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What Is the Buyer’s Journey — and Why Should You Care About It?

Learn how to map out your buyer's journey to improve the path to purchase.

Erin Hueffner

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Today’s buyers are more informed than ever. In fact, 81% of reps say customers are conducting their own research before they ever connect with sales. Canned scripts and one-size-fits-all methods won’t cut it when dealing with savvy buyers — they want more detailed information, more personalized solutions, and a tailored sales approach. That’s why it’s so critical to understand the buyer’s journey. Once you know what a prospect needs to move from interest to purchase, you navigate the sales road with ease and close quickly.

Here’s how you get there.

What you’ll learn:

What is the buyer’s journey, what are the stages of the buyer’s journey, why is understanding the buyer’s journey important, how does the buyer’s journey relate to the lead funnel, how to tailor your sales process to the buyer’s journey, buyer’s journey example, drive pipe faster with a single source of truth.

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The buyer’s journey accounts for all the steps a customer takes to move from discovery for a product to purchase. This includes their behaviors and attitudes toward your brand and how they interact with your marketing and, eventually, your product or service.

This journey is typically segmented into three stages: awareness, consideration, and decision. Don’t assume, however, that every buyer steps through those three stages in 1-2-3 order every time. Buyers’ journeys often wind up taking very non-linear paths. We’ll get into that below.

As noted above, the buyer’s journey can be summed up in three stages. Each stage factors in the psychological state of the buyer, including their needs, behaviors, and decision-making processes. These help inform the actions a seller can take to move the deal forward. Let’s take a closer look at each one:

Awareness stage

Buyers at the awareness stage want something that solves a problem or meets a need, but they don’t know exactly what that is. They start to gather information about solutions, but this information is driven by knowledge of a specific product, service, or brand. Typically, this research involves online research or conversations with others dealing with similar problems/needs.

Tip: At this stage, it’s all about making a strong and credible first impression that lays the groundwork for a relationship based on trust and value. How? By focusing on solutions. Don’t pitch a product — solve a problem. This is when your marketing content, especially on social media, can shine. Video content is a great way to answer questions, provide examples, share testimonials, and deliver in-depth information that promises a helpful solution. As part of this, you’ll want to gently introduce your product — while keeping the focus on the solution it offers, not the features it includes.

Consideration stage

As buyers move into this stage, they are actively researching, comparing, and considering different options. Online shopping and review sites, social media, and email newsletters give customers multiple channels to explore. Take advantage of these by making them next steps in the buyer journey. If you find the buyer is engaging with awareness content like a blog post, for example, create a promo for a newsletter signup in the post to encourage continued engagement.

Tip: Engage potential customers in this stage by providing detailed, comparative, and solution-focused content like blog posts and personalized emails that highlight the unique benefits and features of your offerings.

Decision stage

By now, buyers understand their problem, have done their research, and are ready to make a purchase — but they haven’t crossed the finish line yet. Everything they’ve explored up to now, including price, value, features, benefits, customer reviews, and brand reputation, will be considered and factored into their final decision. The seller’s job? Package all of these as part of the original solution the buyer was looking for.

Tip: In this crucial stage, you want to address any remaining concerns and help the buyer make a purchase decision. To overcome objections , your interactions with customers should be persuasive, reassuring, and clear. Reinforce the value and benefits of your offering. Remember: Selling a solution rather than a product can help set you apart from competitors.

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More than just a throwaway sales concept, the buyer’s journey lets you see and understand the choices your buyers make at each stage of the sales process so you can meet their needs in the moment. Understanding the buyer’s journey can give you:

Enhanced customer insights: Studying the buyer’s journey gives you a deeper understanding of your customers’ needs, pain points, and decision-making processes. This data then helps you create content and strategies that resonate with potential customers.
Improved content strategy: By knowing what buyers think and want at each stage, you can create content that addresses specific concerns and questions. The right content can provide the guidance customers need to make informed decisions and can also help you field objections.
Increased sales efficiency: With insights from the buyer’s journey, you can anticipate needs, counter objections quickly, and tailor pitches more effectively. You’re not just selling. You’re providing solutions and guidance at the moment the buyer is most receptive.
Enhanced customer experience: When you anticipate and address needs at each stage of the journey, you deliver a smoother, more personalized customer experience. This not only increases the likelihood of conversion but also fosters loyalty, leading to repeat business and referrals.

Understanding the buyer’s journey is a key part of building lasting relationships with customers. It’s about moving beyond sales to build genuine connections based on trust and value and ensuring satisfaction at every touchpoint. This ultimately redounds to the seller’s benefit; with strong relationships and loyalty often come repeat sales.

The lead funnel and the buyer’s journey look at the sales process from different perspectives. The lead funnel represents the process from a seller’s or company’s perspective. It outlines the stages a seller walks through on the way to a close. In contrast, the buyer’s journey sees things from the customer’s perspective. It’s all about their experience on the path to purchase.

Aligning your sales process with the buyer’s journey ensures that you meet customer needs at each stage and can guide them toward a purchase decision without delays. Let’s combine what we’ve learned so far into actionable items:

Awareness stage actions

• Understand your audience: Identify and analyze your potential customers’ needs and behavior. Pro tip: Use your CRM to help! An AI-powered tool such as Sales Cloud Einstein can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you via prompt-based research.

• Generate awareness: Use educational content to draw prospects in and establish your brand as a credible source.

Consideration stage actions

Provide more details product content: Offer comparative, solution-focused content that highlights your product’s benefits.
Personalize communication: Tailor your interactions with information you’ve gathered about your potential customers.

Decision stage actions

Address objections: Prepare your team to counter any concerns or objections with clear and compelling information.
Simplify the purchase: Streamline the buying process, offer clear pricing, and be transparent about contracts.

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The buyer’s journey is not linear. It’s a fluid relationship between brand and customer. Here’s an example that illustrates this:

Raina wants to cut down on her bills and realizes there’s an opportunity to cut down her monthly entertainment spend. Rather than pay for streaming services and cable TV, she wants something that consolidates both.

To start, Raina maps out what she wants. She lists her must-watch shows and researches which streaming platforms offer them (awareness). She narrows her choices to two platforms, including one ad-supported and one premium service. She’s also thinking about adding a live sports package but isn’t clear on which packages carry her favorite teams’ games, so she contacts the streaming service companies for more information (consideration). After chatting with several sales representatives, Raina asks for a demo of one of the service’s sports add-ons. She and the rep discuss subscription plans and go over which games will be available for streaming.

Ultimately, Raina decides to subscribe to both streaming platforms without the additional sports package (decision). Lucky for her, she’s offered a free three-month trial of the live sports add-on at sign-up. After realizing how much she enjoys the add-on in the trial period, Raina decides to keep it.

In this case, Raina’s buyer journey doesn’t end after her purchase. Her experience with the streaming services will influence how she feels about the brands and shape her future interactions with them, including future purchases.

Map to the buyer’s journey for better outcomes

If you pay close attention to the buyer’s journey and deliver high value, your customers are more likely to stay loyal and explore other products in your portfolio, which means more sales. Remember, each interaction with a prospect is an opportunity to understand, engage, and nurture. By aligning your sales process with each stage in the buyer’s journey, you can increase sales while building long-term relationships.

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Erin Hueffner is a writer from Madison, Wisconsin. Her career spans two decades in tech, journalism, and content marketing. At Salesforce, Erin’s work focuses on sales fundamentals and best practice content for Salesblazers. Erin has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of ... Read More Wisconsin-Madison.

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What is the buyer journey? Definition, stages, and examples

Step into the realm where choices weave the intricate fabric of consumer decisions — the buyer journey. As we navigate this landscape, we'll uncover the definition, stages of such a journey, and real-world examples that demystify the process.

Join us on this expedition — no fluff, just the essential roadmap to unravel the buyer journey and decode the patterns that drive purchasing decisions.

Ready to explore the journey that transforms curiosity into commerce? Let's unravel the layers together.

1.1 Why is the buyer journey important?
2 Buyer journey stages
3 Buyer journey optimization
4.1 Amazon and its seamless e-commerce experience
4.2 HubSpot and its inbound marketing excellence
4.3 Buyer journey templates
5.1 Key takeaways

What is the buyer journey? Why is it important?

The buyer journey represents the holistic path a buyer takes as they move through the various stages leading to a purchase. It’s a comprehensive process that encapsulates the entirety of a customer's experience, from the initial awareness of a product or service to the final decision-making and post-purchase evaluation. The depth and complexity of such a journey are heightened by the fact that it can be online, offline, or a mix of both. Here are the examples:

Online journey: A customer discovers a digital product through a targeted social media ad, researches online reviews, and makes a purchase on an e-commerce website. Post-purchase, they use the online product and engage with the brand through email newsletters and online customer support.
Offline journey: A customer learns about a product through a traditional print advertisement, visits a physical store to explore the item, consults with in-store staff, and makes the purchase. The post-purchase phase involves using the product and potentially providing feedback through physical channels.
Mixed journey: A customer first encounters a product via an online influencer's review, then visits a brick-and-mortar store to examine it physically. They might purchase online using a mobile app, receiving post-purchase updates through both email and in-store promotions.

Why is the buyer journey important?

Understanding the buyer journey is of paramount importance for businesses for many reasons.

Customer-centric approach

By comprehending the buyer journey, businesses can adopt a more customer-centric approach. It means aligning products, services, and digital marketing efforts with the needs and preferences of the customers at each journey stage . This customer-centricity fosters a positive and engaging experience, enhancing the likelihood of conversion.

Tailored marketing strategies

The buyer journey provides businesses with insights into the specific touchpoints and channels that customers engage with during their decision-making process. Armed with this knowledge, organizations can tailor their marketing strategies to be more effective at each stage. For instance, deploy inbound marketing and educational materials to capture attention, especially during the awareness stage.

Building trust and credibility

Trust is a crucial element in any purchase decision. Understanding a buying journey enables businesses to build trust by delivering consistent messaging, quality content, and positive interactions at each touchpoint. This trust-building process is vital for establishing credibility and driving long-term customer relationships.

Optimizing user experience

A seamless and enjoyable user experience is critical to guiding potential buyers through the journey. With buyer journey analysis, businesses can identify pain points and areas of improvement in their processes. This could include optimizing website navigation, streamlining checkout processes, or enhancing customer support.

Data-driven decision-making

The buyer journey map is a valuable source of data that businesses can use to inform their decision-making. Analyzing customer behavior, preferences, and feedback at each stage provides actionable insights. This data-driven approach enables companies to refine their strategies, allocate resources efficiently, and stay agile in a dynamic market.

Maximizing customer lifetime value

Understanding the buyer journey goes beyond the point of purchase. Post-purchase stages of the journey, such as customer loyalty and advocacy, are crucial for maximizing customer lifetime value. Businesses that continue to engage and delight customers even after the sale are more likely to benefit from repeat business and positive word-of-mouth marketing.

In essence, the buyer journey serves as a roadmap for businesses to navigate the complex landscape of customer decision-making. It empowers companies to meet customer expectations, build lasting relationships, and ultimately drive sustainable business growth.

Buyer journey stages

The buyer journey consists of stages a potential customer goes through before making a purchase decision. All journeys are somewhat different, but it's possible to identify broad stages common to each. Let's explore these stages in detail:

Awareness stage

This is the initial stage where the buyer becomes aware of a problem or need. They may not be aware of specific solutions yet.

Example: Someone realizes they need a new smartphone because their current one is outdated and struggles with performance.

Research and discovery stage

At this stage, the buyer actively seeks information to understand and define their problem. They research potential solutions and gather relevant data.

Example: The individual might explore various smartphone brands, read reviews, and compare features to find the best fit for their needs.

Consideration stage

At this point, the buyer narrows down their options and is evaluating specific products or services. They compare features, prices, and benefits.

Example: The person may be deciding between two or three smartphone models based on factors like camera quality, battery life, and overall performance.

Decision stage

The buyer is now ready to make a decision and commit to a particular product or service. They might look for discounts, compare final prices, and explore additional incentives.

Example: The individual decides to purchase a specific smartphone model, adds it to the cart, and proceeds to check out.

Purchase stage

This is the point of transaction where the buyer completes the purchase. It could happen online, in-store, or through various other channels.

Example: The person confirms the purchase, enters payment information, and receives confirmation of the order.

Post-purchase stages

After the purchase, the buyer uses the product or service and forms their experience about it. This stage is crucial for customer satisfaction and potential loyalty.

Example: The individual starts using the new smartphone, and their experience is positive. They might leave a review, share their experience on social media, or consider the brand for future purchases.

Loyalty and advocacy stage

There is an additional stage focusing on turning customers into loyal advocates. This involves fostering ongoing relationships, encouraging repeat business, and leveraging satisfied customers for viral marketing. This stage is often overlooked by businesses, and it's a mistake.

Example: The satisfied smartphone user recommends the brand to friends, engages with loyalty programs, and becomes an advocate for the product.

Read also: How to create a journey map step-by-step + examples

Understanding and visualizing these stages allows businesses to tailor their marketing, sales, and customer support strategies to address customers' specific needs and concerns at each step. It helps create a more personalized and effective approach, ultimately increasing the likelihood of conversion and building long-term customer relationships.

Buyer journey optimization

Buyer journey optimization involves refining and enhancing the various stages of the customer's path to purchase to improve overall efficiency, effectiveness, and customer satisfaction and experience.

By strategically optimizing each stage of the journey, businesses can maximize conversion rates, build stronger customer relationships, and increase long-term loyalty. Here's a detailed exploration of buyer journey optimization with examples and potential outcomes:

Data-driven analysis

Example: A company collects and analyzes data on customer behavior, interactions, and preferences at each stage of the buyer journey using analytics tools and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

Outcome: Insights gained from data analysis help businesses identify patterns, pain points, and opportunities for improvement in the buyer journey.

Personalized content and messaging

Example: Leveraging data insights, a business tailors its content and messaging to match the preferences and needs of specific buyer personas at different stages of the journey.

Outcome: Personalized content increases engagement and resonates more effectively with potential customers, leading to a higher likelihood of conversion.

Seamless multichannel experience

Example: An e-commerce platform ensures a consistent and seamless experience for customers across various channels, including online platforms, mobile apps, and physical stores.

Outcome: A unified multichannel experience reduces friction, enhances customer satisfaction, and provides a cohesive journey regardless of the chosen interaction channel.

Optimized website and user experience

Example: A company invests in user experience design , making its website intuitive, easy to navigate, and optimized for both desktop and mobile users.

Outcome: Improved website usability enhances customer satisfaction, reduces bounce rates, and encourages visitors to move smoothly through the buyer journey.

Marketing automation

Example: Implementing digital marketing automation tools to deliver targeted and timely messages, such as personalized emails, based on customer behavior and interactions.

