I created this artifact while at Microsoft to understand:

How developer platforms can understand gaps in the buyer journey and create meaningful solutions to bridge the gaps in a marketplace (such as Shopify apps).

I went through the usual app search/install onboarding process, and then spoke to other sellers on Shopify who would do the entire cycle → from search to install to use to review/uninstall. There seems to be quite a bit of activity in Shopify apps, with sellers actively trying to use apps to customize their workflows.

I originally spun up this back of the envelope visual as a case study on how app marketplaces work outside Microsoft. Since a marketplace has 4 stakeholders – the platform, the seller, the user, the app developer – the platform and the app developers usually strive to streamline ops, especially those in the critical path to Transaction Management.

App developers need to understand how sellers would install and use apps that integrate well with the core platform, thereby creating value in the form of productivity (high value for low input), or revenue (ROI in terms of small cost, high revenue drivers).

An artifact like this can be created for virtually any feature. I'd highly recommend Jared Spool's 45 minute video on the Kano model where he talks about the customer journey of Hyatt hotels and their linear visualization of a customer journey and going from 'extreme frustration to extreme delight'.

Mitalee Mulpuru

This simple back of the envelope visual illustrates a linear customer journey map and the points in that journey that should be optimized.. Use it to help you dissect conversion rate optimization and make decisions around creating new features or mending existing ones to better suit the user.

This simple 2 axis visual is a linear customer journey map (one of many) that makes it possible to dissect conversion rate optimization and either create new features or mend existing ones to suit the user better. The green areas are drivers - or steps in the journey that drive customer satisfaction. The red areas are usually where one could innovate because they are steps or actions in the journey we don’t want them to perform.

Have a streamlined UX with the platform (to avoid confusion)

Have the right Calls to Action for the workflows the app would enable

Understand how a user would reach the app (through SEO, through the app store, etc) to drive awareness

Back of the envelope Customer Journey Map at Shopify

App User Journey

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