What is the Buyer's Journey? Your Full Marketing Plan

The buyer's journey is the comprehensive path prospects follow as they discover problems, research solutions, and make purchasing decisions for products or services. This total journey includes every step from realizing that you have a problem to deciding to make a purchase, and it's why it's so vital for marketers who hope to aid in those decisions.

Understanding the buyer's journey is not just a marketing term, it's the key to more sales. Companies that ace buyer journey mapping make 70% more money than those that are just fair.

Today Is Not the Way That People Buy Things

Buyers operated in a completely different way five years ago. New research from Harvard Business Review reveals 90% of buyers choose vendors that they had on their short list even before the sales team got involved. This implies that most people make their buying decisions off the grid, outside of conventional opportunities to influence a sale.

The numbers are mind-blowing. In Gartner's latest research 75% of B2B buyers would prefer to not work with salespeople. On the journey, buyers consume an average of 13 pieces of content, 8 from vendors and 5 from third parties.

Buyers are detectives today, if you will, so put it in that perspective. They are researching, comparing and deciding long before they are ready to talk. What's your job? Be there for all parts of their investigation with information you've gathered that actually contributes to what they're trying to accomplish.

These Three Vital Steps Every Marketer Must Know

Awareness Stage: Recognizing the Problem

Buyers enter the awareness stage when they come to the realization that they have a problem that needs to be solved. They are symptomatic, but it is not known what is causing their symptoms. They're not, at this point, looking for answers but rather for what doesn't sit right with them.

In times of what they call awareness, smart marketers focus on teaching. Here, blogs about common things that break are perfect. Industry trends reports capture people's attention. Educational videos on helping people diagnose what's wrong with them can build trust early on.

Recent research on how people buy things reveals that 47% of all buyers viewed 3-5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep. They are doing their homework, and you want to be their favorite teacher.

What works in awareness: Here are some of the types of content that do well in imagination:

Guides for finding problems
Trend reports within the industry
Blog posts for learning
Tests and tools for diagnosis

The trick is to discuss the "why" behind their problem, not solutions. Don't sell right away.

Consideration Stage: Seeking Options

Once buyers have developed a clear understanding of the problem they want to solve, they start searching for solutions. They know what's wrong, now they're trying to figure out how to fix it. This stage isn't about vendors, it's about types of solutions and how to use them.

He has made comparisons of ways of thought, in the discussion of content all too rare. Buyers are looking for webinars that demonstrate new ways of doing things. Case studies that demonstrate how solutions work in action. Guides that explain in excessive detail what to install and how to implement it. Reports that approach alternative types of solutions.

The modern B2B buyer travels on average across 10 different channels. They're hopping between your website, social media, review sites and your competitors pages faster than you can keep up with. What did you learn? Be there with a useful message in all of those places.

Winning consideration content includes:

Guides for comparing solutions
Explanations of the method
Case studies of implementation
Applications for specific industries

And while they aren't quite ready for vendor pitches yet. Don't sell your own product, instead teach people about different approaches to problem solving.

Decision Stage: The Vendor Selection Process

At the decision stage, the buyers narrow down the vendors even more. They know what they want their solution to be and now they're assessing who would be best able to execute. This is when they want to test the waters and size you up.

Content at this decision stage needs to demonstrate that you are worth it. Here, product demos, free trials, customer reviews and ROI calculators are typical. You can read about your services and processes on your website, but that's just not enough for some people. They may be Googling your company's reputation online, reviewing pricing pages, or reading case studies.

Recent research finds that 85% of B2B buyers will gladly opt for a new supplier if their existing provider signals the inability to meet their shifting needs. That is, your existing users are on the lookout for something else.

The good content of decision are given as follows:

Demonstrations of products
Free samples and trials
Success stories from customers
Calculators for ROI
Details about prices
Schedules for getting things done

B2B vs. B2C: What Are the Differences?