Outcome: Marketing automation streamlines communication, helps to nurture leads, and ensures that potential customers receive relevant information at the right moment in time, increasing the chances of conversion.

Streamlined checkout process

Example: An e-commerce platform simplifies its checkout process, minimizing the number of steps required and offering various payment options.

Outcome: A streamlined checkout process reduces cart abandonment rates and friction during the purchase stage, leading to higher conversion rates.

Post-purchase engagement

Example: After a customer makes a purchase, a business engages in post-purchase communication, seeking feedback, offering support, and providing additional resources or exclusive offers.

Outcome: Positive post-purchase engagement contributes to customer satisfaction, encourages repeat business, and fosters brand loyalty.

Continuous iteration and improvement:

Example: Regularly reviewing analytics, customer feedback, and market trends to identify areas for further optimization and adjustment in the buyer journey strategy.

Outcome: Continuous iteration ensures that the buyer journey remains responsive to changing customer needs and market dynamics, maintaining high levels of effectiveness over time.

In summary, journey optimization is an ongoing process that requires a combination of data analysis, personalization, technological integration, and a customer-centric mindset. By strategically implementing these optimizations, businesses can create a more seamless, engaging, and efficient journey for their customers, ultimately driving higher conversion rates and long-term customer loyalty.

Buyer journey examples

Let's consider a couple of examples of buyer journeys in well-known companies, what they do to improve it, and how it works in practice.

Amazon and its seamless e-commerce experience

Even if you don't use Amazon products, you've definitely heard about them.

Amazon excels in creating awareness through targeted ads, personalized recommendations, and a vast product catalog. For example, if a user searches for a specific product, Amazon's algorithms provide relevant suggestions, increasing the chances of discovery.

The product pages on Amazon are rich in information, featuring detailed product descriptions, customer reviews, and frequently asked questions. This assists customers in making informed decisions during the research stage.

Amazon leverages personalized recommendations and targeted emails to remind users about products they viewed or added to their cart. Special promotions, such as lightning deals, create a sense of urgency, influencing the decision-making process.

The one-click purchase option streamlines the decision-making process, offering a frictionless checkout experience. Amazon's transparent shipping and return policies contribute to the customer's confidence in their decision.

Post-purchase stage

Amazon invests in post-purchase engagement through order tracking, delivery notifications, and follow-up emails. Additionally, their customer service is readily available to address any issues, enhancing post-purchase satisfaction.

HubSpot and its inbound marketing excellence

HubSpot is a comprehensive inbound marketing, sales, and customer service platform designed to help businesses attract, engage, and delight customers. And they do delight.

HubSpot built a robust online presence through inbound marketing. Their blog, webinars, and downloadable resources provide valuable information, attracting businesses looking for marketing and sales solutions.

HubSpot offers free tools, such as CRM and marketing analytics, allowing users to explore and understand the platform's capabilities before making a commitment. Their educational content assists businesses in the research stage.

HubSpot's sales team engages with potential customers through personalized email outreach, offering product demonstrations, and addressing specific pain points. This approach helps businesses evaluate HubSpot's fit for their needs.

HubSpot's pricing transparency and scalable solutions cater to businesses of different sizes. They provide flexible payment options and a clear onboarding process, making it easier for businesses to decide.

HubSpot focuses on customer success through continuous education, regular updates on new features, and a vibrant community. They encourage users to maximize the platform's potential, fostering long-term loyalty.

These examples showcase how companies like Amazon and HubSpot strategically engage with customers at each stage of the buyer journey, leading to successful conversions and sustained customer relationships.

Buyer journey templates

Visual aids can often speak louder than words. Therefore, here are some templates for various scenarios. They'll be a great asset to your initiative.

Case 1: A bicycle buyer journey, where a potential buyer, filled with excitement and a quest for the perfect bicycle, navigates the online realm in search of their two-wheeled companion.
Case 2: An offline grocery buyer journey, where our persona embarks on the classic journey to the neighborhood supermarket, weaving through aisles in search of sustenance and delights.
Case 3: A sneakers' buyer journey, where a persona sets out to find the ideal pair of sneakers, exploring the vast world of online options and paving the way for stylish strides.

Wrapping up

In unraveling the complexities of the buyer journey, we've delved into its definition, stages, and real-world examples. This journey is not merely a linear path from awareness to purchase; it's an intricate process that demands a nuanced understanding of customer behavior.

Key takeaways

Businesses must align products, services, and marketing efforts with customer needs at each stage, fostering positive and engaging experiences.
Analyzing the buyer journey provides valuable data for refining strategies, optimizing user experiences, and staying agile in a dynamic market.
Building trust through consistent messaging, quality content, and positive interactions is crucial for establishing credibility and fostering long-term relationships.
The journey doesn't end with a purchase; positive post-purchase experiences contribute to customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy.
Buyer journey optimization is an ongoing process involving data analysis, personalization, technological integration, and a customer-centric mindset.

As we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of consumer decisions, understanding and effectively leveraging the buyer journey is not just a strategy; it's a fundamental approach that can drive sustainable business growth. So, let's continue to unravel the layers of this intricate journey, adapting and refining our strategies to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers.

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New event: Nurturing a customer journey culture in your team | July 11

What Is the Buyer's Journey?

Updated: July 21, 2022

Published: April 21, 2021

Today's buyer is more informed than ever before, thanks to the vast amount of information available at their fingertips. Because of this, the balance of power has shifted from the sales rep to the buyer in most sales conversations . This is why pushy sales tactics are no longer effective the way they used to be.

buyer taking a train: conceptualizing the buyer's journey

Instead, to be successful in sales in today's day and age, sales reps must adapt their mindset from selling to helping . And the best way to start this process is becoming intimately familiar with who the buyer is and the journey they take on their path to purchase : The buyer's journey .

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What is the buyer's journey.

The buyer's journey describes a buyer's path to purchase. In other words, buyers don't wake up and decide to buy on a whim. They go through a process to become aware of, consider and evaluate, and decide to purchase a new product or service.

By understanding the buyer's journey , the pains and problems they experience along that journey, and the influencing factors that shape their thinking, sales reps can better empathize with the buyer and position their product or service along that path. So let's dig in a little further.

What are the three stages of the buyer's journey?

The buyer's journey can be broken down into three steps or "stages" that describe how they advance along their path to purchase: the awareness stage, the consideration stage, and the decision stage.

Here's how to conceptualize each stage:

Awareness Stage: The buyer becomes aware that they have a problem.
Consideration Stage: The buyer defines their problem and considers options to solve it.
Decision Stage: The buyer evaluates and decides on the right provider to administer the solution.

Now that the overall journey has been defined, let's take a look at each stage in greater detail, from the buyer's perspective:

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What is the buyer doing during the awareness stage?

The buyer is experiencing a problem or symptoms of a pain, and their goal is to alleviate it. They may be looking for informational resources to more clearly understand, frame, and give a name to their problem.

Example: "Why do my feet hurt all the time?"

What is the buyer doing the consideration stage?

The buyer will have clearly defined and given a name to their problem, and they are committed to researching and understanding all of the available approaches and/or methods to solving the defined problem or opportunity.

Example: "How do you treat arch pain?"

What is the buyer doing during the decision stage?

The buyer has decided on their solution strategy, method, or approach. Their goal now is to compile a list of available vendors, make a short list, and ultimately make a final purchase decision.

Example: "Where can I get custom orthotics? How much will they cost?"

If you don't have an intimate understanding of your buyers, it may be difficult to map out the buyer's journey in a way that will be helpful from a sales perspective. In this case, be sure to conduct a few interviews with customers, prospects, and other salespeople at your company to get a sense of the buying journey.

Tailoring Your Sales Process to the Buyer's Journey

With all of this in mind, buyers don't want to be prospected, or demoed, or closed when they're not ready. These steps add zero value, from their perspective, when offered at the wrong time.

However, where a sales rep can shine is in the instances when buyers are looking for additional information about your product that can't be found online.

Free Customer Journey Map Templates

Fill out the form to access these visual aids., awareness stage.

Buyers are identifying the challenge or opportunity they want to pursue. They are also deciding whether or not the goal or challenge should be a priority.

Consideration Stage

Buyers have clearly defined the goal or challenge and have committed to addressing it. They are now evaluating different approaches or methods available to pursue the goal or solve their challenge.

Decision Stage

Buyers have already decided on a solution category and are now evaluating providers. For example, they may have written a pro/con list of specific offerings to decide on the one that best meets their needs.

Some of these considerations may fall more under the marketing umbrella than the sales umbrella, but ultimately the answers to these questions will provide a robust foundation for your buyer's journey.

The process of getting to know how your buyers buy is invaluable as you create or refine your sales process. You'll be better able to empathize with prospects, handle objections, and provide the right information at the right time, helping you close more deals and win more business.

Thank you for reading this post from HubSpot .

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Buyer Journey Mapping in 7 Easy Steps [EXAMPLES + TEMPLATE]

Apr 15, '22 / by Beth Carter

Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally written by Christina Bockisch and published in 2018. We have refreshed and updated the post to include more helpful examples!

I had just moved to Boston. In November. My legs were freezing, cold air was whistling up the back of my jacket and I couldn’t stop shivering.

I recognized I had a problem, so I turned to Google to do some research. I read a couple of articles and browsed some different styles of jackets. Soon I realized the best solution for me was a parka, instead of the warm-but-too-short jacket I currently had. So, I braved the Boston cold, went to multiple stores all over the city, and found a thick The North Face parka that saved me from freezing.

In other words, I completed my buyer’s journey.

In the story above, my buyer’s journey began the moment I realized I had a problem: I’m cold. I then went on to define my problem: My short jacket doesn’t keep my legs warm enough. Next, I identified a solution: I need a parka. And finally, I chose the right brand to solve my problem: The North Face.

It’s a simple example, sure. But whether you’re selling something as straightforward as winter jackets or as complex as SAP cybersecurity software, it’s important to understand how your potential customers think about their pain points as they move through this buyer’s journey and make their buying decision. This enables you to create content that directly aligns to each stage in that journey, which in turn enables you to deliver a far superior customer experience. And yet, it’s surprising how many B2B marketers ignore the buyer’s journey in their content strategy process.

What is the buyer’s journey?

The buyer’s journey describes the process your buyers go through as they become aware of a problem, evaluate potential solutions to their problem, and ultimately decide on the specific solution that’s right for them.

In marketing terms, we think of these stages of the buyer’s journey as:

Awareness stage
Consideration stage
Decision stage

Awareness Stage

In the awareness stage, a person is experiencing symptoms of their pain point, but they don’t quite understand exactly what their problem is. Their goal at this stage is to help your customer more clearly define the problem they’re experiencing.

I have a sore throat. Am I getting sick?
I’m not getting enough traffic to my website. Why?
Our production machinery is getting old. Is it time to replace it?

To create content that helps buyers in the awareness stage, focus on addressing pain points, challenges and goals at a relatively high level. Make sure the content is informative and resist the urge to start selling the buyer on your particular solution to their problem. Keep it low pressure.

Useful content like guides, blog posts, infographics, and quizzes will help your buyers wrap their heads around their pain points, so they can figure out what their next step should be.

Consideration Stage

In the consideration stage, the person understands what the problem is and begins researching possible solutions.

I have all the symptoms of strep throat. Should I see a doctor, or should I try a home remedy?
My website is not properly optimized for search engines. Would it help to start a blog?
We should begin planning now to replace our machinery next year. What features of a new model will be important for us?

Businesses often struggle with creating consideration stage content because it feels like the right time to start promoting your business as the best solution. Don’t! Instead, the consideration stage is the perfect opportunity to serve up in-depth content that acknowledges different approaches that could possibly work for the buyer. Among these options, you can still (subtly) position your company as the best solution.

Consideration-stage content is also a terrific way to identify potential good-fit leads – the buyers who are right for your business and can benefit from product or service you sell.

Decision Stage

In the decision stage, the person has settled on a specific approach and is putting together a short list of vendors to possibly buy from. Their goal here is to narrow down that list and ultimately make a final buying decision.

I think I should go to urgent care. Here are the urgent care centers near me that also accept my insurance.
I would like to blog, but I need help. Here is a list of three agencies that might be a good fit for me.
We need better production automation capabilities. Here are the models on the market today that offer what we need.

With decision-stage content, you can finally openly promote your product or service. Show how you solve your buyer’s problems and explain why your option is the best approach. Be honest yet humble, and wherever possible back up any claims with data. For example, rather than unprovable statements like “We are the best in the market,” instead try to be more specific: “We have a 4.9 out of 5 rating on this industry site” or “We helped Company XYZ grow by 50% last year.”

Data sheets, comparison blog posts, case studies, ROI calculators, and buying guides are powerful content for the decision stage.

An important note about the buyer’s journey stages

In an ideal world, every person would move through the buyer’s journey exactly the way I described above – in a straight line from awareness to consideration to decision. And as they move through that journey, they’d have all the information they needed to make a purchase decision once they arrive at the decision stage.

Unfortunately, real life is rarely so neat and tidy.

People today don’t always move through this journey in a linear fashion. Buyers are human. They’ll jump around, skip stages, and sometimes go backwards rather than forward. They can even get all the way to the decision stage only to realize they misidentified their pain point, which means they have to start the whole buying journey process all over again.

Your job as a marketer is to plan for as many of these situations as possible. The best way to do this is to create a content strategy that covers all the stages of the buyer’s journey. This will ensure that no matter where someone is in their specific journey, when they find your brand, they’ll find all the information they need to make an informed buying decision.

1. Define your buyer personas.

I think I say this every time I write a blog, but if you haven’t already created your buyer personas, stop what you’re doing and create them now. Seriously.

If you don’t know who your buyers are – and specifically if you don’t know your buyer persona’s challenges, questions, and goals they’re trying to accomplish – you’ll have a hard time creating a buyer journey map and accurately aligning your content to that journey.

For guidance on getting started with buyer personas, check out this post that highlights specific questions to ask during buyer persona interviews.

These sample buyer persona templates may also be helpful.

Okay, so let’s assume you have your buyer personas fully identified and documented. Now you’re ready to start building your journey map.

2. What are your most important buyer persona challenges?

To map the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey, first, identify the obstacles and problems that prevent your buyer from accomplishing their goals.

Next, think about how your buyer first begins to realize this obstacle or problem even exists. What challenges begin to emerge? What concerns do they begin to have? What puts this on their radar?

There will be a lot to think about here, so write it all down. (Side note: Now would be a good time to download the Buyer’s Journey Toolkit we provided above. Trust me, it’ll help tremendously.)

3. What are all the possible solutions to these problems?

To map the consideration stage of the buying journey, think about the different approaches your buyer might consider as they try to figure out how to solve their problem. After all, there’s usually more than one way to skin a cat. Is there a do-it-yourself approach? Are there off-the-shelf solutions? Or does the problem require something more specialized or customized?

