in certain ways and what they aim to achieve. These journeys provide a high-level view of user motivations and goals, setting the stage for deeper exploration.

Meanwhile, user flows offer granular details on how users navigate through the product, highlighting specific areas for improving usability and reducing friction. This detailed perspective ensures that each interaction is optimized for ease and efficiency. By integrating context from user journeys with the detail from user flows, designers can comprehensively address both the overarching user experience and the finer points of interface usability.

3. Enhanced Problem-Solving

User journeys can reveal emotional pain points and obstacles in the user's path, providing a comprehensive list of issues to address. By understanding these broader challenges, designers can identify areas where users may struggle or feel frustrated. 

User flows, on the other hand, allow designers to drill down into specific interactions to optimize solutions, ensuring that each step in the journey is as smooth as possible. This detailed focus on the steps users take helps in refining the interface and navigation to eliminate friction and enhance usability. Combining these approaches enables enhanced problem-solving, addressing both the emotional and functional aspects of the user experience comprehensively.

4. User-Centric Design

User journeys help designers empathize with users, fostering a deeper connection to their needs and experiences. By capturing the emotional and motivational aspects of the user experience, designers can create more engaging and relatable products. 

User flows on the other hand ensure that the interface design is streamlined, functional, and easy to navigate, enhancing efficiency and usability. This focus on detailed interactions guarantees that users can accomplish their tasks smoothly and intuitively. Together, these approaches ensure a user-centric design that balances emotional engagement with practical functionality, creating a comprehensive and satisfying user experience.

MockFlow is one powerful tool that lets you create both User journey as well as user flow with its powerful tool.

Practical Application of User Journeys and User Flows

Research and insights.

Start by mapping out the user journey to understand the overall experience, key touchpoints, and emotional states. This high-level view helps identify critical stages and interactions that need detailed exploration. By understanding the broader context and emotional landscape, designers can pinpoint where users encounter pain points or have unmet needs.

Design and Development

During the design and development phase, develop user flows for each critical interaction identified in the user journey. Focus on optimizing navigation and interface design to ensure a smooth and intuitive user experience. It’s essential that these user flows address the pain points and emotional needs highlighted in the user journey, ensuring that every step is streamlined and user-friendly.

Testing and iteration

Conduct usability testing with both user journey maps and user flow diagrams to gather comprehensive feedback. Use this feedback to iterate on both the journey and the flow, making necessary adjustments to ensure they align seamlessly. This continuous refinement helps in providing a cohesive and satisfying user experience, balancing both emotional engagement and functional efficiency.

Final Words

Combining user journeys and user flows enhances the design process by offering a comprehensive view of user experience. User journeys provide a broad perspective on emotional and motivational aspects, while user flows detail specific interactions to ensure intuitiveness and efficiency.

Integrating these tools helps designers create user-centric, functional products. MockFlow facilitates this by allowing the creation of both user journeys and user flows within one platform, streamlining the design process.

This holistic approach ensures both macro and micro aspects of user experience are addressed, leading to products that meet user needs and delight users.

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Blog Graphs and Charts What is a User Flow Diagram and How to Create One?

What is a User Flow Diagram and How to Create One?

Written by: Ivonna Cabrera Apr 01, 2022

User experience or UX design is a concept that gets thrown around a lot in 21st-century sales and marketing, and for good reason. It deals with the strategic arrangement of pages and functions on a website or application to establish meaningful interactions with your customers. How you implement it could make or break your business. 

Thankfully, there are UX design tools you can use to aid the critical process of designing your user experience. Chief among these is the user flow diagram, which we’ll be discussing below. Keep reading to learn more about this handy visualization tool and how you can make one with  Venngage’s diagram maker . 

Our  smart diagrams  can be customized through a drag-and-drop editor so you can easily make your own user flow diagram even without design experience.

Click to jump ahead:

What is a user flow diagram?

How to make a user flow diagram, user flow diagram examples, user flow vs. user journey, 5 user flow symbols commonly used in diagrams, 3 types of user flow diagrams, faqs on user flow diagrams.

A user flow diagram is a visual representation of the logical path a user takes when they interact with a product. It identifies everything from the entry points to the pages users navigate; and the steps they take to complete an action like viewing their credit card balance or reseting their password , as in the example below. 

