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Customer journey marketing means planning your marketing around the steps a customer takes, from first noticing a need to buying and coming back. The customer journey usually runs through awareness, consideration, decision, purchase and loyalty. When you know what your customers think, ask and do at each stage, you can be there with the right message, and fix the points where you lose them.
What is the customer journey in marketing?
What does customer journey mean? It’s the full experience a person has with your business, across every channel and contact, not just the moment they buy. It includes seeing your ad, reading a review, visiting your website, calling for a quote, the job itself and the follow-up afterwards. In marketing, you use the customer journey to work out what each person needs at each step and which channels reach them.
What are the stages of the customer journey?
| Stage | What the customer is doing | What helps them |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Awareness | Noticing a problem or need, and maybe your business for the first time | Social posts, helpful articles, local events, search results |
| 2. Consideration | Researching options and comparing businesses | Clear service pages, reviews, case studies, pricing guides |
| 3. Decision | Choosing who to contact and asking for a quote or booking | Easy contact options, fast replies, clear quotes |
| 4. Purchase and experience | Buying and receiving the product or service | Simple checkout or booking, good communication, delivering on promises |
| 5. Loyalty and advocacy | Coming back and recommending you | Follow-up, reminders, review requests, referral rewards |
What is the buyer’s journey?
The buyer’s journey is the part of the customer journey before the purchase: awareness, consideration and decision. It focuses on how someone goes from noticing a problem to choosing a solution. The customer journey is wider, because it also includes the experience after the sale and whether the customer returns.
What are the stages of the buyer’s journey?
- Awareness: “I have a problem.” (My hot water system is making a noise.)
- Consideration: “What are my options?” (Repair or replace? Gas or electric?)
- Decision: “Who should I choose?” (Which local plumber has good reviews and can come this week?)
Buyer journey vs customer journey
Use the buyer’s journey to plan marketing that wins new customers, and the customer journey to plan the whole experience, including service, follow-up and loyalty. For most small businesses, repeat customers and referrals make the after-sale stages just as important.
What is a touchpoint in the customer journey?
A touchpoint is any moment a customer comes into contact with your business: an ad, a Google listing, a social post, your website, a phone call, an email, your shopfront, an invoice or a follow-up text. Every touchpoint shapes how they feel about you. Listing your touchpoints and checking each one for speed, clarity and consistency is one of the quickest ways to improve the journey.
How do you improve the customer journey?
- Walk it yourself: search for your service, visit your website on a phone, fill in your form and see how long a reply takes.
- Ask customers: what nearly stopped them, what was confusing and what they liked.
- Find the drop-off points: where enquiries stall, quotes go unanswered or people leave the website.
- Fix the biggest gap first: often slow replies, missing prices or a confusing website.
- Make every touchpoint consistent: the same message, prices and opening hours everywhere.
- Follow up after the sale: a thank-you, a review request and a reminder when they’ll need you again.
How do you track the customer journey?
- Google Analytics 4 shows how people arrive on your website and which pages lead to enquiries. Our GA4 guide explains the set-up.
- Your Google Business Profile shows calls, direction requests and website clicks.
- A CRM tracks each enquiry from first contact to sale and beyond.
- Asking “how did you hear about us?” on every form and call fills the gaps that tools miss.
Because customers jump between channels, no single tool shows the whole journey. Combining these gives you a clear enough picture to act on.
How much of the buyer’s journey is digital?
For many businesses, much of the research now happens online before a customer ever calls: they search, read reviews and compare websites. But the share varies by industry and customer, and word of mouth, signage and in-person visits still matter, especially in regional areas. The practical answer: assume customers will check you out online at some point, and make sure what they find is current and convincing.
What does a customer journey look like?
A fictional example for a regional physiotherapy clinic:
- Awareness: a runner with knee pain sees a clinic’s Instagram video on running injuries.
- Consideration: they search “physio near me”, read the clinic’s Google reviews and its knee pain page.
- Decision: they book online because the site shows times and health fund information.
- Experience: a reminder text, a clear first visit and a home exercise plan by email.
- Loyalty: a follow-up email, a review request and a check-up reminder months later.
The weak points to check: is the booking page easy on a phone, and does anyone follow up if a patient doesn’t rebook?
How we help
We look at your customer journey as part of planning your marketing: where people find you, where they drop off and what to fix first. Our marketing partnerships then run the channels at each stage, from social media and SEO to Google Ads and email, from $4,500 + GST a month for 28 hours. For teams that want to map it together, our marketing workshops are priced at $175 + GST an hour with a fixed quote first.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a customer journey and a sales funnel?
A sales funnel focuses on moving people towards a purchase and measuring how many drop out. The customer journey covers the whole experience, including what happens after the sale. See our guide to the sales funnel.
Is the customer journey the same for every customer?
No. Different customer groups take different paths. Building buyer personas first helps you plan a journey for each main group.
How long is a customer journey?
It can be minutes for an urgent need, such as an emergency repair, or months for a big decision, such as building a house. Plan for your customers’ typical timeframe.
Why does the customer journey matter for small businesses?
Small businesses often lose customers at simple points, like a slow reply or an unclear price. Looking at the journey shows you those points so you can fix them cheaply.
The short version
Customer journey marketing plans your marketing around the steps customers take: awareness, consideration, decision, purchase and loyalty. Check every touchpoint, fix where people drop off, and follow up after the sale so customers come back and refer others.
If you’d like help improving your customer journey, book a free 30-minute discovery call.