As the buyer explores these different solutions, what questions will be top of mind for them? What concerns will they likely have?

4. What other companies offer your type of solution?

To map the decision stage of the buying journey, list the other companies that offer a type of solution comparable to yours. (I’ll admit that thinking about your competitors is no fun, but it needs to be done.)

What questions will your buyer have when they vet each of these competitors? How will they evaluate these options? Which features will be most important to their decision?

For example: Your buyer might quickly cross “do nothing” off the list. But they’ll also probably look closely at all their software options, looking at things like cost, functionality, and ease of use. They might conduct a few demos to get a feel for how the different software options work.

Similarly, they might start building a short list of IT service providers. They might look for case studies to see how the different service providers work. And they might even contact you for a consultation to see if you’d be a good fit for them.

5. Identify points of friction along the buyer’s journey.

Whew – you’ve mapped out the awareness, consideration and decision stages of the buyer’s journey. Congratulations! But your work isn’t done quite yet.

What might prevent the buyer from moving smoothly from one stage to the next? What challenges do they encounter during their journey? What might cause them to move backward? What might prevent them from making a purchasing decision?

And what can you do to ensure this doesn’t happen and that you’re providing the smoothest customer experience possible?

This is going to require you to think hard about what your buyers are actually doing rather than what you hope they’re doing. But by identifying these possible points of friction that might prevent a buyer from becoming a customer, you’ll be able to create content that truly helps and sells.

6. How does your existing content fit into this buyer’s journey?

You likely already have some content on your website, like blogs, ebooks, guides, consultations and more. Audit your existing content , and think about where each piece falls in in this customer experience map. Which content addresses pain points and challenges at a high level? Which content is focused on specific solutions? Which content proactively sells your business as the right partner?

Don’t rush through this step.

Once you have a good handle on what role your content can play, map each piece of content to the corresponding stage of the buyer’s journey.

7. Create new content to fill in the gaps.

Now that you know where your existing content fits into the buyer’s journey, identify any gaps. Many B2B marketers find they have a lot of awareness-stage and decision-stage content but that they don’t have enough consideration-stage content. Don’t stress – this is totally normal.

As you strategize how to fill in these content gaps, we recommend starting at the end of the buyer’s journey and moving backward. In other words, first create your decision-stage content, then consideration, and then awareness. This accomplishes two things: First, it helps you keep your eye focused on converting buyers into customers . And second, it ensures that for every new content piece you create, you already have a “next step” to point to.

For example, if you first create a decision-stage vendor comparison checklist and then you create a consideration-stage ebook, when a buyer downloads the ebook you're able to share your vendor comparison checklist with the buyer as a natural next step. But if you start by creating the ebook, you won’t have any next-step content ready to share with those buyers.

As you’re creating all this new content, continually refer back to your buyer journey map. Make sure each piece of content addresses the specific questions, challenges, and goals your buyers have at each stage of the game.

When you do this, you’ll provide helpful, valuable and relevant information that provides your buyers with the information they need when they need it and reduces friction along the way – ultimately leading to happy, satisfied customers who will turn into promoters of your brand.

Now that you know what the buyer’s journey looks like for your customers, it’s time to create content for each stage of this journey. Download our free editorial calendar template and start planning your content today!

Download the Editorial Calendar Template

Topics: Content Marketing , Strategy

Written by Beth Carter

I love to write and I'm a total grammar freak. I also passionately believe that conversational, approachable and insightful content can help people solve real problems and can make a real difference in the world.

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How to Use the Buyer’s Journey in Marketing (+ Examples)

Online search has changed everything. Years ago, acquiring a customer online was easy: reassure the potential buyer your product is the best on the market and push for the sale. Not anymore.

Today, consumers can research a product online, compare brands on cost, reputation and more, and decide which provider is best for their needs.

This progression—from becoming problem-aware to making a purchasing decision—is called the buyer’s journey…

…and it’s one of the most important marketing concepts you need to be familiar with.

With 67% of the buyer’s journey now completed digitally , it’s become more important than ever to mail campaigns that educate, inform and most importantly, nudge your prospects into taking action (read: purchasing your products).

Identifying the buyer’s journey is a real challenge for most marketers.

A recent survey by DemandGen found 61% B2B business owners cited developing targeted content by buyer stage/interest as one of their greatest challenges in nurturing leads:

Much has been written already about mapping the buyer’s journey to content marketing and paid traffic, but nothing, to my knowledge, has been written about what to do after a visitor has subscribed to your email list .

So, in this article, I’m going to show you how to map your email marketing campaigns to the buyer’s journey, how you can match the right offers to the right prospects at the right time, and of course, how to develop lifelong relationships with your existing customers while doing so.

The Buyer’s Journey 101

What is the buyer’s journey, part 1. awareness, part 2. consideration, part 3. decision.

According to HubSpot , the buyer’s journey is the active process buyers go through to become aware of, evaluate, and purchase a new product or service.

This journey, depending on who you ask, ranges from three to fifteen stages. In this article, we’re going to focus on the three most important stages:

Consideration

The buyer’s journey (otherwise known as the customer journey) is often represented as a funnel-shaped process that comprises the above stages, from lowest purchase intent (awareness) to highest (decision).

In the image below (courtesy of SingleGrain ), it’s further expanded in six stages, with the first (awareness), third (consideration) and sixth (purchase) stages corresponding with the three in the image above:

It’s important to mention here how you communicate with your prospects will vary depending on which stage of the buyer’s journey they’re in.

What’s more, depending on the market you’re in and how far along a prospect is in your funnel, a potential buyer’s journey can last anywhere from three months to a year.

Offering potential buyers exactly what they’re looking for according to how far along they are in the buyer’s journey gives you the highest potential to convert them.

Let’s discuss how to do that.

Imagine, for a moment, you’re experiencing back pain.

Unaware of what’s causing it, you turn to Google and type in, “Why do I have a bad back every morning?” Your goal, at this stage, is to educate yourself as much as possible and put a name to your ailment.

After reading a few articles online and confirming with a chiropractor, you discover your bad back isn’t the real problem. Rather, it’s a symptom of a bigger problem:

You have a bad mattress.

Having given a name to your problem, you become aware and begin actively looking for a solution.

This is known as the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey. And it’s where each potential buyer begins their journey before becoming a customer.

Often, a prospect discovers your brand either through organic search (they clicked on a piece of content in the search engine results pages) and/or paid traffic (they clicked on an ad).

Some e-commerce businesses, like Birchbox , utilize content marketing:

Others, like M.Gemi , rely on Facebook Ads:

The goal, having acquired a new lead, isn’t to push for a sale (that is unless they’re at the decision stage of the buyer’s journey). Rather, it’s to educate, entertain or inform through interesting and relevant email campaigns.

On a deeper level, it’s to encourage engagement (e.g. increase opens, clicks, etc.), segment new visitors by interest (and where they are on their journey), and increase top-of-mind awareness (TOMA).

Harry’s utilize content to educate their prospects on how to shave properly, thus, positioning themselves as the go-to authority on that subject:

Metrics to be aware of at the awareness stage include:

Sessions. This is especially important if you’re driving traffic to product pages on your site.
Percentage of old visitors vs. new visitors. Are prospects returning to your site, thus, becoming more familiar with your brand?
Engagement. Put simply, are readers opening and clicking through on your campaigns? If so, you’re obviously doing something right (well done you!).

It’s important to mention here not all goals or challenges have urgency.

You might feel like you deserve a new pair of designer pajamas (who doesn’t?), but it’s unlikely to take precedent over something relating to your physical health (like a painful back).

There are a few things to consider before creating awareness emails.

Let’s discuss each briefly.

1. Identify Triggers

Think of a recent problem you experienced.

Nothing major. A minor one will suffice.

What happened before you experienced that problem?

If you’re like most people, it’s likely there was an event that occurred before it happened.

This, in marketing, is known as a “trigger”: the event that begins your progression through the buyer’s journey.

If you’re running an online retailer, for example, a trigger might be your prospect has a black-tie event coming up and needs to learn how to tie a bow tie:

To identify triggers, login to Google Analytics.

If you’re using Google Adwords as an acquisition channel, click, “Acquisition > Adwords > Search Queries”:

Or, if you’re using content through organic search, click, “Acquisition > Search Console > Queries”:

Your prospect is often identified by the type of queries they’re making such as what, who, where, when, why, and how (e.g. “How to tie a bow tie”).

It’s important to exclude brand queries when doing this because you want to identify potential buyers who aren’t yet aware of who you are.

Analyzing search queries will offer insights into your ideal buyer and help you craft email campaigns that are relevant to their needs and interests.

Seventy-two percent of buyers turn to Google during the awareness stage , so it’s important not to neglect the importance of identifying what you’re already ranking for in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

2. Survey Your Existing Customers

When researching your existing customers, it’s worth gathering a combination of quantitative and qualitative data.

The former is measured in numbers (e.g. the number of purchases a customer makes per month). The latter, on the other hand, is only observable (e.g. the reason a customer didn’t renew their subscription).

While quantitative data is easier to generalize, qualitative data provides more insight into why your existing customers are buying from you rather than a competitor.

Using software like Typeform , you might ask customers:

How would you describe yourself in one sentence?
Where exactly did you first hear about us?
What’s the one thing we’re missing?
What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing right now?
What are the top three things that nearly stopped you from buying from us?
What will happen if you don’t overcome the challenge you’re experiencing?

As a rule of thumb, aim for a minimum of 100 completions. Remember, the more data you have, the easier it is to identify what your customers want to move away from and move toward.

To learn more about surveying and its best practices (including whether to incentivize or not), read my article on e-commerce email marketing .

3. Create a Buyer Persona

With enough quantitative and qualitative responses, recurring patterns will (hopefully) emerge in your data. With that information, as well as your own understanding of your market, you can create buyer personas for each of your ideal customers.

A buyer persona, also known as a customer avatar, is a representation of your ideal customer:

Source: SmartInsights

Having one—or many, depending on how many products you have—will help you determine what kind of content you need in your email campaigns, the tone, and style of your copy, as well as where your audience gathers information and their preferences for consumption.

Source: HubSpot

Let’s return to our previous mattress example, for a moment.

You’ve clearly defined your goal (to replace your mattress) and are committed to addressing it as soon as possible (remember, not all pain points have urgency).

At this stage, you’re evaluating the different approaches or methods available to solve your challenge, which, in our example, involves researching mattresses online.

Otherwise known as the evaluation stage, the consideration stage occurs when your prospect has clearly defined and given a name to their problem and is committed to researching and understanding all of the available methods for solving it.

Casper , an e-commerce company that specializes in mattresses, include playful reviews in their consideration emails to move prospects further along the buyer’s journey:

Source: Really Good Emails

Shopify, knowing their prospects value demonstrations, offer free online training to showcase their product:

You’re not asking for a purchase, yet. You’re simply inviting further engagement, albeit with more investment from your potential buyer.

Anyone who’s clicking through to read customer reviews or attend a webinar is more likely to become a customer than a recipient who’s only opening emails.

Metrics to monitor closely at the considerations stage include:

Returning visitors. Are certain recipients opening and clicking through on consideration emails more than others? If so, that’s a good indication they’re close to moving down your marketing funnel.
Webinar registrations. If you’re running an evergreen webinar, the number of registrants should be consistent, if not increasing over time (providing you’re continuously capturing and converting leads, of course).

At the decision stage, your prospect has defined their solution and is whittling down a long list of potential vendors in their given solution strategy.

Specifically, they’re looking for information on how your product works, how others like them have been successful, and what their experience might look like if they decide to move forward with your company…

…and that includes what happens before they make a purchase.

Take, shipping, for example.

You wouldn’t think it was that important, right?

According to a recent survey by Baynard Institute , 61% of shoppers cite extra shipping costs as their reason for abandoning their cart during checkout (even if they fully intended to make a purchase).

It’s no surprise, then, most e-commerce businesses have cart abandonment emails , specifically for prospects that were close to making a purchase, but need a final nudge of reassurance.

Asics , an athletic equipment company, reiterate the benefits of their free shipping policy in their cart abandonment email, in the event the prospect wasn’t aware of it, to begin with:

Of course, not everyone at the decision stage will make it as far as your checkout (especially if they haven’t decided which vendor to purchase from).

This is in part because many potential buyers want to try your product before making a purchasing decision.

Campaigns geared around free shipping , free trials, case studies and more, are perfect decision stage emails.

Dollar Shave Club is so confident they will acquire a lifetime customer with each email lead, they offer a free trial of their product (including free shipping):

Dollar Shave Club Cart Abandonment Email

When the offer is too good to say no to, it’s usually for a good reason. A company like Dollar Shave Club knows it’s the customer lifetime value (LTV), thus, it can afford to take a hit on the front-end when making this type of offer.

The secondary goal, at the decision stage, aside from making a sale, is to:

Optimize funnel conversions. Can you increase email open and click-through rates, reduce cart abandonment, and more by writing better subject lines ?
Maximize revenue. Can you increase the average order value by offering tiered pricing, upselling , and more?

Metrics you need to pay close attention to include:

Customer lifetime value (LTV). As mentioned above, knowing your customer LTV will allow you to make irresistible offers (such as free shipping), thus, getting to yes quicker and more easily.
Customer cost per acquisition (CPA). This is especially important if you’re using paid traffic as an acquisition channel (e.g. Facebook Advertising).

Get the above metrics right, and it’s possible to earn $38 for every $1 you spend .

So, make it count.

It’s tempting to believe the buyer’s journey ends when a prospect becomes a customer, but the reality is you need to continue delivering value after they purchase.

Aside from reducing email unsubscribe rates and improving customer satisfaction, consistently offering value after purchase helps turn customers into evangelists for your business…

And that’s something every business can profit from.

Sam Thomas Davies

Sam is Head of Content at Drip. His work has been featured on and quoted in several major media outlets including The Times, The Economist, and CNBC.

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What’s the Buyer’s Journey? Definition, Stages, and Examples

March 3, 2024

Your buyers don’t just turn up at your door with money in hand ready to buy your product. Instead, they go on a (sometimes complicated) journey that eventually leads to them making a purchase.

Understanding the buyer’s journey is a great way to make your sales process more efficient while also improving the customer experience. With a clear buyer’s journey, you can ensure your customers get what they’re looking for every step of the way.

What’s the Buyer’s Journey?

The buyer’s journey is simply the steps someone goes through before making a purchase.

How often do you discover a brand new product and buy it there or then? The chances are it’s not very often. In fact, in some industries, it’s suggested it takes an average of eight touchpoints to get an initial meeting.

The buyer’s journey tracks the steps your customers take to becoming a customer and even beyond. It’s split up into four stages: awareness, consideration, decision, and delight.

Understanding the buyer’s journey is important because it allows you to serve prospects with the information they need at each stage of the process. For example, when you’ve just learned about cold outreach, you want different information from when you’re comparing the best cold email platforms .

