Customer experience directly impacts sales, as shown by research: 89% of US consumers say negative experiences influence their buying decisions, yet only 49% feel companies deliver a good experience. To bridge the CX gap, each business must map and refine their customers’ journey.
The customer journey is not merely a process; it’s the foundation of customer relationships.
A well-crafted journey can lead to stronger loyalty, increased sales, and a more positive brand image. Businesses that invest in understanding their customer journey reap the benefits of deeper insights and actionable opportunities to improve their offerings.
What is the customer journey and why does it matter?
The customer journey is the series of experiences a customer has while interacting with your business. It’s a blueprint of the relationship that develops between your customer and your brand, and it encompasses every touchpoint and interaction.
The journey begins with the customer’s first encounter with your brand, and it continues through their ongoing experience with your product or service. More than just a sequence of events, it’s a window into how customers perceive your brand.
A well-mapped customer journey provides invaluable insights into their needs, pain points, and overall feelings about your business.
Why customer journey mapping matters
Customer journey mapping is a structured approach to understanding the customer experience.
Journey maps highlight the gaps between customer expectations and actual experiences, making it easier to prioritize improvements. By visualizing the steps customers take, you can create strategies to improve satisfaction, loyalty, and conversion rates.
Benefits of customer journey mapping
👍 Improved customer understanding — Visualizing the entire journey fosters a clearer understanding of how customers perceive your brand, building trust and credibility. Gain a deeper understanding of your customers’ needs, preferences, and behaviors at each stage of their journey.
📈 Higher conversion rates — When you identify bottlenecks and optimize touchpoints in the signup process, you’ll convert more leads.
💡 Innovation & competitive differentiation — Recognize opportunities for new products, services, or process improvements that directly address customer needs. A well-crafted journey map can reveal unique opportunities to stand out in the market.
📦 Improved product-market fit — Insights gained from mapping can help you refine products or services to better align with customer expectations. By understanding individual touchpoints, you can create tailored experiences that resonate with customers on a deeper level.
🔁 Real-time adaptability — Continuously updated journey maps enable you to quickly adapt to changing customer behaviors or market conditions. Anticipating potential challenges along the journey allows you to resolve issues before they escalate.
🔗 Integration of technology — Journey mapping helps identify where automation, AI, or other technologies can streamline processes and enhance customer engagement.
💞 Better cross-functional alignment — Mapping the journey creates a shared vision across departments, fostering collaboration among marketing, sales, product, and customer support teams.
🤝 Stronger customer retention — Identifying pain points and addressing them proactively ensures a smoother experience, which decreases cancellation rates. Remember, keeping a customer who intends to cancel is 5x cheaper than attracting a new customer.
💸 Cost savings — Even beyond the reduction in churn, streamlining processes and eliminating inefficiencies can reduce costs associated with support.
🗣️ Increased advocacy and referrals — Satisfied customers are more likely to recommend your brand to others, driving organic growth through word-of-mouth.
🌟 Elevated employee engagement — When employees see the impact of their work on the customer journey, it can boost motivation and alignment with organizational goals.
The 5 stages of the customer journey
Most journeys can be broken into five key stages:
1. Awareness
The customer learns about your brand or product for the first time. This is your chance to create a strong first impression that sparks interest and curiosity.
Why it matters
At this stage, customers are forming initial perceptions about your brand. It’s critical to capture attention and establish credibility early.
Ways to improve this step:
- Use social media to build brand awareness — Research shows that 77% of consumers prefer shopping with brands they follow on social media. Find the best platform for your target demographic and work out a flexible strategy that will take customer feedback into account.
- Create content like blogs or videos — Develop informative content that educates potential customers on your offerings or industry. Tutorials, how-to guides, or even entertaining videos can attract viewers and encourage them to learn more about your brand.
- Invest in SEO and digital ads — Ensure your brand ranks well in search engines for relevant keywords. Digital ads on platforms like Google or social media increase visibility.
- Leverage public relations — Press releases, articles in niche publications, and media coverage can position your brand as a thought leader.
2. Consideration
The customer evaluates your brand against competitors. They seek value, reliability, and trust, using research and comparisons to make an informed decision.
Why it matters
This stage is your opportunity to showcase why your product or service is the best choice. Transparency and value-driven content help build credibility.
Ways to improve this step:
- Offer comparison tools or side-by-side feature lists — Make it easy for customers to see how you stack up against competitors. Highlight unique selling points that set you apart.
- Provide free trials or demos — Allow customers to experience the product firsthand. This reduces perceived risk and builds confidence in their purchase decision.
