A Strategic Layered Framework for Digital Success
In the intricate dance of digital commerce, understanding your customer is not a luxury—it’s a survival imperative. For years, businesses have relied on linear “customer journey maps,” simple diagrams tracing a path from awareness to purchase. But in our multi-channel, multi-device, and emotionally complex world, a single line is no longer sufficient. The customer journey isn’t a path; it’s a dynamic, multi-layered ecosystem.
The framework presented in the image, “Customer Journey Layers” by Juan Fernando Pacheco for Bright Vessel, moves beyond the simplistic map to a sophisticated architectural blueprint. It acknowledges that every customer interaction is a symphony played by different instruments (departments), following a musical score (stages and steps), heard through various speakers (touchpoints), and evoking a range of emotions (topics).
As a veteran in UX and IT architecture, I’ve seen countless companies invest in isolated solutions—a new CRM here, a website redesign there—without a unifying vision. This layered model provides that vision. Let’s deconstruct each layer, explore its profound implications, and outline the tools and practices to bring this framework to life.
Beyond the Line: Why a Layered View is Essential
A traditional journey map helps us empathize, but often fails at execution. It answers the “what” but not the “how” or “who.” The layered approach bridges the critical gap between customer understanding and organizational action. It forces alignment across siloed departments, ensuring that Marketing’s promise is delivered by Logistics and nurtured by Customer Service.
This framework transforms the journey from a marketing asset into a core operational blueprint, directly tying customer experience to business architecture.
Layer 1: The Macro View – The Stages
The foundation of the framework is the five classic Stages:
Awareness: The customer becomes aware of a need or your solution.
Consideration: They actively evaluate options to meet that need.
Acquisition: They decide and complete the transaction.
Service: Users may need support when using the product.
Loyalty: The experience fosters a relationship, leading to repeat business and advocacy.
These stages are your strategic pillars. They are largely sequential but not rigid—a customer might loop back from Service to Consideration if a product fails to meet expectations. The key for IT and UX is to design systems that are resilient and responsive to these non-linear paths.
Layer 2: The Micro View – The Steps
Within each stage, we find the specific Steps—the individual actions, thoughts, and decisions a customer makes. The image lists intriguing, somewhat cryptic steps like:
“Click as the landing angle”
“Goes through Checkout”
“Receive packages”
“Call a Hotline”
“Receive consistent information”
These are the critical moments of truth. Each step represents a potential point of friction or delight.
“Goes through Checkout”: This is a prime example. From a UX perspective, this step requires a frictionless flow with clear trust signals (security badges, multiple payment options). From an IT architecture perspective, it requires a robust, secure, and highly available transaction processing system integrated with the Payment Gateway (e.g., Stripe, Adyen) and CRM. A failure here, such as a cart that abandons after refreshing (“Neither for crash”), directly impacts revenue.
“Receive consistent information”: This step is a hallmark of mature customer experience. It means whether a customer chats online, calls a hotline, or visits a store, their data and interaction history are available. This is an immense IT challenge, requiring integrated systems like a Customer Data Platform (CDP) or a single view of the customer built on APIs that connect your CRM (e.g., Salesforce), e-commerce platform (e.g., Shopify Plus), and customer service software (e.g., Zendesk).
Best Practice: Conduct usability testing and session replay analysis (using tools like Hotjar or FullStory) on these key steps. Identify where users hesitate, click incorrectly, or drop off. Quantify this data with analytics (Google Analytics 4) to prioritize fixes.
Layer 3: The Connective Tissue – Touchpoints & Departments
This is where the framework becomes powerful. Each Step occurs through a Touchpoint and is managed by a Department.
The image lists departments like:
Marketing / Online Marketing
e-Shop Management
Customer Management
Logistics Service Providers
Paid Service Providers
Imagine the step “Receive packages”. This touchpoint is physically handled by a Logistics Service Provider (e.g., FedEx, DHL). However, the experience is owned by e-Shop Management and Customer Management. Was the packaging branded? Was the delivery window accurate? Was the tracking information easy to find and accurate?
A failure by the logistics provider (a damaged box, a missed delivery) becomes a failure for the brand itself. Therefore, the IT system must facilitate seamless integration. This means providing customers with real-time tracking APIs from the carrier directly within your e-commerce platform’s order status page.
Another crucial step: “Call a Hotline”. This touchpoint is managed by Customer Management. The IT infrastructure here is a modern CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) solution like Twilio Flex or Amazon Connect. The UX design applies to the IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system—is it intuitive, or does it frustrate callers? Crucially, the agent receiving the call must have immediate access to the customer’s entire history (purchases, previous contacts, tracking info), which requires deep integration between the CCaaS and the central CRM/CDP.
Framework Recommendation: Use a RACI Matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) to clarify departmental ownership for each step and touchpoint. This eliminates internal confusion and ensures accountability.