The buyer’s journey is a way to visualize the steps your customers take so you can help progress them through the journey.

What Are the Stages of the Buyer’s Journey?

A traditional buyer’s journey is split into four stages. At each stage in the journey, the buyer wants something slightly different from your business, and a clear picture of your buyer’s journey will help you provide the right content at the right time.

The four stages are awareness, consideration, decision, and delight, and each one requires a slightly different approach.

The more you can tailor your content, and communication to match the prospect’s position in the buyer’s journey, the more likely you are to build a relationship with the customer and progress them to the next stage.

Awareness Stage (TOFU – Top of the Funnel)

The awareness stage is when the lead becomes aware of a pain point . This is also known as the top of the funnel, where customers make their first interaction with your business.

Content at the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey is characterized by answering questions, troubleshooting confusion, and introducing your brand.

For example, if someone was looking at doing a cold email for the first time, they might look for articles like “What Is Cold Email?” or “Is Cold Email Right for My Business?” These are often big-picture questions, and they allow the lead to get a feel for whether your product is suitable for them.

It’s also a great chance to introduce your brand. Although you’re certainly not going to go for a hard sell at this stage, it’s an opportunity to put your name out there. In this case, it’s a chance to say “hey, we’re Mailshake, we’ve got tons of great info on cold email if you want to discover more.”

The customer has become aware of a problem (eg. they want a new phone, their current software is outdated, they need a new way to grow their business), and this is your chance to help them explore the problem while making them aware of your brand.

Content that works well at the awareness stage:

Educational blog articles
Ebooks, whitepapers, checklists, and guides
Explainer videos
Industry reports
Infographics

Consideration Stage (MOFU – Middle of the Funnel)

As your leads move into the consideration stage their goals change. They’re no longer trying to familiarize themselves with the basics of your products – instead, they’re considering their options.

At this stage, people have looked at the merits of cold email and decided it’s the right option for their business. The question that remains is how they go about implementing it and what platform they use.

Now, unless you’ve got a monopoly on your market, then the chances are the customer is going to have a lot of choices at this point. You’ve done good work in the awareness stage by putting your brand in their mind and starting to build a relationship, but there’s still more to do.

This is where you need to build on your relationships, driving customers back to your website, capturing emails, and utilizing your social reach.

When people are considering their options, your brand becomes extremely powerful. It’s a chance to say “hey, remember me, I gave you that great info on cold email – see how you can use it with our platform.”

At the consideration stage, your content should change to reflect your leads’ goals, utilizing:

More technical, specific article blogs
Comparison whitepapers
Product feature videos

This will link the knowledge your prospects already have to your products, explaining how the benefits fit into the bigger picture.

Decision Stage (BOFU – Bottom of the Funnel)

In the decision stage, your customer is ready to make a purchase.

In our example, they know they need sales automation software, but they’re still not sure which platform to use. After all, there are lots of different options out there, all with their own features and benefits.

This is where people weigh up their options, ultimately deciding which product or service offers them the most value.

All the work you have done throughout the customer journey will pay off here. People recognize the value you have given them by helping them learn about their subject and understand the features.

Now it’s time you drive things home by maximizing your funnel conversions. To do this, you’ve got to be extremely focused on the decision stage, and make sure you’re constantly optimizing your approach.

Test out your processes to make sure:

You’re giving people the information they need to make the final decision
The process of becoming a customer is as simple as possible
You’re maximizing the value of each sale

Again, your content can play a key part and you should look to incorporate different content types at this stage:

Documented success stories such as case studies and testimonials
Free product trials
Free consultations or live demonstrations
Product comparison
“About Us” website pages

Delight Stage (Post Purchase)

It’s easy to feel like the job’s done once a purchase has been made, but if this is the case, then you might be missing out.

The delight stage takes place post-purchase, and it’s an extremely important step for your business.

Repeat customers are great. You’ve already built a great relationship with them, they understand your products, and they’ve loved what they’ve received.

You don’t want to leave this to chance though. You want to delight people even after they’ve made a purchase, and turn them into brand ambassadors for your products.

To do this, you can use things like:

Workshops to help people get the most out of your products
Regular newsletter with tips and tricks
Discounts on future purchases
Behind the scenes look at your business

It’s simply a way of showing your customers that you’re still there for them, and you’re still invested in their experience.

The delight stage is an important part of the buyer’s journey and it can have a big impact on your revenue.

Tailoring Your Sales Process to the Buyer’s Journey

The buyer’s journey is a recognition that not every prospect is looking for the same thing.

While it’s difficult to completely tailor your sales process to each individual, it is possible to tailor your approach based on where they are in the buyer’s journey. When you have a clear picture of how people move through your journey and what they’re looking for at each stage, then it’s much easier to be there with the right answer.

Every customer is unique, but if you know where they are in the buyer’s journey, then you’ve got a much better idea of what content they’re looking for. Make the most of this by tailoring your sales process.

A Buyer’s Journey Should Serve as a Blueprint

It helps you to understand what information a customer is looking for at each stage in the process, maximizing your touchpoints , and building stronger relationships. Not only can this help you make more sales, but it can lead to higher-value sales and more repeat business.

It’s time to map out your buyer’s journey and understand what your customers are looking for.

Luiz Cent is the Head of Sales at Mailshake, in addition to SaaS sales coaching & marketing growth, Luiz is passionate about sustainability, yoga, travel & urban jungles.

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A Guide to Creating Content for the Buyer’s Journey

Written By Angela Tague
Updated: December 1, 2023

In content marketing, you can’t just cast a wide net and hope for the best. You need to take a more strategic approach and craft content that guides potential customers through each step of the decision-making process.

In this comprehensive guide, we’re going to deep dive into the buyer’s journey. We’ll explore what it is, what its stages are, and what content you need for each stage. Let’s dive in.

What is the Buyer’s Journey?

Simply put, the buyer’s journey is a map of behavioral scenarios fueled by data. Feedback from analytics tools sheds light on where, why, and how customers land on your websites or social media feeds. Tracing these pathways and understanding how they connect and intersect forms the basis for a documented customer journey.

At a deeper glance, HubSpot defines the buyer’s journey, also known as the customer’s journey, as “the process buyers go through to become aware of, consider and evaluate, and decide to purchase a new product or service.”

This three-step process lays the foundation for a variety of customer journey variants.

Awareness stage (TOFU) : This is when your customers search for topics related to a challenge, goal, or opportunity to educate themselves. As a marketer, you can dig into the data related to this step to discover common concerns and how potential buyers prioritize their needs.
Consideration stage (MOFU) : In the second phase of interaction with your brand, the customer is armed with clearly defined goals and is ready to address them head-on. They are looking for targeted solutions. As a marketer, you can learn which categories of products/services your customers need most and what details they’re seeking about these solutions.
Decision stage (BOFU ): In this final touchpoint before making a sale, your customer is ready to commit. They’re weighing their options and choices before pressing the Buy Now button. As a marketer, you can discover how buyers evaluate your solutions, what concerns/expectations they may have, and who was involved in the decision-making process.

Despite a misconception that it’s always a top-of-funnel tactic, content marketing can help reach people at any stage of the funnel. As those people continue their interactions with your organization, it helps widen the neck of the funnel farther down. And because content is all the words and pictures on (and off of) your site, you have many options to tailor your content marketing message to where your audience is in that funnel. — Moz

Variations of the Buyer’s Journey

Absolutely. The order, types, and number of stages in a buyer’s journey vary based on your goals linked to specific campaigns, products, services, or customer types.

Think of a working funnel like an ice cream sundae. All are served in a tall vessel filled with scoops of ice cream topped with sweet treats. Some have sprinkles, whipped cream, cherries, and nuts. Others do not.

Variations of the customer journey can show up at any stage (the sundae toppings) within the foundational funnel (ice cream) we shared earlier. Why? That allows marketers to pivot and sweeten the deal with their audience at the ideal time, with targeted content to entice them to the BOFU. The right outreach is like finding an extra cherry under the second scoop of vanilla deliciousness. Perfect!

Let’s explore some popular stages and variants you might include in a customer journey mapping session.

Most funnels will include some of these stages.

Most funnels will include three to six of these stages:

Differentiation
Consideration
Particulars
Transaction

How the stages fit together and flow is determined by your unique sales process and goals from start to finish. The customizable combinations are endless.

Salesforce explains that taking the time to map out your buyer’s journey and find the variant that works best helps:

Learn where and how customers engage with your outreach
Fine-tune how to solve customer needs at various stages in the marketing funnel
See if the order of the stages are indeed aligned to meet your goals
Shows the sales team the approach you’re taking to generate leads for them
Discover gaps in your sales cycle
Find out where to concentrate your efforts to maximize ROI

Above all, does your customer journey align with your branding strategy? Is your outreach jiving with your values and as a company and how you want to present your brand? As you map out your ideal customer journey, you’ll want to think about content that partners with each stage of the funnel and the challenges of your specific customers.

Why do I need content for the customer journey?

Content for the Buyer’s Journey

A salesperson in a brick-and-mortar store wouldn’t dream of waiting to first approach a customer as they walk to the sales counter with their purchase in hand. Why do it online? This means it’s a good idea to be in front of your audience and speaking to them with your content marketing assets as early as possible, especially at the TOFU.

HubSpot shares that 88 percent of B2B marketers are using custom content to engage with their customers at various stages in their marketing funnels. However, 65 percent are confused about which types of content are most effective. When it comes to content creation, they recommend leaning into SEO optimized, high-value written content, such as blog posts, ebooks, reports and white papers filled with original research. More on that later.

Using buyer personas to create your content

Audience is everything. If you don’t know who you’re talking to, why are you speaking at all? Let’s explore ideal customer profiles and buyer personas as a way to ensure your content speaks to the customers flowing through your funnel.

An ideal customer profile (ICP) is a data-driven strategy tool that clearly defines your best-fit buyer, which is used to align your marketing and sale teams, according to the folks at Hull , a consumer data collection platform. ICPs lay the groundwork for successful personalized messaging and razor-focused campaigns that speak to a specific audience.

After you discover who you’re creating content for via ICPs, learn how to talk to these people as individuals. We do this by creating buyer personas , or fictional character vignettes that represent a specific category of your audience. They often read like an old-school yearbook bio with lists of hobbies and mentions of personal values. These warm and inviting character sketches help marketers get into the minds of their audience members.

Buyer persona checklist

There’s no industry-standard template (but, we love this B2B option ) or list of attributes that a buyer persona must have, but they tend to include a handful (or more) of these bits of information, often arranged in a visually pleasing one-sheet/one-slide format tucked inside a branding strategy document.

Name : These are usually cute and stylized. Think of monikers such as Healthy Hailey for a new protein powder campaign or CEO Sarah for a top-level executive buyer.
Occupation : This includes job title, size of business and any other pertinent information that may have an effect on them as a buyer, such as income level.
Goals : These may be personal life goals or professional goals. Some personas share a combination of both.
Challenges : What pain points does your ideal buyer have? Detail them here.
Demographics : Include the buyer persona’s age, geographical location and education level.
Brands : On occasion, I’ve seen buyer personas include a list of products and services this fictional character loves to use. It gives marketers a peek at what branding already resonates.
Social media : Where would you find this person hanging out online? How do they engage with these platforms? Do they rely on Facebook Events to stay looped in on weekend activities?
Summary : This is a concise one to four-paragraph bio about the person and their daily life, work duties, concerns, ideals and why they might engage with the brand.

Content for Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

When you worked through your branding strategy, you likely discussed content levels. High levels bolster the core brand experience. Lower levels support strategy, branding, and function.

Since you know every buyer’s journey is unique with variants, let’s focus on the three general segments of the journey and what types of content assets best match buyers in these stages. As you browse, think about which of these aligns with the content levels identified in your branding strategy.

TOFU: Inspirational/emotional blog posts, ebook offers, opt-ins, gated content offerings, tutorial videos, helpful social media posts, free online courses/certifications
MOFU: Personalized engagement via email/calls/messaging, any content that positions your brand as an expert, webinars, guides, live chats, whitepapers, blog posts that offer a specific solution
BOFU: Calls-to-action, trial offers, demos, downloads, case studies, product-focused content

HubSpot shares a few examples of content that align with the various stages in a marketing funnel . For top-of-funnel , we want to lead with sharable, enticing content that adds value to the reader’s life through education, freebies, or feel-good vibes.

When we get to the middle of the funnel, focus on qualifying your prospects and nurturing the relationships that were formed in the TOFU. Your audience is evaluating your messaging at this point, and you need to be ready to offer solutions before they discontinue their journey with you.

Finally, the bottom of the funnel is where you close the deal. Although your audience may not have made a purchasing decision yet, they’re ready to be swayed with a compelling offer that not only solves their needs but also solidifies their relationship with your brand.

Boost Your Buyer’s Journey Content

Building your content creation around the buyer’s journey ensures that you’re guiding your target audience every step of the way. That nurturing generates more leads and increases conversions, driving your brand’s growth and success.

If you’re looking for expertise and support when it comes to that creation, ClearVoice has you covered. Our expert teams will help you produce high-quality content that engages your audience at every stage of their journey. Talk to a strategist today to discover how.

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What is the Buyer’s Journey? – Stages with Examples

When a buyer enters the market, then he’s looking for the information that he couldn’t browse over the internet. In simple words, it’s the process and stages that a buyer goes through before making any decision. According to statistics, 70% of the buyers are through all the stages of buyers’ journey before making any purchasing.

As a sales or businessmen, it’s important to know the stages that a buyer goes through, whether they’re instinctive or real. Once you know the process, then you can make better marketing and sales strategies to increase the conversion rate.

Table of Contents

What is Buyer’s Journey?

A buyer’s journey is a process of all the stages a buyer goes through before making any purchase decision of product and service. Those stages comprise of getting information about the product, awareness, considering about it, and then finally making the purchase decision.

Stages of Buyer’s Journey with Examples

We’ll discuss the 3 stages of the buyer’s journey in details one by one with examples, here it follows;

A – Awareness

As the name implies, awareness means that the buyer is acquiring information about the product, service, or the problem he wants to solve. The reason the buyer is acquiring information that he has realized that something is missing in his life, or he has an urge or desire for something to satisfy.

Here are some of the following sources that the buyer would look for;

Online

The only thing available to him at that specific time is his smartphone, computer or laptop. Then he would go online to find the solution to his problem. It could be by searching it over any browser like google, bing, etc.

While searching online, the buyer would get clear information about the solution to the problem he’s looking for. Once he has the information, then it would reach the stage of fully aware. Here are some of the following sources that the buyer would look in order to find answers to his problems like; EBooks, guide, report, video, blog post, whitepapers, or infographics.

