What Exactly Is The Customer Buying Journey In Marketing?

Hello and welcome.

This is the second post in my series, “How to Build the Right Marketing Foundation.”

In the last post, we talked about the basic steps people go through whenever they buy something.

Here’s a quick recap:

1. They realize they have a problem or want something.
2. They start looking for a solution.
3. They research their options.
4. They compare different businesses.
5. They decide who they trust.
6. They weigh the price and risk.
7. They make a decision.

Pretty much everyone goes through these basic steps.

But not everyone goes through them the same way.

And that’s where customer journeys come in.

In this post, we’re going to talk about what a customer journey actually is, why your business probably has more than one, and how to start figuring out what those journeys look like.

Everything one step at a time.

What Is a Customer Journey?

A customer journey is the conversation happening inside a person’s head before they decide to buy.

That conversation depends on a lot of things.

For example:

• Who the person is.
• What they’re buying.
• What problem they’re trying to solve.
• What they want to accomplish.
• Their budget.
• Their current situation.
• How urgent the problem is.
• How much they already know.

Change one of those things, and the conversation can change.

And when the conversation changes, the customer journey changes.

Our goal as marketers is to understand that conversation as clearly and specifically as possible.

Because the better we understand what someone is thinking, the better we can market to them.

Why Does Understanding the Conversation Matter?

Because good marketing is really about knowing what to say.

You want to understand:

• What problem the person is trying to solve.
• What questions they are asking.
• What they are worried about.
• What they want.
• What words they use to describe the problem.
• What might stop them from buying.

Once you understand those things, creating marketing becomes much easier.

You know what kind of content to create.

You know what your ads should talk about.

You know what your website should explain.

And you know what information someone needs before they feel comfortable moving forward.

Here’s a good example.

The Pillow Example

I remember reading a story in Web Copy That Sells by Maria Veloso.

She talks about a business selling pillows through infomercials.

The business assumed the two biggest benefits of the pillow were:

Better sleep and comfort.

Makes sense, right?

But sales weren’t doing very well.

So the advertisers called past customers and asked them a simple question:

“Why did you buy the pillow?”

The answers surprised them.

Customers talked about things like:

• Neck pain.
• Restlessness.
• Snoring.

These were some of the real reasons people were buying the pillow.

But the infomercial barely talked about them.

So they changed the advertising.

Instead of mainly talking about comfort and better sleep, they started focusing on one of the biggest problems customers kept mentioning:

Neck pain.

According to the story, sales increased dramatically.

Think about why.

The company had been saying:

“This pillow is comfortable and can help you sleep better.”

But the conversation happening inside the customer’s head was more like:

“My neck hurts every morning. I need something that can help.”

Those are two completely different messages.

Sure, someone could figure out that a comfortable pillow might help with their neck pain.

But in marketing, you don’t want to make people do that work for you.

If neck pain is what they’re thinking about, talk about neck pain.

The closer your marketing matches the conversation already happening inside someone’s head, the more relevant it becomes.

And relevance gets attention.

Your Business Probably Has More Than One Customer Journey

A mistake businesses make is treating every customer like they’re the same.

They aren’t.

If you sell multiple products or services, each one can have a completely different journey.

Take a photography business.

A photographer might offer:

• Wedding photography.
• Professional headshots.
• Family portraits.
• Product photography.
• Event photography.

Someone looking for a wedding photographer is going to have very different questions than a business owner looking for product photos.

They might be hiring the same photographer.

But they are hiring them for completely different reasons.

So marketing to both people with the exact same message doesn’t make much sense.

Instead of only saying:

“We offer photography for weddings, products, events, headshots, and more!”

You can speak directly to the person:

“Looking for a wedding photographer?”

Or:

“Need a professional headshot?”

Now the message feels like it was made specifically for them.

But It Goes Even Deeper Than the Product

Even people buying the exact same product or service can have different customer journeys.

Let’s say two people are shopping for long-distance hiking boots.

One person is a complete beginner.

They might be wondering:

“What kind of hiking boots do I need?”

“Should they be waterproof?”

“How should hiking boots fit?”

“How much should I spend?”

Now imagine another person who has been hiking for 15 years.

They probably already know the basics.

Their questions might be:

“How much do these weigh?”

“How durable are they?”

“How do they perform on wet rock?”

“How do they compare to the boots I already own?”

Same product.

Different questions.

Different conversation.

Different customer journey.

And you can go even deeper.

Two experienced hikers could still want completely different things.

One might care about lightweight gear.

Another might care more about comfort.

One might hike mostly in hot, dry areas.

Another might hike through rain and snow.

One might have a $100 budget.

Another might happily spend $300 if the boots last longer.

That’s why understanding who is buying is just as important as understanding what they’re buying.

This Is Basically Niching Down

You’ve probably heard marketers talk about finding a niche.

A niche is basically a specific group of people who have something important in common.

For example:

Business owners

is a group.

Home service business owners

is more specific.

Roofing business owners trying to generate more replacement leads

is even more specific.

