When was the last time you moved through a customer journey funnel in just one step — seeing a product, deciding you needed it, and purchasing it immediately? Unless it’s a routine grocery item, that’s probably not how you buy. The modern buying process is far more complex, with consumers needing multiple touchpoints before making a decision.
Research shows that this is a common behavior. In fact, customers often need between 7 to 13 touchpoints before completing a sale in the B2B space (and around eight touchpoints in B2C). When I see something I’m interested in, I always spend some time researching it before I hit “purchase.”
So, you need a process to get customers from learning about your brand to actively buying. While many companies have this type of funnel, they often focus just on marketing and sales. From my 14 years in the field, I know that successful companies focus their funnels on the customer. Below, I’ll explain the customer journey funnel, what it solves, and why it works.
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Why the Marketing and Sales Funnel Needs a Revamp
Most businesses today use a marketing funnel to inform their engagement strategy, with many still relying on the traditional AIDA model. The AIDA framework describes four stages that buyers go through in their purchasing journey:
- Attention (or awareness).
- Intent.
- Desire.
- Action.
That seems pretty straightforward. However, customers don't purchase in a linear way, says Karin Holmgren, marketing director. Some customers need more steps before they’re ready to buy.
“Seeing the path to a sale, even gathering all the data from different systems and making sense of them, can be overwhelming. One customer may need to see 5 Instagram ads, and another sees none; one customer clicks on one email and purchases — another unsubscribes but still purchases,” Holmgren says.
Beyond that, I’ve noticed a huge flaw of the AIDA model. When you look at the funnel below, do you notice anything missing? The process ends after the point of sale.
When looking at this model, I assume that the customer’s buying journey is over after that initial purchase. However, as a customer success professional, I know the importance of nurturing this relationship after a deal has closed. That’s how I turn our customers into brand evangelists.
Marley Wagner, a digital customer success consultant, notes that repeat business has become increasingly important in today’s subscription-driven world.
“A majority of marketers have been exclusively focused and measured on driving net new revenue from the acquisition of new customers,” Wagner explained. “But the subscription economy necessitates a longer-term view of the retention and growth of that revenue, on top of the continuous addition of more and more new customers.”
So, while the traditional sales and marketing funnel makes a great foundation, it’s due for an upgrade that reflects the complexity of today’s buying journey, including a customer’s intent to repurchase.
That’s where the customer journey funnel comes in.
Why The Customer Journey Funnel Is the Solution
The customer journey funnel helps you understand the holistic buying journey from your customer’s perspective. This framework allows you to create strategies to engage your ideal customer at each individual stage, with a focus on retaining business.
The customer journey funnel is unique because it provides insight into the end-to-end buying experience and includes two additional stages missing from a marketing funnel. So, the stages of the custom journey funnel include:
- Awareness.
- Consideration.
- Conversion.
- Retention (or loyalty).
- Advocacy.
Why should you use a customer journey funnel? Taking the time to nurture your customers in those post-sale stages is worth the investment. Businesses continue to report that repeat customers make up the majority of their annual revenue and spend more on average than new customers.
Using this framework can also help you increase personalization (which is shown to drive 10-15% more in revenue), increase your conversion rates, and retain and grow your current customer base.
“There is absolutely value in marketing teams considering the entire customer journey in their efforts, rather than simply ignoring anything that happens after a sale is marked closed,” says Wagner.
However, she notes that business leaders need to set team goals and KPIs that align with this broader purview. Sales and marketing pros also need to “work in close concert with the customer success organization, Wagner says.
How to Build a Customer Journey Funnel
Before you start creating your funnel, there are a few important things you’ll need to identify. It’s critical to include insights from key stakeholders like your customer experience, sales, and even product teams as you work through this process. Here are my recommendations for getting the foundation right.
1. Identify the stages of the customer journey.
When creating a customer journey funnel, I start by using data and insights about my company’s buyers. I can then map out the buying journey from their perspective. I recommend working on this with your customer experience team. They likely have already created a customer journey map.
When defining stages, I start with the first touchpoint with my brand (awareness) through the point of conversion. Then, I can add what loyalty and advocacy look like, better defining those two new stages.
Pro tip: Feel free to name the stages in a way that makes sense for your brand. I’ve seen the second stage named in many different ways, including consideration, intent, interest, and nurture.
If you want to test this out, try our free customer journey template. You can outline your company’s customer journey and experience with these seven free templates from Hubspot.
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2. Align customer behavior.
In the section above, I defined the stages of the customer journey. These stages now become the different parts of my funnel.
Once I have my stages defined and named, I map out what customer behaviors and actions happen during each stage. By understanding what my customers are doing at different stages in their buying journey, I can tell what they need and how to engage them in a relevant way.
Customer behavior can be things like reading reviews, clicking on an ad, or downloading an ebook. Every action counts, so try to be as specific as possible.
3. Create your engagement strategy.
Now that you know what your buyer does (and needs) at every step of their journey, how will you engage them? Each stage has its own engagement strategy. Different teams may take the lead at different stages. For example, your marketing team will make most of your Awareness stage collateral. The sales team may be the star of your conversion strategy.