Recommendation

If the buyer is surrounded by friends, or he knows someone in the particular niche who could answer his questions, then he would ask them to learn more about the problem, and how it could be solved.

If the business or the company is finding the answers to what the potential customers have in their mind. Then they would really appreciate the effort what the business is doing to make it easier for them.

The important thing to remember at this stage, that the company shouldn’t take this step lightly. It’s because when you would deliver the information to the customers in the later stages, then they would ask for more information. Therefore, you should do your complete homework at this stage.

For instance, you want to start an online business that requires you to have a website. But you don’t have any experience of building a website. Therefore, you would start reading the WordPress blogs and watching the tutorial videos.

C – Consideration

Consideration is the stage where the buyer has the information about the product, service, or the problem. Once he knows the problem, then he would start looking for ways and methods to solve the problem. At this stage, another research starts with the exact and precise solution starts.

If your business or company offers information in the form of the following things, then it would be very useful to the customers.

Tutorial or describing video about the product or the problem,
Well written article, explaining everything.
Showing comparison in the form of table or charts,

You wanted to have a website. Now, you know that you can build a website either through WordPress, Drupal, Joomla or you can hire a freelancer to build it for you.

D – Decision

You start the journey with finding the problem. After identifying the problem, you look for the ways and methods to solve it. While researching, you would come across with companies and businesses that are offering a solution.

While finalizing the list of solutions or the companies that are offering solutions, you would also develop matrices to choose one. You’ll end up choosing something that is either exactly or closely related to your problem.

Businesses and companies offer free trials, plans & pricing, about, reviews, forms, contact details, testimonials, featuring lists, or the documents providing the solution.

When a company provides well-detailed information about the product or the problem to buyers and customers, then it gives a company a competitive edge over competitors. That’s how companies and businesses can stand out from the crowd by adding value to customers’ life.

You wanted a website, and you found out WordPress offers it. But you didn’t know how you can do it. At this stage, you know the website name that offers the complete tutorial. You also know that domain and hosting is necessary, where and how you can buy it.

The problem and stages of buyer’s journey we have discussed in this article may not be the same every time. They may vary from business to business and situation to situation. Problems can be more complicated, and they would require more stages to subcategorize it.

When companies are dividing and subcategorizing the problem into various stages, and research the methods to find the solution that how they can solve the problems better. It gives them an insight into the psychology of customers, their behavior and how they can make a purchase decision.

When you have such information, then you can formulate your business and marketing strategies according to making them choosing and buying your product or service.

About The Author

Ahsan Ali Shaw

Marketing91

What is the Buyer’s Journey? Definition, Stages, and Examples

June 28, 2024 | By Hitesh Bhasin | Filed Under: Marketing

The Buyer’s Journey is a term used to describe the cycle of events customers go through when considering purchasing. The journey typically begins with a customer recognizing their need for a product or service, researching various options, and eventually deciding to purchase.

At each stage of the Buyer’s journey, companies must know how their brand is presented to potential customers . Businesses must craft a unique and memorable brand voice that speaks to existing customers and prospects at different stages of the Buyer’s journey.

Table of Contents

What is the Buyer’s Journey?

The Buyer’s Journey can be defined as the process or stages a potential customer goes through, from discovering a brand to making the final purchase. It’s a path guided by the brand’s unique voice and identity that resonates with customers at each stage. Buyer’s journey stages are often categorized into three primary types – Awareness , Consideration, and Decision.

An example of the Buyer’s journey would be someone who discovers a new brand on social media, researches the product , and then compares prices before making a purchase decision. At each stage, they come into contact with the brand’s message, which should feel consistent no matter what platform it appears on.

It is also sometimes called the purchase journey. Simply put, a buyer’s journey describes what a customer has to go through to purchase a product or a service. Creating a buyer’s journey would involve mapping out all the interactions, decisions, and actions the prospect takes, from defining his problem to identifying the solution.

The key to creating a journey map is to watch how the prospect behaves at each stage of the buying process. This is comparable to how playtesting works in games. Game developers watch how people play, identify their pain areas, and design the game appropriately. Mapping the customer’s journey assists the organization in identifying buyer pain points. Then, you may control the purchasing process so that no gaps cause buyers to slip out of the sales funnel .

Key Takeaways

The Buyer’s Journey is divided into three stages: awareness , consideration, and decision, which outline the customer’s path from discovery to purchase.
A consistent brand voice across all platforms is critical for connecting with customers at every step of their journey.
Mapping the Buyer’s Journey is similar to playtesting in gaming, where businesses discover and fix customer pain spots to improve the purchasing experience.
Effective path mapping assists businesses in avoiding potential drop-offs by addressing gaps in the sales funnel.
The journey includes encounters with the brand and the customer’s decisions and actions, from problem identification to solution purchasing.

Why is Studying a Buyer’s Journey Important for your Sales Strategy?

Studying the Buyer’s journey is vital because it allows businesses to understand the customer’s thought processes, behaviors, and decision-making patterns. This further helps the company decide whether there is a need or a problem that the company is not fulfilling. Thus, this allows the company to research the necessary solutions so their buyers can make chase .

Some of the reasons that understanding the Buyer’s journey is essential for your sales team are-

1. Focus on Customers: Businesses can lose focus on their customers and match their needs in each stage of the purchase process. This, therefore, makes their marketing more efficient and effective.

2. Product Development : Studying the Buyer’s journey helps the business determine features or elements missing in its current product line. This can lead to better product development . Example: Lego conducts mindstorms where initially they just observed kids playing with toys.

3. Sales Strategies : Companies can realign their sales strategies based on the Buyer’s journey and customers’ needs.

4. Customer Experience : Better customer experience during the buying journey helps improve the overall purchase experience, fosters repeat purchases, and leads to better word-of-mouth referrals.

5. Competitive Advantage : A company that is studying the journey of its customers will always be able to design superior products and service solutions that will give them a competitive advantage .

6. Pull Strategies : Based on what the Buyer is looking for, companies can design their pull strategies so that customers themselves approach the company. Example: Apple iPods were designed by observing the pain points of Walkman or CD players.

7. Retaining Customers: Finally, once the company is attuned to observing its customers, it fills all the gaps, leaving the customer happy at the end of his buying journey. This results in customer loyalty and retention and turns customers into brand advocates . Example: Ikea always keeps observing the movement of customers around the store and rearranging its display accordingly.

What are the Three Stages of the Buyer’s Journey?

The Buyer’s journey has three stages: awareness, consideration, and decision. When studying the Buyer’s journey, these three stages evaluate the prospect’s decision-making process.

Each stage in the Buyer’s journey may have challenges. It is your job as a marketer to resolve the challenges and ensure a smooth process for the customer. As a business owner, you must remove as many obstacles from a buyer’s journey as possible. Let’s now go through the three stages of the Buyer’s journey that are crucial for any successful sales process –

1. The Awareness Stage

The Buyer’s journey begins at this stage. The awareness stage in the Buyer’s journey is when the customer becomes aware that he has a problem or a pain point. They have just started to look for a solution.

For example, I realize I have gained some weight and need to exercise a bit. However, I need to figure out where to begin. I have to start exercising.

I am still deciding what I want to do at this stage. I will start learning and understanding the different options for exercising. I could go to YouTube , buy a book from Amazon , or subscribe to a health magazine. There are many solutions available to my problem.

Once a customer is in the awareness stage, they might have several options. They are just aware of their problem and have resolved that they want to solve it. That’s the awareness stage. Once the customer is aware, he moves on to the next step.

2. The Consideration Stage

The consideration stage is when the prospects consider different solutions to their problems. They seek more information on their situation and try to find solutions.

The information may be found by googling, asking people they know, using social media or even forums. They may get information like quick fixes, suggested products, recommendations from someone personally, and potential solutions.

Prospects generally weigh their pros and cons in the consideration stage before reaching their buying decision. This is the stage where most companies can persuade customers to buy their products, and prospects can be influenced with correct information.

For example, now that I know I need to get active, I use YouTube and Google to seek relevant material. This brings me to a content influencer suggesting I join a gym or buy an exercise bike for home. I could take up some sports or start trekking as a pastime.

I am considering several options. In addition, I am assessing my advantages and disadvantages. For example, as a writer, I prefer the exercise bike option since it allows me to work whenever I have a 15-minute break. So now I have considered all of my options. This helps me get to the decision stage.

3. The Decision Stage

The decision stage is the final stage of the Buyer’s journey, where he chooses a product or a service that will solve his pain points and appears to be the correct choice for the customer.

This is the stage at which the prospect is most interested in learning more about the chosen product, and the salesperson must always be watchful in case the customer changes his mind.

Highlighting the product’s qualities and understanding the customer’s pain points are crucial for sales conversion . Even at this level, the consumer is likely looking for answers to his questions about the chosen product. These queries could be about warranty, maintenance, EMI, paperwork, customer service hierarchy, or any other issue that a customer may have.

I am continuing my example. I need an exercise bike. I go to Decathlon and look at all the options available. I am looking for something compact that is durable and can fit easily in my chosen space. Based on this, I found the right exercise bike at Decathlon and checked out with it.

In the internet age, many considerations are driven via the internet itself. Businesses need a strong internet presence to win in the Buyer’s journey.

Creating Content for Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

Content is crucial to the Buyer’s journey and helps build trust with your potential customers. To ensure you create content for each stage, start by identifying your target audience and developing effective buyer personas.

Then, create content that speaks to their needs at every stage, help them make an informed decision, and build brand loyalty . Sales reps have a huge role in creating content that resonates with the target audience. They can use customer feedback and develop blog posts, articles, case studies, and other forms of content that address their customers’ questions or problems.

These pieces should be written using your company’s brand voice and tone to ensure a consistent message is delivered each time. Additionally, content should be tailored to meet the needs of each stage in the Buyer’s journey. Remember that all pieces should be engaging and informative and include calls-to-action (CTAs) when appropriate.

Content Ideas for Each Stage

1. Awareness stage – Create a blog post that compares different models, generates buyer personas to identify potential customers, and develops a solution strategy for your sales reps to utilize. You may also create social media posts, whitepaper, how-to videos, checklists, Ebook, educational webinars, etc

2. Consideration stage – Focus on providing relevant product information, highlighting customer reviews and testimonials, offering informative case studies, and developing an FAQ section. Additionally, you can create content such as product comparison guides, free samples, etc.

3. Decision stage – Aim to create content that will entice buyers to make a final purchase decision. Examples include product demos, free trials, discounts/promotions, consultation offers, etc. You should also ensure that your brand’s voice is consistent throughout the Buyer’s journey to build trust and loyalty with potential customers.

How can the Companies use the Buyer’s Journey for their Benefit?

Now that we understand what the buyers’ journey is made of, it becomes essential for the companies to use it in the best possible way to enhance the growth of their own companies. Now, for companies to tackle buyers’ journeys and find the best solution to make the best out of them, they should approach it stepwise.

1. The companies need to define their buying persona

The companies first need to understand the journey their targeted customers, i.e., their buyers, take. And for this, they need to understand their customers, needs, demands, income, and how much they are willing to pay.

2. The companies need to understand the journey that their buyers take

Once the companies can figure out who their potential buyers they must determine the different processes through which they will approach their customers.

3. Mapping the content to the Buyer’s Journey

Once the customers are known and their journey is understood, the last and final step for the company is to map the journey in which they will be tracking down every single step of their customers and address the various solutions and challenges they may come across through this journey.

In this way, the buyers’ journey plays a vital role in the companies selling their products to marketers. By analyzing the Buyer’s journey, one can develop potential solutions to help them overcome the challenges and increase their sales revenue.

Buyer’s Journey vs. Customer Journey

Customers have a unique path they take when it comes to researching, purchasing, and using products or services. This is known as the Buyer’s journey.

However, businesses should also know that customer journeys encompass every step beyond the purchase, from initial discovery to ongoing support after the sale. Companies can build intense client retention levels by understanding and improving each touchpoint along this customer journey, leading to long-term loyalty and success.

Monitoring both journeys is essential to guarantee that they cohesively integrate. Any customer who purchases your business may observe any disparity between how you cater to potential customers and existing ones, so it is crucial to maintain consistency in the quality of service provided regardless of where a particular individual sits along their buying journey.

Steps of Applying Buyer’s Journey to the Sales Cycle

Having learned the critical aspects of the customer journey, it’s time to look into how you can incorporate them into your sales operations –

1. Evaluate your buyer personas

To completely understand our target audience and customers, we must analyze buyer personas – a thorough account of customer experience that includes Age, Gender, Location, and other pertinent details such as Likes and dislikes, Profession, Education level, Income Level, and Values.

2. Define your Buyer’s journey

When pinpointing your target customer, it is time to construct a journey that suits your sales funnel and pipeline.

3. Align your content with your sales strategies

Having determined the type of content your buyers require at each stage, you must ensure that your sales teams and reps are adequately prepared to maximize every opportunity.

4. Perfecting your Buyer’s journey

Crafting content tailored to the user’s needs and organized for easy comprehension should always be a priority. Additionally, including a strong call-to-action at the end of your writing will encourage customers along their purchasing decision journey.

Buyer’s Journey Examples

1. Awareness stage – Suppose you have an older Smartphone model and want to upgrade. Your buyers’ journey could begin with some investigation – examining various models, specifications, costs, etc.

2. Consideration stage – As buyers move further down the Buyers’ Journey, they must decide between their top choices and compare different models. Once they have settled on a specific model, it is essential to ensure that reputable sellers with positive customer reviews are located to make an informed decision.

3. Decision stage – If a Smartphone user completes the Buyer’s Journey, they should examine all the details and consider any warranties or services that may accompany their purchase. By doing this, they can make an informed decision that best fits their needs.

How do you track the Buyer’s Journey Stages?

When tracking the Buyer’s journey stages, it is essential to understand your target customer and the various touchpoints contributing to their decision-making process.

Tracking customer data, such as clicks, page visits, lead forms, call times, etc., can help you better understand the most effective channels and where improvements can be made for increased sales. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools are integral to managing and understanding the Buyer’s Journey.

Salesforce : Salesforce is a globally recognized CRM tool that offers a comprehensive view of the Buyer’s journey. Its advanced analytics capabilities enable sales reps to better understand buyer persona behaviors and preferences.
HubSpot: Another key player in the CRM tool sector is HubSpot. It provides a seamless interface for tracking customer engagement and behavior, helping sales reps engage effectively with different buyer personas.
Zoho CRM: Zoho CRM offers a range of features supporting sales rep interactions with customers. It provides deep insights into the buyer persona , helping businesses tailor their communication and marketing strategies .

Conclusion!

Ultimately, the Buyer’s Journey is a crucial element of sales. With this method, marketers can gain an understanding of their prospects’ motivations and desires to create tailored experiences that will move them closer to making a buying decision.

By leveraging the power of a Buyers Journey approach, companies can gain valuable insights into their target audiences and craft personalized experiences to drive conversions.

