Understanding the difference between user-journey and user-flow

As a UX design service agency, 1Point1’s design portfolio is diverse and our team has spearheaded enterprise solutions in various domains such as Real Estate, Manufacturing, Legal, Sports, Public Utility, etc. Design plays a key role in ensuring the business goals are aligned with the end-user objectives. An intuitive and thoughtful design ensures a seamless experience for the user, thereby making the digital solution a success.

Product managers and business owners are always seen discussing how the User Journey and User Flow of the digital solution can be perfected. Most designers and product leads alike often get confused between the term user journey and user flow. Is it the same or is there any difference between that you should know when developing the UX design strategy? Let’s find out.

What Is A User Journey in UX Design?

A user journey is a way any user interacts with a product, website, or application. It defines the scenarios, situations for a user on how to communicate with a product or app. It does not cover functionality, screens but ideal steps users should follow to achieve a particular goal. There is no hard-and-fast rule but in most cases, the scenario consists of four to twelve steps.

Let’s consider the example of a customer ordering food from an online app. We will look at the User Journey of a person who would like to order something from a popular fast-food chain -McDonald’s. Let us see the possible User Journey:

This is the standard route that the user will take to place his/her order and thus it is the User Journey. You must have noticed that there is nothing about the application’s functionality, layout, or screen to screen flow. Here, we have just considered common and ideal scenarios. User Journeys deal with the emotions, and motivations of the customer. The most distinct aspect of the User Journey is that it focuses on the process of using the product.

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What Is A User Flow in UX Design?

User Flow is a detailed flow of an application consists of screens, interface, functionality, clickable events from one screen to another screen. While the User Journey is concerned with how the user is using the product, the User Flow focuses on the actual User Experience design of the overall process.

User flow is a specific path of application that a user needs to follow to complete his interaction or experience. A person would like to purchase something from an eCommerce website. Let us see a typical User Flow of an e-commerce website.

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You will see the detailed flow of screens, user interfaces, and functionalities involved for the above transaction. This detailed interaction and screen to screen communication called User Flow. Another aspect of the User Flow is that the experts at UX designing service agency will have to consider every piece of information that the user needs to move to the next stage and ultimately complete the task.

From the above-mentioned infographics, we hope that now you can fully grasp the difference between the User Journey and User Flow. UX Design services have been an integral part of 1Point1’s service and product offerings. If you an interested in hiring a UX design agency with an industry-proven discuss your project and contact us for more information.