Lanes in a Journey Map
When working with a Journey Map, Lanes allow you to structure and organize information in a way that reflects different aspects of the customer experience.
When building a Journey Map, you can choose which Lanes to include depending on the type of information you want to capture. Lanes act as containers for different kinds of data, helping you structure the map in a way that makes sense for your team and your goals.
Before adding a Lane, think about the purpose of the content you want to include. For example, you may want to document customer emotions, Touchpoints, KPIs, or Opportunities for improvement. Each of these can be represented in its own Lane, making the map easier to read and analyze.
How to add a Lane in a Journey Map
To add a new Lane, click the “+” icon. You can find this icon either in the top right corner of the map or at the bottom of the map view. Once added, the Lane can be customized to fit the type of content you are working with.
By selecting the right Lanes and keeping them consistent, you can ensure that your Journey Map captures all the relevant insights without becoming cluttered. This allows your team to focus on what matters most and makes it easier to track patterns, identify gaps and act on opportunities for improvement.
You can add explanations for each Lane's content using the Description field in the Lane Settings. Please note that the available settings may vary depending on the Lane type.
Lane Types
Below is an overview of the Lane types, their behaviors and some best practices:
Text Lane
You can use a Text Lane to explain what happens at each stage of the journey with either plain or rich text. This includes the purpose, goals and context of the Stage, helping everyone involved understand what customers are doing, thinking, or feeling before, during and after that step.
Well-crafted Stage descriptions make the map easier to understand for new team members or stakeholders who may not be deeply familiar with the process.
Alternatively, you can use a list items Lane for structured details or include images to tell the story of the customer journey visually.
Additionally, you can leave comments, add stickers, or use Alex AI to enhance and refine your descriptions.
Image Lane
An Image Lane in a journey map is used to represent a stage, concept, or key moment visually.
The behavior of an Image Lane enables users to easily upload or insert images, making the map more engaging and visually informative.
💡You can add one image per Stage. To include additional visuals, add more Image Lanes or compose multiple images beforehand.
Divider Lane
A Divider Lane helps you separate relevant areas within your map, improving visualization and organization.
For example, when combining customer journey details and service blueprint information in the same map, you can add a Divider Lane, such as a "Visibility Line", to clearly distinguish these sections. This makes your map more structured and easier to interpret.
You can customize the Divider Lane by clicking on the Lane Settings:
List Items Lane
A List Item Lane presents structured, detailed information in a clear, organized way. It helps break down actions, features, or key points, making the journey easier to understand and analyze.
You cannot reuse list items.
💡You can add stickers to highlight specific list items in your map for better visualization and emphasis.
Links and Files Lane
A Links and Files Lane is used to organize and display related links and documents within your journey map.
It allows you to easily add, access and manage external files, resources, or reference links that support or complement the information in your map.
The maximum file size is 10MB.
This lane helps keep all relevant materials in one place, making it easier for team members to find and use important documents during the analysis and discussion of the customer journey.
💡This lane is only available for the Enterprise package.
Alternatively, you can link files to any text in your map by highlighting the desired text and clicking on the link icon.
Journey Maps Lane
The Journey Maps Lane allows you to list and organize the different journey maps included within your main journey map.
You can start typing the name of a new map, and it will be created automatically, or select an existing map from the list.
This Lane is closely linked to the Journey Portfolio feature, providing a way to manage and navigate multiple interconnected journey maps efficiently within a single view. If you want to know more about the Journey Portfolio, please take a look at article.
Interactions vs. Feelings vs. Touchpoints Lanes
These three Lane types are often confused, but they serve different purposes. It’s important to understand how they work, when to use them and why only one can be active on a Journey Map at a time.
Interactions Lane
Definition: Captures the specific actions customers take when engaging with your brand, along with the channels they use
Features:
List customer actions step by step
Include customer sentiment at each point
Link Voice of Customer (VOC) data to individual touchpoints
Link to Touchpoints, Opportunities and Solutions
Select Main or Alternative Routes
When to use: Choose Interactions if you need the most detailed, actionable view of the customer journey
💡Best Practice: Use the heart sticker to mark “moments of truth.”
Feelings Lane
Definition: Captures customer sentiment scores (positive, neutral, negative) across the journey
When to use: Best when you only need a quick overview of how customers feel at each stage, without diving into specific actions or channels
Limitations: If you select Interactions, you don’t need Feelings, since sentiment is already included there
Touchpoints (Channels) Lane
Definition: Lists the communication channels customers use to interact with your brand (e.g., website, call center, app)
When to use: Best if your focus is only on mapping the channels of communication, without analyzing the quality of those interactions or customer emotions
Limitations: If you want to track actions and emotions in detail, Interactions is the better choice
💡You cannot use Interactions, Feelings and Touchpoints together in the same map. Only one of these Lanes can be active.