Liked this post? Check out the complete series on Marketing

Buyer Readiness State – Different Stages Of Buyer Readiness
What is Buyer’s Market? Definition, Examples & Buyer vs Seller’s Markets
Who is Media Buyer? Role of Media Buyer Explained
Brand Journey: Definition, Stages and Tips
Customer Journey Mapping – Overview, Utility and Tools with Examples
Buyer’s Remorse: Definition, Meaning, Reasons and Prevention
Buyer Persona – Definition, Importance and Tips
Buyer Seller Dyads
What is Product Life Cycle? Definition, Stages & Examples
What is Commercialization? A Comprehensive Guide with Definition, Stages, & Examples

About Hitesh Bhasin

Hitesh Bhasin is the CEO of Marketing91 and has over a decade of experience in the marketing field. He is an accomplished author of thousands of insightful articles, including in-depth analyses of brands and companies. Holding an MBA in Marketing, Hitesh manages several offline ventures, where he applies all the concepts of Marketing that he writes about.

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A definitive guide to the buyer’s journey

What is a buyer’s journey.

The buyer’s journey is a framework for thinking about the stages that a buyer goes through in the complex purchase typical in B2B. It allows sellers to arrange their tactics to best help their buyers navigate each of those stages and to measure their effectiveness at creating advantage as they do. Summarised as awareness, consideration, and decision, it is often broken down into further stages.

B2B Buyer's journey as a framework for sales and marketing performance

Growing businesses – whether start-up, small, medium or enterprise – want a sales and marketing engine that performs. At what though? Revenue is a measure but a flawed one for both Sales and Marketing; this year’s revenue often contains sales success from past years and delivery success since. Revenue growth (rather than absolute revenue) might be more accurate. But that, too, is a difficult measure. Is revenue growth this year a function of price increases, amazing delivery of value from the operational side of your business, usage growth by your customers, or the efforts of Sales and Marketing?

Closed sales this year/quarter/month is a better measure for sales and marketing as it strips out these impurities. Your decisions about whether you record the value of closed sales by number, number of new logos, annual contract value, anticipated lifetime value, and revenue or gross margin is situational.

Regardless, closed sales is a lag indicator. Before a sale, we have preference. And before that, we have an offer of some sort. Before an offer, we have a scoped need, and other stages like basic awareness still earlier.

We (Sales and Marketing) want to choose the right tactics, and we want them to work.

It turns out we also want our strategy to work. We consider strategic questions like:

who do we want to be exposed to those tactics?
and what are we going to sell them when they are?
and who’s going to execute the tactic? Is it for us or our resellers?

As I’ll argue in this essay, the buyer’s journey is a framework for optimising both your tactics and your strategy, and therefore your performance.

Why the B2B journey is really different

Marketers who are more familiar with consumer marketing than business to business marketing will tell us, “Businesses don’t buy, people do”. While true, this is a sure sign of someone who’s not had a lot of experience marketing to businesses.

In consumer marketing (B2C), you can make an amazing and provocative piece of creative, make people laugh, slap the logo on the end, and you’re done. I’m kidding of course, but only just. Consider some of the funniest ads you saw last night and try to remember the brands.

Most B2B buying is especially complex. Business (B2B) marketers understand that their buyers take many steps on their path to purchase, and they often take many weeks, months or years to make a decision. And there are many players involved on both sides.

And in B2B, we need to use many, many tactics to help buyers move through this complex and time-consuming journey. So, the job of any tactic isn’t to sell but to move.

From where?

And what went on before this particular tactic that might influence a buyer’s receptivity to this tactic? To bring in the father of persuasion Robert Cialdini, how were they persuaded (sic)?

That is, what ‘priors’ do they bring to each stage in the journey? In a perfect world, we might have been the author of all of those ‘priors’. In reality, this is rare.

Buyers take a journey

The buyer’s journey is a progression of thought. It might help if I describe it backwards first to unpack the buyers journey stages, then forwards so you can think about how you might optimise that journey.

Why do I need something like xx anyway, though?
And what will happen if I don’t buy something like xx?
Who might I consider?

Let’s now play that forwards using slightly different language:

I know you (but don’t really care)
I’m curious enough (but still not terribly motivated), perhaps look at solutions and concepts for a while without really knowing what I ought to be looking for
I bounce in and out of those moments for eons until…
I have a problem worth fixing
I explore options, talk to vendors, colleagues, friends, advisors, scratch my head and arrive at a view about what I need (from someone)
Maybe I retreat and return a few times before landing on a clear enough idea about what I need
Then I get more proper offers from one or more options. That can be anything from a super formal tender to a phone quote or DIY web-config, but now I know what the deal is
Then I discard options until one seems to be the best path
And if I work at a big company or am an otherwise clear target, maybe before that whole journey started, someone had my name in a database, and I didn’t even know that I was a ‘target’.

Buyer's journey stages (high level first)

Some writers like to argue that the buyer’s journey is not linear and might use language like “the funnel is dead”. Cute, but not terribly helpful. It is perhaps more helpful to think of the journey as iterative than linear.

Many have had a go at defining and articulating the buyer’s journey. I like HubSpot’s attempt. https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/what-is-the-buyers-journey

They distil the multiple stages into three:

Awareness stage
Consideration stage
Decision stage

A nd they acknowledge the changing awareness for the buyer at each stage:

Awareness – pain/problem aware
Consideration – solution aware
Decision – provider aware

Sourced from HubSpot

At align.me, we use a more-granular journey for a few reasons, which I’ll argue here. But I’m still comfortable with HubSpot’s somewhat-simple top/middle/bottom of funnel stratification.

Even at this very high level, though, I’d use different language (just to be picky). Buyers are usually aware of the provider(s) early in the journey, not just late.

The B2B buyer's journey has many stages

Sales and Marketing both have roles in helping buyers to navigate their journey. Pre-sales does too. Is it the case that Marketing owns the awareness stage, Pre-sales the consideration stage, and Sales owns the decision stage?

The buyer's journey - a term first coined by Hugh Macfarlane in 2003

Let’s flip to the buyer’s view of this journey. For a buyer, gaining clarity about what they need – whether from you or someone else – is a key stage in their journey. Once they’re clear about what they need, they can view and judge solutions well.

But why do they need a solution at all? What is going on – or what risks going on – that gives rise to this need? Put differently, what problem are they trying to solve? And what would the consequence be for not solving that problem? These are key questions for a buyer.

Whatever good things the business is trying to achieve (growth, cost reduction, expansion, compliance, etc.), those goals and objectives face hurdles. Maybe the business lacks know-how, resources, or capabilities. Maybe they lack something less human, like data or systems.

In pursuit of their objectives, a business will face:

Impediments
Constraints

For a seller, it doesn’t make sense to offer a solution until there’s agreed clarity about the need. And the need is informed or triggered by this gap.

The difference between this gap and the need is key. It’s also the seller’s best opportunity to create positive influence. One seller might be superior at meeting one articulation of the need, and another seller better at meeting a different articulation of the need.

Let me give you an example. A part of our own business is go-to-market planning . If you believe that you need a go-to-market plan that is largely similar to others’ and you don’t have many stakeholders, then we’d be competing with low-priced books, courses, eBooks and the like.

But if you believe you need a go-to-market plan that is unique and has been built and bought into by a dozen senior contributors, then our workshop-driven approach would be more attractive.

Let’s push that further. If you believe that you need a go-to-market plan that is informed by deep research, sector analysis, contributions from hundreds of customers and your field, then align.me would be competing with Bain, BCG and McKinsey.

We do sometimes. But we win when the need is for a go-to-market plan built and bought into by your senior contributors. So as a seller, if we’re granted an opportunity to shape your concept of the problem you want solved and what you need to do so, we’ll argue the need for team input and suggest that you need a plan built in a few weeks, not in many months. And we’d argue that you need a plan built within a sane commercial cost range and so ought to be leveraging some sort of clever tech to allow us to do so.

I won’t take that argument any further lest you think I’m trying to shape your thinking :).

When the buyer begins their own journey, you need to be visible

If it doesn’t make sense to offer a solution until there’s agreed clarity about the need and the gap, is that true earlier? That is, should we be trying to trouble a potential buyer when we are just getting onto their radar?

Sometimes you do. Perhaps you want to be positioned in their mind as one of the credible providers of a solution in a certain category. But you might also want to be positioned as someone who can solve a certain type of problem.

If a B2B buyer is already looking for solutions in a certain category, they might be Googling that category, researching listing sites like Captera, or consulting with analysts like Gartner. In this case, we should position as a credible solution and use good questioning and discovery techniques to take them backwards in the journey to reshape their concept of what they need. Done well and authentically, a buyer can believe they need A/B/C when they start and legitimately and wisely conclude at the end of that process that they need B/C/D.

For a buyer not yet looking, we might position as someone who has insights into their problems and can help.

The job of tactics is help buyers to progress through each stage of the journey

Pick any common tactic in B2B sales and marketing and think about the stage in the buyers journey where this best fits. Or most often fits.

Consider case studies for example. They are a common and effective way for a seller to evidence their ability to deliver value. A case study can describe the entire journey that the buyer took and continue on to describe the outcomes achieved.

But we can also optimise any case study for one or another buyer’s journey stage. Consider how you might optimise a case study in these common use cases:

A buyer who can’t (yet) see some of the barriers they will face as they pursue their objectives;
One who isn’t yet clear, or perhaps wrong in their thinking, and what is needed to overcome those barriers;
One who doesn’t really understand you’re approach to the proposed solution; or
One who doesn’t understand why this approach will yield better outcomes.

The case study document itself might be optimised for any one of those stages. In theory, we might even entertain the idea of a single case study being manifested as many documents, each optimised for one stage in the journey. This could allow for the automated marketing or the manual selling to leverage the right story to help any individual buyer to their next stage.

An effective case study, though, is rarely optimised for every buyers journey stage.

That little example, and insight from it, suggests that every single tactic needs this simple piece of clarity:

What do we believe buyers who receive this tactic already think?
What do we want them to think once we’re done with this tactic?

That’s it. Simple, but a little too rare. Consider any big tactic:

Executive roundtable
Seminar presentation
Discovery workshop

…or any smaller tactic

Follow up email
Confirmation call

The job of each tactic is to help a buyer from one thought to another.

Sometimes, they need to be repeated. Consider a nurture series where you might rely on many emails read over an extended period to slowly unlock the grip on one idea to allow consideration of another.

Sometimes they work in tandem with others to successfully achieve a progression:

An email invitation to a webinar hints at the problem (gap/challenge/barrier/impediment)
The webinar explores it
The follow-up email reinforces it
The 1-1 meetings and discovery sessions personalise and enumerate it

The job of each tactic – alone or in tandem – is to help a buyer from one thought to another along the buyer’s journey.

We get great insights from measuring the buyer's journey

Ask any sales professional about their closure rate – the percentage of their proposals that they successfully close – and they’ll almost certainly know. 25% to 33% (one in four or one in three) is common. Ask them how long their sales cycle is, and they’ll also often have a decent handle on this. Three months is not uncommon, although many in B2B deal with sales cycles that are considerably longer and some are blissfully shorter.

Ask them to break both closure and cycle length down to the stages, and they’ll rarely know.

But they need to.

We’ve built hundreds of go-to-market plans in workshops in 32 countries and thousands using our planning software. And the difference between the shape of average deals that are ultimately won and those that are ultimately lost is telling. This pattern is different for every business, but there are two common patterns:

If a buyer has been ‘stuck’ at any particular buyer’s journey stage for longer than is normal for you, then the probability of them ever progressing is already low and is getting lower by the day
If a buyer whistles through a stage faster than is normal for you, double-check that they really are locked in at the next stage. There is a huge risk they will slip backwards later.

Neither do salespeople generally like conceding defeat. Many of the deals that look like they are ‘stuck’ in your funnel have leaked from it long ago.

All that to say, we need to get good at updating progressions so we can gain useful insights into win and loss patterns generally and the probability of each deal specifically.

I coined the term - the Buyer's Journey

In 2003 I wrote The Leaky Funnel. My first version was a prescriptive argument about how to build a go-to-market plan, but I discarded that in favour of writing it as a novel.

In the book, I needed to argue the ideas contained in this essay and to refer frequently back to that idea. I needed a handful of words to collect this idea so that if I had to refer to it 50 times in the book, I’d need a few thousand words only once, and a few words every other time. Like the way we use an acronym like ‘B2B’ as shorthand for business-to-business.

It was for this reason, and not for any grand plan, that I coined the term ‘the buyer’s journey’. It is now a common expression and owned by the universe. But the fire started here. I risk saying this and appearing immodest to argue only a few points:

I have been thinking about this idea for a long time
I have a lot of experience using this idea
Anyone who lays claim to owning the term might want to check around a little

I coined the buyer’s journey as a term, but I don’t own it. No-one does.

Buyer's journey stages

I’ve mentioned a few times that we run workshops to help businesses build go-to-market plans and have software to make that process hyper-efficient.

When I ran the very first Funnel Camp workshop in 2000 for IBM, one of our workshops was to define their own concept of the buyer’s journey. We repeated that for around 20 workshops with other clients and abandoned the journey-definition exercise thereafter as the conclusions were always identical. Each discussion might have started uniquely, but once we analysed, discussed, debated, we always landed at the same articulation of the buyer’s journey. We’ve now run around 500 workshops and used the buyer’s journey to shape every single one.

Since 2020 these workshops have all been done on Zoom. Before 2020, they were all face to face. When COVID-19 pandemic sent the whole world home in March 2020, we made a deliberate decision that our pivot (everyone had one) would be to lean into remote delivery. We modified our Funnel Plan software to enable multiple remote participants to input, rate, and debate options and to decide and articulate their conclusions. We even integrated Zoom into Funnel Plan so that we can kick off a Zoom meeting from inside the software.

All that to say, I am confident arguing that the following is the clearest and most road-test articulation of the buyer’s journey for complex B2B.

Journey stages expanded

You can see parallels to HubSpot’s simpler articulation:

Positioned in Category
Interest Established
Gap Acknowledged
Need Agreed
Offer Understood
Preference Formed
Decision Made

But we’ve added two stages in the buyer’s journey that don’t fit neatly into HubSpot’s model. HubSpot are famous for championing inbound marketing. And why not? But many of us in B2B have to do lots of outbounding too. And for this reason, we need to begin with a stage that’s not truly a buyer’s journey stage, but when choosing tactics (coming up next in this essay), there are many key tactics needed to find the right names.

And the same is true of the recycling that we need to do to those buyers who have leaked from the funnel and need to be nurtured back in.