- Host webinars or Q&A sessions — Engage directly with potential customers to address questions and concerns, positioning your brand as approachable and knowledgeable.
- Highlight awards and certifications — If your product or service has earned recognition, display it prominently to reassure customers of its quality.
- Showcase testimonials and case studies — Provide real-world examples of satisfied customers who have achieved success or solved their problems using your offerings.
Recommended reading: How to start collecting case studies
3. Decision
The customer decides to buy or subscribe to your product. A frictionless process ensures a positive experience and reduces the chances of abandonment.
Why it matters
Even after deciding to use your service, potential customers can be deterred by a confusing or overly complicated purchase/signup process. A seamless and intuitive experience is crucial to convert interest into paying users.
Ways to improve this step:
- Simplify the process — Minimize steps and only ask for essential information during signup. Avoid lengthy forms or unnecessary fields. Consider allowing account creation with social login options (e.g., Google or LinkedIn).
- Offer flexible payment options — Accept major credit cards, digital wallets like PayPal or Stripe, and localized payment methods relevant to your target audience.
- Ensure mobile optimization — Many customers may shop from their phones. Ensure the signup flow is responsive, fast, and user-friendly on smaller screens.
- Clearly communicate pricing and terms — Be transparent about costs, subscription terms, and any applicable discounts or trial periods to build trust and eliminate hesitation. You can also let users experience your product’s core features with a free trial or a freemium plan before committing to a paid subscription.
- Offer proactive support during signup — Use live chat, chatbots, or help articles to assist users encountering issues during the signup process.
- Incorporate Customer Effort Score (CES) surveys — After the signup process, send a quick survey asking, “How easy was it to sign up for our service?” Use a simple scale (e.g., 1–7) to measure effort. Analyze the responses to identify friction points and prioritize improvements to the signup experience.
Recommended reading: Why CES surveys matter
4. Retention
The customer continues to engage with your product or service after the purchase. Building a relationship with the customer ensures they remain satisfied and loyal.
Why it matters
Building customer trust is the only way to remain competitive. A modest 5% increase in customer retention can boost profits by up to 95%, as found in a study by Bain & Company!
Ways to improve this step:
- Implement loyalty programs — Reward repeat purchases, referrals, and milestones with discounts, perks, or points that can be redeemed. Loyalty programs create a sense of exclusivity and incentivize ongoing engagement.
- Provide proactive Customer Support — A seamless customer experience that builds trust, and a dedicated Support team works wonders.
- Host community events or webinars — Create exclusive opportunities for customers to connect with your brand and each other, fostering a sense of belonging and deeper loyalty. Make sure to check up with participants with post-event surveys to find out whether you need to make improvements.
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Continuously seek feedback — Actively gathering and analyzing customer feedback is essential to retention. Use surveys to gather specific input on experiences, identifying what works well and where improvements are needed.
- CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score) measures satisfaction with specific interactions or touchpoints. High CSAT scores indicate positive experiences that contribute to loyalty.
- NPS (Net Promoter Score) gauges customer loyalty and their likelihood of recommending your brand to others. In case of a negative score, you can course-correct swiftly and demonstrate to customers that their feedback matters.
Recommended reading: How CSAT and NPS surveys complement each other
5. Advocacy
A satisfied customer promotes your brand to others through referrals, reviews, and testimonials. At this stage, they become a valuable asset in growing your business organically.
Why it matters
Word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful marketing tools. Customers trust recommendations from friends and peers more than traditional advertising.
Ways to improve this step:
- Create referral programs with incentives — Encourage customers to refer friends by offering discounts, credits, or rewards for successful referrals.
- Engage with customers on social media — Share and amplify their positive experiences, creating a sense of appreciation and visibility.
- Collect and share success stories — Regularly update your marketing materials with testimonials, case studies, and customer stories to reinforce trust. It’s important to ask customers open-ended questions that let them describe their experience in their own words.
- Leverage user-generated content (UGC) — Encourage customers to share their experiences through photos, videos, or reviews, and feature them on your website or social media.
Designing customer journey maps — a visual tool for understanding
A customer journey map is a visual representation of the steps and interactions a customer takes when engaging with your brand.
Key elements of a customer journey map
- Customer personas — Detailed representations of your target audience.
- Touchpoints — All the places where customers interact with your brand.
- Emotions — Tracking customer feelings at each stage.
- Pain points — Highlighting challenges customers face.
- Goals — Understanding what customers aim to achieve at each stage.