The B2B Marathon: Hard and Teamwork First

B2B buyer journeys are more akin to complex business projects than individual shopping experiences. Research from Gartner studies shows that there are between 6-10 stakeholders making decisions for a typical B2B purchase, and each stakeholder has their own unique needs and perspectives.

The timeline also gets longer. The majority of B2B purchases are completed in six months, but some complicated ones can run as long as 24 months. Through these long durations, buyers revisit previous stages as new individuals get involved or requirements shift.

Those who do business with other businesses read also more. The average B2B buyer completes 12 searches online before visiting a vendor's website. They're gathering information from multiple sources to make a decision within the company.

Important B2B features:

Many deciders (6–10 people)
Longer timelines (2-24 months)
Larger amount of content (12+ pieces)
Complex approval processes
Making decisions without taking risks

The B2C Sprint: Fast and Feels Forward

And when you contrast to B2B, B2C buyer journeys happen at breakneck speed. They could find, compare, and buy all in one session. Social proof makes a huge difference in decisions, and thus emotions are at play on a greater scale.

Seventy-five percent of people experimented with new shopping behaviors in the last few years, according to recent data on consumer behavior, and those habits stuck. Digital-first strategies dominated, and mobile commerce exploded in popularity.

B2C buyers place value in the reviews and ratings. 36% of consumers think "bad reviews will stop me buying", but positive social proof super charges decisions. It is a swifter journey but you have to watch your reputation constantly.

Important B2C traits:

Deciders in their personal lives
Less time (minutes to weeks)
Decisions based on feelings
Too much dependence on social proof
Behaviors that are mobile-first

True Success Stories: Companies Who Have Nailed the Path

The Content-Driven Way of HubSpot

But by examining the buying behavior of thousands of customers, HubSpot transformed their thinking about the buyer's journey. They found that 50 to 70 percent of a buyers' journey is complete before he or she ever speaks with a salesperson, but that doesn't mean they're advanced in the buying process.

What did they do? Create "self-reflective learning paths" that assist customers in knowing what they don't know. Currently, when buyers engage on these guided learning journeys, they're 147% more likely to purchase more than they had originally intended.

The results say a lot:

70% more qualified leads
Reduce the sales cycle by 50%
3x customer lifetime value improvement

Amazon's Journey Optimization Excellence

And by all accounts, Amazon's relentless investment in an enhanced buyer's journey paid off in massive sales, it enjoyed a 93% increase, simply by tweaking product titles to something that sounded closer to how people actually searched for them. They are monitoring every click, scroll and abandoned cart to make the experience that much better.

The way they do things is:

Tracking behavior in real time
A/B testing all the time
Ideas tailor-made just for you
High-quality experiences that will work on any device

What did you learn? Small shifts in the trajectory of your path can make a big difference for your business.

IBM's Business Transformation

Customer data for the profiles was originally stored in more than 100 countries from more than 800 databases around the world, IBM faced challenges with fragmented information. They experienced incredible results with full buyer journey mapping and real-time personalization:

70% increase in Cloud revenue
89% conversion rate among returning consumers
36% increase in email open rates
117% increase in clicks on personalized recommendations

They succeeded because they recognized the fact that each type of business buyer has different experience requirements at different places in the purchasing process, depending on their role, industry and stage.

How People Today Really Buy

The Digital-First World

The pandemic accelerated permanent adoption of digital technology. Indeed, new data from McKinsey research illustrates that 75% of shoppers altered their shopping habits amid COVID-19, and these changes have become the norm. For B2B, 90 percent of companies report that their go-to-market models today are working as well as or better than those they operated before the pandemic.

Check this out, 89% of B2B buyers use generative AI in their buying process today and this is fascinating. Before they ask you, they're asking ChatGPT about your product. They're using A.I. helpers to compare their options. AI consultants are now part of the buyer's journey.