Typical tactics for each stage in the buyer's journey

Every business needs to craft its own set of tactics. And they should have the CEO (or divisional head) and the heads of each of Sales, Marketing, Pre-sales in the room when they craft their tactics for the buyer’s journey, and often a half a dozen others who report to these leaders. And they probably should have an experienced facilitator lead them through the process of considering, debating, forming their tactics roadmap for the buyer’s journey

The result might look something like this:

And for buyers who leaked from the funnel and needed to be nurtured before returning to the funnel, we might expect tactics like:

Email blog to those we have email addresses for
Google remarketing for website visitors
LinkedIn remarketing for the subset of our website visitors who also meet our ideal client profile as defined in our LinkedIn filters

In our Funnel Plan we’d represent this as a series of inter-connected tactics:

Buyer's journey implementation plan

Enough with the theory. Here are some steps for your to consider:

Rename the stages in your CRM to be those of the buyer’s journey, rather than the sellers. It doesn’t matter where you are. It matters a lot where they are.
Set gates up for your marketers and salespeople to define what indicators you’d expect to see from the buyer to suggest they have completed this stage in their thinking, and what actions your sales and marketing folks need to take to close out this stage.
Get your sales and marketing leadership together to build a buyer-centric strategy (not “what do we sell and to whom?” but “what problem to we solve, and for whom?”. Remember your team should include CEO (or divisional head), and the heads of each of Sales, Marketing, Pre-sales and a half a dozen of their reports.
Have that same team identify the tactics you’ll use to help buyers to navigate each stage of the buyer’s journey
Build reports in your CRM to track lag (time) and leakage (failure to progress) for each stage in your buyer’s journey, and use those measures to inform changes to your strategy and your tactics.

…oh, and if you need a little help from someone who’s led this initiative before, do let us know.

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About the author: hugh macfarlane.

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Sales CRM Terms

What is the Buyer's Journey? (Explained With Examples)

Oct 11, 2023

The Buyer's Journey is a crucial concept in the field of marketing. It refers to the process that a buyer goes through when making a purchasing decision. Understanding the buyer's journey is essential for businesses as it helps them create effective marketing strategies to attract and engage potential customers

1°) What is the Buyer's Journey?

The buyer's journey can be defined as the process that a consumer goes through, starting from the awareness stage, where they become aware of a problem or a need, to the decision stage, where they make a purchase decision. This journey can be broken down into different stages, each with its own set of characteristics and goals.

1.1 - Definition of the Buyer's Journey

At its core, the buyer's journey is a framework that helps businesses understand the psychology and behavior of their target audience. It allows them to map out the various stages a typical buyer goes through and tailor their marketing efforts accordingly. By understanding the buyer's journey, businesses can create targeted content and experiences that resonate with potential customers at each stage.

The awareness stage is the first stage of the buyer's journey. During this stage, consumers become aware of a problem or a need that they have. They may start researching and gathering information to better understand their situation. For example, a person who wants to buy a new car may become aware of the need for a more fuel-efficient vehicle.

The consideration stage is the second stage of the buyer's journey. At this stage, consumers have clearly defined their problem or need and are actively seeking solutions. They may compare different options and evaluate the pros and cons of each. Continuing with the previous example, the person in the consideration stage may research different car models and compare their fuel efficiency, features, and prices.

The decision stage is the final stage of the buyer's journey. At this point, consumers have narrowed down their options and are ready to make a purchase decision. They may seek out additional information, such as reviews or testimonials, to validate their choice. Finally, they make a purchase and become a customer. In our example, the person in the decision stage may visit car dealerships, test drive different models, and ultimately choose and purchase a car.

1.2 - Advantages of the Buyer's Journey

The buyer's journey provides several advantages for businesses. Firstly, it allows them to gain insights into the needs, motivations, and pain points of their buyers. This knowledge helps businesses develop targeted marketing messages that address the specific challenges faced by potential customers. For instance, a car manufacturer who understands that their target audience values fuel efficiency can create marketing campaigns highlighting the fuel efficiency of their vehicles.

Secondly, understanding the buyer's journey enables businesses to optimize their sales and marketing strategies to meet the needs of buyers at different stages. By tailoring their messaging and content to each stage, businesses can ensure that they are engaging with customers at the right time and in the right way. This increases the chances of conversion and ultimately leads to more sales.

Finally, the buyer's journey helps businesses build long-term relationships with customers by providing a personalized and seamless buying experience. By understanding the journey, businesses can create a smooth transition from one stage to another, ensuring that customers feel supported and valued throughout their buying process. This can result in customer loyalty and repeat purchases.

1.3 - Disadvantages of the Buyer's Journey

While the buyer's journey offers many benefits, it is not without its limitations. One disadvantage is that not every customer follows the same journey in a linear fashion. Some customers may skip certain stages or move back and forth between stages. This complexity makes it challenging for businesses to create a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy. To address this, businesses may need to create flexible marketing campaigns that can adapt to different customer journeys.

Additionally, the buyer's journey may not capture all aspects of the decision-making process, such as external influences or emotional factors. While the framework provides a valuable structure for understanding customer behavior, businesses should also consider other factors that may influence a customer's decision. This could include factors like social media influence, recommendations from friends and family, or emotional attachments to certain brands.

In conclusion, the buyer's journey is a valuable framework that helps businesses understand and cater to the needs of their customers. By mapping out the different stages and characteristics of the journey, businesses can create targeted marketing strategies that resonate with potential customers at each stage. However, it is important for businesses to recognize the limitations of the buyer's journey and supplement it with additional research and insights to create a comprehensive marketing approach.

2°) Examples of the Buyer's Journey

Now that we have a clear understanding of the buyer's journey, let's explore some real-life examples to illustrate how it works in different contexts.

2.1 - Example in a Startup Context

Imagine a startup that has developed a new productivity app. The buyer's journey for this startup might start with potential customers becoming aware of the app through targeted advertising or word of mouth. The next stage could involve potential customers researching the app's features and benefits, comparing it with competitors, and reading reviews. Finally, the decision stage would involve the potential customers making a purchase or downloading the app and becoming active users. Throughout this journey, the startup would need to provide relevant content and experiences to nurture potential customers and guide them towards making a positive purchasing decision.

2.2 - Example in a Consulting Context

In the consulting industry, the buyer's journey may involve potential clients identifying a problem or opportunity within their organization and seeking solutions. They might start by researching various consulting firms and their expertise. The consideration stage could involve requesting proposals or scheduling consultations with selected firms. Finally, the decision stage would involve the client selecting a consulting firm and signing a contract. Consulting firms need to engage potential clients throughout this journey by showcasing their expertise, providing case studies, and offering personalized recommendations.

2.3 - Example in a Digital Marketing Agency Context

A digital marketing agency's buyer's journey might begin with potential clients recognizing the need for professional marketing services to expand their online presence and attract more customers. The next stage could involve potential clients researching different agencies, exploring their portfolios, and looking for testimonials. In the decision stage, potential clients may request proposals or schedule meetings with selected agencies. The agency's goal would be to establish credibility, showcase successful campaigns, and demonstrate how they can help potential clients achieve their marketing objectives.

2.4 - Example with Analogies

To further illustrate the buyer's journey, let's explore a few analogies. Imagine you are planning a vacation. The awareness stage would involve realizing that you need a break and looking for potential destinations. The consideration stage might involve researching different locations, comparing prices, and reading reviews. Finally, the decision stage would involve booking the trip and making all the necessary arrangements. Similarly, when buying a new car, you go through stages such as researching different models, visiting dealerships, and ultimately making a purchase decision. These analogies highlight how the buyer's journey is a universal concept that applies to various aspects of our lives.

In conclusion, the buyer's journey is an invaluable tool for businesses looking to attract and engage potential customers. By understanding the various stages and characteristics of the buyer's journey, businesses can tailor their marketing strategies to effectively address the needs and motivations of their target audience. Furthermore, real-life examples demonstrate how the buyer's journey can be applied in different contexts. So, whether you're a startup, a consulting firm, or a digital marketing agency, incorporating the buyer's journey into your marketing efforts can lead to increased customer engagement and ultimately drive business success.

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The buyer's journey unraveled: definition, stages, and real-world examples.

Get to know the buyer journey, how to navigate it and what makes your buyers tick.

In today's competitive marketplace, understanding the buyer's journey is crucial for businesses looking to increase sales and build lasting customer relationships.

But what exactly is it, and how can you use this knowledge to your advantage?

In this comprehensive guide, we'll dive deep into the buyer's journey, exploring its definition, stages, and real-world examples.

We'll also discuss how to optimise your content and marketing strategies for each stage, ensuring your business stays ahead of the curve. So, buckle up and let's embark on this fascinating journey!

What is the buyer's journey?

The buyer's journey refers to the decision-making process that a customer goes through before making a purchase.

It traces the steps a potential customer takes from the moment they realise they have a problem or need, to the point where they choose a specific product or service to fulfil that need.

In essence, the buyer's journey is the road map that guides a prospect through their purchasing journey, allowing businesses to understand and anticipate their customers' needs and preferences.

By understanding the buyer's journey, businesses can create targeted marketing strategies and content that effectively address the needs and concerns of their customers at each stage, ultimately increasing the chances of converting a prospect into a paying customer.

Key stages of the buyer's journey

The buyer's journey can be broken down into three main stages:

Awareness Stage : The prospect becomes aware of a problem or need they have.
Consideration Stage : The prospect starts researching potential solutions to their problem or need.
Decision Stage : The prospect evaluates their options and makes a final decision on which product or service to purchase.

Each stage presents unique challenges and opportunities for businesses, and understanding these stages is vital for creating effective marketing strategies that cater to the specific needs of customers at different points in their journey.

Awareness stage: Identifying the problem or need

The awareness stage is the first step in the buyer's journey, where a potential customer realises they have a problem or need that must be addressed. At this point, the prospect is likely unaware of your business and its offerings.

Therefore, your goal during the awareness stage is to create content that helps the prospect identify their problem or need and to position your brand as a knowledgeable and trustworthy source of information.

Some examples of content that can be used during the awareness stage include:

Blog posts discussing common problems or needs within your industry
Educational videos or webinars
Infographics highlighting key industry trends or statistics
Social media content that drives engagement and raises awareness of your brand

Consideration stage: Researching potential solutions

Once a prospect has identified their problem or need, they enter the consideration stage, where they begin researching potential solutions. During this stage, the prospect is actively seeking information, comparing different products or services, and narrowing down their options.

Your goal during the consideration stage is to create content that showcases your product or service as a viable solution to the prospect's problem or need. This can be achieved through:

In-depth product or service guides
Case studies or customer success stories
Comparison charts or articles that highlight the unique benefits of your offering
Product or service demonstrations, either in-person or via video

Decision stage: Making the final choice

In the final stage of the buyer's journey, the prospect has narrowed down their options and is ready to make a decision.

During the decision stage, your goal is to provide the prospect with all the necessary information and support to help them confidently choose your product or service.

Some examples of content that can be used during the decision stage include:

Detailed product or service pricing information
Testimonials or reviews from satisfied customers
Sales presentations or proposals
Personalised consultations or sales calls

Real-world examples of the buyer's journey in action

To better understand how the buyer's journey plays out in real-world scenarios, let's take a look at a few examples.

Example 1: The home renovation enthusiast

Joe, a homeowner, has been considering renovating his kitchen but isn't sure where to start. He begins researching online (awareness stage) and comes across a blog post discussing the benefits of kitchen renovations, which sparks his interest in pursuing the project further.

During the consideration stage, Joe starts looking for potential contractors and design ideas. He browses through various renovation company websites, reads customer reviews, and watches video testimonials. As he narrows down his options, Joe requests quotes from a few companies.

Finally, in the decision stage, Joe evaluates the quotes and reviews the additional information provided by each company, such as project timelines, warranties, and financing options. Based on his research, he chooses a contractor and moves forward with the renovation project.

Example 2: The fitness enthusiast

Samantha, a fitness enthusiast, has been struggling with motivation and consistency in her workouts. In the awareness stage, she comes across a social media post discussing the benefits of personal training and realises that hiring a personal trainer might be the solution to her problem.

During the consideration stage, Samantha researches local personal trainers, reads client testimonials, and compares pricing and training packages offered by different trainers. She also attends a free group fitness class offered by one of the trainers on her shortlist.

In the decision stage, Samantha contacts her top three choices for personal trainers, discussing her goals and needs with each one. Based on these conversations and her overall impressions, she decides to hire a specific trainer to help her achieve her fitness goals.

Optimising Your content and marketing strategies for each stage

Now that we've explored the different stages of the buyer's journey and seen some real-world examples, let's discuss how to optimise your content and marketing strategies for each stage.

Awareness stage strategies

During the awareness stage, your goal is to capture the attention of potential customers and establish your brand as a credible source of information. Focus on creating high-quality, educational content that addresses common pain points or needs within your target audience.

Some tips for optimising your content during the awareness stage include:

Utilise SEO best practices to ensure your content ranks well in search engine results
Share your content on relevant social media platforms and forums to increase visibility
Collaborate with industry influencers or partners to expand your reach

Consideration stage strategies

In the consideration stage, your goal is to showcase the value of your product or service and differentiate it from the competition. Create content that highlights your unique selling points and provides in-depth information about your offerings.

Some strategies for optimising your content during the consideration stage include:

Use case studies or customer success stories to demonstrate the real-world benefits of your product or service
Offer free trials, demos, or consultations to allow prospects to experience your offering firsthand
Address common objections or concerns through informative blog posts, FAQs, or product comparisons

Decision stage strategies

During the decision stage, your goal is to provide prospects with the support and information they need to confidently choose your product or service. This can be achieved through personalised sales consultations, detailed pricing information, and customer testimonials.

Some tips for optimising your content during the decision stage include:

Make it easy for prospects to request a quote, schedule a consultation, or access additional information
Provide clear and concise answers to common sales objections or concerns
Offer exclusive promotions or incentives to encourage prospects to take action

Final thoughts: Mastering the buyer's journey for business success

Understanding and leveraging the buyer's journey is essential for businesses looking to increase sales and forge strong customer relationships.

By mapping out the journey, you can create targeted marketing strategies and content that effectively address the needs and concerns of your customers at each stage, ultimately increasing the chances of converting a prospect into a paying customer.

Remember, the buyer's journey is an ongoing process that requires constant refinement and optimisation.

Continuously analyse your content and marketing efforts to ensure they remain aligned with your customers' evolving needs and preferences, and adjust your strategies accordingly to maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace.

With the right approach and dedication, mastering the buyer's journey can lead to significant business growth and long-term success.

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Buyer journey

Key Takeaways:

The buyer journey involves three stages: Awareness, consideration, and decision.
When a company understands each stage of their buyer journey, they can make improvements that drive more sales and satisfied customers.
Hosting a journey mapping workshop is the first step in understanding your buyer journey.
Everyone at your company should care about the buyer journey, including marketing, sales, analytics, and the C-suite.

What is the buyer journey.