A user flow diagram is similar to a  use case diagram  in that they both map out consumer interactions. However, the former focuses on the user flow within a site or app. 

What does a user flow diagram do?

Typically used by product designers and UX designers , a user flow diagram serves as a guide or blueprint for generating a system layout that is as seamless, accessible, and intuitive as possible for the benefit of end-users.

What is a user flow? 

“User flow” pertains to the series of steps a customer naturally takes as they interact with your product on a domain like a website or app. Apart from interaction, it also highlights how a user navigates through your platform along with the tools and functions necessary to accomplish both.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on creating user flows, so you can diagram your own in no time. 

Step 1: Identify objectives —yours and your end-users’

Determine the destination or end goal you wish to achieve through your product, site, or app. This should naturally align with your business objectives, although your customers’ own needs and expectations are equally (if not more) important, especially through the lens of UX design.

You can determine the latter with a  customer journey map , which considers audience characteristics, emotions, and behavior along with the different touchpoints they will encounter at various points of the consumer journey.

Step 2: Assess how users discover your site or app 

Like all other marketing exercises, the construction of user flow diagrams entails user research. Look into data about where leads for your industry or type of product usually come from. In other words, determine the usual entry points for your target audience. These typically include direct traffic, organic searches, paid advertising, social media, and e-mail. 

Study what these entry points might convey about your users so you can effectively adapt your UX design to their behaviors and needs.

Step 3: Determine the information your users need 

The key to effectively engaging users is providing them with what they need when they need it. The most intuitive user flows seize customers’ attention and draw them in by delivering the information they require at strategic points in their journey. 

The best way to go about this is to put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Walk through your own user flows and ask yourself questions like “What would I do next on this page if I were a customer?” “How do I find a product page?” “How do I check out?”

If you are working on an existing channel, analyze what’s already working and take it from there.

Step 4: Organize your data and insights into a user flow

Once you’ve gathered all the data and information you need, you can start plotting them down. 

Begin by identifying your entry points, then determine which landing pages are relevant to those points. You can opt to use wireframes here to effectively visualize said landing pages along with the commands or functions users can interact with on each screen.

Map out the user flow from these points and pages, making sure to add elements when and where needed, until the flow is complete. 

Step 5: Review, finalize, and test 

Run your user flow diagram by stakeholders to verify its clarity, relevance, and usefulness. Gather feedback and make any necessary adjustments.

Observe how users respond to the flow you designed and analyze with Fullstory alternatives to address any areas for improvement to perfect the user experience.

Here are a few more user flow examples to use as a reference while you generate diagrams for your own projects.

1. Sign up process flow diagram

Signing up for a website or app involves a series of steps. A sign-up process flowchart simply maps these steps out, showing what a user goes through to create an account.

It’s like a visual guide, taking you from the beginning (deciding to sign up) to the end (having a new account). This can help make the process clearer for both users and the people who design the sign-up system.

With any type of user flow diagrams, they must be clear and easy to understand to be useful and effective. You can ensure this by including a legend for your symbols, just like the user flow example below.

2. Purchase process flow diagram

A purchase process diagram is a behind-the-scenes look at what happens after you click “buy” online. It maps out the steps involved in completing your purchase, kind of like a roadmap.

Your user flow diagram might also consider alternative paths, like needing to create an account or troubleshooting a payment issue. Having a purchase process flow diagram helps online stores ensure their checkout process is clear and efficient, making your online shopping experience smooth.

When you add alternative paths to your user flow, you’ll need to use more user flow symbols in your diagram. A neat trick with these symbols is to color code them to better organize the information you want to show. Take a look at the sample diagram below:

3. Login process flow diagram

Completing a website login can sometimes feel complex. A login process flow diagram is a visual guide that maps out the steps a user takes to access an account on a website or app.

Having a login process flow diagram helps website builders make sure logging in is smooth sailing for users, and keeps their account safe at the same time.

Not all login user flows will be straightforward. The diagram might also involve unexpected turns like user accounts getting locked after too many wrong tries.

Arrange your elements wisely and strategically to present your information as clearly as possible. Remember that you can also use colors and tweak symbols when possible, as in the example below, to achieve this. 