Expectations Change with Generations

Millennials and Gen Z now comprise 64% of B2B buyers, and they have very different needs. For these individuals brought up on technology, B2B purchases should work as smoothly as B2C ones. They want to be able to help themselves, get questions answered immediately and use their phones first.

According to LinkedIn's research, 75% of the people would prefer to not interact with salespersons at all. They also take their social media habits to their jobs. By contrast, 61 percent of TikTok users have purchased something on the site.

The Information Overload Problem

Those who buy things today find themselves caught in an information paradox. They have more information than ever, but too much information can paralyze them. Gartner research found that buying groups spend 15% of their time deciding what to do with information that doesn't agree.

It is not more content that will help us, it is better curation. Successful companies help customers navigate the information that is available, as opposed to contributing to the noise.

The Strategic Value in Journey Mapping

Revenue Growth: Companies that have mastered the customer service make 73% more money than their competitors
Lead Quality Improvement: Firms that excel at nurturing leads generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost
Conversion Rate Optimization: Depending on the specific weak spots, the right journey mapping process can increase conversions by 20% up to 93%
Customer Retention: An increase in profits driven by customer retention can reach 25% to 95% by retaining more customers
Sales Efficiency: Sales teams that are aligned to the customer journey close deals at a rate that is 18% faster and the average deal size is 12% larger

It's difficult not to realize that if you understand how customers buy, they'll buy more from you.

Expert Advice and Best Practices

The Content Strategy at Each Stage

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"As C.M.O. of Twilio, I'm responsible for helping to grow sales, but a pandemic is not the time to sell. It's the time to serve."

— Sarah Varni, CMO of Twilio

This "service first" mentality should inform your entire buyer journey strategy. Don't educate people about why they should change, just teach them how to change instead.

Consider: Research by the Content Marketing Institute shows that 70% of people would prefer to get information about a product or service by way of stories or other pieces written about it as opposed to traditional advertisements. But here's the key point to keep in mind: the content must provide roadmaps with minimum distraction to current practices.

The Multi-Touch Truth

Today's buyers need to see more before they go out and buy. Recent figures reveal that buyers require:

723 LinkedIn impressions in 60 days before landing on websites
54 touchpoints to become Marketing Qualified Leads
81 additional interactions to convert from MQL to customer

No, this is not spam, it's actually a smart move to be everywhere your customers are, no matter what channel they're using.

Personalization on a Large Scale

Generic content simply doesn't work in today's world. Your customers want experiences tailored to their industry, job, and stage in the journey. AI-inflected personalization is no longer merely optional, it's vital to doing business well.

The top companies create dynamic content experiences that adapt based on indicators such as behavior, industry, company size and how frequently a person engages with them.

Common Problems and Solutions

Problem: Following the Straight and Narrow Mindset

Many marketers still think of journeys in terms of straight lines from awareness to purchase. The truth is messier. Buyers, according to Gartner research, "loop" through stages, returning to earlier ones when they receive new information.

Solution: Create content systems that are versatile and enable non-linear exploration. Instead of creating paths of sequential content, they should be building clusters of topical content.

Challenge: Assumption-Based Mapping

Fewer than one project in three aimed at a customer experience transformation actually succeeds, and the reason is typically that teams make decisions based on assumptions rather than on data. What the people inside the company believe does not correspond to what the customers perceive.

Solution: All journey maps are to be based on real customer research. Interview recently purchased customers, review behavioral data, and continue to test your assumptions.

Issue: Ignoring After the Purchase

Too many companies overlook what happens after a sale and lose out on enormous opportunities to keep and grow their customers.

Solution: Map the journey including the onboarding, adoption, expansion, and advocacy phases. Your best customers are your best marketing agents.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the typical lead time for a buyer to deliberate?

For B2B sales, 87% are completed in 6 months, although complex business solutions can sometimes take 24 months. B2C paths can be radically different. Impulse buys, for instance, can be minutes, while more considered spending, such as on cars or homes, can be months.

How many touchpoints does a buyer need before they buy?

