„In short, we were impressed by the modularity and scalability with which you can work in the system. "
Siegfried SchneiderCMO, Red Dot Design
customer experience
19 min
Written by Daniel Luecke
The customer journey describes the individual phases of the customer journey, including the most important touchpoints on the path from prospect to customer. In this article, you will learn exactly what these are and how to optimize the customer journey for your products and services.
The customer journey is a central concept in marketing and describes the entire path that a potential customer takes from the first perception of a company to the final purchase or a repeated interaction.
In doing so, they usually touch various channels and touchpoints that influence their decision-making process. It is immensely important for companies to understand this journey, as this is the only way they can tailor their offers and processes precisely to the needs and expectations of their customers.
In fact, the customer journey is often more complex than it appears at first glance. Nowadays, people are highly networked in the digital world and exchange information via social media, websites, review portals or personal contacts.
This diversity offers enormous opportunities to stand out from the competition, but also requires a well thought-out concept. The aim is to provide customers with optimal support at every relevant touchpoint and create a positive experience for them.
In this article, we take a detailed look at the customer journey, explain the five phases of the customer journey and give you valuable tips on how you can use customer journey maps and other strategies to improve customer loyalty.
You will learn why touchpoints and channels play a key role, what is behind the term “buyer” and how to master the balancing act between user journey and customer journey. By the end, you will understand how you can increase your conversion rate and gain loyal customers in the long term by optimizing the customer journey in a targeted manner.
The customer journey is not a static construct, but a dynamic process in which different phases build on each other. When someone hears about a product or service for the first time, they find themselves in a completely different world than just before they make a purchase.
Awareness of these different states is essential in order to target potential customers and provide them with exactly the content they need at that moment. Thanks to digitalization, access to information has become much easier. Today, customers do their own research, read reviews and compare prices.
Companies that fail to align their channels risk a disrupted or confusing experience that can quickly lead to abandonment or migration to competitors. The customer journey is therefore a way of relating all these interactions to each other and taking the customer by the hand.
It is important that the customer journey not only focuses on pure marketing interest, but also takes the customer’s perspective into account.
Those who really understand their customers and recognize their wishes can provide answers that not only promote sales, but also create trust. This trust forms the basis for long-term customer relationships.
The customer journey is often divided into five central phases. These are: Awareness, Consideration, Decision, Retention and Advocacy. Each of these phases fulfills its own function and brings with it its own challenges and opportunities. In the following, we will go into each phase in detail so that you know exactly what is important.
The potential customer’s journey begins in the awareness phase. This is where they become aware of a particular company, product or service for the first time. This can happen through advertising, word-of-mouth, an article in a trade magazine or a social media post, for example.
The main aim of this phase is to be noticed in the first place and make a positive first impression. Potential customers should become curious and consider the company as a possible problem solver.
Clear positioning and authentic communication are particularly crucial here. If you are convincing in this phase, there is a chance that the customer will actively search for more information. Companies often underestimate how important it is not only to be present in the awareness phase, but also to offer relevant information.
High visibility alone is not enough. It depends on the message: What problems does the company solve and why is it relevant for the customer?
As soon as awareness has been raised, the active search for information begins in the consideration phase. The potential customer compares different providers and solutions. They read testimonials, watch product videos, ask friends or acquaintances for recommendations and search specifically for test reports.
In this phase, it is important to further strengthen interest and dispel any doubts. An informative and user-friendly website, high-quality blog articles, convincing case studies or white papers can work wonders here. A well-structured FAQ section that answers the most important questions also demonstrates professionalism and customer proximity.
Companies that are convincing in this phase score points above all with transparency, credibility and a clear value proposition. If you communicate your services clearly and give the customer the feeling that you really understand them, you significantly improve the chances of them taking the next step towards making a purchase.
Now the purchase decision is imminent. The prospective buyer has already sorted out a few providers in the consideration phase and may still be wavering between two or three options. This is the moment when the last hurdles need to be cleared.