Layer 4: The Hidden Dimension – Topics & Emotions
The final layer, perhaps the most abstract yet most critical, is represented by the numbers under Topics (13, 9, 4, 10, 22, 23, 15). In journey mapping, “topics” often refer to key themes, pain points, emotions, or operational metrics tied to each step.
These numbers could represent:
Customer Emotions: Anxiety (e.g., while “Going through Checkout”), excitement (“Receive packages”), frustration (“Call a Hotline”).
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Page load time (for “Click as the landing angle”), Cart Abandonment Rate (for “Goes through Checkout”), First Contact Resolution (for “Call a Hotline”), Net Promoter Score (for “Loyalty” stage).
Operational Metrics: Average handling time on a support call, cost per acquisition, customer lifetime value.
For example, Topic #23 might be “Trust & Security,” a critical concern during the “Acquisition” stage. This topic directly influences UX decisions (displaying trust badges) and IT decisions (implementing SSL certificates, complying with PCI DSS standards).
How to Implement This: Assign a quantitative or qualitative metric to each key step. Use sentiment analysis on customer support chats and reviews to gauge emotional states. Track operational KPIs in a dashboard (using Tableau or Power BI) that is visible to all relevant departments. This transforms abstract “topics” into actionable data.
Synthesizing the Layers: A Practical Example
Let’s walk through the journey step “Receive consistent information” using our layered model:
Stage: Service / Loyalty
Step: Receive consistent information
Touchpoint: Customer Service Hotline, Live Chat, Email Support
Departments: Customer Management, IT
Topics: #15 (Frustration), #10 (Efficiency), #22 (Loyalty)
Customer Goal: To solve a problem quickly without repeating themselves.
Business Goal: To reduce handling time and increase customer satisfaction.
Required Inputs:
A unified customer database (CDP).
Integrated systems (CRM, Helpdesk, e-commerce platform via APIs).
Trained customer service agents.
Defined protocols for data handling and privacy.
IT & UX Actions:
Architecture: Implement a CDP like Segment or mParticle to create a single customer profile. Use APIs to connect it to Zendesk (helpdesk) and Shopify (e-commerce).
UX Design: Design the agent’s interface in Zendesk to prominently display the unified customer profile: order history, recent web activity, and past support tickets.
Output: When a customer calls, the agent immediately sees: “This customer called two days ago about Order #12345, which was delivered yesterday. They just clicked on the ‘returns policy’ page on our website.” The agent can proactively say, “Hello Ms. Smith, I see you’re calling about a return for your recent order. I can help you with that right away.”
The result? The topic of Frustration (#15) is avoided. The topic of Efficiency (#10) is achieved. This directly contributes to the topic of Loyalty (#22). The layered framework has guided technology, process, and human action to create a superior customer experience.
Tools and Frameworks for Implementation
Building this requires both strategic and tactical tools.
Strategic Frameworks:
Service Blueprinting: This is the perfect methodology to expand on this layered concept. It adds a “line of interaction” and a “line of visibility” to map front-stage and back-stage actions, precisely connecting customer steps to internal processes. (Nielsen Norman Group offers an excellent guide on this).
RACI Matrix: As mentioned, to define ownership.
Experience Mapping Workshops: Facilitate cross-departmental workshops to build this layered journey collaboratively. Use Miro or Mural for virtual collaboration.
Tactical Tools:
Data & Analytics: Google Analytics 4, Adobe Analytics
Qualitative Feedback: Hotjar, FullStory, UserTesting.com
CRM/CDP: Salesforce, HubSpot, Segment
CCaaS & Helpdesk: Zendesk, Twilio Flex, Freshdesk
Integration & Automation: Zapier, MuleSoft, custom REST APIs
Dashboarding: Tableau, Microsoft Power BI, Google Data Studio
Conclusion: From Abstract Layers to Concrete ROI
Customer Journey Layers is more than a diagram; it’s a philosophical shift from a customer-centric mindset to a customer-centric operating model. It acknowledges that every digital experience is a manifestation of your internal architecture—your technology, your processes, and your organizational alignment.
The journey is your product. The layers are your blueprint. By meticulously designing each layer and the connections between them, you move beyond fixing isolated pain points to building a resilient, adaptive, and truly customer-first organization. You stop merely mapping the journey and start building it, step by step, touchpoint by touchpoint, with every department and system playing its part in harmony. The result is not just satisfaction, but loyalty—and that is the ultimate competitive advantage in the digital age.
References & Further Reading:
Nielsen Norman Group: Service Blueprints
Harvard Business Review: The Truth About Customer Experience
McKinsey & Company: The customer decision journey
Twilio: What is CCaaS?
Segment: What is a CDP?
Interaction Design Foundation: Customer Journey Maps