💡We highly recommend using the Interactions lane, as it allows you to add more information over time, enabling easier updates and future enhancements.
Insights Lane
Insights are findings based on observed behavior or feedback that explain why customers act the way they do.
Examples: “Need to collaborate on the information received before making a decision” or “Improved communication would help during the application.”
You can reuse Insights across multiple maps and organize them using the Insights menu available in the left-side menu, tailored to your needs. For more details on configuring views in Cemantica, refer to this article.
There are several standard Insight types, such as Pains, Gains, Findings and Jobs-to-be-Done:
Pains capture customer frustrations or obstacles, like “Too many options can be confusing,” “Activation was time-consuming,” or “Approval took too long.” These help identify friction points in the journey
Gains highlight positive outcomes, such as “Easy to use,” “Great to be kept in the loop,” or “Information easily accessible,” emphasizing what works well
An Admin user can customize and add new Insight Types through the Settings menu. For guidance on managing your Insights Types, see this article.
Opportunities, Solutions, Actions and Projects Lanes
These four elements represent the core process of moving from identifying customer needs to implementing impactful changes:
Opportunities are areas for improvement within the customer experience or operational model. They are identified during journey mapping and aim to address pain points or inefficiencies. Ideating opportunities is the crucial first step to transition from designing solutions to executing tangible improvements
Solutions are targeted remedies or enhancements designed to solve specific problems or meet customer expectations. Derived from opportunities, solutions can be developed through structured brainstorming or independent planning and serve as the foundation for actionable initiatives
Actions are concrete tasks or steps derived from mapping the journey that need to be implemented to fix pain points or enhance the customer experience. These can be managed as individual action items or grouped within larger projects. Actions are the practical measures that bring solutions to life
Projects are organized efforts that encompass multiple actions, initiatives, or work streams. They provide a centralized view to monitor ongoing and planned efforts supporting various stages of the journey. Projects help teams coordinate their activities, visualize progress, and ensure alignment in improving the overall customer experience
Together, these elements form a continuous cycle, from spotting opportunities, designing solutions, executing actions, to tracking projects, creating a structured approach to enhancing customer satisfaction and operational excellence.
There is a complete collection to help you go deeper into any of these features. If you would like to learn more, please take a look at this article.
Feedback Data Lane
With Cemantica, you can seamlessly integrate multiple sources of Voice of Customer (VoC) data, whether from dedicated platforms such as Qualtrics, Medallia, and others, or by simply adding manually Data Details or importing an Excel file.
Using the Feedback Data Lane, you can configure which sources and specific data points you'd like to pull in directly from your Journey Map. If you'd like to know more, please take a look at this article.
KPIs Lane
KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) connect the customer journey to measurable business outcomes.
Examples from the screenshots include:
# of Clicks
# of Applications
Conversion Rate
Web Traffic
KPIs include both current values and targets, as well as the financial impact.
Timing Lane
The Timing Lane is used to visualize and manage the time aspect of the customer journey. It displays the duration of different Stages, enabling teams to understand how long customers spend at each point and identify potential delays or bottlenecks.
💡You can add multiple Timing Lanes to your map. For example, you might include one to show how long customers spend at each stage, and another to display the duration of internal processes, helping you compare and identify delays across different aspects of the journey
Systems and Departments Lanes
The Systems and Departments lanes are commonly included in Service Blueprint maps to provide a clear overview of the internal structure supporting the customer journey.
Systems Lane displays the technological or organizational systems involved in delivering the service, such as CRM, payment platforms, or backend processes. It helps identify which systems are active at each stage and how they support customer interactions
Departments Lane shows the various organizational units responsible for different parts of the service delivery, like customer support, operations, or sales teams. It clarifies which teams or departments are involved at each step of the journey
Journey Mapping best practices for using Lanes
Be intentional: Add Lanes only for the data you plan to track and act on
Keep it clean: Avoid duplicating content across Lanes, instead use common view Lanes (e.g., Insights, Opportunities) when the same information applies to multiple Personas
Collaborate: You can use comments for discussion, and Insights or Opportunities for structured, shareable knowledge
Think Persona vs. Global: You can add multiple Personas to your map. Determine whether the information is specific to a single Persona or relevant to many. For details on how different Lane types behave when working with multiple personas in a map, refer to this article
By carefully selecting and managing Lanes, your Journey Map becomes a more powerful tool for analyzing customer experiences, identifying opportunities, and aligning teams around actions.