When we talk about building roadmaps, it’s tempting to dive straight into features and functionality. What can we deliver this quarter? What will move us forward? Most roadmaps fail not because of poor execution — but because they were solving the wrong problem to begin with.

The most effective roadmaps don’t start with a backlog; they start with goals. Specifically, business and customer goals.  

That’s because in global branded commerce, everything is connected. A decision made in ecommerce impacts marketing campaigns, fulfillment operations, or even how an in-store associate interacts with a customer. 

A roadmap built in isolation risks delivering on the wrong thing — or worse, delivering nothing at all. 

So, let’s talk about how we build roadmaps that drive customer experience impact.

Start with business and customer goals 

Too often, roadmap decisions are driven by individual teams or platforms rather than broader business and customer objectives. That’s a mistake.

It’s essential to understand cross-functional initiatives that may influence prioritization, dependencies, or even funding. That could be increasing customer retention, unlocking new revenue streams, or improving operational agility across channels.

For example, if marketing is gearing up for a brand campaign, and the retail team is piloting a new store format, those initiatives need to be factored into prioritization.

We bring stakeholders into the conversation early. Not just to capture their input, but to ground our thinking in the realities of what’s happening across the business. 

We’re listening to customers, too. Voice of customer programs, NPS data, reviews, support queries, and direct feedback help us prioritize what matters most. 

Map the customer journey

Once we understand the broader business context, we dig into the customer experience.

Customer journey mapping is a critical lens through which we identify where to focus our efforts as well as the technologies that underpin the experience.

For example, let’s take a typical path: homepage > PLP > PDP.

Under the hood, this may involve a headless CMS, a PIM, and multiple integrations into an OMS or ERP. Each of these systems can have their own dependencies that can impact timelines, budgets, and sequencing, so failing to map them early can create downstream delivery issues.

By mapping the journey, we can pinpoint friction points, understand technical dependencies, and align prioritization around the areas that deliver the most value to the customer.

That value often revolves around speed, ease, and trust.

Break down silos to foster collaboration

Roadmaps may be created on platforms like Figma, Miro or JIRA, but they live through the conversations between product, tech, CX, and marketing teams.

Projects often falter because teams aren’t aligned from the start. Teams may be handed a finished roadmap with no chance to weigh in; others may be brough in too late, making it difficult to get buy-in or adapt to shifting priorities.

Early alignment is essential. If the relevant teams aren’t part of the journey from the start, it’s hard to bring them along later. 

Shared ownership means everyone bringing their focus, constraints, and priorities. This creates space for trade-offs, accountability, and clarity of purpose.

Use a prioritization framework

There’s always more to do than time or budget allows. That’s where prioritization frameworks come in.

Whether it’s ICE (Impact, Confidence, Ease), MoSCoW (Must Have, Should Have, Could Have, Won’t Have), or the Value vs. Effort matrix, frameworks give structure to the hard decisions.

They help us assess trade-offs more objectively and communicate those decisions clearly to stakeholders.

But frameworks are only as useful as the definitions behind them. Encourage a shared understanding of how value is defined: are we talking about revenue, satisfaction, technical debt reduction, operational efficiency, or other metrics?

And don’t forget to account for the cost of inaction. What happens if we ignore specific CX gaps? We’ve seen teams prioritize ‘ease of implementation’ only to realize it didn’t move the needle on CX. That’s why shared value criteria are critical.

Use data and insights

When it comes to prioritization, data keeps us honest.

A/B testing, heatmaps, conversion funnels, and voice of customer data give us confidence that what we’re prioritizing will actually make a difference. And when the data isn’t there? That absence tells us something too.

Maybe we’ve got a measurement gap. Maybe our analytics setup needs refining. Either way, we fill in that gap to build better foundations.

It’s about using the best available insights to make smarter, faster decisions.

Work iteratively

By delivering initiatives in sprints, we can test, learn, and adapt as we go – maintaining the momentum.

This approach also creates more frequent feedback loops (from customers, stakeholders, and internal teams) that lead to better outcomes over time. 

Roadmaps shouldn’t be static. They should evolve as we learn more about the market, our users, and our own capabilities.  

By remaining agile, we can respond to shifting business needs and consumer expectations.

Define KPIs to measure success

How do we know if it worked? When was the last time your team revisited a feature post-launch to see if it truly improved the customer experience?

Teams often move onto the next feature without measuring the impact of the last one. Every release should be connected to a specific set of KPIs that can be used to track its performance.

How else will you know if you’ve delivered success or not?

Performance should be regularly reviewed to understand what’s working well and what needs refinement.

The takeaway

Great roadmaps not only manage tasks but also align teams. They connect the dots between business goals, customer needs, and the technology that powers them.

Ask yourself whether your roadmap is focused on what matters most — or just what’s next on the list.

Because when roadmaps are built around what matters most, that’s when they make a real difference.