The more specific you get, the easier it becomes to understand the conversation happening inside that person’s head.

That doesn’t mean you need a completely different marketing campaign for every person on Earth.

That would be impossible.

You’re simply trying to identify the main groups of customers you serve and understand the journey each group usually goes through.

So How Many Customer Journeys Does Your Business Have?

Start with your major products and services.

Ask:

What are the main things we sell?

Each major product or service can have its own journey.

Then go one level deeper.

For each one, ask:

Who buys this?

Why are they buying it?

What problem are they trying to solve?

Are there different situations that cause people to buy it?

Do different types of customers care about different things?

Whenever the answers change enough that the conversation inside the customer’s head changes, you may be looking at a different customer journey.

You don’t need to make this overly complicated.

Start by separating the obvious groups.

You can always go deeper later.

Don’t Try to Map Everything at Once

If you sell a lot of products or services, this can quickly become overwhelming.

You might think:

“Do I seriously have to figure all of this out?”

Eventually, it would be great to understand all your major customer journeys.

But you don’t need to do everything today.

Use the 80/20 Rule.

Ask yourself:

Which product, service, or type of customer would have the biggest impact on my business right now?

Start there.

Figure out that customer journey.

Build your marketing around it.

Then move on to the next most important one.

One journey at a time.

Now We Have to Get Inside Their Head

Once you know which customer journey you want to focus on, the next question is:

What is this person actually thinking?

There are a few good ways to figure that out.

1. Research What People Are Already Saying

This is one of the best places to start because people are already telling you what they’re thinking.

Look at what they search for.

Read what they ask online.

Look at places like:

• Google.
• Google’s People Also Ask section.
• Reddit.
• Quora.
• Facebook groups.
• Industry forums.
• AnswerThePublic.
• Reviews.
• Comments.

Pay attention to questions that keep coming up.

Look at the exact words people use.

If hundreds of people keep asking the same question, that’s probably something your marketing should address.

2. Ask Your Customers

This one is simple.

Ask them.

Talk to customers after they buy.

Survey them.

Call past customers.

Ask questions like:

“What made you start looking for this?”

“What were you worried about before buying?”

“What questions did you have?”

“What other options were you considering?”

“Why did you choose us?”

This can give you information you would have never thought of on your own.

That’s exactly what happened in the pillow example.

The advertisers thought they knew why customers were buying.

Then they actually asked.

And the answers changed their entire marketing message.

So don’t be lazy with this part.

Good customer research can be incredibly valuable.

3. Put Yourself in Their Shoes

You can also imagine yourself in the customer’s situation.

Pretend you just realized you have the problem.

What would you think about first?

What would you search?

What would worry you?

What would you want to know?

Then keep following the conversation.

As you research solutions, what questions come up?

When you start comparing businesses, what matters?

Before buying, what would make you hesitate?

This can be extremely useful.

Just be careful.

What you think the customer is thinking and what the customer is actually thinking might be completely different.

So use your own thinking as a starting point.

Then compare it with real research and real customers.

4. Pay Attention to What Customers Actually Do

Your marketing itself will also teach you.

Pay attention over time.

What questions do people keep asking?

What objections keep coming up?

Where do people get confused?

What content gets attention?

What pages do people spend time on?

What makes someone finally move forward?

Your customers will constantly give you clues.

You just have to pay attention to them.

Now Put the Questions in Order

Once you start collecting all these questions, you’ll probably have a big list.

The next step is putting them in a logical order.

Because people don’t ask every question at the same time.

Someone will probably ask:

“What can solve my problem?”

before they ask:

“How much does this particular company charge?”

Someone might ask:

“Do I even need to replace this?”

before asking:

“Which company should I hire?”

That order matters.

Because now you can start building your marketing around the actual conversation.

You can create:

• Blog posts.
• Videos.
• Ads.
• Emails.
• Website pages.
• Guides.
• FAQs.
• Case studies.

And instead of creating random content just because you think you should be “doing marketing,” every piece has a purpose.

One piece answers one question.

That answer leads to the next question.

Then the next.

And little by little, your marketing helps move the customer through their buying journey.

That’s when your marketing starts becoming a system instead of a bunch of random ads, posts, emails, and web pages.

Here’s What You Should Take From All This

Your business probably has more than one customer journey.

Different products have different journeys.

Different problems have different journeys.

And even people buying the same product can have different journeys depending on who they are and what situation they’re in.

Your job is to identify the most important journeys and understand the conversation happening inside those customers’ heads.

Research what they’re searching for.

Read what they’re saying.

Ask them questions.

Put yourself in their shoes.

And pay attention to what they actually do.

The better you understand the conversation, the easier it becomes to know what to say, how to say it, and when to say it.

In the next post, we’ll take one of these customer journeys, figure out the questions people are asking at each stage, and start building marketing around those questions.

One step at a time.

Need Help With Customer Buying Journey?

By the way, I help small to medium businesses figure out their customers journey and build their marketing around it.

If you’d like help, click the button below and let’s chat:

Help Me Map My Customer Journey 👉