10 Best Customer Journey Mapping Tools In 2023

InDesign is a page layout design software from Adobe, which means for a bit of a steep learning curve, you can unlock unlimited flexibility.

Why I picked InDesign: You can build, convert, edit, and collaborate on complex visual design projects. This robust tool has everything you need to build customer journey maps and much more, such as logo design, social media graphics, and media kits. InDesign is a great “do anything” visual planning software that allows you to create custom size pages, insert anything from text to graphics, shapes, and stock images, and export in multiple formats, including interactive PDFs. However, if you are only looking for journey mapping, it’s likely too overbearing for your needs.

InDesign Standout Features & Integrations

Features include thousands of fonts, pen tools for freehand drawing, tables, buttons, forms, animations, and many ways to export your final product to picture and PDF formats.

Integrations can be custom-made using its APIs and SDKs. Native integrations include Pics.io, Slashdot, Canto, Brandfolder, and other software that is part of the Adobe Creative Suite.

InDesign is a great tool for diagramming if that is only one of your many graphic design needs.

Smaply is a customer journey mapping tool that helps you build journey maps, customer personas, and system maps.used by companies like Dyson, Bayer, Toyota, Ford, Verison, Whirlpool, and Amtrack.

Why I picked Smaply: It's great for quickly visualizing each customer touchpoint with their various arc and lane tools and works well for geographically dispersed teams as the interface is available in English, Spanish, and German. Additionally, to help you better understand your customer's journey, the tool lets you add images, emotions, text, and channels of communication to your maps. Smaply helps you build journey maps for multiple personas at the same time and see them in detail, so you can make informed decisions on your different types of customers. Finally, it lets users export projects to PDF, Excel (.xlsx), or HTML.

Smaply Standout Features & Integrations

Features include lanes (dramatic arc, activity lane, separator lane, journey map info); an icon and image library; and duplicate projects, personas, stakeholder maps, and journey maps.

Integrations include custom connections using their API starting at the Enterprise plan, though Jira integration is available at the Pro level.

Smaply is free to use for three journey maps, in case you would like to give it a test run before making any purchasing decisions.

Canvanizer is a free canvas software with basic business plan templates for things like 12-month plans, various blank matrices, canvas diagrams, and 4L retrospectives.

Why I picked Canvanizer: It is a software that recently developed a paid version, after being a free tool for years. While you can still access and use the free version, the paid one has more features and lets you custom-build canvases instead of only using templates. As such, you can use the whiteboard canvas to build your customer journey map from scratch. From there, the design is basic drag-and-drop. You can export all designs to PDF, PNG, text, CSV, or slideshow.

Canvanizer Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a timer, templates, PDF and PNG export, history logs that allow you to edit at a specific time, shared access to files, filters, and links to publicly share a read-only version and an admin version of your work.

Integrations are not available at the moment.

Canvanizer 2.0 is currently not active as a monthly subscription model, which is why you only need to pay a one-time fee to access the software for a full year.

OmniGraffle is a visual communication software for macOS to make PRO diagrams and helps professionals who need to organize or communicate visually.

Why I picked OmniGraffle: They have a library of stencils, templates, and icons to get you started. If you are brave and with a steady hand, you can try drawing using the pen tool. It also supports the Apple Pencil for even faster freehand diagramming. Basically all the elements you need to build a customer journey map that is personalized and reflects your customer's experience.

OmniGraffle has advanced graphics features, like a rubber stamp for rapid copy-pasting and a layers tab for element grouping. Also, its projects can be exported to PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, PDF, EPS, and PSD. Finally, you can get this software in two ways, using their subscription plan or buying traditional licenses. Your choice.

OmniGraffle Standout Features & Integrations

Features include multi-layer support, infinite canvas, an extensive shape library, templates, style customization, magnets to connect shapes, and a selection tab to help you bulk edit or select items on your canvas.

Integrations include 1Password and the files app in iOS 11 and later.

Although this tool does not have an extensive knowledge base, you can find a guide on how to use the software on their website, and it also has a great customer service team if you need any troubleshooting.

Gliffy is a diagramming software and team collaboration tool that is free for small teams in Confluence and Jira.

Why I picked Gliffy: As the only interactive diagram maker within Confluence, I thought I would add this tool to give you exposure to itf you already use this project management platform. However, if you don't use Confluence, you can still get the standalone online version of the software.

Gliffy can be used for flowcharts, wireframes, and (you guessed it) customer journey maps. It has a drag-and-drop interface that lets you build diagrams fast. Additionally, I like that the side pane has a section called 'most used' where it stores all the shapes you have recently used. All editing options for elements within the whiteboard can be accessed by clicking once on the shape or form, and layers can be controlled using the top menu. Finally, the bottom left of the screen has a button that lets you access more shapes, where you can import shapes from companies like Cisco, Apple, Google, Twitter, and other types of diagrams too.