The buyer journey is the process during which a buyer progresses from being aware they have a problem, through purchasing a product to solve that problem.

Why is the buyer journey so important today?

In years past, shoppers had limited options if they wanted to purchase a product. These days, the choices for most items are nearly infinite. Therefore, the role of the salesperson and marketer is now to help guide the shopper to choose their brand.

The best way to guide the shopper to choose your brand is by deeply understanding your target customers and the journey they take to purchase with your company. This is the buyer’s journey.

What are the stages of the buyer journey?

The better you understand each of the buyer journey stages, the more you can adapt your messaging and marketing campaigns to address potential challenges and pain points. There are three main stages to the buyer journey:

Awareness stage

During the awareness stage, the potential customer first becomes aware that they have a problem. They are typically researching information about this problem to better understand it, but may not be ready to research solutions or products yet.

A consumer in the awareness stage may become passively aware of your brand via an online ad or targeted marketing on a social media platform like Facebook or Instagram. Or they may actively discover your brand while seeking out information about their problem, such as through a search engine.

You can boost your company’s visibility during the awareness phase by:

Running targeted ads. Purchase relevant ads to carefully targeted audiences that speak directly to their pain points and offer a clear solution.
Using SEO to guide your content. As an example, if you’re a healthcare organization and you know through SEO research that consumers in your market area are commonly performing web searches for outpatient testing. Consider creating a blog post or series that provides details on the outpatient testing services your organization offers, with clear CTAs and links to those service webpages for more details.

Consideration stage

In the consideration stage, the potential customer is researching potential solutions to their problem. They’re looking at the pros and cons of each option — including your product, as well as how it stacks up to your competition. It’s important to note that the higher the purchase amount, the longer this stage may last.

If your sales team is in conversation with the potential customer at this stage, they should be working through any hesitations to purchase and addressing obstacles. Marketers can help facilitate these conversations by creating print and web collateral that provides clear details on your product offerings and show how they meet customer needs.

During consideration, the prospect may seek out product reviews on Google, Yelp, Facebook, G2 or Capterra. Or, they may ask trusted colleagues, friends or family for their recommendations..

You can better position your company during the consideration phase by:

Addressing negative online reviews. Publicly respond to the reviews in a straightforward, neutral way, and be sure to personally follow up with the reviewer to try to find a resolution.
Auditing your product web pages. It’s also helpful to review your company’s website and social media pages to ensure they’re providing clear information on your product offerings to facilitate easy decisions for potential customers.
Featuring customer testimonials. Providing customer testimonials on your website or social media channels shows consumers that you’re a trusted brand and that you have experience in successfully solving similar problems for other customers.

Decision stage

During the decision phase, the customer has narrowed down the type of product they want to buy. Now, they’re determining which vendor to choose. They may be deciding between two or more vendors who provide similar solutions.

At the end of the decision phase, they may purchase your product in a store or sign a binding contract for your services. Your team should do everything you can to facilitate the buying process for the customer and make it a smooth, positive experience.

Here are some ways that your company can improve the decision stage for customers:

Providing an excellent customer experience. Keep the lines of communication with the customer open. Follow up with them at regular intervals, with helpful tips. Let them know that your company is eagerly standing by to take the next step whenever they’re ready.
Providinge easy financing. If applicable to your product, offer easy financing options that make it simple for the customer to make the purchase with your company.
Making pricing straightforward. The last thing you want is to lose a sale because the customer was confused about your pricing structure. Make your pricing clear, consistent, and straightforward.

Why is it important to understand the buyer journey?

Understanding the buyer journey is important because it allows a company to optimize touchpoints at each stage and ultimately, increase purchases.

For sales and marketing teams, knowing the buyer journey is critical for creating meaningful, targeted campaigns. When you understand who your customer is, their pain points, and the buying stage they’re in, you can create messaging that moves a prospect through the sales funnel to a purchase.

Sales teams with a solid understanding of the buyer’s journey can also proactively work through any barriers to purchase that buyers may face on their journey.

Why data specialists need to know about the buyer's journey

While marketing and sales may be more closely involved with the buyer journey, they’re not the only teams who need to understand its stages and touchpoints. Data analysts are also involved with the buyer’s journey because they often control your company’s customer and prospect data and share it across other business units.

Your data analysts should be familiar with the buyer’s journey so they can make better use of the customer data in a company’s data warehouse and identify unique needs at each stage. Data specialists can use specialized platforms to pull data out of your data warehouses and translate it into meaningful metrics that other teams across your company can use. For example, data specialists can segment data by various demographic information. Then, they can work with marketing, sales, or other customer-facing teams to deliver more targeted content at each stage of the buyer’s journey.

What's the difference between the buyer journey and the customer journey?

The buyer journey describes the three stages that lead to the shopper’s purchasing decision. The customer journey involves those first three stages plus an additional two stages — the retention/loyalty stage and the advocacy stage. These stages involve growing and retaining loyal, long-term customers.

While the buyer journey focuses on acquiring customers, the customer journey stages also includes retaining customers with a post-purchase focus.

What's the role of the buyer journey in journey orchestration?

Customer journey orchestration — or CJO — is the process of coordinating the customer experience in real-time, and then working them through the buyer’s journey stages using meaningful, individualized experiences. CJO is typically enabled by a CJO platform or engine. This platform uses your company’s data to identify ways to improve customer flow in real-time.

Understanding the buyer journey and incorporating it into your CJO can help enhance your customer experience and provide more meaningful touchpoints. The CJO channels that are part of the buying journey include your website, social media accounts, inbound marketing, online ads, and email marketing. The way that you position your brand across all of these channels during each phase of the buyer journey impacts the buyer’s decision to purchase your product downstream.

For example, if the prospect sees a message that didn’t resonate with them on your social media account during the awareness phase, they may choose a different brand in the decision phase. Targeting the highest converting ad and email messages to the right potential customers is critical for initiating a purchase with your company.

What is buyer journey mapping?

A journey mapping workshop can be a helpful resource in understanding the buyer journey with your brand. Plotting out each step of the journey — including touchpoints, pain points, and ideal outcomes for each step — can help teams across your company understand and address gaps in the buyer journey. You can use online resources as the framework for your journey map, or you may want to bring in a third-party expert to facilitate the workshop for you.

Depending on your focus, you may choose to plot out the full customer journey map , or you may only need to plot out the first three stages of that map (the buyer’s journey). Regardless of your approach, journey mapping can help you understand the path that potential customers take with your brand, so you can improve their experience and move more of them into the decision phase.

Buyer journey examples

It’s important to note that the buyer journey won’t be the same at every organization — it will vary depending on the industry, audience, product, etc. Also, buyer journeys aren’t always linear and can jump or skip stages depending on the individual customer and product/service.

Below are some examples of buyer journeys across various B2B and B2C industries.

Finance B2B buyer journey example

During this B2B buyer journey example, the consumer moves from deciding to leave their current payroll software that doesn’t offer a feature they need to signing a contract with a new platform that provides even more features that they may need in the future.

The head of finance at a mid-sized company receives authorization from the C-suite to shop around for new payroll software. They are specifically looking for a platform that allows them to pay employees via digital payment apps, which their current software does not provide.

The head of finance begins the consideration phase by connecting with their local chamber of commerce and asking their counterparts at other similarly sized businesses about payroll software. They receive two top recommendations and find the platforms’ websites through an online search. The search also populates online software reviews of the two platforms through G2 and Capterra.

Companies can improve their visibility during the consideration stage for B2B decisions by maintaining a good industry reputation, providing excellent customer service, and continuously making software updates that fit user needs. Companies should focus on continuous improvement to their products. They should solicit user feedback and incorporate relevant suggestions. By doing so, they can make informed improvements to their product which will translate into increased sales.

Also, during the consideration phase, the account executive at the software companies should be directly addressing the customer’s pain point – in this example, the ability to pay employees via digital wallets. In this way, they can clearly demonstrate that their platform is the best choice.

The head of finance connects with sales reps at each of these companies to learn more details about pricing and whether the specific features will meet their needs. They ultimately choose the platform that can send employee payments to the widest range of digital wallets and has the shortest contract term.

Retail B2C buyer journey example

In this buyer’s journey, the consumer is really making two purchasing decisions: the television and the retailer. Here, we’ll concentrate on the retailer choice.

A consumer decides they want to purchase a new television because their existing television is starting to show signs of age. They’re specifically interested in purchasing one of the latest television models that is easily mounted on the wall.

During the awareness stage, when the customer first decides to shop around in-person for new televisions, a local brick-and-mortar retailer can boost their visibility by ensuring that their store ranks high in Google Maps listings.

The customer begins their shopping process by visiting a large electronics store nearby. They compare prices and features, and have their choices narrowed down to three options. They reference the printed in-store collateral about the specific televisions, as well as about current financing offers for large purchases.

The consumer uses their mobile phone to look up reviews of the televisions as well as look at prices for the same model online. The consumer decides to leave the store, and they do some further shopping online at home.

In this example, the consideration stage consisted of in-store and online shopping. During in-store consideration, retailers can improve the shopper experience by having friendly, knowledgeable staff. They can provide attractive physical collateral that contains details about their merchandise, as well as about any current retailer-specific offers like financing.

The customer ultimately purchases one of the three top models the next day online from a different retailer. They choose this retailer because they have better reviews for customer support and their price was $100 less than the brick-and-mortar store.

For the decision stage, this consumer ultimately chose the retailer that had a better reputation for customer service and lower prices. Your company can get ahead of your competition in this stage by ensuring that your customer support teams are accessible and knowledgeable. Be sure to address any past customer service issues or negative reviews; don’t ignore them.

Telecom B2C buyer journey example

By understanding this B2C buyer journey, internet service providers can improve their chances of being the consumer’s choice like this example.

A consumer learns that they need to switch home internet providers. They’ve recently moved to a new residence, and their previous provider doesn’t offer service at their new residence.

They begin their shopping process by asking their local friends and family members about which service providers they use. They receive mixed reviews. So, they turn to their local Facebook group for reviews from people in their new neighborhood.

They receive two strong recommendations, and then turn to those provider’s websites to learn about pricing and current promotions. By offering great customer service and being responsive to all potential issues, current customers are more likely to make referrals to that company.

The consumer decides to go with the home internet provider that offers the lowest long-term price and can complete installation within three days. Offering a clear pricing structure on their website enables potential customers to quickly determine what’s the best choice for them. And, when a potential customer calls to inquire about installation, a service provider can increase their chances of being the frontrunner by having:

Courteous, knowledgeable agents
Short wait times
Quick installation timeframes

How to improve the buyer journey

Improving the buyer journey will ultimately help your company win more customers and increase revenue. Here are some ways to get started.

Map your buyer’s journey

Visualizing the buyer journey with a journey map can help your company better understand potential messaging gaps or user experience issues that are preventing purchases. This process can also help your team determine which type of content to deliver at each stage to move potential customers along the sales funnel ( see the section below on this).

Personalize content across all channels

Today’s customers expect personalized messaging and experiences from brands throughout cross-channel marketing or omnichannel marketing . With that in mind, make sure all your touchpoints — website, social media, and in-store — have consistent, personalized messaging that factors in the customer’s preferences and past purchases.

Share valuable content that fits the buyer stage

Knowing the ins and outs of the buyer journey means understanding what type of content to serve up at each stage. For example, if you know you have prospectswho are in the consideration stage and review content has contributed to a high conversion rate, you can target these prospects with messaging featuring customer testimonials or positive reviews.

Having a grasp on the buyer stages can also help you understand potential barriers to purchase, including pain points and what your competitors are offering. Use this information to provide content that speaks directly to these barriers, reassuring potential customers that your company has what it takes to deliver on brand promises.

Use data-driven insights

Lean on data to understand customer behavior at each buyer journey stage and continuously measure results. For example, if your Google Analytics data or website heat mapping tool shows users leaving your product pages quickly, dig into clicks and scroll data to find ways to put the most important information front and center. Or, if you see engagement drop on a particular email, test out new design, subject lines, send time, or call-to-action copy.

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Buyer journey examples It's important to note that the buyer journey won't be the same at every organization — it will vary depending on the industry, audience, product, etc. Also, buyer journeys aren't always linear and can jump or skip stages depending on the individual customer and product/service.
The complete guide to Buyer Journey
Below is an example of a buyer's journey map. Source: Lucidchart. This is an example of a simple, straightforward customer journey map based on an individual customer's (or customer persona's) experience. How to create a buyer journey mapping. Today's buyers go through different stages before they make purchases. This includes gaining ...
The Buyer's Journey Stages: A How-To Guide
The Buyer's Journey is the process that potential buyers (i.e. clients) go through on their way to purchasing a product or service. This encompasses everything from the first experience of a pain point to researching solutions to determining a vendor. Most companies loosely define the Buyer's Journey in three main stages: awareness ...
5 Successful Customer Journey Mapping Examples To Inspire You
5. Map the journey with Post-its and pens before digitizing it and sharing it across the company. 2. Rail Europe's B2C journey map. Rail Europe's customer journey map includes interactions before, during, and after a trip. B2C ecommerce travel provider Rail Europe gives customers an easy way to book rail tickets online.
The Buyer's Journey: Types of Content to Create for Every Stage
Here is an example of a pain point for business-to-consumer (B2C) brands: A night shift worker has trouble sleeping during the daytime. Meanwhile, ... At this buyer journey stage, the focus should be on educating buyers and helping them give their pain points a name. The goal for brands and marketers is not to create and publish content that ...

What Is the Buyer’s Journey — and Why Should You Care About It?

Learn how to map out your buyer's journey to improve the path to purchase.

Erin Hueffner

What you’ll learn:

Awareness stage

Consideration stage

Decision stage

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What is the buyer journey? Definition, stages, and examples

What is the buyer journey? Why is it important?

Why is the buyer journey important?

Buyer journey stages

Buyer journey optimization

Buyer journey examples

Amazon and its seamless e-commerce experience

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Buyer journey templates

Wrapping up

Key takeaways

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What Is the Buyer's Journey?

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What are the three stages of the buyer's journey?

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You're all set!

What is the buyer doing during the awareness stage?

What is the buyer doing the consideration stage?

What is the buyer doing during the decision stage?

Tailoring Your Sales Process to the Buyer's Journey

Free Customer Journey Map Templates

Consideration Stage

Decision Stage

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What is the buyer’s journey?

Awareness Stage

Consideration Stage

Decision Stage

An important note about the buyer’s journey stages

Related Content: Content With Purpose: How to Align Content to the Buyer’s Journey

1. Define your buyer personas.

2. What are your most important buyer persona challenges?

3. What are all the possible solutions to these problems?

4. What other companies offer your type of solution?

5. Identify points of friction along the buyer’s journey.

6. How does your existing content fit into this buyer’s journey?

7. Create new content to fill in the gaps.

Written by Beth Carter

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