customer journey marketing pdf

What is a Customer Journey Map? [Free Templates]

Learn what the customer journey mapping process is and download a free template that you can use to create your own customer journey map.

Table of Contents

Mapping the customer journey can give you a way to better understand your customers and their needs. As a tool, it allows you to visualize the different stages that a customer goes through when interacting with your business; their thoughts, feelings, and pain points.

And, it’s shown that the friction from those pain points costs big: in 2019, ecommerce friction totaled an estimated 213 billion in lost US revenue .

Customer journey maps can help you to identify any problems or areas where you could improve your customer experience . In this article, we’ll explain what the customer journey mapping process is and provide a free template that you can use to create your own map. Let’s get started!

Bonus: Get our free, fully customizable Customer Experience Strategy Template that will help you understand your customers and reach your business goals.

What is a customer journey map?

So, what is customer journey mapping? Essentially, customer journey maps are a tool that you can use to understand the customer experience. Customer journey maps are often visual representations showing you the customer’s journey from beginning to end. They include all the touchpoints along the way.

There are often four main stages in your sales funnel, and knowing these can help you create your customer journey maps:

• Inquiry or awareness
• Interest, comparison, or decision-making
• Purchase or preparation
• Installation, activation, or feedback

Customer journey maps are used to track customer behavior and pinpoint areas where the customer experiences pain points. With this information uncovered, you can improve the customer experience, giving your customers a positive experience with your company.

You can use customer journey mapping software like Excel or Google sheets, Google Decks, infographics, illustrations, or diagrams to create your maps. But you don’t actually need customer journey mapping tools. You can create these maps with a blank wall and a pack of sticky notes.

Though they can be scribbled on a sticky note, it’s often easier to create these journeys digitally. That way, you have a record of your journey map, and you can share it with colleagues. We’ve provided free customer journey mapping templates at the end of this article to make your life a little easier.

The benefits of using customer journey maps

The main benefit of customer journey mapping is a better understanding of how your customers feel and interact with your business touchpoints. With this knowledge, you can create strategies that better serve your customer at each touchpoint.

Give them what they want and make it easy to use, and they’ll keep coming back. But, there are a couple of other great knock-on benefits too.

Improved customer support

Your customer journey map will highlight moments where you can add some fun to a customer’s day. And it will also highlight the pain points of your customer’s experience. Knowing where these moments are will let you address them before your customer gets there. Then, watch your customer service metrics spike!

Effective marketing tactics

A greater understanding of who your customers are and what motivates them will help you to advertise to them.

Let’s say you sell a sleep aid product or service. A potential target market for your customer base is young, working mothers who are strapped for time.

The tone of your marketing material can empathize with their struggles, saying, “The last thing you need is someone asking if you’re tired. But we know that over half of working moms get less than 6 hours of sleep at night. While we can’t give you more time, we know how you can make the most of those 6 hours. Try our Sleep Aid today and sleep better tonight.”

Building out customer personas will show potential target audiences and their motivation, like working moms who want to make the most of their hours asleep.

Product advancements or service improvements

By mapping your customer’s journey, you’ll gain insights into what motivates them to make a purchase or prevents them from doing so. You’ll have clarity on when or why they return items and which items they buy next. With this information and more, you’ll be able to identify opportunities to upsell or cross-sell products.

A more enjoyable and efficient user experience

Customer journey mapping will show you where customers get stuck and bounce off your site. You can work your way through the map, fixing any friction points as you go. The end result will be a smoothly-running, logical website or app.

A customer-focused mindset

Instead of operating with the motivation of business success, a customer journey map can shift your focus to the customer. Instead of asking yourself, “how can I increase profits?” ask yourself, “what would better serve my customer?” The profits will come when you put your customer first.

At the end of the day, customer journey maps help you to improve your customer experience and boost sales. They’re a useful tool in your customer experience strategy .

How to create a customer journey map

There are many different ways to create a customer journey map. But, there are a few steps you’ll want to take regardless of how you go about mapping your customer’s journey.

Step 1. Set your focus

Are you looking to drive the adoption of a new product? Or perhaps you’ve noticed issues with your customer experience. Maybe you’re looking for new areas of opportunity for your business. Whatever it is, be sure to set your goals before you begin mapping the customer journey.

Step 2. Choose your buyer personas

To create a customer journey map, you’ll first need to identify your customers and understand their needs. To do this, you will want to access your buyer personas.

Buyer personas are caricatures or representations of someone who represents your target audience. These personas are created from real-world data and strategic goals.

If you don’t already have them, create your own buyer personas with our easy step-by-step guide and free template.

Choose one or two of your personas to be the focus of your customer journey map. You can always go back and create maps for your remaining personas.

Step 3. Perform user research

Interview prospective or past customers in your target market. You do not want to gamble your entire customer journey on assumptions you’ve made. Find out directly from the source what their pathways are like, where their pain points are, and what they love about your brand.

You can do this by sending out surveys, setting up interviews, and examining data from your business chatbot . Be sure to look at what the most frequently asked questions are. If you don’t have a FAQ chatbot like Heyday , that automates customer service and pulls data for you, you’re missing out!

Get a free Heyday demo

You will also want to speak with your sales team, your customer service team, and any other team member who may have insight into interacting with your customers.

Step 4. List customer touchpoints

Your next step is to track and list the customer’s interactions with the company, both online and offline.

A customer touchpoint means anywhere your customer interacts with your brand. This could be your social media posts , anywhere they might find themselves on your website, your brick-and-mortar store, ratings and reviews, or out-of-home advertising.

Write as many as you can down, then put on your customer shoes and go through the process yourself. Track the touchpoints, of course, but also write down how you felt at each juncture and why. This data will eventually serve as a guide for your map.

Step 5. Build your customer journey map

You’ve done your research and gathered as much information as possible, now it’s time for the fun stuff. Compile all of the information you’ve collected into one place. Then, start mapping out your customer journey! You can use the templates we’ve created below for an easy plug-and-play execution.

Step 6. Analyze your customer journey map

Once the customer journey has been mapped out, you will want to go through it yourself. You need to experience first-hand what your customers do to fully understand their experience.

As you journey through your sales funnel, look for ways to improve your customer experience. By analyzing your customer’s needs and pain points, you can see areas where they might bounce off your site or get frustrated with your app. Then, you can take action to improve it. List these out in your customer journey map as “Opportunities” and “Action plan items”.

Types of customer journey maps

There are many different types of customer journey maps. We’ll take you through four to get started: current state, future state, a day in the life, and empathy maps. We’ll break down each of them and explain what they can do for your business.

Current state

This customer journey map focuses on your business as it is today. With it, you will visualize the experience a customer has when attempting to accomplish their goal with your business or product. A current state customer journey uncovers and offers solutions for pain points.

Future state

This customer journey map focuses on how you want your business to be. This is an ideal future state. With it, you will visualize a customer’s best-case experience when attempting to accomplish their goal with your business or product.

Once you have your future state customer journey mapped out, you’ll be able to see where you want to go and how to get there.

Day-in-the-life

A day-in-the-life customer journey is a lot like the current state customer journey, but it aims to highlight aspects of a customer’s daily life outside of how they interact with your brand.

Day-in-the-life mapping looks at everything that the consumer does during their day. It shows what they think and feel within an area of focus with or without your company.