Important factors in this phase are a smooth ordering process, clear price communication and possibly also time-limited offers or discounts that create an additional incentive to buy. Good customer service that answers questions promptly can also be crucial in this phase.
If you make the purchasing process complicated or leave potential customers in the dark, there is a risk that the decision will be overturned at the last second. A clear call to action and simplicity in the ordering or booking process are worth their weight in gold here. A clearly formulated reference to return rights or guarantees can also tip the scales.
The purchase is complete, but the customer’s journey is far from over. In the retention phase, the aim is to keep the customer and bind them to the company in the long term. Both the quality of the product or service and the service after the purchase play an important role here.
Customers who feel well looked after are more likely to make repeat purchases or take advantage of additional offers. Personalized emails, exclusive discount campaigns or loyalty programs are examples of measures to strengthen customer loyalty.
Proactive communication in which you ask the customer for feedback or provide assistance also helps to strengthen trust.
Companies that want to be successful in the long term know that existing customers are a valuable asset. Recommendations to friends and acquaintances often work quite naturally in this phase, provided that the customer is really satisfied. The post-purchase phase should therefore never be neglected.
The final phase of the customer journey revolves around active advocacy. Satisfied customers become ambassadors and fans. They share their positive experiences with others and actively recommend the company, product or service to others.
This happens on social networks, in personal conversations or on review portals. Word-of-mouth advertising is one of the most powerful forms of advertising of all, as it is based on trust. Those who convince their customers with an outstanding experience reap the rewards at this stage:
Neue Interessenten, die durch Weiterempfehlungen aufmerksam werden.
To turn customers into such ambassadors, you should actively encourage them to do so. This can be done via evaluation requests by email, follow-up calls or loyalty programs that offer discounts for recommendations.
Companies that gain real fans benefit from a lasting positive brand perception.
Touchpoints, i.e. points of contact between the customer and the company, play a central role in the entire customer journey. They can occur online, offline or in a hybrid form. The most important channels include your own website, social media platforms, newsletters, physical stores, email communication, chatbots and much more.
All of these touchpoints must be coordinated in order to convey a coherent overall picture. If the customer gets a great impression on Instagram but finds it difficult to find the desired information when visiting the website, the customer journey can come to a standstill.
Continuous analysis of touchpoints is therefore necessary in order to recognize where customers are getting lost or dropping off. Tools such as web analytics, heat maps or surveys are suitable for this, as they allow you to obtain feedback from your target group.
The better you understand how and why your customers interact with your company, the more targeted you can improve your offers and communication measures.
The customer experience (CX) encompasses the customer’s entire experience in contact with your company. It therefore goes beyond individual touchpoints and also includes emotional aspects such as trust, satisfaction and the subjective feeling of appreciation.
The customer journey is an important tool for improving the customer experience, as it shows you where the key interactions take place. If you manage to make these interactions as positive and seamless as possible, you will automatically achieve a better customer experience.
A good example is the personalization of content. Customers feel understood when they receive targeted information that matches their previous behavior. This can be achieved through personalized product recommendations in the web store or emails tailored to the customer.
Always keeping an eye on the added value for the customer strengthens the foundation for a long-term relationship.
A customer journey map is a visual tool that shows all the phases, touchpoints and feelings that a customer goes through. It serves as the basis for customer journey mapping, in which you understand step by step how and why customers move from one phase to the next.
A properly created customer journey map helps you to really understand your customer’s journey and find potential for improvement. Complex offers or companies with many interfaces in particular benefit enormously from this overview.
The term “buyer” refers to the purchaser or decision-maker in the purchasing process. In the B2B sector in particular, it is often not just a single buyer, but an entire buying center in which several people are involved in the decision. However, each of these people has different interests and motives.
This makes it all the more important to deal with the specific needs of the buyer. Ask yourself: What specific problems does he want to solve? What do they think of alternative providers? What information or evidence do they need to decide in favor of my product or service?
If you understand what drives your buyer, you can create content that appeals to them and supports them in their decision-making process. At the same time, you should also anticipate possible objections and actively counter them. This shows that you think in a transparent and customer-oriented way.
