How to Create a Student Journey Map for Your Martial Arts School

There are many different reasons people choose to practice martial arts. As an experienced business owner, you have a good idea of why these people value your school over the others in your area. We recommend verifying these assumptions by creating a martial arts student journey map to precisely identify how students interact with your brand. To help you, let’s examine these four simple steps to creating a student journey map.

Define Your Student Personas

Personas help you understand your students, so you can better meet their needs. Personas also help you connect with the right prospects through your marketing. One of the easiest ways to do student persona research is to survey students as they become customers as soon as they enter your martial arts software. That is, when a prospect comes in for a trial class, ask them to complete a questionnaire about their interests, habits and needs. You can also learn about your current students by putting together a similar survey.

In addition to your typical health questions, consider asking your prospects and students these questions:

• How did you hear about us?
• What are your fitness or learning goals?
• What is your most significant barrier to achieving these goals?
• Do you have previous martial arts experience?
• Do you currently take classes at another martial arts school?
• When coming to take classes here, how far of a drive would it be on average?

Get Your Free Copy of the Martial Arts Benchmark Report

Document Your Student Touchpoints 

Touchpoints are the places where your students interact with your brand. It’s helpful to be aware of these points so you can keep your messaging consistent and strategic.

Some common student touchpoints are your:

• Website
• Social Media Accounts
• Email
• Local Events
• Front Desk
• Classes, Seminars and Workshops

Choose Your Map Type

According to HubSpot, there are four main types of “customer” journey maps:

• Current State: This type of map visualizes the actions, thoughts and emotions your student experience while interacting with your martial arts school.
• Day in the Life: This type of map visualizes the actions, thoughts and emotions your students experience in everyday life, whether it involves your school or not.
• Future State: This type of map visualizes what you think will be the actions, thoughts and emotions of your students in the future.
• Service Blueprint: This type of map begins as a simplified version of the previous maps. It then layers on the factors responsible for delivering that experience, like people, policies, tech and processes.

Experience the Journey Yourself

Although it may be difficult to experience your student journey authentically, it’s essential to try. Here are a few options for this step:

• Role Play: Act like you are a prospect interacting with the different touchpoints of your journey and communicate your experience with your team.
• Participate: From time to time, attend some of your classes to see what they are like from a student’s perspective. Of course, this only works if you aren’t’ teaching the classes.
• Hire: Ask a friend or family member who is likely unknown to your team through the different touchpoints of your student journey. Then share their experience with you and your team.

How well do you know your students and their reasons for choosing your martial arts school? If you want to intelligently answer that question, you have to create a martial arts student journey map. Doing so will allow you to make informed business decisions to achieve sustainable growth and scale.

Learn how Champion martial arts schools run their businesses.
Download the Benchmark Report today.