What is the buyer journey?

The buyer journey is the process a potential customer goes through on the way to making a purchase. The main premise here is that the buyer's needs and questions change during the different stages of this buying process.

The buyer journey model comes from content marketing and was later adopted in the inbound marketing method.

Why the buyer journey model?

In inbound marketing we have a noble goal: to help the potential customer in -each phase- of the buying process in the best possible way. Mapping the buyer journey supports this process.

A lead's needs and intent change at each stage of the buyer journey. In the early stages, the buyer is primarily orienting and there is no commercial intent. As the buying process progresses, the need toward a concrete solution becomes more concrete and the commercial intent increases.

So we help the buyer persona (representation of your ideal customer) progress optimally when we adapt our content to - and match - the phases of the buyer journey. In this way, supply and demand correspond perfectly and harmony is created.

Buyer journey phases

We distinguish the following phases in the buyer journey:

Awareness - awareness phase.

The awareness phase is also known as the awareness phase. In this phase of the buyer journey the potential customer becomes aware of a problem, or the possibility of exploiting an opportunity.

At the beginning of this phase, this awareness is not yet present or barely present. Therefore, the main goal in this phase is to make the customer aware of the nature and extent of the problem (or the nature and extent of the potential opportunity).

The buyer persona's need in this phase is primarily: to obtain information and learn more about the problem (or exploit the opportunity).

Content in this phase is therefore not commercial in nature. There is no writing about the product or service (yet). The content concentrates around all facets of the problem, so that awareness grows in the potential buyer.

Consideration phase

In the consideration phase of the buyer journey, the potential customer has defined and delineated the problem and starts looking for solutions.

In the Netherlands, this phase is called the consideration phase because the buyer persona considers different solution directions during the phase.

The buyer persona's need is already a lot more concrete in this phase. The problem is known and defined. Now it is time to explore all the ins and outs. In other words, a deep dive.

The content in this phase is moderately commercial. The emphasis is still on solving the problem, or taking advantage of the opportunity. Think about the process or methodology (how) rather than purely the product or service (what).

Decision - decision phase

In the decision phase, the buyer persona makes the decision for a solution and thus the purchase takes place.

Here too, a fairly direct translation is used, namely: the decision phase.

The buyer persona's need in this phase lies completely with specific solutions. Different products and/or services are examined in detail and compared with each other.

Content in this phase of the buyer journey is focused on the product or putting the product into use. In b2b, for example, consider the implementation process and its impact and consequences. This close to the purchase, the buyer is also looking for confirmation of making the right decision. For this reason, case studies and/or testimonials are often used to convince the customer.

Promoter - customer phase

The last phase of the buyer journey is the phase in which your customer actively uses your product and/or service. HubSpot calls this phase the promoter phase because the ultimate goal of inbound marketing is for customers to become ambassadors of your company and/or brand.

Other marketing specialists look at this phase more from the customer's perspective and call it the service or support phase. This is particularly a b2b perspective because many b2c products do not have a service or support phase.

The customer's need in the customer phase is around using the solution better.

Good content fulfills this need. Think of manuals to use the product more efficiently or effectively, or content in the support sphere, such as a service portal or FAQ pages.

Buyer journey vs customer journey

There is a lot of confusion about the difference between the buyer journey and the customer journey. This is not very surprising, as the words are already similar, but there are also similarities in terms of content.

The short (but incomplete) answer is:

• The buyer journey focuses on potential customers (leads) and their buying process.
• The customer journey focuses on customers and their experience with the company, product and/or service.

Not two journeys, but one

Over the years, however, new insights have emerged and the dividing line between the buyer journey and the customer journey has become blurred. For example, Google's Avinash Kaushik created the See (Awareness), Think (Consideration), Do (Decision), Care (Promoter) model, and more and more other marketing experts are also adding the customer stage(s) to the buyer journey model.

When you look at all this from the customer's point of view, it only makes sense to have one model. For the customer, there is one ongoing "journey," not two separate ones.

At Bright Digital, we therefore recommend using one journey model. This is more customer-centric and pragmatic than two separate ones. Whether you call this buyer journey or customer journey, we leave that up to you ;-). As long as the end result is that you serve your customer optimally time after time.

"The term 'customer' (in customer journey) is actually not well chosen, because potential customers also belong to the journey that leads to the purchase of a product or service." - Bart van de Kooi, Mapping the Customer Journey in 60 Minutes.

However, it can be a useful exercise to deepen the customer journey. After all, a customer does not become a promoter overnight. To give you an idea of this process, we refer to the customer phases in the book: 'The customer journey in 60 minutes' (also in this book one journey from potential buyer to customer).

The customer phases explored in this book are:

1. Delivery phase in a b2b project for example the implementation period.
2. Use phase in which the customer actively uses the product.
3. Loyalty phase in which loyalty arises. First transactional, then emotional.
4. Ambassador phase where customers advertise you and promote your company.

The role of marketing automation

Marketing automation doesn't help you map out the buyer journey, but it does help you in the execution phase.

As you've read, the goal of inbound marketing is to best help leads and customers at each stage of the buyer journey. This means offering them the right content (appropriate to the buyer journey stage) at the right time. We call this lead nurturing. With marketing automation, you achieve this and this process is also infinitely scalable.

Tips buyer journey mapping

We conclude with a few golden tips on buyer journey mapping:

Always link a buyer journey to one buyer persona

A buyer persona is a realistic reflection of your ideal customer. This buyer persona has a certain role in the organization that determines much of the action. For this reason, a buyer journey is always linked to one particular buyer persona.

In your buyer persona research, also ask buyer journey questions

In buyer persona research, you interview customers and leads to gain insight into their goals, needs, problems and fears, among other things. Only then will you be able to write (or have written) content that perfectly matches the needs of your potential customer.

Why not use this opportunity to learn more about their buying journey? Therefore, structure the interview according to the buyer journey process. Start with questions about the awareness phase and follow up with questions about the consideration and decision phases. Are you interviewing a customer? Then also ask questions related to the customer phase of the buyer journey.

This way, you not only gain insight into the customer's needs, but you gain insight into the customer's needs in relation to the buyer journey.

Do keyword research

Keywords research is often -wholly unjustly- linked to search engine marketing. Such research also provides insights into the buyer persona's demand and terminology usage.

Many keywords have an intent that can be clearly linked to one specific buyer journey stage. For example, when someone searches for "What is SEO?" it is clear that this is an information need in the awareness phase. If someone googles 'compare inbound marketing agencies' then they are probably in the decision phase. The customer phase is also easy to recognize. For example, how about the search query 'manual Hubspot workflows', or 'Hubspot Academy'?

Incorporate the buyer journey into inbound marketing campaigns

Once the buyer journey is completely mapped out, you know what needs your potential customers have and when they have them (at what stage of the buying process).

Use this knowledge. Write content dedicated to the needs of one buyer persona in one particular buyer journey stage. And make sure you have content for each stage in the buyer journey that moves the lead forward.

Then deploy marketing automation to deliver the content to your leads and customers at the right time.

Read more about buyer personas

Buyer personas and the buyer journey are inextricably linked. You can find explanations, tips and advice on this subject on our buyer persona page.

Or download the buyer persona template directly. Use this template to visualize your buyer persona so it comes to life within the organization.