Impact Mapping

## What is Impact Mapping?

Let's highlight the tasks of Impact Mapping: - **Goal Setting.** An impact map helps us determine what we want the outcome of the project to be. This means increased sales, improved user experience, increased customer satisfaction. - **Scrutinize to identify stakeholders.** Use the influence map technique to understand: who can influence the achievement of these goals; who cares about a successful outcome? - **Developing the most detailed action plan possible.** Allows you to identify what actions, functions, products will contribute to arriving at the end point of the intended goal. Also plan to answer the question of how to implement the project. Let's consider the above on specific Impact Mapping examples. For example, we have created a project to increase sales in an online store. We set a starting goal: 20% conversion growth in six months. Stakeholders - potential customers, current customers, support team. We highlight a probable set of actions: updating the site design, adding reviews, implementing a recommendation system. The next project is aimed at improving service. The goal is to raise the level of customer satisfaction to 90%. Let's identify who is interested in this: customers, support staff, managers. The following actions will lead to the goal: holding training seminars for employees, updating communication scripts, launching online chat on the website. Project: release of a new health app: The goal is to attract 50000 users in the first year. Interested users, partners, investors. Actions: marketing campaign, modifying the application interface, creating a user community. It becomes clear: with the help of an impact map it is easy to assess how the planned actions will affect the business goals in a general way. ## What is Impact Mapping used for? Impact Mapping is used in a variety of fields. An impact map helps teams to move towards their goals. The focus is on maximizing the use of available resources. Let's trace the rationality of the technique on the following examples: 1. **Software development** \- to identify features that need to be implemented in the product. 2. **Project management** \- to remind developers, managers about the necessity to perform specific tasks. 3. **Marketing/sales** \- to understand customer needs. Later, working strategies are formed. 4. **Education** \- designing courses, programs as a bridge between learning objectives and actual results. 5. **Social projects** \- to understand the nature of the impact of activities/programs on society. Understanding the role of the impact map helps teams build focused and impactful strategies. ## Who should use this technique? Impact Mapping is suitable for a variety of team project management professionals: - **Project Managers**. Apply impact map to visualize the link: task-end-goal. It helps in planning, resource allocation. - For**marketers** to create advertising campaigns, it is important to understand what to "hook" customers with. Impact Mapping visually reflects visible relationships. - **Developers/designers** who want to recognize the impact of their work on the customer experience. - **Large Company Strategists**. Evaluate the impact of improvements/changes on the big picture. Utilizing tech improves process efficiency. Teamwork is improved because of it. An impact map is especially useful in dynamic, multi-layered projects. ## How do I create an Impact Map? Creating an Impact Map is a process that includes a list of interrelated key steps. Let's look at an algorithm that will help a beginner build an impact map: ### Why Start by defining the basic purpose of the project. What do you want to accomplish? The "why" question sets the focus of the effort. An honest answer helps you understand what actions will be most meaningful. Outline why this goal is important to the organization. Goal setting strategies work best when the SMART method is used:

**Example:** **Goal:** Increase online store revenue by 20% over the next 6 months. **Specific:** revenue growth. **Measurable:** by 20%. **Achievable:** based on analyzing growth over the last six months. Relevant**:** related to the company's growth plan. **Time-bound:** in 6 months. ### Who Identify stakeholders. Who will be affected by your project? It is important to think about everyone who can influence or be affected. This could be users, customers, partners, competitors. ### How Determine how you are going to get to the final point. What actions, features, changes will be needed? Write down ideas, later grouping them into possible solutions. Examples of impact: - **Improving the website interface** \- it should be easy to navigate. - **Launching** a social media**advertising campaign** targeting a specific target audience. - **Expanding the range of products** to attract customers, discounts. ### What In the last step, outline the specific tasks that need to be accomplished to bring the ideas to life. Prioritize tasks by assigning responsibility for their completion. Each step requires careful thought and team discussion. The step-by-step approach makes Impact Map development collaborative and adds a note of interactivity. ## Tools for Impact Mapping There are specialized tools for building an impact map. They offer a list of unique features for visualizing/organizing information. Here are some sought-after options: - **Miro: an** online collaboration board. Allows teams to easily create maps, add notes/thought dances online. - **Lucidchart:** great for creating charts, maps. The main plus is the user-friendly interface for building maps and combining with other apps. - **MindMeister:** an option for creating mind maps. They help to organize thoughts, ideas - rather, it is an additional option aimed at visualization. - **Canva:** availability of a large collection of templates, tools for graphic design makes the application in demand. The listed tools allow team members to interact, clearly organize their thoughts and ideas. This makes the decision-making process clearer and easier to visualize