Customer Journey

What is the Customer Journey?

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• Definition of the customer journey
• Stages of the customer journey
• Touchpoints and moments of truth
• Customer journey mapping
• Customer journey vs sales funnel
• Use in consulting

Definition of the customer journey

The customer journey is the entirety of experiences a customer gathers in contact with a brand — from the first encounter, through consideration and purchase, to using the product and loyalty. It covers all touchpoints, that is, every situation in which the customer interacts with the company: from advertising and the website, through a conversation with a salesperson, to support and the product itself. A holistic view allows you to understand the customer’s real experience, rather than judging individual interactions in isolation.

Stages of the customer journey

A typical journey involves several stages: awareness of a need, searching and considering options, the decision and purchase, onboarding and use of the product, and finally the stage of loyalty and recommendation. At each of them, the customer has different goals, questions and emotions. Understanding this sequence allows the company to provide the right information and support at the right moment, rather than focusing solely on the sales stage.

Touchpoints and moments of truth

A touchpoint is any situation in which the customer is in contact with the brand — from an advertising banner to a post-purchase email. Of particular importance are moments of truth: key touchpoints that strongly influence the assessment of the brand, such as the first launch of the product or contact with support in a problem situation. It is at these moments that trust and loyalty are most often decided, which is why it is worth giving them special attention and designing the experience accordingly.

Customer journey mapping

Customer journey mapping is a visual representation of the successive stages of the experience, together with the customer’s actions, goals, emotions and touchpoints. The map is created for a chosen persona, based on data and conversations with customers. It shows where the customer encounters difficulties and where the company has a chance to pleasantly surprise them. The greatest value of mapping is revealing the gap between how the company imagines the customer experience and how it actually looks.

Customer journey vs sales funnel

Although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they differ in perspective. A sales funnel describes the process from the company’s point of view — from acquiring a lead to closing a deal. The customer journey looks through the customer’s eyes and also covers what happens after the purchase: onboarding, usage, support and recommendations. The funnel answers the question of how to sell; the journey, what the customer experience looks like and where it can be improved. The two approaches are best treated as complementary.

Use in consulting

In consulting, the customer journey is the starting point for designing and improving customer experience (CX). It allows pain points to be diagnosed, improvement priorities to be set and a consistent experience to be designed across all channels. The journey map becomes a shared language for marketing, sales, support and product teams, making it easier to collaborate around the customer’s real needs and to make decisions based on their perspective.

To sum up, the customer journey is a tool that lets you see the company through the customer’s eyes and manage the entirety of their experience — not just the sale. Through mapping and the identification of moments of truth, organizations can deliberately design experiences that build satisfaction, loyalty and competitive advantage.