ANSWER

A customer journey represents the totality of interactions a customer has with various organizations and stakeholders in order to achieve a desired outcome.  

For example, if the person’s desired outcome is find a really good bread recipe their journey may look like this:

• Go to your favorite search engine
• Search for “best bread recipe”

Select the first item in the search result

Print the recipe

As you can probably imagine, there are an infinite number of ways one can arrive at a recipe and those ways are influenced by a number of factors such as: 

how much time are they willing to invest to achieve the desired outcome, 

any previousexperiences (ex: they previously found a good recipe on a specific website)

recommendations from trusted sources (ex: friends, influencers, reviews, etc.)

etc.

The traditional definition of a customer’s journey goes something like this: “A customer journey is the process a customer goes through when interacting with a business, from initial awareness to post-purchase experiences, encompassing all touchpoints and interactions.”

While this type of definition may be popular it has a big flaw… It wrongly assumes that a customer’s journey to purchase a product from a business only involves interactions with the given business.   That could not be farther from the truth.

For example, in order for a customer to buy a book from amazon.com they must first be aware of amazon.com.  Furthermore, if the customer is familiar with multiple online book sellers, the decision to purchase from one or the other will be influenced by a variety of factors such as the site’s reputation, advertising they may have been exposed to, convenience of getting to the site, etc.

What are some of the stages in a customer's journey?

The customer journey typically consists of several stages, which may vary depending on the industry and specific customer behaviors, but often includes:

• Awareness - This is the stage where a potential customer first becomes aware of a product, service, or brand. It could be through advertising, social media, word of mouth, or other marketing efforts.

• Interest - After becoming aware, a customer might show interest in learning more. They might visit the company's website, read reviews, or engage with content.

• Consideration - In this stage, the customer actively considers the product or service. They may compare it to alternatives, read in-depth product information, and assess whether it meets their needs.

• Intent - At this point, the customer has a clear intention to make a purchase. They may add items to a shopping cart or reach out to inquire about pricing and availability.

• Purchase - The customer makes a buying decision and completes the purchase transaction. This could happen online, in-store, or through other sales channels.

• Post-Purchase Experience - After the purchase, the customer assesses their experience. This stage is crucial for customer satisfaction and retention. Positive experiences can lead to loyalty and repeat business, while negative experiences can result in customer churn.

• Loyalty and Advocacy - If the customer has a positive experience, they may become a loyal customer who continues to make repeat purchases. They may also become advocates for the brand, referring others and leaving positive reviews.

Why should a business care about a customer's journey?

In order to successfully get the customer to purchase a product or service from a business, the business must be aware of the type of journeys a customer may take when making a purchasing decision and devising ways to insert itself in that journey.

To do so, the business analyst must consider how the organization can and should interact with prospective future customers at every stage of their customer journey.

For example:

• To attract customers via the awareness state, the business may choose to advertise in places and through mediums used by the prospective customers.
• During the purchase phase, a business can ensure the buying process is as easy, seamless, and enjoyable as possible in order to establish a high level of connection with the brand.