When you know how a consumer spends their day, you can more accurately strategize where your brand communication can meet them. Are they checking Instagram on their lunch break, feeling open and optimistic about finding new products? If so, you’ll want to target ads on that platform to them at that time.

Day-in-the-life customer journey examples can look vastly different depending on your target demographic.

Empathy maps

Empathy maps don’t follow a particular sequence of events along the user journey. Instead, these are divided into four sections and track what someone says about their experience with your product when it’s in use.

You should create empathy maps after user research and testing. You can think of them as an account of all that was observed during research or testing when you asked questions directly regarding how people feel while using products. Empathy maps can give you unexpected insights into your users’ needs and wants.

Customer journey map templates

Use these templates to inspire your own customer journey map creation.

Customer journey map template for the current state:

The future state customer journey mapping template:

A day-in-the-life customer journey map template:

An empathy map template:

A customer journey map example

It can be helpful to see customer journey mapping examples. To give you some perspective on what these look like executed, we’ve created a customer journey mapping example of the current state.

Buyer Persona:

Curious Colleen, a 32-year-old female, is in a double-income no-kids marriage. Colleen and her partner work for themselves; while they have research skills, they lack time. She is motivated by quality products and frustrated by having to sift through content to get the information she needs.

What are their key goals and needs? Colleen needs a new vacuum. Her key goal is to find one that will not break again.

What are their struggles?

She is frustrated that her old vacuum broke and that she has to spend time finding a new one. Colleen feels as though this problem occurred because the vacuum she bought previously was of poor quality.

What tasks do they have?

Colleen must research vacuums to find one that will not break. She must then purchase a vacuum and have it delivered to her house.

Opportunities:

Colleen wants to understand quickly and immediately the benefits our product offers; how can we make this easier? Colleen upholds social proof as a decision-making factor. How can we better show our happy customers? There is an opportunity here to restructure our website information hierarchy or implement customer service tools to give Colleen the information she needs faster. We can create comparison charts with competitors, have benefits immediately and clearly stated, and create social campaigns.

Action Plan:

• Implement a chatbot so customers like Colleen can get the answers they want quickly and easily.
• Create a comparison tool for competitors and us, showing benefits and costs.
• Implement benefit-forward statements on all landing pages.
• Create a social campaign dedicated to UGC to foster social proof.
• Send out surveys dedicated to gathering customer feedback. Pull out testimonial quotes from here when possible.

Now that you know what the customer journey mapping process is, you can take these tactics and apply them to your own business strategy. By tracking customer behavior and pinpointing areas where your customers experience pain points, you’ll be able to alleviate stress for customers and your team in no time.

Turn customer conversations and inquiries into sales with Heyday, our dedicated conversational AI chatbot for social commerce retailers. Deliver 5-star customer experiences — at scale.

Turn customer service conversations into sales with Heyday . Improve response times and sell more products. See it in action.

Become a better social marketer.

Get expert social media advice delivered straight to your inbox.

Colleen Christison is a freelance copywriter, copy editor, and brand communications specialist. She spent the first six years of her career in award-winning agencies like Major Tom, writing for social media and websites and developing branding campaigns. Following her agency career, Colleen built her own writing practice, working with brands like Mission Hill Winery, The Prevail Project, and AntiSocial Media.

Related Articles

FAQ Chatbot: The Best Way to Save Time on Customer Service

FAQ chatbots are bots designed to answer common questions people have about a product or service. They are used on websites or in customer service applications.

Customer Service Metrics: 2024 Guide + Free Template

Customers expect to get support wherever they look for and they expect it fast. To keep up, track the customer service metrics that matter.

Create a Customer Experience Strategy [FREE TEMPLATE]

This step-by-step template makes it easy to deliver a well-laid-out customer experience strategy that can give you planned, targeted growth.

Customer Experience Management Explained [11 Top Tips]

Turn that frown upside down! Keep your customers smiling with a strong customer experience management strategy.

Customer Journey Maps: How to Create Really Good Ones [Examples + Template]

Updated: April 17, 2024

Published: May 04, 2023

Did you know 70% of online shoppers abandoned their carts in 2022? Why would someone spend time adding products to their cart just to fall off the customer journey map at the last second?

The thing is — understanding your customer base can be very challenging. Even when you think you’ve got a good read on them, the journey from awareness to purchase for each customer will always be unpredictable, at least to some level.

While it isn’t possible to predict every experience with 100% accuracy, customer journey mapping is a convenient tool for keeping track of critical milestones that every customer hits. In this post, I’ll explain everything you need to know about customer journey mapping — what it is, how to create one, and best practices.

Table of Contents

What is the customer journey?

What is a customer journey map, benefits of customer journey mapping, customer journey stages.

• What’s included in a customer journey map?

The Customer Journey Mapping Process

Steps for creating a customer journey map.

• Types of Customer Journey Maps

Customer Journey Mapping Best Practices

• Customer Journey Design
• Customer Journey Map Examples

Free Customer Journey Map Templates

Free Customer Journey Template

Outline your company's customer journey and experience with these 7 free templates.

• Buyer's Journey Template
• Future State Template
• Day-in-the-Life Template

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

The customer journey is the series of interactions a customer has with a brand, product, or business as they become aware of a pain point and make a purchase decision. While the buyer’s journey refers to the general process of arriving at a purchase, the customer journey refers to a buyer's purchasing experience with a specific company or service.

Customer Journey vs. Buyer Journey

Many businesses that I’ve worked with were confused about the differences between the customer’s journey and the buyer’s journey. The buyer’s journey is the entire buying experience from pre-purchase to post-purchase. It covers the path from customer awareness to becoming a product or service user.

In other words, buyers don’t wake up and decide to buy on a whim. They go through a process of considering, evaluating, and purchasing a new product or service.

The customer journey refers to your brand’s place within the buyer’s journey. These are the customer touchpoints where you will meet your customers as they go through the stages of the buyer’s journey. When you create a customer journey map, you’re taking control of every touchpoint at every stage of the journey instead of leaving it up to chance.

For example, at HubSpot, our customer’s journey is divided into three stages — pre-purchase/sales, onboarding/migration, and normal use/renewal.

1. Use customer journey map templates.

Why make a customer journey map from scratch when you can use a template? Save yourself some time by downloading HubSpot’s free customer journey map templates .

This has templates that map out a buyer’s journey, a day in your customer’s life, lead nurturing, and more.

These templates can help sales, marketing, and customer support teams learn more about your company’s buyer persona. This will improve your product and customer experience.

2. Set clear objectives for the map.

Before you dive into your customer journey map, you need to ask yourself why you’re creating one in the first place.

What goals are you directing this map towards? Who is it for? What experience is it based upon?

If you don’t have one, I recommend creating a buyer persona . This persona is a fictitious customer with all the demographics and psychographics of your average customer. This persona reminds you to direct every aspect of your customer journey map toward the right audience.

3. Profile your personas and define their goals.

Next, you should conduct research. This is where it helps to have customer journey analytics ready.

Don’t have them? No worries. You can check out HubSpot’s Customer Journey Analytics tool to get started.

Questionnaires and user testing are great ways to obtain valuable customer feedback. The important thing is to only contact actual customers or prospects.

You want feedback from people interested in purchasing your products and services who have either interacted with your company or plan to do so.

