How to Make the Customer Journey Slide [Expert Instructions]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- May 2
- 6 min read
While working on a sales narrative deck for our client, Ken, he asked a simple but strategic question:
“How much of the customer journey should we actually show on the slide?”
Our Creative Director responded instantly:
“Only what helps you win the next conversation.”
It landed. Because it was true.
As a presentation design agency, there’s no shortage of sales, fundraising, and strategic storytelling decks we work on each quarter. And across these, the customer journey slide always manages to spark debate. What should it include? Where should it go in the flow? Should it even exist?
This isn’t just a design decision. It's a narrative decision. And when done right, it can completely shift the buyer’s perception of value, urgency, and differentiation.
This blog unpacks how to make the customer journey slide in a way that doesn't just inform, it sells. Drawing from battle-tested decks, we'll dissect the structure, the psychology, and the subtle art of making this one slide carry the weight of ten.
The Real Job of the Customer Journey Slide
The customer journey slide is often misunderstood. Most treat it as a documentation exercise. A map of what the user does, step by step, from problem to purchase to loyalty.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth: no buyer cares about the entire journey. They only care about the part they’re stuck in right now.
That’s why this slide should never be built to explain — it should be built to provoke. It should reveal where the buyer is, expose what’s broken about that stage, and then tease the promised land waiting just ahead.
This isn't a UX workshop. It's a sales conversation. The journey isn’t a series of actions. It's a series of emotional states — frustration, confusion, overwhelm, then relief.
Great decks don’t just map the journey. They weaponize it. They position the buyer’s current state as a problem, and the vendor’s worldview as the only viable escape.
When the customer journey slide gets this right, it’s no longer just a timeline. It’s a turning point. The moment where the buyer shifts from passive listener to active believer.
How to Make the Customer Journey Slide
1. Don’t start with the user’s actions — start with their emotional state
The most common mistake is building the slide like a chronological checklist: "User discovers problem → researches solutions → compares vendors → signs up → onboards → becomes loyal.”
That’s a process. Not a journey.
A journey has stakes. The buyer must recognize themselves — not as a persona — but as a person in pain.
So instead of “awareness,” label that first stage for what it really feels like:“Unaware they’re bleeding revenue due to broken manual workflows.”
Instead of “consideration,” say:“Overwhelmed by too many tools and no clear path forward.”
Each stage should be an emotional snapshot. Because decisions aren’t made in spreadsheets. They’re made in meetings when someone says, “This isn’t working anymore.”
2. Limit the journey to three to five stages
Buyers don’t need ten steps. They need one step — the next one. But to earn the right to show that, the journey must start where they are, and end where they want to be.
Three to five stages is the sweet spot. It keeps the story tight. Each stage should do one job: Expose a new level of the problem or a shift in mindset.
Here’s a structure that works:
Status Quo — what they’re doing today (and what’s silently killing their efficiency)
Realization — the moment they sense something’s wrong
Struggle — failed attempts to fix it
New Worldview — the reframe your product introduces
Transformation — the promised land with your solution
This arc mirrors the structure of great sales narratives. Because it is one.
3. Use contrast to create urgency
If every stage looks and sounds like a natural, easy transition from the one before, the slide fails. Buyers must feel a disconnect between “where we are” and “where we need to be.”
So exaggerate the gaps. Widen the contrast between stages.
If Stage 1 is labeled “Manual data entry across teams,” then Stage 5 must say something like “Real-time, automated reporting with 98 percent accuracy.”
Don’t just show change. Show a shift in worldviews. The gap is what sells.
4. Name the villain — without naming the competitor
Great journey slides reveal that the buyer isn’t just stuck — they’re stuck for a reason. Usually because of outdated beliefs, legacy systems, or internal inertia.
This is where a silent villain enters the slide.
The villain could be:
A broken process (“Still stitching reports across spreadsheets”)
A mindset (“Measuring ROI without a clear attribution model”)
A behavior (“Teams operating in silos, duplicating work”)
Never name a competing product. That triggers defensiveness. But always name the friction point your solution was born to resolve.
Make the buyer nod. Make them feel seen. Then make them want out.
5. Don’t put your product in the journey — yet
Tempting as it is, resist the urge to drop your tool, logo, or features in the journey.
This slide is about the customer, not the company. It's the build-up. Not the pitch.
By holding back, you give the buyer the space to self-diagnose. And when they do, they're far more open to your solution in the next slide.
This delayed gratification builds narrative tension. Which means when you finally reveal your product, it feels like an answer — not a sales push.
6. Design the slide for clarity, not creativity
Every journey slide needs only three visual elements:
A horizontal or vertical flow (arrows or steps)
Clear labels for each stage
One line of context or insight under each label
Do not stack paragraphs. Do not use small type. Do not try to look clever.
Buyers are scanning. Executives are skimming. The message should land in three seconds or less.
The slide should feel like a mirror — not a puzzle.
If there’s one visual move that helps, it’s this: Use bold or color only on the current stage where the buyer is stuck. This anchors their attention. It says: “This is where you are. Let’s talk about what’s next.”
7. Test it by asking this one question
Once the slide is built, ask this:
“If the buyer saw only this slide, would they ask to see the solution?”
If the answer is yes, it’s working. If not, the slide is likely describing rather than provoking.
Refine until it creates discomfort. Until it makes the status quo look unviable.
The best journey slides create tension that only your product can resolve.
8. Where it sits in the deck — and why
The journey slide doesn’t go at the end. It doesn’t belong in the appendix.
Its home is early — right after the problem, right before the solution.
Think of it as a narrative bridge. It connects the pain the buyer knows to the solution they don’t know exists yet.
Here’s the ideal placement:
The Big Change — frame the shift happening in the world
The Stakes — show what’s at risk if they don’t adapt
The Journey — reveal why current paths fail and how others are evolving
The Solution — finally, introduce your product as the necessary response
This is the most high-leverage sequence. It’s how elite teams sell complex change in simple stories.
9. What not to do — ever
A few red flags that kill the impact of a customer journey slide:
Overloading with jargon (e.g. “Pre-onboarding discovery workflow alignment”)
Making every stage sound like a win (no pain, no urgency)
Using a flat tone across all stages
Failing to show what’s wrong with the current approach
Adding your product name into every step like a checklist
If it reads like a boring LinkedIn article, it won’t move the room.
Remember — this is the heartbeat of the pitch. It should hurt.But it should also offer hope.
Why Hire Us to Build your Presentation?
If you're reading this, you're probably working on a presentation right now. You could do it all yourself. But the reality is - that’s not going to give you the high-impact presentation you need. It’s a lot of guesswork, a lot of trial and error. And at the end of the day, you’ll be left with a presentation that’s “good enough,” not one that gets results. On the other hand, we’ve spent years crafting thousands of presentations, mastering both storytelling and design. Let us handle this for you, so you can focus on what you do best.