Why Your Customer Journey Map Is Leading You Nowhere
Journey maps are tools that help marketers and brand leaders empathize with customers. They help you understand what your customers are thinking, feeling, and doing at each step so you can design smarter, more effective touchpoints.
The problem is, most customer journey maps are missing half the story.
Too often, we see marketers focus only on the buying moment. They focus their study on transaction data, mapping digital click paths, or conducting in-store “shop-alongs” to watch how people make purchase decisions in real time. This data can be incredibly impactful for improving sales conversions, but they zoom in too tightly on a single chapter of a much larger story.
The issue? This leads to building strategies around the point of purchase while ignoring everything that led the customer there, and everything that happens after.
A true customer journey doesn’t start at the cash register. It starts long before, when a potential customer first becomes aware of a problem in their life. Those of us familiar with the “jobs to be done” theory of marketing know that people aren’t looking to purchase a product, they’re looking to find a solution to their problem. This is where the journey needs to start.
The map also needs to continue after the sale, as customers evaluate how well your solution actually worked for them. This can stretch over weeks, months, even years – especially in competitive markets where loyalty is earned, not assumed.
When your map only covers one phase, you miss the context. You miss the mindset. And you miss the opportunity to show up with the right message, in the right moment, across the journey. This leads to new product/service innovations that fail to move the needle, and marketing campaigns that miss the forest for the trees.
Let’s break it down. Every customer journey is unique, but these five phases are a helpful framework for expanding your mindset outside of the purchasing process.
Must-Have Stops on the Customer Journey Map
1. Problem Identification
Before someone buys a solution, they need to feel a problem. But that doesn’t always happen right away. Some customers live with a pain point for a long time before recognizing it, admitting they need help, or being willing to pay to solve it. Your job is to understand what those early signs look like and how your brand can educate consumers on why their problem needs solving
2. Solution Research
Once the problem is clear, how do people decide what to do?
Do they search online? Ask friends? Try a DIY option first?
Some customers go with the first brand they recall – is that you? Others compare several options and pick the best one. You need to know where they go, what they’re looking for, and how to show up in those spaces with credibility and clarity.
3. Point of Purchase
Here’s the phase most journey maps over-focus on: the actual transaction.
Where does it happen: online, in-store, through a rep?
What drives the decision: price, convenience, reviews?
These are important questions, but not the only ones. If you’re only tracking this moment, you’re probably missing how your brand got into (or out of) the conversation.
4. Use of Solution
After the sale, the real test begins: did your product deliver?
Was it easy to use? Did it meet expectations? Did they need support and did you provide enough?
Customers form opinions quickly, and they remember friction. Mapping the user experience helps you spot gaps, fix pain points, and ensure your value lives beyond the box or homepage.
5. Loyalty & Retention
How likely will the customer come back, or recommend you to others?
Do they feel satisfied enough to leave a review or refer a friend?
What are the switching costs for them to use a different solution next time around?
This stage isn’t just about rewards programs. It’s about building trust over time so that loyalty isn’t bought, it’s earned.
the bottom line:
Customer journey maps should give you perspective, not just proximity to purchase. At the end of the day, it’s an empathy tool – not a sales tool.
When you understand your customer’s full experience from start to finish, you make better decisions about where, when, and how to engage. You stop speaking in transactions and start building a brand that connects in real life.
