A storyboard is a linear sequence of illustrations used in animation to develop a broader story. A storyboard process is now used also in business to understand and map customers’ experience and enable the growth of the company using that process.
Table of Contents
What is storyboarding?
Simply put a storyboard is a sequence of illustrations whose aim is to visualize the critical moments of a whole story.
That isn’t a new tool in animation. Indeed storyboarding was popularized by Walt Disney Studios during the 1930s.
Storyboarding is critical in animation as it enables to develop of the broader story.
Indeed, the developers of content would use storyboarding as an inexpensive way to build content to see if it worked before doing the entire production.
Thus, storyboarding, as used in animation, has a few key elements that make it so useful:
An inexpensive way to visualize a story before it gets developed in full.
Visualize a whole story with a minimum amount of information.
A quick and dynamic approach to visualize an entire story.
The ability to capture the critical emotions at each sequence.
A way to present and pitch a story before it could get produced.
Storyboarding, which has become a best practice and process in the movie industry, is now also an essential process in business; let me show you why.
Storyboarding in business can help in many other cases:
In this case, we’ll look at how Airbnb has been using storyboarding to uncover hidden patterns for its customers that enabled the further platform scale.
Creating a great customer experience is the highest priority at Airbnb and something that we’ve made a big part of our culture.
Storyboarding then helped Airbnb executives and employees to understand its customers deeply.
Empathy and being able to feel the emotions and moods of customers throughout the travel experience enabled Airbnb to map it at best.
Map the customer journey
One thing that’s really helped is a storyboard we created that depicts the different steps someone goes through from the time she first hears about Airbnb to the time she leaves post-visit feedback. We have 15 pictures that cover the guest journey and 15 more that show the journey for the host.
Nathan Blecharczyk also pointed out how this storyboarding process needs to be done from end-to-end.
From the customer first hears about your product and service up to the time she/he has consumed it.
Understand where you’re missing out
What the storyboard made clear is that we were missing a big part of the picture—the offline experience—that’s an even more meaningful part of using Airbnb than booking a property.
Thus, this process enables the company to uncover steps you were missing out on.
Each of those steps you were not covering or providing value will become an essential ingredient for a great customer experience.
However, it is essential not to get bogged down in too many details.
Select only the meaningful moments
We started brainstorming what our storyboard would look like. We started with a list of many, many moments, grouped like ones together and refined them down into a concise set. If you have too many moments on your storyboard, it’s worthless. Fifteen seemed comprehensive yet manageable.
As pointed out by Nathan Blecharczyk on the Sequoia blog, it is crucial to map at first only the most significant moments.
That makes the process manageable and actionable.
For instance, Airbnb had mapped fifteen key moments in its storyboards.
Build a roadmap around those pivotal moments
We then had a roadmap for figuring out what a customer expects in each of those situations, what we were doing to meet those expectations and where we had an opportunity to create a “wow” moment.
Once those key moments get uncovered, it’s time to offer a great customer experience by providing value to your customers in those faces.
Airbnb likes to define those moments when the value is provided at best as a “wow” moment.
Thus, it has to be turned into a product roadmap.
Uncover the gaps and fill them up with a “wow” experience
We noticed a lot of gaps. It became our number one priority to fix those areas where we weren’t doing what the customer expected of us.
What’s a valuable “wow” moment?
Imagine in Airbnb’s case the case of a guest arriving at a host’s house and, without even knocking on the door, finding the guest with a bottle of champagne to celebrate the arrival of the guest (this is an exaggerated example as some people might not like this welcome).
But the point is the storyboard enables you to develop a deeper bond with a customer, to improve the experience at each potential step.
Airbnb neighborhood guides case study
One example of one of the projects that Airbnb has implemented as a consequence of using storyboards is the “neighborhoods guides” section available on the platform.
With storyboards, Airbnb understood all the questions travelers had before, during, and after traveling.
Therefore, Airbnb came up with the neighborhoods guides:
So that for each city, people could find answers to questions related to the things to do in the city.
And also look at all the possible things to do in each neighborhood.
This helped Airbnb guests to find all the travel-related answers they might have before reserving the trip.
Those guides are so granular to unlock critical information for each neighborhood, almost like you had a local, giving you all the suggestions you needed to have a great trip:
Key takeaways
Disney popularized storyboards in the 1930s to develop stories before the production of movies
Storyboards became a best practice in the movie industry world as a way to craft compelling stories before producing expensive movies
Now storyboards get used in business for several purposes. Airbnb used it to enhance customers’ experience
During Christmas vacation back in 2011, Chesky, Airbnb co-founder found out about the storyboarding technique, and he implemented it within the company to map the three key processes (host, guest, and hiring process) for Airbnb.
Those storyboards got transformed in actions within the service. One example is the “neighborhood guides” that Airbnb developed to give all travel-related answers to its users.
Key Highlights
Introduction to Storyboarding:
Storyboarding is a sequence of illustrations used to visualize critical moments of a story or process.
It originated in animation, popularized by Walt Disney Studios in the 1930s.
Storyboarding helps in developing and testing content before full production.
Storyboarding in Animation:
Used as an inexpensive way to visualize a story before full development.
Visualizes the story with minimal information, capturing emotions and critical moments.
Used for pitching and presenting story ideas.
Importance of Storyboarding in Business:
Walt Disney’s use of storyboarding aligned the organization around a vision.
Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky learned about storyboarding from Disney’s biography.
Storyboarding helps uncover hidden patterns and deeply understand customer experiences.
Empathy and Customer Mapping:
Storyboarding facilitates empathy and understanding of customer emotions.
Mapping the customer journey helps identify critical steps and emotions.
Uncovering Missed Steps:
Storyboarding reveals steps that might be missing in the customer experience.
Uncovered steps become essential for delivering a great customer experience.
Selecting Key Moments:
Start by mapping only the most significant moments to make the process manageable.
Airbnb initially mapped fifteen key moments in their storyboards.
Creating a Roadmap:
Develop a roadmap to meet customer expectations and create “wow” moments.
Turn valuable “wow” moments into actionable steps.
Filling Gaps with “Wow” Experiences:
Storyboarding helps uncover gaps in the customer experience.
“Wow” experiences deepen customer bonds and improve each step.
Airbnb’s Neighborhood Guides:
Airbnb implemented projects based on storyboards, such as “neighborhood guides.”
These guides offer answers to travelers’ questions and suggestions for each neighborhood.
The guides enhance Airbnb guests’ travel experiences and provide valuable local insights.
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Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