Example: SaaS company customer journey map
First, you start with analyzing the customers’ experience.
Stage | Customer goal | Touchpoints | Actions | Emotions | Pain points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Awareness | Discover a tool to streamline work | Search engines, ads, social media | Clicks ad, visits website | Curious, intrigued | Overwhelming options, unclear pricing |
Consideration | Evaluate product fit | Free trial signup, reviews | Free trial signup, reviews | Interested, hopeful | Confusing features, lack of reviews |
Decision | Subscribe to a plan | Pricing page, email follow-up | Selects a plan, completes purchase | Excited, optimistic | Unexpected fees, difficult signup process |
Retention | Use software effectively | Tutorials, customer support | Engages with tutorials, contacts support | Empowered, satisfied | Hard-to-navigate interface, slow support |
Advocacy | Recommend to colleagues | Referral emails, review platforms | Leaves review, shares referral code | Proud, loyal | No referral incentives, unclear program |
Then you can use visualization to explore a particular aspect of the customer journey.
For example, let’s map the ideal onboarding experience:

Leveraging digital tools in the customer journey
Customers interact with brands across multiple channels, from social media and email campaigns to website interactions and online reviews. Each interaction should have an impact on the customer journey; they are all valuable touchstones that tell us something about the customer’s needs.
To create your map, you should use platforms like Google Analytics or customer data platforms (CDPs). These offer insights into how customers interact with your brand online.
Heatmaps can help you understand where users click and how they navigate your site. CRMs like Salesforce or HubSpot let you centralize customer data, enabling you to track interactions and deliver personalized experiences.
Most importantly, use customer surveys to collect qualitative feedback on customer experiences.
Measuring the ROI of customer journey improvements
To justify investments in customer journey optimization, it’s crucial to measure the return on investment (ROI).
Key metrics to track
- Customer retention rate — A higher retention rate indicates customers are satisfied and willing to continue their relationship with your brand.
- Customer lifetime value (CLV) — CLV measures the total revenue a customer generates over their lifetime. Improvements in the journey often lead to increased CLV.
- Net promoter score (NPS) — NPS reflects overall satisfaction. Tracking NPS over time is a good way to discern whether your current customer journey map accurately describes the customer experience.
- Reduced churn — A lower churn rate signals effective journey improvements that address pain points and foster loyalty.
Common customer journey mapping pitfalls
- Failing to define clear objectives — Without well-defined objectives, customer journey mapping can lack focus. Be sure to identify the specific problems you want to solve or the goals you aim to achieve before beginning.
- Relying on internal assumptions — Using only internal perspectives to define customer experiences can lead to a biased map. Engage real customers through surveys, interviews, or focus groups to ensure your insights are accurate.
- Ignoring key touchpoints — Overlooking important customer interactions can result in incomplete or misleading maps. Every significant touchpoint, including digital and physical channels, should be included.
- Focusing only on the ideal journey — A map that only depicts an ideal customer experience ignores pain points and roadblocks. Be sure to document negative experiences and areas for improvement.
- Using overly complex visuals — Complicated diagrams can confuse stakeholders and reduce engagement. Simplicity and clarity are crucial for presenting and understanding the journey map.
- Not considering emotions — Emotions play a crucial role in customer experiences. Ignoring emotional highs and lows can result in a map that misses opportunities for deeper engagement.
- Focusing solely on the end goal — Overemphasizing the purchase or final action can obscure the importance of earlier stages. A comprehensive map captures every phase, from awareness to post-purchase.
- Failing to update the map regularly — Customer behaviors and expectations evolve over time. Journey maps should be living documents that are revisited and updated to reflect changes in the market and your offerings.
- Neglecting cross-departmental collaboration — Creating a journey map in isolation can lead to gaps in understanding and execution. Ensure all relevant departments contribute to and align with the journey map.
Recommended reading: How to ensure each department understands the value of customer feedback
A never-ending quest
Understanding and improving the customer journey is an ongoing process, and it requires commitment and adaptability.
When you prioritize customer satisfaction, leverage insightful feedback, and embrace a flexible approach, you can stay ahead of evolving customer expectations.
The journey doesn’t end—it evolves continuously. So listen actively and take decisive actions to build a meaningful customer relationship.
About Simplesat: Simplesat is the leading omnichannel survey app designed to enhance customer feedback management across various platforms, including Zendesk, Salesforce, and Gladly. Trusted by businesses worldwide, Simplesat delivers actionable insights that drive business growth and customer satisfaction.