Some examples of good questions to ask are:

• How did you hear about our company?
• What first attracted you to our website?
• What are the goals you want to achieve with our company? In other words, what problems are you trying to solve?
• How long have you/do you typically spend on our website?
• Have you ever made a purchase with us? If so, what was your deciding factor?
• Have you ever interacted with our website to make a purchase but decided not to? If so, what led you to this decision?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how easily can you navigate our website?
• Did you ever require customer support? If so, how helpful was it, on a scale of 1 to 10?
• Can we further support you to make your process easier?

You can use this buyer persona tool to fill in the details you procure from customer feedback.

4. Highlight your target customer personas.

Once you’ve learned about the customer personas that interact with your business, I recommend narrowing your focus to one or two.

Remember, a customer journey map tracks the experience of a customer taking a particular path with your company. If you group too many personas into one journey, your map won’t accurately reflect that experience.

When creating your first map, it’s best to pick your most common customer persona and consider the route they would typically take when engaging with your business for the first time.

You can use a marketing dashboard to compare each and determine the best fit for your journey map. Don’t worry about the ones you leave out, as you can always go back and create a new map specific to those customer types.

5. List out all touchpoints.

Begin by listing the touchpoints on your website.

What is a touchpoint in a customer journey map?

A touchpoint in a customer journey map is an instance where your customer can form an opinion of your business. You can find touchpoints in places where your business comes in direct contact with a potential or existing customer.

For example, if I were to view a display ad, interact with an employee, reach a 404 error, or leave a Google review, all of those interactions would be considered a customer touchpoint.

Your brand exists beyond your website and marketing materials, so you must consider the different types of touchpoints in your customer journey map. These touchpoints can help uncover opportunities for improvement in the buying journey.

Based on your research, you should have a list of all the touchpoints your customers are currently using and the ones you believe they should be using if there’s no overlap.

This is essential in creating a customer journey map because it provides insight into your customers’ actions.

For instance, if they use fewer touchpoints than expected, does this mean they’re quickly getting turned away and leaving your site early? If they are using more than expected, does this mean your website is complicated and requires several steps to reach an end goal?

Whatever the case, understanding touchpoints help you understand the ease or difficulties of the customer journey.

Aside from your website, you must also look at how your customers might find you online. These channels might include:

• Social channels.
• Email marketing.
• Third-party review sites or mentions.

Run a quick Google search of your brand to see all the pages that mention you. Verify these by checking your Google Analytics to see where your traffic is coming from. Whittle your list down to those touchpoints that are the most common and will be most likely to see an action associated with it.

At HubSpot, we hosted workshops where employees from all over the company highlighted instances where our product, service, or brand impacted a customer. Those moments were recorded and logged as touchpoints. This showed us multiple areas of our customer journey where our communication was inconsistent.

The proof is in the pudding — you can see us literally mapping these touch points out with sticky notes in the image below.

1. Current State Template

If you’re using this template for a B2B product, the phases may reflect the search, awareness, consideration of options, purchasing decision, and post-purchase support processes.

For instance, in our Dapper Apps example, its phases were research, comparison, workshop, quote, and sign-off.

Don't forget to share this post!

Related articles.

How AI Image Misuse Made a World of Miscommunication [Willy's Chocolate Experience]

7 Ways to Delight Your Customers This Holiday Season

14 Customer Experience Fails that Companies Can Learn From

How Customer Experience Has Evolved Over the Last Decade [+ 2024 Trends]

Memorable Examples of AR in Customer Experience [+Tips for Implementing the Technology]

Digital Customer Experience: The Ultimate Guide for 2023

How to Implement a Hybrid Customer Service Strategy That Works [Expert Tips]

User Flows: 8 Tips For Creating A Super Smooth User Experience

11 Best Practices for B2B Customer Experience

Customer Experience vs. User Experience: What’s the Difference? [+ Examples]

Outline your company's customer journey and experience with these 7 free customer journey map templates.

Service Hub provides everything you need to delight and retain customers while supporting the success of your whole front office

Brought to you by:

How to Create a Realistic Customer Journey Map

By: Mark Rosenbaum, Mauricio Losada Otalora, German Contreras Ramirez

Although many articles discuss customer journey mapping (CJM), both academics and practitioners still question the best ways to model the consumer decision journey. We contend that most customer…

• Length: 8 page(s)
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2017
• Discipline: General Management
• Product #: BH792-PDF-ENG

What's included:

• Educator Copy

$4.50 per student

degree granting course

$7.95 per student

non-degree granting course

Get access to this material, plus much more with a free Educator Account:

• Access to world-famous HBS cases
• Up to 60% off materials for your students
• Resources for teaching online
• Tips and reviews from other Educators

Already registered? Sign in

• Student Registration
• Non-Academic Registration
• Included Materials

Although many articles discuss customer journey mapping (CJM), both academics and practitioners still question the best ways to model the consumer decision journey. We contend that most customer journey maps are critically flawed. They assume all customers of a particular organization experience the same organizational touchpoints and view these touchpoints as equally important. Furthermore, management lacks an understanding of how to use CJM as a cross-functional, strategic tool that promotes service innovation. This article proposes a solution to the unwieldy complexity of CJM by linking customer research to the CJM process and by showing managers how to develop a customer journey map that improves a customer's experience at each touchpoint. Using the case of an actual retail mall, we show that common CJM assumptions about the equal importance of all touchpoints are fundamentally wrong, and how easy it is for retail managers and strategic planners to make incorrect judgements about customer experience. This article demonstrates through a case study how customer research helped a mall's strategic management team understand which touchpoints were more or less critical to customer experience. It also shows key strategic initiatives at each touchpoint, resulting in cross-functional input aimed to advance service innovation at the mall.

Jan 1, 2017

Discipline:

General Management

Industries:

Retail and consumer goods

Business Horizons

BH792-PDF-ENG

We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience, including personalizing content. Learn More . By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies and revised Privacy Policy .

• SUGGESTED TOPICS
• The Magazine
• Newsletters
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Teams
• Work-life Balance
• The Big Idea
• Data & Visuals
• Reading Lists
• Case Selections
• HBR Learning
• Topic Feeds
• Account Settings
• Email Preferences

Competing on Customer Journeys

• David C. Edelman
• Marc Singer

As digital technology has enabled shoppers to easily research and buy products online, sellers have been scrambling after them, trying to understand and satisfy their wants. Savvy companies, however, are using new tools, processes, and organizational structures to proactively lead digital customers from consideration to purchase and beyond. They are creating compelling customer journeys and managing them like any other product—and gaining a source of competitive advantage.

Building successful journeys requires four key capabilities: automation, to smoothly carry customers through each step of their online path; personalization, to create a customized experience for each individual; contextual interaction, to engage customers and appropriately sequence the steps they take; and journey innovation, to add improvements that enhance and extend the journey and foster customer loyalty.

In addition, the most successful companies have a particular organizational structure, with a chief experience officer overseeing a journey-focused strategist and a “journey product manager.” This latter role is critical—the journey product manager leads a team of designers, developers, data analysts, marketers, and others to create and sustain superior journeys, and he or she is accountable for the journey’s ROI and general business performance.

You have to create new value at every step.

Idea in Brief

The problem.

Digital tools have put shoppers in the driver’s seat, allowing them to easily research and compare products, place orders, and get doorstep delivery of their items. Sellers have largely been reactive, scrambling to position themselves where customers will find them.

