User flow diagrams, also named user journey maps, are a visual representation of the path that a user takes when interacting with a service or product. Such user flows provide a detailed path and a step-by-step outline of how actual users navigate through the products, what actions they take, and what decisions they make along the way. User flow diagrams are a crucial and essential tool for UX Designers, Product Managers, or Web Developers to understand people’s motivations, behaviors, and experience.
Keep reading to discover how to build your next user flow diagram on a digital canvas — Whiteboards.io. We’ll also explain what user flow diagrams are, why creating them is so beneficial, and how you can do it with our app.
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What is a user flow diagram?
User flow diagrams represent different paths a target audience follows when using a product. Creating user flows involves mapping out the entire journey, starting from the entry points (so how the users interact with your product) to the final outcome (how people navigate through your product to reach the final step, for instance, the purchase form).
Such user flow charts can represent any step a user takes inside your service or product: browsing, searching, selecting, registering, or purchasing. However, these charts are not limited to just creating a website user flow but they can also depict the entire customer journey map, identify any potential pain points or areas for improvement, and allow the design team to make necessary changes to the product.
User flow diagrams can be created with various tools — you can go the analog way of pen and paper or use digital whiteboards. These maps can represent a simple yet logical path of the user flow. They can range from simple sketches to more complex, detailed flowcharts depending on the user research and level of information needed.
Regardless of the user flow diagram type, they provide a bird’s eye view of the user’s perspective of the product and enable cross-functional teams to collaborate and work together to create a superior user experience.
Why are user flows so important?
User flow diagrams are very essential for Designers or Developers to create intuitive, efficient, and easy-to-use digital products. Understanding the user’s journey is crucial for a lot of teams for several reasons:
- User flows help communicate the product goals to stakeholders
A visual walkthrough through a product, app, or website helps understand actions users take to get things done. Such digital illustration expresses what exactly the product should do, explains why the features are the way they are, and provokes team members to come up with better solutions for mastering user experience.
Having all the data in one virtual space helps define the current user actions and prepare ground-breaking visions that will ease interactions with your service.
- User flows speed up the development process and reduce the number of errors
Creating a specific user flow with all of the known steps through the product can generally affect the quality and speed of the work done. Working on different entry points, building user journeys, or conducting proper user testing leaves little to no room for errors.
When Developers work along with the visual depiction of how users navigate through the product, they are more likely to keep the diagram in mind and code the product in a way that the team envisioned. Such an approach reduces the chances of constant rework or delays.
- User flows advocate for the user-centered design
One of the most important aspects of user flow diagrams is that they force the product and design teams to think about their product’s interface from the perspective of a user. So when the team decides to create their own customer journey map, they can see quite early in the process which of their ideas or assumptions can lead to confusion, impatience, or frustration, or are simply great solutions.
Designing any kind of user flow way upfront ensures the team will create more intuitive products, gather feedback from essential stakeholders at the right stage of the process, and surprise users with a great experience at the end.
Benefits of user flow charts
While user flows are primarily used by product or design teams to map out the flow of an app or website, they are also a remarkable source of information about the customer experience and needs. On top of that, they bring many benefits:
- Enhanced communication
Insightful user flows support the UX design team in understanding the user journey, collecting all essential data, and identifying customer pain points. This promotes open and frequent discussions between the designers or software engineers to create the best user experience while also keeping the business objectives in mind.
- Improved user experience
User flows provide a great visualization of the product’s particular page, enable designers to see if the current web design is clear, or perhaps if the sign-up process is as comprehensible as possible. UX flow diagrams make it easier to share the customer journey maps with stakeholders, generate and communicate ideas, and get buy-in from team members.
- Increased efficiency
By mapping out the user journey, designers can identify who the user persona exactly is, find opportunities to streamline the customer journey, and make the product more efficient. Great user flows focus on keeping the changes at a low fidelity before the teams invest a lot of time in designs or coding.
- Better decision-making
Proper user research helps designers make more informed decisions about product design thanks to insights into users’ objectives, behaviors, or preferences. Ultimately, they also help align business objectives with user needs and expectations.
How to create user flow diagrams with Whiteboards.io?
Don’t create a user flow by relying solely on your best guesswork! Instead, analyze relevant data first to understand the journey customers take in your product. By taking a data-driven approach to creating user flows, you can rest assured that the design process will be supported with accurate and relevant insights.
To make a user flow as efficient and simple as possible, create a Whiteboards account now and test it for free for 30 days!
TIP: Below you’ll find eight steps in which we present how you can leverage Whiteboards to create an unforgettable and insightful user flow diagram. Add all the templates and elements we mention to the same canvas to keep your work tidy and in one digital space.
