Army Lead Experience Audit

Created the first end-to-end Army recruiting journey map, uncovering experience gaps that informed a more personalized communication strategy across the lead lifecycle.

- Overview

THE CHALLENGE

Joining the U.S. Army involves several steps, from initially exploring opportunities to connecting with a recruiter and moving through the enlistment process.

Along the way, prospective recruits interact with different websites, communications, and recruiting teams.

When those experiences aren't connected, it can be difficult for someone to understand what comes next, what action they need to take, or where to turn for help.

The challenge was to understand the recruiting journey as a whole and identify opportunities to make it clearer and more supportive.

MY ROLE

I led a review of the prospective recruit experience, bringing together the different interactions and communications someone encounters throughout the recruiting process.

I mapped the journey, identified areas of friction, and developed recommendations to help create a more connected experience.

My focus was on looking beyond individual interactions to understand how the experience worked from beginning to end.

Research

Research Approach

Rather than relying solely on documentation, I immersed myself in the experience as if I were a real prospective recruit.

Research activities included:

  • Completing Army lead forms

  • Speaking directly with recruiters

  • Reviewing Army recruiting websites

  • Analyzing existing communications

  • Mapping every interaction across channels

  • Interviewing internal stakeholders

  • Reviewing existing campaign logic

This firsthand approach provided a much deeper understanding than existing documentation alone.

What I discovered:

  • There was no shared understanding of the lead journey. Different teams understood only the portion of the experience they owned. No artifact connected every touchpoint into a single experience.

  • Many messages assumed prospects already understood the recruiting process.

  • Prospects often experienced long periods with limited engagement.

  • Without a common journey map, discussions often focused on isolated experiences rather than the overall customer journey.

The Journey Map

The completed artifact visualized every recruiting stage from awareness through accession, connecting customer goals, business processes, technologies, pain points, and opportunities into a single source of truth.

The Outcome

The project established the first end-to-end view of the Army's lead experience, giving teams a shared understanding of the recruiting journey.

The journey map became a resource for onboarding, planning, and identifying future experience improvements.

It also provided a foundation for thinking about recruiting communications and digital experiences as connected parts of one journey.

This project reinforced the importance of looking at an experience from the user's perspective rather than through the structure of the organization delivering it.

What may look like separate processes to different teams can feel like one continuous experience to the person going through them.

Understanding that bigger picture makes it easier to identify where people need more guidance, where communication can improve, and how the overall experience can feel more connected.