The Solution

Companies can use new technologies, processes, and organizational structures to proactively lead rather than follow customers on their digital journeys. By making the journey a compelling, customized, and open-ended experience, firms can woo buyers, earn their loyalty, and gain a competitive advantage.

The Strategy

Superior journeys feature automation, personalization, context-based interaction, and ongoing innovation. To achieve all this, companies need to treat journeys like products, built and supported by a cross-functional team that’s led by a manager responsible for the journey’s business performance.

The explosion of digital technologies over the past decade has created “empowered” consumers so expert in their use of tools and information that they can call the shots, hunting down what they want when they want it and getting it delivered to their doorsteps at a rock-bottom price. In response, retailers and service providers have scrambled to develop big data and analytics capabilities in order to understand their customers and wrest back control. For much of this time, companies have been reacting to customers, trying to anticipate their next moves and position themselves in shoppers’ paths as they navigate the decision journey from consideration to purchase.

• David C. Edelman is an executive adviser and a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School.
• Marc Singer is the director of McKinsey’s global customer engagement practice.

Partner Center

Integriertes Online- und Offline-Channel-Marketing pp 79–110 Cite as

Customer Journey in a Nutshell – Eine methodische Einführung

• Michael Kempe 2  
• First Online: 02 November 2022

10k Accesses

1 Citations

1 Altmetric

Zusammenfassung

Das heutige Marketing ist ohne Customer Journey kaum noch denkbar. Sie ist essenzieller Bestandteil eines effektiven und effizienten Customer-Experience-Managements. Nur auf der Basis einer systematischen Analyse und zielgerichteter integrativer Maßnahmen entlang der Customer Journey ist es Unternehmen heute möglich, sich bei der Vielzahl analoger und digitaler Touchpoints im Wettbewerb zu behaupten. Der vorliegende Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über Ursprung und Begriff sowie Ziele der Customer Journey, stellt den Modulbaukasten der Customer Journey vor und gibt weiterführende methodische Hinweise zu dessen konkreter Umsetzung in einem integrierten Online- und Offline-Channel Marketing.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution .

Buying options

• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Compact, lightweight edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Aufgesang. (2022). Customer-Journey-Management. https://www.aufgesang.de/360-grad-online-marketing/customer-journey-management/ . Zugegriffen: 20. März 2022.

Bauer, H. H., Donnevert, T., Wetzel, H., & Merkel, J. (2010). Integration als Garant erfolgreicher Markenkommunikation. In C. Baumgarth (Hrsg.), B-to-B-Markenführung (S. 613–634). Gabler.

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Beyer, C. (2020). Kongruenz in der Crossmedia-Kommunikation . Springer Gabler.

Book   Google Scholar  

Bruhn, M., & Hadwich, K. (2012). Customer Experience – Eine Einführung in die theoretischen und praktischen Problemstellungen. In M. Bruhn & K. Hadwich (Hrsg.), Customer Experience (S. 11–36). Springer Gabler.

Bruhn, M., Meffert, H., & Hadwich, K. (2019). Handbuch Dienstleistungsmarketing (2. Aufl.). Springer Gabler.

Buchberger, O. (2016). Customer Journey – warum sie so kompliziert ist und sich trotzdem lohnt. http://www.omkantine.de/customer-journey-warum-sie-so-kompliziert-ist-und-sich-trotzdem-lohnt/ . Zugegriffen: 26. Feb. 2022.

Court, D., Elzinga, D., Mulder, S., & Vetvik, O. J. (2009). The consumer decision journey. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/the-consumer-decision-journey . Zugegriffen: 27. Feb 2022.

Der Bank Blog. (2019). Studie: Customer Journey Mapping für mehr Kundenzufriedenheit. https://www.wiso-net.de/document/DBBL__4503c74971c2e9975e4323340ff2db9c833c9437 . Zugegriffen: 27. Jan. 2022.

Dlugosch, S. (2019). Effiziente Analyse der Customer Journey durch Online Communities. In B. Keller & C. S. Ott (Hrsg.), Touchpoint Management (2. Aufl., S. 97–106). Haufe.

Google Scholar  

Engel, J. F., Kollat, D. T., & Blackwell, R. D. (1968). Consumer Behavior . Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Esch, F.-R. (2011). Wirkung integrierter Kommunikation (5. Aufl.). Gabler.

Esch, F.-R., & Eichenauer, S. (2016). Verfahren zur Messung der Kommunikationswirkung im Internet und bei Social Media. In F.-R. Esch, T. Lagner, & M. Bruhn (Hrsg.), Handbuch Controlling der Kommunikation (2. Aufl., S. 385–405). Springer Gabler.

Esch, F.-R., Klein, J. F., Knörle, C., & Schmitt, M. (2016). Strategie und Steuerung des Customer Touchpoint Management. In F.-R. Esch, T. Lagner, & M. Bruhn (Hrsg.), Handbuch Controlling der Kommunikation (2. Aufl., S. 329–350). Springer Gabler.

Fantapié Altobelli, C. (2017). Marktforschung (3. Aufl.). UVK/utb.

Fleer, J. (2016). Kundenzufriedenheit und Kundenloyalität in Multikanalsystemen des Einzelhandels . Springer Gabler.

Foscht, T., Swoboda, B., & Schramm-Klein, H. (2017). Käuferverhalten (6. Aufl.). Springer Gabler.

Fritz, W., von der Oelsnitz, D., & Seegebarth, B. (2019). Marketing (5. Aufl.). Kohlhammer.

Gibbons, S. (2017). UX mapping methods compared: a cheat sheet. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-mapping-cheat-sheet/ . Zugegriffen: 19. März 2022.

GIK (Gesellschaft für integrierte Kommunikationsforschung mbH & Co. KG). (2022). best for planning. https://gik.media/best-4-planning/ . Zugegriffen: 25. März 2022.

Gouthier, M., Giese, A., & Bartl, C. (2012). Customer Experiences, Kundenbegeisterung und Service Excellence – Die Spezifikation DIN SPEC 77224. In M. Bruhn & K. Hadwich (Hrsg.), Customer Experience (S. 63–84). Springer Gabler.

Guenther, M., & Vossebein, U. (2019). Die unterschiedlichen Panelarten. In M. Guenther, U. Vossebein, & R. Wildner (Hrsg.), Marktforschung mit Panels (2. Aufl., S. 83–131). Springer Gabler.

Häckel, B., Huber, R., Rieg, M., Rösch, C., & Rövekamp, P. (2021). Das Service Design Framework zur strukturierten Entwicklung datenbasierter Services. HMD Praxis der Wirtschaftsinformatik, 58, 611–627.

Article   Google Scholar  

Halvorsrud, R., Kvale, K., & Følstad, A. (2016). Improving service quality through customer journey analysis. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 26 (6), 840–867.

Holland, H. (2021). Customer-Journey-Analyse. In H. Holland (Hrsg.), Digitales Dialogmarketing (2. Aufl., S. 817–836). Springer Gabler.

Homburg, C. (2017). Grundlagen des Marketingmanagements (6. Aufl.). Springer Gabler.

Howard, J. A., & Sheth, J. N. (1969). The theory of buyer behavior . Wiley.

Jacobsen, J., & Meyer, L. (2017). Praxisbuch Usability und UX . Rheinwerk.