Step 1: Understand the user journey
A user flow is based on what the user does when interacting with your product. Therefore, you need to understand who your users are. Their needs, motivations, and behavior are extremely crucial to make the diagram effective.
Create smoother user flows by conducting proper research first and then designing your user persona. Whiteboards.io meets you halfway and offers a ready-to-use User Persona template or Customer Persona template which you can adjust to your needs.
You can create your customers’ and users’ profiles in a few minutes by filling out the ready-made frames with information from your research.
Once you have your user/customer profile ready, you can move on to the next step and create a customer journey map. Such maps help you analyze what exactly users do when engaging with your product, how they feel when using it, or what pain points they expect to get solved.
Step 2: Identify if your users’ goals match with yours
Next, determine your users’ objectives and asses how they align with your business goals. If you’re already aware of the company’s goals, e.g., to increase the conversion rate, to ease the sign-up process, or to find out how many screens are needed when opening an account, try to contrast them with the desires and needs your users have.
Keep in mind that there are as many varied goals as users of your app or website. It may be impossible to find the perfect solution for everyone, so try to conduct appropriate surveys or additional research to find common ground.
To make sure that you’re focusing your attention and allocating just enough resources to additional studies, use the SMART Goals template. Thanks to our ready-made template, you can establish specific, measurable, and realistic goals both for your company and customers.
Step 3: Discover your users’ entry points
If you’re planning to design your website, you may want to find out where your users and customers are coming from. The most popular entry points are organic search, direct traffic, social media, paid ads, email newsletters, referral sites, etc.
You can use Google Analytics to identify the entry point with the most percentages and how your users behave on your website. For instance, direct visitors would type your brand name in Google whereas the organic search visitors would first review the list of dozens of available solutions before naming you as the most suitable and trustworthy seller.
In whichever form you have the data, you can easily upload files or embed iframes to your digital whiteboard and have it always available at your fingertips.
Step 4: Familiarize yourself with the visitors’ needs
If you want to design the best user flows, you have to step into the shoes of your visitors. It means you need to understand what are their motivations and needs and why they chose your solution as their go-to product. Analyze the data to know more about their problems or doubts, what concerns might arise when navigating through your product, and what answers they seek.
This step will be quite easy to complete since you already have everything you need on your whiteboard, including the User Persona, Customer Persona, and SMART Goals templates.
Step 5: Visualize the user flow
At this point, you should know who your users are, their objectives, and where they’re coming from. Now it’s time to create a user flow!
Think about how your users interact with your product, what they do before, during, or after they visit a particular page of your website, or in which order the mobile screens display for them. Check what they see and what actions they take one after another. Pay close attention to each of the steps you perform in your users’ shoes. It may vary depending on the goals of different users!
Once you identify additional pages or mobile screens you need to create, find out what information they should provide to your users. Also, ask yourself how they should be connected to each other.
To do it effortlessly, add our ready-made Flowchart template and adjust it to your needs by adding or removing elements. Represent the user journeys as a step-by-step diagram and visualize the navigation through the most complex processes.
Connect specific elements of your flow chart with the lines above which you’ll add “yes” and “no” as answers. Remember to make the questions on your flow chart as concise as possible.
Learn more about the basics, best practices, and benefits of a flow chart in our detailed article regarding charting user journeys.
Step 6: Create a prototype of your user flow
Test out the user flow that you’ve outlined in the previous step by creating a prototype. It will help you add finer details to the UX flows that you might’ve missed or weren’t aware of at the prior stage. Such an approach will allow you to create a more coherent UX design between user actions and content.
A more detailed UX flow diagram also validates if your UX design corresponds to your and your user’s goals.
Step 7: Enhance your designs with review, refinement, and testing
Share your user flow diagrams with stakeholders to gather feedback and discuss if any adjustments are needed in the UX design process. Once your high-fidelity prototype is ready, you can test it with actual users.
Seeing which steps or actions a user chooses at such early stages, helps you collect invaluable data and understand what needs to be changed in your user flow. Don’t be discouraged by errors., bugs, or hiccups— having them identified now allows you to apply solutions before releasing the final product to a broader audience.
To make sure your next flow chart is top-notch, create a Whiteboards account today and test it out for 30 days for free!
Ready to make your own user flow diagram?
User flows are a powerful weapon in your designer’s arsenal. They make it extremely easy to notice the architecture of the product — what pages still need to be created and how they should be connected. Once you have your user flow diagram ready, you can create a more detailed user journey to meet the expectations of your customers.
In our article, we’ve covered everything you need to know to build your own user flow diagram — including ready-made templates you can use to start right away. Thanks to Whiteboards.io, you will better understand your users and be able to provide them with a successful journey through your product.
Be sure to create your Whiteboards account today and test the features for 30 days for free!
