Journey Mapping: A Tool That Should Be in Your Arsenal
This past fall, the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS) reached out to us and asked if we’d lead a webinar for their member schools. The title of the webinar was, “Unlocking the Enrollment Funnel: Journey Mapping as a Strategic Tool.” We thoroughly enjoyed preparing the topic and presenting to SAIS schools.
Since then, we’ve continued to develop that presentation and expand on the topic. We’re big believers in journey mapping and we’re convinced that it can be a key tool for both admission and advancement offices at independent schools.
Enjoy this high-level overview of journey mapping and explore our further reading at the bottom of this page to explore in more depth.
What Is Journey Mapping?
Journey mapping is a framework for designing intentional experiences for your stakeholders. It requires documenting every stage a constituent moves through, and, importantly, evaluating and designing their experience at every step along the way.
Two school departments lend themselves particularly well to journey mapping: admissions and advancement. In the case of admissions, a good journey mapping opportunity is prospective families as they move through the admissions funnel. A journey map for admissions families would include documenting steps from initial awareness and navigating your website through submitting an inquiry, the campus tour, and beyond.
In advancement, you could create a journey map for your major gift donors. That journey could start with initial contact and walk through every stage, ending with thanking/recognizing the donor post-gift.
Where to Start
Begin by choosing the “journey” that you want to map. Once you’ve decided, document every step of that journey as it currently stands. Be realistic and even harsh as you assess your current journey. Once documented, determine what is working or not. What points on the journey are confusing or unclear? Where do people get lost or feel abandoned? What could be improved?
Creating Your Journey Map
We often use the metaphor of a road trip to help think through a journey map. Where does your road trip start? What are the “stops” or waypoints along the way? Where is the journey hardest for families? Where can you put signs along the journey to make the route clearer? Where do breakdowns often happen and need to be anticipated?
Once you’ve determined those major points, document your journey map. This can be as simple as writing a basic document or as comprehensive as using project management software and beyond. Once you’ve documented your journey map, you can assign steps in the journey to specific team members or even automate steps along the way.
Target Audiences and Moving From Reactive to Proactive
Journey mapping changes the question from “What content should we create?” to a much more intentional, “What does this target audience need to hear at this stage of their relationship with us?” A prospective parent needs reassurance and clarity. A newly enrolled parent needs belonging and guidance. A current parent needs partnership. An alumnus needs pride and connection. A donor needs impact and gratitude.
With journey mapping, schools move from being reactive to proactive. It also helps build trust and convey expertise to your constituents as their experiences with your school improve over time.
Other Things to Consider
As it pertains to admissions, the journey for prospective families should not end with an enrollment contract. That journey should include specific steps during the start of school to retain students. Including retention in the journey forces leadership teams to examine not just how families enter the school, but how they experience it once they arrive.
As it pertains to advancement, think about how journey mapping could apply to a capital campaign.
Further Reading
If you want to read more about journey mapping, including a free downloadable template, check out this article from SAIS.
We are happy to share the slides from our presentation on journey mapping. If you’d like a copy of those slides, email info@38house.com and let us know!