Joyce, A. (2021). Journey-Mapping Impact: research findings. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/journey-mapping-impact/ . Zugegriffen: 19. März 2022.

Kaplan, K. (2016). When and how to create customer journey maps. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/customer-journey-mapping/ . Zugegriffen: 20. März 2022.

Keller, B., & Ott, C. S. (2019a). Erfolgreich agieren entlang der Customer Journey. In B. Keller & C. S. Ott (Hrsg.), Touchpoint Management (2. Aufl., S. 25–33). Haufe.

Keller, B., & Ott, C. S. (2019b). Ein Resümee und ein kurzer Blick in die Zukunft. In B. Keller & C. S. Ott (Hrsg.), Touchpoint Management (2. Aufl., S. 365–373). Haufe.

Kempe, M. (2011). Ungeplante Käufe im Internet . Gabler.

Kopp, O. (2021). Customer-Journey & User Journey einfach erklärt: Definition, Modelle & FAQ. https://www.sem-deutschland.de/online-marketing-glossar/customer-journey/ . Zugegriffen: 26. Feb. 2022.

Kopp, O. (2022). Content-Klassifizierung: Wie attribuiert man Inhalts-Arten für die Content-Strategie? https://www.sem-deutschland.de/blog/content-arten/ . Zugegriffen: 19. März 2022.

Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Harris, L. C., & Piercy, N. (2016). Grundlagen des Marketing (6. Aufl.). Pearson.

Kreutzer, R. T. (2022). Praxisorientiertes Marketing (6. Aufl.). Springer Gabler.

Kuehnl, C., Jozic, D., & Homburg, C. (2019). Effective customer journey design: Consumers’ conception, measurement, and consequences. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 47 (3), 551–568.

Lecinksi, J. (2011). ZMOT. Winning the zero moment of truth. https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/_qs/documents/673/2011-winning-zmot-ebook_research-studies.pdf . Zugegriffen: 20. März 2022

Lemon, K. N., & Verhoef, P. C. (2016). Understanding Customer Experience Throughout the Customer Journey. Journal of Marketing: AMA/MSI Special Issue, 80 (6), 69–96.

Marketingcharts. (2014). What are the primary roles of various channels in the customer journey? https://www.marketingcharts.com/digital-41306 . Zugegriffen: 19. März 2022.

Mayer-Vorfelder, M. (2012). Kundenerfahrungen im Dienstleistungsprozess . Gabler.

McGuire, M., & Leachman, L. (2021). Hype Cycle for Digital Marketing 2021. https://www.gartner.com/en/marketing/research/hype-cycle-for-digital-marketing . Zugegriffen: 11. Mai 2022.

Meffert, H., Burmann, C., Kirchgeorg, M., & Eisenbeiß, M. (2019). Marketing (13. Aufl.). Springer Gabler.

MHP (2020). Online Car Sales 2020. https://www.mhp.com/de/unternehmen/studien/studie-online-car-sales-2020 . Zugegriffen: 18. März 2022.

Moresche, C. (2018). Zeitmanagement abseits des Projektmanagements – Priorisieren. Ausführen. Stress reduzieren. https://www.gpm-blog.de/zeitmanagement-abseits-des-projektmanagements-priorisieren-ausfuehren-stress-reduzieren/ . Zugegriffen: 19. März 2022.

Nenninger, M., & Seidel, M. (2021). Praxisleitfaden Customer Centricity . Springer Gabler.

Nguyen, P., & Pupillo, N. (2012). Branded Moments – Vom zufälligen Kundenerlebnis zur aktiven Gestaltung von Wow-Momenten in der Kundeninteraktion bei Vodafone Deutschland. In M. Bruhn & K. Hadwich (Hrsg.), Customer Experience (S. 317–330). Springer Gabler.

Ohnemus, R. (2019). Vergesst die Customer Journey! planung & analyse, 2(2019), 37–40.

Ott, C. S. (2019). Erfolgreich verkaufen in einer digitalisierten Welt. In B. Keller & C. S. Ott (Hrsg.). Touchpoint Management (2. Aufl., S. 71–92). Haufe.

Patricio, L., Fisk, R. P., & Falcao e Cunha, J., Constantine, L. (2011). Multilevel service design: from customer value constellation to service experience blueprinting. Journal of Service Research, 14 (2), 180–200.

Philip, M. (2021). Vom E-Mail-Marketing zum Lead Management. In U. Hanning (Hrsg.), Marketing und Sales Automation (2. Aufl., S. 193–213). Springer Gabler.

Puhlmann, A. (2016). Messung und Controlling der Touchpoints mit der Marke. In F.-R. Esch, T. Lagner, & M. Bruhn (Hrsg.), Handbuch Controlling der Kommunikation (2. Aufl., S. 311–327). Springer Gabler.

Puscher, F. (2016). Wenn Customer-Journey zu komplex wird. Absatzwirtschaft, 11(2016), 38–40.

Reinecke, S., Janz, S., & Hohenauer, R. (2016). Controlling der Marketingkommunikation: Zentrale Kennzahlen und ausgewählte Evaluationsverfahren. In F.-R. Esch, T. Lagner, & M. Bruhn (Hrsg.), Handbuch Controlling der Kommunikation (2. Aufl., S. 3–25). Springer Gabler.

Richardson, A. (2010). Using customer journey maps to improve customer experience. https://hbr.org/2010/11/using-customer-journey-maps-to . Zugegriffen: 26. Feb. 2022.

Schüller, A. M. (2016). Touch. Point. Sieg. Kommunikation in Zeiten der digitalen Transformation . Gabal.

Solomon, M. R. (2016). Konsumentenverhalten (11. Aufl.). Pearson.

Spengler, C. (2018). Komplexität in der Customer Journey erfolgreich managen. https://www.accelerom.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2018-Accelerom-Werbewoche-Komplexitaet-in-der-Customer-Journey-erfolgreich-managen-190109.pdf . Zugegriffen: 16. Feb. 2022.

Spiegel, U., & Engel, D. (2015). Marketing als ein guter Reisebegleiter. In A. Baetzgen (Hrsg.), Brand Experience - an jedem Touchpoint auf den Punkt begeistern (S. 19–39). Schäffer-Poeschel.

Sünkel, B., & Weber, W. (2019). Ein Customer Intelligence Hub ‒ Basis für emotionale Differenzierung und CX Messung und Steuerung. In B. Keller & C. S. Ott (Hrsg.), Touchpoint Management (2. Aufl., S. 141–152). Haufe.

Suwelack, T. (2020). Toolbox Customer Experience . Springer Gabler.

Swiss Direct Marketing. (2022). In 7 Schritten zur Customer-Journey-Übersicht. https://www.mysdm.ch/blog/in-7-schritten-zur-customer-journey-uebersicht/ . Zugegriffen: 19. März 2022.

Temkin, B. D. (2010). Mapping the customer journey. Forrester research. https://www.crowdsynergy.wdfiles.com/local--files/customer-journey-mapping/mapping_customer_journey.pdf . Zugegriffen: 26. Feb. 2022.

Van Gasteren, W. (2021). What is the Pirate Funnel (AARRR framework) and how to apply it in 5 quick steps? https://growwithward.com/aaarrr-pirate-funnel/ . Zugegriffen: 26. Feb. 2022.

