You know you need to market your business. But do you know exactly HOW your customers decide to buy from you? There’s often a gap and this is where customer journey mapping sits. Closing the gap is one of the most commercially valuable things you can do. Let’s look at what customer journey mapping is, and how to do it properly.
What is customer journey mapping?
A customer journey map is a visual or structured representation of every step a potential customer takes from the moment they first become aware of a problem, all the way through to making a purchase (and beyond). It shows you where they go, what they search for, what questions they ask, and what content or conversations influence their decisions.
Done well, it stops you guessing what behaviours your customer demonstrates and helps you make better decisions for where to spend your marketing time and effort (and spend).
The basic principles of customer journey mapping
At its simplest, a customer journey map captures three things:
Stages: the phases a customer moves through (awareness, evaluation, consideration, approval, decision, loyalty etc.) At LikeMind, we believe that these stages are unique to your customer.
Touchpoints: every interaction they have with your brand along the way (search results, social media, reviews, emails, conversations). This is often the content you create and your customer consumes. It also covers what information that content needs to contain to help keep the customer moving forward on their journey.
Metrics: how your marketing is performing, particularly pieces of content, but generally anything that can be measured to provide you with feedback for the future.
Research consistently shows that potential customers have multiple interactions with a brand before they make contact. It used to be seven, then people said 11, now who knows exactly? All this means the vast majority of the buying decision happens before you ever speak to them. If your content isn’t present and relevant at those earlier touchpoints, a competitor’s is.
Why most businesses get this wrong
The most common mistake is treating the customer journey as linear: awareness leads to interest leads to purchase. In reality, customers jump back and forth. They search on Google, check LinkedIn, ask a colleague, read a review, revisit your website weeks later, and then finally get in touch.
A good customer journey map reflects that complexity. It accounts for multiple decision-makers, different entry points, and the fact that not every customer follows the same path.
Where generic mapping methods go wrong
Many businesses attempt customer journey mapping using off-the-shelf templates: a downloaded spreadsheet, a whiteboard exercise, or a generic framework from a marketing blog. These approaches have a fundamental problem. They are built around what the template creator thinks a customer journey looks like, not what your customers actually do.
Generic maps tend to:
- Oversimplify the number of stages and touchpoints
- Ignore the nuances of your specific industry, audience, and buying cycle
- Produce a document that sits in a drawer rather than driving real marketing activity
- Offer no guidance on what content to create, when, or how to measure its impact
The result is a map that looks convincing in a presentation but does very little to improve leads or sales – no good at all, then, really.
Indeed, according to Gartner research in 2022, respondents are struggling with customer journey mapping: “Just 34% of respondents report they have three or more years of experience developing end-to-end journey maps, and 83% report their organization struggles to use customer journey maps to identify and prioritize CX efforts.”
In our work with our many clients over the years we know that no two customer journeys are the same, because no two organisations are identical. This has become a core principle of ours: a customer journey map is only as useful as the research and business understanding that underpins it.
How JourneyWeb® works differently
JourneyWeb® is LikeMind Media’s proprietary content strategy methodology, and it was designed specifically to address the shortcomings of generic mapping. Rather than starting with a template, it starts with your business.
The process involves two interactive workshops, in-depth research, and the production of a bespoke content map and detailed strategy report.
The key difference between general customer journey mapping and ours is that every JourneyWeb® is built around evidence. The research phase examines real audience behaviours, the search terms your customers use, the objections they raise, and the content your competitors are producing. That evidence base is what makes the resulting strategy actionable rather than aspirational.
When your content meets the right person with the right message at the right stage of their journey, you convert more prospects without increasing your ad spend.
Where to start with customer journey mapping
Of course we would love you to take our JourneyWeb® service! If you are new to customer journey mapping, the most important thing is to start with what you already know, then identify the gaps.
If you do take our JourneyWeb® service, we would absolutely ask you to consider the following in our preparatory work.
Step 1: Audit your existing touchpoints
List every place a potential customer could encounter your business: your website, social media profiles, Google Business profile, email newsletters, offline materials, and word-of-mouth referrals. For each one, ask honestly: does this touchpoint serve the customer’s needs at that stage, or does it only serve ours?
Step 2: Check your marketing alignment
Before investing in new content, find out whether what you already have is working. LikeMind Media offers a free marketing scorecard that takes around five minutes to complete and will show you where your current marketing aligns with your customer journey, and where the gaps are.
Step 3: Explore the disciplines involved
Customer journey mapping draws on a range of marketing disciplines. Our Learning Lounge covers many of the areas that feed into a strong content strategy, from blogging and email marketing to social media and video, all framed around the customer journey.
Step 4: Commission a bespoke JourneyWeb®
For businesses ready to build a strategy that is genuinely tailored to how their customers buy, JourneyWeb® is the logical next step. It is a structured investment that delivers a content map, strategy report, and ongoing support, everything needed to start generating more conversations with the right people.
Ready to map your customer journey?
Customer journey mapping is not a one-off exercise. It is an ongoing commitment to understanding how your customers think, search, and decide. The businesses that get this right consistently outperform those relying on intuition and generic marketing tactics.
If you would like to talk through what a customer journey map could look like for your organisation, get in touch with us, using the form below, or by giving us a call (we unashamedly still use the phone!)
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Article posted by Paul Ince
Paul, aka BizPaul (to everyone), is the little big cheese (Director) at LikeMind Media. He can often be found talking to others about all things about conversations, whether that’s through social media, writing or even audio. With over 20 years’ experience in bringing businesses and customers together, Paul has worked with a vast range of clients including a working cow farm, a smart factory software company and a pregnancy pilates business. He’s the host of MarketEd.Live, our flagship marketing education event in Nottingham and the associated podcast.