In customer success, I often work with the retention and advocacy stages. I make sure to consider the unique pain points or motivators in the post-sale experience. For example, if I’m selling software, my customers may need help with implementation. Providing great service helps build brand loyalty and keep customers for the long term.
Pro tip: Don’t skip out on creating a robust strategy for your Advocacy stage. Beyond asking for referrals, you can nurture these customers with loyalty programs, spotlight speaking opportunities, or collaborate on case studies.
If you don’t have a customer advocacy team to take the lead, I recommend using automation, like intake forms for customer case studies or triggering email campaigns that ask for referrals.
4. Define success metrics.
Chances are, even if you changed your funnel, your main KPIs and engagement metrics are still the same — or very similar. However, now you should include metrics for long-term impact. Make sure your metrics are specific to each stage and measure the relative engagement strategy.
For example, customer lifetime value and cost per acquisition can show that your buyers are satisfied after a purchase is made. These two metrics allow me to see if our Retention and Advocacy strategies actually work.
Understanding success isn’t all about numbers. Holmgren recommends defining what success looks like at each stage of your customer journey funnel. That vision will help you improve your messaging and see what roadblocks are barriers to success.
“Reviewing customer journey metrics at each stage makes it easier to make data-driven decisions, even if they go against your initial instinct. By reviewing insights, you can create a truly customer-centric organization,” she adds.
Now that you’ve set the foundation, it’s time to build that funnel.
The Customer Journey Funnel In Action — What to Expect in Each Stage
Above, we talked about how to build a customer journey funnel. Now, we’ll take a look at what might happen in each stage.
It’s important to note that funnels vary by company and team. If your customer journey has a different number of stages than what you see below, what happens in each stage may look different. However, you’ll likely notice similar goals and a strong focus on the customer.
Awareness Stage
In this first stage, my potential customers are just becoming aware of my brand or product. My goal is to capture their attention and inform them that a solution to their problems exists.
Common strategies in this stage include promoting helpful blog posts, posting freemium content on social media, or putting a helpful playbook behind a paywall. I’ve also seen companies organize an exclusive product release webinar to drive awareness of new offerings.
In this stage, marketers are trying to connect with a customer pain point, point to a few solutions direction, and get potential buyers familiar with the brand,
Consideration Stage
In this stage, the buyer is considering my product as a possible solution to their problem. They’re doing research and comparing their options. My goal is to give them information that helps them understand my product’s benefits and its differentiators.
Current customers may have different pain points as they enter back into earlier funnel stages.
For example, let’s say a common pain point for an existing customer is obtaining additional budget approval to add a new product to their account. You could create content with proof points that show the compounded value that comes from layering a new product to their existing subscription.
Conversion Stage
In the Conversion stage, the customer evaluates the product and considers things like price, features, and brand reputation. At this point, they may sign up for a free trial, submit their information through a contact form, or complete a purchase.
This is when the scale tips from a prospect considering a product to actually making a purchase. Your sales team may be giving product demos and addressing any concerns related to the offer. Potential buyers exit this stage as customers.
Retention/Loyalty Stage
After a customer purchases, they either become loyal to your brand or leave it at the time of renewal. The goal of this stage is to build loyalty with the customer to drive retention, maintain customer satisfaction, and encourage repeat purchases.
Retention looks wildly different depending on what you sell. For B2C brand Sephora, Beauty Rewards points are a tangible program that incentivizes people to shop. In the B2B world, I’ve had to get more creative, relying on excellent service and building long-lasting relationships. I’ve also seen exclusive offers and discounts successfully win repeat business.
I recommend creating targeted campaigns for customers' milestones. On a purchase anniversary, send them an email thanking them for their business and offer them company swag in exchange for a review.
Another fun tactic for customers at this stage? You can give them early access to test upcoming paid features. This acts as a free trial and primes them for purchase once the paid feature hits the market.
Advocacy Stage
Here, your happy customers become advocates for your brand by sharing their positive experiences. The goal of this stage is to turn your customers into advocates so they help bring in new customers.
This stage can be a dream come true for a customer advocacy team. You can tap into happy and successful customers. You may aks them to collaborate on case studies, user-generated content, marketing events, customer round tables, and more.
You may even surface some hardcore brand evangelists. Creating an “Inner Circle” is a great way to invite all your advocates to one place. You can run targeted campaigns asking these customers to give a referral, submit a testimonial, or provide a review. I recommend offering financial incentives or company swag in exchange. I’ll always leave a review for a gift card.
To identify the right advocates, you can tap into your NPS promoters and review the data on product outcomes.
Stay in Touch With Customer Needs
With the increasing complexity of today’s buying journey, upgrading your funnel allows you to stay in touch with your customers’ needs. You can then adapt quickly to changes in their buying behavior.
By engaging a customer at every stage of the buying journey, you create a revenue loop for your business. With this holistic engagement strategy, you’re able to gain customer loyalty, earn repeat business, and benefit from your customers’ advocacy by acquiring new qualified leads.
That’s why I recommend creating a customer journey funnel. You can bring teams together to focus on the same goal: finding customers, serving them, and keeping them coming back for more.
Free Customer Journey Template
Outline your company's customer journey and experience with these 7 free templates.
- Buyer's Journey Template
- Future State Template
- Day-in-the-Life Template
- And more!
Download Free
All fields are required.
Form not available