Woelke, A. (2021). Zusammenspiel von Lead Management und CRM entlang der Customer Journey. In U. Hanning (Hrsg.), Marketing und Sales Automation (2. Aufl., S. 215–223). Springer Gabler.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Hannover, Deutschland

Michael Kempe

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Kempe .

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

Leibniz-Fachhochschule, Hannover, Deutschland

Kristin Butzer-Strothmann

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Der/die Autor(en), exklusiv lizenziert an Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature

About this chapter

Cite this chapter.

Kempe, M. (2022). Customer Journey in a Nutshell – Eine methodische Einführung. In: Butzer-Strothmann, K. (eds) Integriertes Online- und Offline-Channel-Marketing. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38048-9_4

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38048-9_4

Published : 02 November 2022

Publisher Name : Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden

Print ISBN : 978-3-658-38047-2

Online ISBN : 978-3-658-38048-9

eBook Packages : Business and Economics (German Language)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

• Request a Demo

The Next Frontier in Crafting a Journey Orchestration Strategy: Elevating Your Marketing Game

Leveraging advanced generative ai tools to enhance customer journeys.

• Marketing AI
• Orchestration
• Realtime Marketing

Take your customer segmentation to the next level with our advanced guide

• Download Now

Why it Matters:

Delivering personalized and seamless customer experiences is paramount for marketers looking to drive engagement and loyalty. Journey orchestration, the strategic process of designing, executing, monitoring, and optimizing customer journeys across multiple channels, offers a powerful framework for achieving this goal.  

With new generative AI advancements like OptiGenie, marketers can take their journey orchestration efforts to the next level, unlocking new possibilities for enhancing customer experiences and driving business outcomes. 

Key Points to crafting a Journey Orchestration Strategy:  

• Understanding the Audience : Segment the audience and develop detailed personas to gain insights into customer behavior and preferences. 
• Mapping Customer Journeys : Identify key touchpoints and interactions across channels to engage customers at each stage of their journey. 
• Designing Personalized Experiences : Tailor content, messaging, and offers to individual customer preferences to create meaningful connections. 
• Orchestrating Multi-Channel Campaigns : Coordinate marketing efforts across channels to ensure consistency and relevance throughout the customer journey. 
• Testing and Optimization : Continuously test, optimize, and monitor campaign performance to refine strategies and drive success. 

The Big Picture:

According to Gartner, journey orchestration is the process of designing, executing, monitoring, and optimizing customer journeys across multiple channels, touchpoints, and interactions over time. It involves data, analytics, and automation to deliver personalized and seamless experiences that meet customer needs and drive desired outcomes for the business. Journey orchestration enables organizations to coordinate and synchronize hundreds of thousands of customer interactions across the entire lifecycle, from initial awareness to post-purchase support, to maximize customer engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty.

A successful journey orchestration strategy involves understanding your audience, mapping customer journeys, designing personalized experiences, orchestrating multi-channel campaigns, and optimizing continuous testing and optimization. The next frontier in Journey Orchestration has arrived with advancements like OptiGenie. Marketers can use cutting-edge AI capabilities to enhance their Journey Orchestration efforts, delivering even more personalized and seamless customer experiences. By embracing these advancements, marketers can elevate their marketing game and unlock the full potential of their marketing strategy. Purpose-built AI, like OptiGenie, must support the marketers while letting them remain in control of building customer journeys. AI must be transparent so marketers understand and trust the recommendations that will drive greater revenue and more personalized experiences. 

Stay in touch

Be the first to know all about the latest Marketing tips & tricks, Industry special insights and more

The Foundational Elements of a Journey Orchestration Strategy:  

Understanding Your Audience  

At the heart of any journey orchestration strategy is a deep understanding of your audience. By segmenting your audience and developing detailed personas, you can tailor your marketing efforts to meet the specific needs and preferences of specific customer segments. Gathering and analyzing customer data delivers insights into customer behavior and preferences, informing your strategy and ensuring relevance.

Guide to Advanced Customer Segmentation

• Download Now >>

Mapping Customer Journeys  

With a clear understanding of the audience(s), the next step is to map out their journey with the brand. Journeys must be mapped from the customer standpoint – and not predetermined by the brand. That is why starting marketing with the customer is fundamental to developing long-term loyalty. To do this successfully, marketers used to have to select only a few ideal paths for customers to fall into rather than truly create one-to-one journeys. Modern journey mapping must consider these complexities and nuances to put the customer in charge of every interaction and have your marketing there to support them.

Customer journey mapping involves identifying the customer’s key touchpoints and interactions across various channels, from initial awareness to post-purchase support. By mapping out these touchpoints, brands can identify opportunities to engage with customers at each stage of their journey and deliver personalized experiences that resonate with them.

Designing Personalized Experiences  

Personalization is key to effective journey orchestration. By tailoring content, messaging, and offers to individual customer preferences, marketers can create a more meaningful and engaging experience for each audience. More personalization means more engagement, which means more loyalty. The concept is truly that simple, but the execution without automation and AI can be nearly impossible. Leveraging technology such as Generative AI, marketers can easily and efficiently build ideal audiences and journeys and deliver personalized experiences at scale, helping to drive customer loyalty. 

Orchestrating Multi-Channel Campaigns  

It’s an omnichannel world. And soon, marketers will need to think beyond channels entirely. Customers expect a seamless experience across all channels. Journey orchestration allows brands to coordinate marketing efforts across multiple channels, ensuring consistency and relevance throughout the customer journey. Whether email, social media, or in-store interactions, a cohesive and integrated approach ensures that customers receive the right message at the right time, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates. 

Testing and Optimization  

Continuous testing and optimization are essential for improving your journey orchestration strategy. Marketing professionals should go beyond simple A/B/n testing and utilize AI to self-optimize the best journey for each customer across touchpoints. This will enable marketers to deliver unprecedented, personalized experiences while aligning with business goals. 

The Guide to Advance Customer Segmentation

Go in depth on advanced segmentation with this guide which was written based on analyzing tens of thousands of segments across Optimove’s customer base.

OptiGenie: The Next Frontier in Journey Orchestration is Here Now   

OptiGenie is an AI platform that seamlessly integrates journey orchestration with cutting-edge AI insights, creation, and orchestration functionalities. OptiGenie includes the following features:  

• Predictive Modeling: Guiding Every Step of the Journey   At the heart of journey orchestration lies predictive modeling. OptiGenie’s AI algorithms analyze vast amounts of customer data to predict future behavior. From identifying potential churners to pinpointing high-value customers, predictive modeling empowers marketers to tailor their strategies and communications for maximum impact at each customer journey stage. 
• Optibot: Automating Optimization for Seamless Experiences   To ensure seamless customer experiences, journey orchestration requires continuous optimization of campaigns and touchpoints. Optibot leverages AI-powered insights to automate the analysis and optimization of marketing efforts. 
• Generative AI Insights: Empowering Real-Time Decision-Making   Dynamic journey orchestration requires real-time insights to stay ahead of the curve. With Generative AI Insights, marketers access instant knowledge about campaign performance, customer preferences, and engagement metrics. 

By integrating journey orchestration with advanced AI capabilities, OptiGenie empowers marketers to create seamless, personalized customer journeys that drive engagement, loyalty, and revenue. Marketers can elevate their Journey Orchestration efforts with solutions like OptiGenie to unlock the full potential of AI-driven marketing today. 

For more detail on these advancements and more valuable insights about Optimove’s capabilities  request a demo.       