In marketing, you’ll also often come across the term “user journey.” It’s important to know what this concept entails as well as how it differs from “user flow” in order to strategize effectively.

While user flow focuses on a customer’s physical movement through your domain, user journey is concerned with the wider picture—that is, the whole ecosystem that influences their decision to engage with your product or otherwise. This includes consumer demographics, trends, and behavior. It also covers different customer touchpoints and channels for engagement like print and digital ads.

While user flows are charted through user flow diagrams, user journeys are typically visualized through customer journey maps or user story maps. You can visit Venngage’s template library for examples of these  business process diagrams . 

The benefits of charting the user flow

User flow is one piece of the user journey puzzle. By mapping it out, you can design the optimal user experience—this is because user flow charts or diagrams allow you to:

• Better comprehend the conditions and mindset your customers would be in when they interact with your product, and thus-—
• Know what processes and functions need to be established so you can meet their needs and expectations
• Thoroughly define your intended user flow and fine-tune it before implementation
• Ensure your UX design covers all bases, and no step is bypassed or overlooked

There are specific symbols you can use to create a user flow diagram, each of which represents a particular step or action in the user flow. All of them are standard across the different types of user flow diagrams, which you will learn about in the succeeding section.

The five most basic symbols used in user flow diagrams are:

• Circles  to signify entry and endpoints 
• Lozenges  as an alternative to circles
• Rectangles  to indicate process or action steps taken by users 
• Diamonds  to signal user choice or decision points 
• Arrows  to denote connections between elements or the flow’s direction

Here’s what the symbols look like on a diagram. 

When possible, you can make minor modifications to your symbols to ensure clarity. Such tweaks include the use of colors, shading, and different line weights or finishes (i.e. dotted, dashed, solid).

There are different kinds of user flow diagrams that you can utilize depending on your objective, or where you are in the design process.

This user flow focuses on how users navigate a system when carrying out a specific task. Because of its singular nature, task flow diagrams usually show one linear path, unlike traditional user flows which may include loops and dissecting branches or pathways.

An example of this would be a basic log-in system which, as seen in the sample below, entails no more than a few steps.

This type of user flow is ideal for straightforward or universal tasks or processes, meaning those that can only be performed in one and the same way.

A wire flow diagram combines user flow with wireframes, a visualization tool used by web developers to determine the interface elements that go on each web frame or page. Here is an example. 

This type of diagram incorporates individual screens to add context to the user flow (since the features on every screen impact the overall user experience). It’s best used for a website user flow diagram, which entails multiple web pages; or an app user flow diagram, which concerns functions performed on mobile screens.

UI flow 

UI flow or user interface flow diagrams are meant to illustrate how users interact with the elements on a page or screen. They’re similar to wireflows, except they contain more detailed screen mockups, as seen in the sample below.

What is user flow design?

User flow design is the strategic organization and arrangement of functions on a website, app, or other type of platform to create an intuitive, effective, and engaging user experience. 

What’s the difference between a sitemap and a user flow diagram?

A sitemap is an outline of all the pages and sub-pages or sections that fall under them on an app or website. Meanwhile, a user flow diagram illustrates how these pages and sections are interconnected and designed to promote effective user interaction and navigation, along with the functions that make these possible.

How do you make a user flow diagram on Venngage?

Creating your own user flow diagram on Venngage is as easy as 1, 2, 3. All you have to do is: 

• Sign-up for an account (it’s free!)
• Select your preferred diagram template from our template library
• Edit and customize your chosen template using our drag-and-drop Smart Editor 

Perfect your UX design with user flow diagrams

User flow diagrams are excellent tools for creating a great user experience. They provide a clear breakdown of the process users go through on an app or website and how functions and features contribute to their journey. 

By doing so, you can personalize your user flow to your customers’ specific needs and expectations, and thus provide an overall satisfying and engaging user experience.

Don’t miss out on these benefits and create your own user flow diagrams with Venngage today. 

We alsop invite you to upgrade to a Venngage business account to access  My Brand Kit , which lets you add your company’s logo, color palette, and fonts to all your designs with a single click.

A business account also includes the  real-time collaboration feature , so you can invite members of your team to work simultaneously on a project.

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