Gliffy Standout Features & Integrations

Features include custom shapes, images, text, templates, a drag-and-drop interface, project templates, sharing via URL or embedding, collaborative editing, tracked changes, and import/export options.

Integrations include Slack, monday.com, Basecamp, WordPress, Trello, teamwork.com, HipChat, Confluence, and Jira.

Gliffy is free for small teams within Confluence and Jira. Make sure to check out their special pricing if you want to get the tool from the Atlassian Marketplace.

Attention: Touchpoint is sunsetting its journey mapping software on Feb 1, 2023. If you are currently using this platform, consider using one of the other tools on this list while we find its replacement on this list.

Touchpoint Dashboard is a journey management software that focuses on diagramming and flowcharts specific to customer journey mapping. They offer task management, intuitive reporting, and customer feedback tools to support this focus. Touchpoint Dashboard offers templates to create goal-oriented and actionable journey maps that can be analyzed, collaborated on, and shared easily. You can add customer touchpoints to your map and then accent them with images, audio, and video. Touchpoint Dashboard is a great option for customer journey analytics for market research and service planning. Touchpoint Dashboard does not name integrations on its website. Touchpoint Dashboard offers customized pricing upon request. They have a free trial.

Tried and true: the trusty whiteboard! A whiteboard can be used to plot customer journey maps. Many offices have one installed somewhere and they make a great starting point for brainstorming and first drafts. Whiteboards are visual, flexible, and great for engaging meetings where team members aren’t glued to a screen. Whiteboards are a quick, reliable, non-technical way to build out a visual paradigm for any customer journey. Whiteboards range in size, quality and cost.

You can find them on Amazon for around $30-60.

PowerPoint is Microsoft’s answer to presentation software that needs little introduction. It’s so ubiquitous in traditional office spaces that you’ve probably at least heard of it, if not used extensively.

Why I picked PowerPoint: Most people have access to this software already, and it has the flexibility to build anything, from a presentation deck about puppies to customer journey maps. Using templates, shapes, images, text, headings, and transitions, you can use PowerPoint to envision the customer journey. Although it might not have the same live editing features as other software on this list, Microsoft 365 has the option to share your decks online, and it's still a reliable option that can always get the job done.

Tip: You can create a big table and edit the width of the columns to build your diagram lanes.

PowerPoint Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a web and mobile version of the software, dozens of shapes and forms to personalize your customer journey maps, templates, and personalization elements like color selection, text, images, and emojis to depict specific information.

Integrations include Digital Signage, Facebook, Google Analytics, Google Calendar, Google Sheets, Instagram, JSON, and Microsoft Access, as well as other popular tools. PowerPoint is free for the online-only version.

Consider Microsoft Powerpoint if you already have access to the product and don't want to go through the task of learning how to use a new software.

Lucidchart is a cloud-based diagramming tool compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux and boasts iOS and Android apps.

Why I picked Lucidchart: Lucidchart offers templates for user flow, customer journey, and product use mockup planning. With this software, you can easily build a map showing all the stages your customer goes through and identify where you need to take action. Plus, its extensive shape library lets you personalize your customer journey maps according to your stages. You can use sticky notes, shapes, lines, graphics, and text to build out your ideal customer journey flow. They have excellent collaboration features, where you can work together, see what everyone is working on, comment, and see updates as they happen in real-time.

Lucidchart Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a chat section for each specific shape, real-time collaboration, collaborative cursors, data linking, data visualization, premium templates and shape libraries, and conditional formatting.

Integrations include Google products, Microsoft products, Atlassian products, Salesforce, Slack, AWS, Azure, GCP, BambooHR, Quip, LeanIX, Asana, AuditBoard, Vidstep, Zoho Connect, Loom, and more. You can connect to 1000+ more options with a paid Zapier plan.

Thanks to ample integrations, Lucidchart can be an excellent piece of your customer success strategy, as it connects natively with tools you are probably already using.

Reveall is a product discovery platform that allows you to map customer journeys to know how your client experiences different aspects of your product.

Why I picked Reveall: It is a journey mapping tool that helps product and UX teams become more customer-led by making it easy to turn customer insights into clear product decisions. With Reveall you can bring together user research, journey mapping, and product prioritization. It’s more than just a repository or journey mapping tool—Reveall can centralize data in one place, analyze findings by collaborating on tags and journeys, and plan and prioritze your product roadmap. You can also import any data directly into Reveall via multiple integrations and transcribe customer interviews in multiple languages.

Reveall Standout Features & Integrations

Features include a drag-and-drop interface, insights and data point libraries, color-coding on cards to depict customer emotions, and the possibility to add external links and text to your maps.

Integrations include tools like Slack, HubSpot, Google Drive, Zoom, Airtable, and Zendesk among others. Connect Reveall with 5000+ more apps with Zapier.

As you can see, Reveall is more than just customer journey maps. It's a complete product discovery platform that lets you centralize insights, prioritize opportunities and validate solutions.