B2B buyers require an average of 54 touchpoints to qualify as a Marketing Qualified Lead and 81 additional engagements to close a sale. On the way, they consume 13 types of content (8 from vendors and 5 from third parties) and use 10 channels.

What type of content performs best at each stage?

Examples of educational content that are great for the awareness stage include guides or trend reports. At the consideration point, you desire content that contrasts things and explains how things work and provides examples. At the decision phase you require proof content such as demos, testimonials and ROI calculators.

What's different about B2B and B2C journeys?

The B2B journey has 6 to 10 decision makers during a 2 to 24-month decision process that's all about reduction of risk. B2C paths consist of small decisions, which may be made in minutes or may take weeks, filled by emotional stimulus and social proof.

Is it possible for every business to map their customers' journey?

Yes, but there are important caveats to bear in mind. Don't just guess when it comes to your users, try to map at least some of your journey back to real data about your customers. Begin with the basic steps of the journey, and add more as you learn more.

What are some of the tools for journey mapping?

A few popular options are free data visualization tools, such as Miro and Figma, or enterprise platforms, including Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Adobe Journey Optimizer. Choose according to how complex you want it to be and how much money you have.

How can you tell if a journey was successful?

Monitor the conversion rates at each stage, the metrics for content engagement, the amount of time it takes to convert, new customer acquisition costs, as well as the impact to revenue. The typical conversion rate from MQL to SQL is about 13%, a handy benchmark to refer to when trying to compare your results.

Related Terms

Marketing Automation - Technology automating repetitive marketing tasks that agencies use to scale client campaigns efficiently
Attribution Modeling - Method to assign credit to various touchpoints in customer journey leading to conversion
Customer Experience (CX) - Overall experience customer has across all touchpoints with brand
Lead Nurturing - Process of developing relationships with buyers throughout sales funnel

Implementation Strategy: Making It Work Right

When done systematically, understanding the buyer's journey is no longer an academic exercise, but a competitive advantage. Map the paths your current customers take using real data, not guesses. Just, you know, talk to people who have recently bought something and ask them how it was. Check your analytics and see if there are patterns of behavior.

Secondly, ensure that your content strategy is aligned with the stages of the journey. Create content that generates awareness, not something that tries to sell anything. Create content to be considered, which critically compares various solutions. Create decision content that effectively and directly demonstrates the worth you would bring to a team.

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"Content needs to be solved for the problem, rather than one product."

— Randy Frisch, Content Marketing Institute

Each element should assist buyers in making the next logical move.

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"Understanding the buyer's journey is not just about mapping touchpoints, it's about creating meaningful connections at each stage that genuinely serve the customer's needs. After two decades in digital marketing, I've seen that the most successful campaigns don't push products, they guide customers through their natural decision-making process with valuable insights and solutions."

— Tessar Napitupulu, CEO of Arfadia and Digital Marketing Expert

Journey optimization is something that never ends, not a one-off project. The best companies view journey optimization as an ongoing activity, not a project that can be completed in a quarter or two, and aim to continually have a higher percentage of customers being in the Journey's end state than the previous period. They are constantly testing, tracking and improving based on how buyers act and what is going on in the market.

The Journey Goes On

The buyer journey will always shift. As technology improves and how people like to do things changes, the buyer's journey will constantly change. AI helpers will do more work. Products might be displayed in new ways by virtual and augmented reality. The line between channels will become blurrier with social commerce.

And yet, smart marketers continue to get ahead by keeping first things first: better knowing who their customers are, bringing value at every interaction, and helping them buy instead of forcing them to.

Firms who understand how their customers buy will always be ahead of those who do not, whether that objective is about trying to achieve B2B's long marathon or B2C's quick sprint.

The top of your funnel starts with getting into the heads of your customers. Once we get to that, every enhancement has a quantifiable impact on the company.

The issue at hand is not if you should map your buyer's journey but how soon you're able to get started.