Ben Tepfer is a storyteller with over a decade of experience in product marketing. He is passionate about driving growth through innovative product marketing strategies. As the Director of Optimove, Ben drives the shaping of the narrative and positioning of the company's cutting-edge technology. Ben specializes in developing comprehensive product marketing strategies through storytelling to showcase the unique value propositions of Optimove that resonate with target audiences across diverse industries. Beyond his day-to-day responsibilities, Ben is a thought leader in marketing technology. He frequently shares his insights at industry conferences, contributes articles to leading publications, including Entrepreneur, Adweek, Cheddar, Huffington Post, VentureBeat, and MediaPost, and engages with the marketing community.

Get new blogs directly in your inbox

Related blogs, transforming customer-first marketing with ai technology  .

So far so impressive … The thing is, it’s not just a simple case of plug-and-go when it comes to CDP/AI integration – or rather, it can be, but there’s a lot more to consider!  From data management and activation to designing your CDP to take advantage of AI to reimagining your entire marketing operations, … Continued

UK Meds on Optimove transforming its marketing efforts: “It’s been huge for us.” 

Why it matters: UK Meds turned to Optimove for efficient marketing solutions, overcoming segmentation and email design challenges. The partnership’s success highlights the impact of data-driven strategies and a robust collaboration in achieving marketing excellence. Key takeaways: UK Meds found success by partnering with Optimove and streamlining its marketing strategies to address segmentation, email design, … Continued

DIY Hack: How to Calculate Customer Lifetime Value

Customer Lifetime Value Calculation Customer lifetime value is a key metric that every marketer should track, as it usually reflects the core health of customer-centric businesses. There are various formulas floating around the Web aimed at helping marketers quickly calculate customer lifetime value. Using these straightforward equations may be appealing, but when components of the … Continued

Get a personalized tour of Optimove

Let us show you how to go from tens to hundreds of segments

The   Bazaar   Voice

Strategies, research, industry trends — your pulse on the marketplace.

• Social commerce
• Product page optimization
• Ratings and reviews
• Insights & reports
• Marketing strategies
• Bazaarvoice culture
• Social media guides
• Retail insights
• Driving conversion
• Influencer marketing
• UGC best practices
• Research reports
• Collecting content

How to create a 5-star personalized customer journey

Drive conversion , Partnerships

Bazaarvoice Partner

April 16, 2024

Related Content

Ready to talk to us?

This is a guest post by Bazaarvoice partner Monetate , a leading provider in personalization technology. Here they’ll talk through how they work with one of our shared clients, The Exchange, to create a 5-star, personalized customer journey.

Did you have a chance to attend the Bazaarvoice Summit 2024 ?

If so, then we hope you had the chance to catch an amazing presentation from our client, Army & Air Force Exchange Service, aka The Exchange. Both Monetate and Bazaarvoice have the honor of working with The Exchange.

At Monetate, we work closely with their team to provide personalized experiences and relevant content for their customers shopping at their online store at shopmyexchange.com .

During the Bazaarvoice Summit, Shane Binion, E-commerce Marketing Manager, The Exchange, shared with attendees how his team is leveraging Monetate Personalization to build personalized experiences for active military, retirees, veterans, their families, and other personnel across the entire customer journey.

We’re proud to play a role in helping The Exchange to make the customer journey easier and more personalized, featuring trusted information from other shoppers when making purchases online.

Here we’re going to talk about The Exchange’s mission and how we support them in their endeavor.

What is the customer journey?

Why personalization matters for the customer journey, how to serve up personalized content, the impact of personalization on the exchange’s customer journey.

The customer journey encompasses all the experiences customers undergo while engaging with your company and brand. Rather than focusing solely on isolated transactions or encounters, it captures the entirety of the customer experience.

In essence, it’s the series of steps a shopper takes to them becoming a customer. Optimizing the customer journey through personalization provides a better shopping experience, which leads to more purchases — personalization can increase revenue by up to 15% . For example, let’s look at The Exchange.

Serving an eligible customer base of 33.4 million shoppers worldwide, The Exchange is the US Department of Defense’s largest retailer.

The Exchange provides goods and services for the Army, Air Force, Space Force, Navy, Marines, and the Coast Guard. If you’ve ever been on a military base, then you might be familiar with PXs and BXs – The Exchange operates those locations too.

Their website features goods and services from top brands, including Nike, Graco, Disney, Lego, The Home Depot, Lego, Samsung, and more. All purchases are tax-free, feature exclusive military pricing, and 100% of The Exchange’s earnings support the military community.

For Shane Binion and his team, they use automated personalization and product recommendations to provide a superior user experience when shopping online.

When it comes to an e-commerce strategy, the following initiatives are important to The Exchange:

• Build and maintain trust and loyalty in a highly competitive retail environment
• Deliver on customer expectation of personalization when shopping online
• Serve dynamic product recommendations depending on where the customer is on the site or in the sales funnel

Just how do they accomplish these e-commerce and personalization goals?

It’s important for The Exchange to provide the most personalized and smoothest experience for every customer across the whole shopping journey. Shane and his team use personalized content in several different ways to serve their customers.

First, it’s important to note that only active military, veterans, their families and other military personnel past and present can shop on The Exchange’s website. Therefore, to shop, customers have to login as members.

What makes this shopping experience unique is that The Exchange has a wealth of first-party data about each customer. By the nature of their business, they know who their customers are, their location, their military branch, and more.

Here’s how this data, alongside Monetate Personalization, leads to personalized content.

Branch specific banners

Thanks to first-party member data, The Exchange knows what branch of the military their customers belong to. Therefore, they can serve products by branch – Army, Air Force and Space Force, etc., for a truly customized shopping experience.

Weather specific banners

Are members expecting rain? Snow? Cold temperatures? With geolocation from Monetate, The Exchange knows where their customers are located and what the predicted weather forecast is for their region.

For customers expecting stormy weather, The Exchange serves targeted banners promoting rain gear. For regions expecting snow and cold weather, customers see banners promoting winter gear.

The banners are scheduled to start appearing two days before the predicted weather situation, giving members time to purchase umbrellas, coats and other supplies to prepare for the weather conditions.

Become a military star

Another service provided by The Exchange is the Military Star credit card. Thanks to customer data, The Exchange knows which customers have the credit card and who does not.

For customers that don’t have the Military Star credit card, they’re served with a promotion to sign up, increasing the number of members to get the credit card.

Testing web banners

As any marketer and merchandiser can tell you, testing is important and necessary when building out the customer journey online. With Monetate, you can continue to experiment and build out your findings for refinement.

The Exchange leveraged Monetate to test whether placing “Story Elements” above “Shop By Category Elements” would end up increasing customer engagement and the depth of the customer drive.

But what The Exchange found is that this theory only worked for Patio, Garden & Garage, where placing “Story Elements” above “Shop By Category” resulted in a boost in average order value by +13%.

For all other categories results were flat, suggesting that customers tend to respond better to “Shop By Category” being higher up on the page.

The Exchange also conducted some tests around their homepage banner.

They felt their current style was too cluttered and distracting. They wanted to test whether a new banner that would take the visitor to a PLP ( product landing page ), featuring multiple CTA banners would be more effective and result in more clicks.