The terms “user journey” and “customer journey” are often used interchangeably, although they have slightly different focuses. The user journey usually refers to the interactions of a user, often in a digital product such as an app or website.
The customer journey, on the other hand, refers to the entire purchasing process – online and offline – including the phases before and after the actual purchase. Those who differentiate here can tailor their strategies even better.
While a user journey focuses more on user-friendliness and user experience in an application, the customer journey is more concerned with the overall brand experience.
In practice, it can be helpful to take both perspectives. For example, if you want to develop a well-functioning app and also want to look at the general journey of your customers in order to coordinate marketing campaigns.
The separation of user journey and customer journey is not a question of either-or, but rather an expansion of your perspective.
Why should companies spend so much time and resources analysing and optimizing the customer journey? The reason is obvious: a coherent customer journey promotes trust in your brand and supports a positive purchase decision.
This in turn increases your sales, reduces returns and complaints and leads to more satisfied customers. Competition is also fierce in many sectors. If you don’t understand your customers, you will quickly lose ground.
In a globalized and digital world, potential buyers usually have countless alternatives to choose from. With a well thought-out customer journey, you can stand out from the crowd and offer them a personalized, appreciative experience.
Ultimately, an optimized customer journey makes a decisive contribution to competitiveness. Companies that offer a high level of service reap greater customer loyalty and the valuable effect of recommendations in the long term.
Every euro invested in optimizing the customer journey can bring back many times the added value.
PIM software (Product Information Management) is a central system for managing and controlling product data in a company.
It enables the collection, storage, maintenance and distribution of product information such as descriptions, specifications and digital assets across different sales channels.
PIM software serves as a “single source of truth” for all product-relevant data, ensures consistency and up-to-dateness of information and thus optimizes efficiency in product data management.
The customer journey is at the heart of a successful marketing and sales strategy. If you know and understand the different phases – awareness, consideration, decision, retention and advocacy – you can tailor your offers precisely to the needs of your customers.
Well-designed touchpoints, an outstanding customer experience and consistent customer loyalty play equally important roles. By creating customer journey maps and continuously analyzing your processes, you can uncover strengths and weaknesses in your company.
Targeted optimization measures not only improve your customers’ satisfaction, but also your own key figures such as sales or conversion rate. Ultimately, it is worth considering the customer journey as a dynamic system that is constantly being adapted to new trends and customer needs.
If you follow this path consistently, you will gain a real competitive advantage. You build trust, create added value and strengthen your customer relationship in the long term. This makes the customer journey an elementary component of your long-term business success.
Es empfiehlt sich, zuerst Zielgruppen und Personas klar zu definieren. Anschließend identifizierst du alle relevanten Touchpoints und dokumentierst, wie Kunden diese wahrnehmen. Danach analysierst du Schwachstellen und entwickelst konkrete Verbesserungsmaßnahmen.
Bestandskunden sind oft profitabler als Neukunden, da sie bereits Vertrauen aufgebaut haben und eher dazu bereit sind, weitere Angebote wahrzunehmen. Eine hohe Kundenbindung führt außerdem zu einer stabileren Umsatzbasis und positiven Weiterempfehlungen.
Die Digitalisierung hat die Customer Journey in vielen Bereichen deutlich komplexer gemacht. Kunden nutzen heute häufig mehrere Kanäle parallel und haben hohe Erwartungen an Schnelligkeit, Personalisierung und Verfügbarkeit. Gleichzeitig eröffnen digitale Kanäle aber auch viele neue Möglichkeiten, die Journey zu optimieren.
Ein zentrales Customer-Relationship-Management-System (CRM) kann helfen, Daten an einem Ort zu bündeln und sämtliche Kontaktpunkte zu verwalten. Zusätzlich sind regelmäßige Team-Meetings und Schulungen sinnvoll, um neue Erkenntnisse zu teilen und die Kommunikation nach außen abzustimmen.