But what The Exchange found was that the metrics between the two experiences were flat. Customers responded to the complex banner the same as the simpler banner. Armed with these findings, The Exchange can keep refining the UX and customer journey on the website and impacting key metrics.

Product recommendations help customers find what they love

The Exchange has also done some incredible work in product recommendations leveraging Monetate.

They currently have 10 containers that are live and expanding. They also target both new and returning visitors, with trending items and actively promote cross sell items towards the end of the conversion funnel. On top of that, they’re even working on building a Deal’s Page to recommend sale items to help customers get a great deal.

As we discussed earlier, The Exchange honors the individual military branches customers belong to when shopping online. This strategy also rolls over into product recommendations, with The Exchange targeting various product recommendations based on branch of service.

One other fun example is how The Exchange leverages product recommendations and sports fandom. The Exchange has a Fan Shop where sport items, like team jerseys, are recommended to shoppers based on their team preferences.

Through working with The Exchange and with Shane and his team, Monetate has been key in helping the team to deliver success.

In 2023 alone, the team delivered 53 million personalized experiences, influencing 7.1% of revenue. Shane and his team also launched 104 digital experiences through the Monetate platform. So far, in 2024, The Exchange is on track for even more growth, delivering 4.8 million personalized sessions in January alone, influencing 4.4% of revenue.

We look forward to our continued work with The Exchange as they continue their personalization of the customer journey. Eager to hear more? Watch Monetate and The Exchange’s full on-demand Summit session right here .

We’re better together. Interested in becoming a Bazaarvoice partner? Apply here !

Explore more content on these topics:

More great content.

Collect content

10 creator-led video strategies for back to school shopping

The future of content distribution: Embracing the new shift

Actionable insights

The guide to increasing conversions with retargeting marketing

Want the latest content delivered straight to your inbox join our monthly newsletter., want to answer questions at retailer websites.

Respond to consumer questions in real-time.

Looking to sample and review products?

Receive products from your favorite brands in exchange for honest reviews.

Get started

Tell us a little about yourself, and our sales team will be in touch shortly.

Thank you for your interest in Bazaarvoice. A member of our team will be in touch shortly to talk about how Bazaarvoice can help you reach your business goals.

What is your job role?

Thank you so much for subscribing to our content! We'll keep you informed of all the latest and greatest content that we publish.

Everything that you need to know to start your own business. From business ideas to researching the competition.

Practical and real-world advice on how to run your business — from managing employees to keeping the books.

Our best expert advice on how to grow your business — from attracting new customers to keeping existing customers happy and having the capital to do it.

Entrepreneurs and industry leaders share their best advice on how to take your company to the next level.

• Business Ideas
• Human Resources
• Business Financing
• Growth Studio
• Ask the Board

Looking for your local chamber?

Interested in partnering with us?

Grow » marketing, creating personalized campaigns : a data-driven approach to smb marketing.

Use your data to improve customer segmentation and create more targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with your audiences.

Personalization in marketing leads to greater engagement, conversion rates, and revenue . It's also no longer optional. One study showed that over 70% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions. Moreover, 76% of consumers are frustrated when they receive a marketing communication that isn't personalized.

Today's personalization techniques go well beyond using basic demographic information, such as inserting someone's first name at the start of an email. Small business (SMB) owners can leverage customer data to create unique marketing experiences, offer targeted promotions, and send relevant product or service updates. Here’s how to leverage your data to achieve better marketing results.

Use data from across the organization

Truly personalized marketing campaigns integrate data points from sales, customer service, product development, and other areas of your operations to create holistic profiles of your customers.

"If your business’s departments don't share data, then you're not getting a complete picture of your customer. By integrating platforms and centralising your data management, you can remove barriers and allow information to flow freely," wrote Salesforce .

Breaking down silos between different teams in your business also allows you to create a more consistent experience. For instance, a sales representative can see the details of when a lead last interacted with customer service and use marketing data to make product recommendations.

[Read more: Chipotle Takes Customers on Personalized Food Journeys with CRM ]

Improve your customer segmentation

Segmentation makes it possible to send mass communications that still feel personalized and targeted. Segmentation is a process of grouping customers according to data-based insights, such as engagement patterns, purchase history, and loyalty.

"Segmenting allows marketers to break through the noise and connect with customers in a way that's relevant to them. Put another way: when you send the right messages to the right people, it makes your marketing unique and lucrative," wrote Mailchimp .

A customer segmentation strategy is the first step toward creating effective, personalized marketing outreach. Take unified customer data from across the organization to build segments based on meaningful insights. Then, use A/B testing to help hone in on the right messaging for each group.

A/B testing can be performed on landing pages, email campaigns, and content to maximize the impact of your messaging for different customer segments. This data can have a profound impact on conversion rates and customer loyalty.

The more you can make a customer feel personally valued, the more likely they are to become a fan of your business for life.

Leverage artificial intelligence and automation to make personalization easier

It's unlikely that your marketing team has the capacity to send personalized marketing to every individual in your customer relationship management (CRM) software. Fortunately, there are plenty of platforms that can automate this for you.

"Marketing automations let SMBs do more work with less effort, such as sending out an automated welcome email every time a new subscriber joins your mailing list. They enable curated, flexible customer journeys that help you send relevant messaging to your biggest fans," wrote Mailchimp .

Look for tools that integrate predictive analytics to go even deeper into your data for customer insights. Some artificial intelligence (AI) tools can automatically generate customer segments based on their purchasing behavior and email interactions, and then learn from previous campaigns to continually improve your communications.

"AI can also power chatbots to improve the customer experience and be used to make smart, automated marketing buys through programmatic marketing," wrote Salesforce .

[Read more: Creating Customer Loyalty Requires Genuine Employee Fandom and Personalized Marketing, Brand Execs Say ]

Apply personalization across the customer journey

Personalization should be applied consistently and regularly for it to have maximum impact. "Hyper-personalization can be applied throughout the customer journey, from attracting customers with personalized webpages and dynamic pricing to providing personalized services after the purchase," wrote Deloitte .

For instance, Amazon uses personalized recommendations following the advertising phase to serve customers the exact product they're looking for. Dynamic pricing, offers based on customer behavior, and real-time product notifications can also provide targeted personalization at key moments throughout the customer journey.

And it doesn't end when someone has completed their purchase. Loyalty programs and reengagement should be tailored to someone's specific history with your brand. The more you can make a customer feel personally valued, the more likely they are to become a fan of your business for life.

CO— aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.

CO—is committed to helping you start, run and grow your small business. Learn more about the benefits of small business membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, here .

Subscribe to our newsletter, Midnight Oil

Expert business advice, news, and trends, delivered weekly

By signing up you agree to the CO— Privacy Policy. You can opt out anytime.

For more marketing strategies

7 free digital marketing tools every small business can use, why customer video testimonials may not work for all businesses, how to build buzz around your small business.

By continuing on our website, you agree to our use of cookies for statistical and personalisation purposes. Know More

Welcome to CO—

Designed for business owners, CO— is a site that connects like minds and delivers actionable insights for next-level growth.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce 1615 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20062

Social links

Looking for local chamber, stay in touch.

Clickstream Data: Definition, Use Cases, and More

• April 15, 2024

Gaining a deeper understanding of user behaviour — customers’ different paths, digital footprints, and engagement patterns — is crucial for providing a personalised experience and making informed marketing decisions. 

In that sense, clickstream data, or a comprehensive record of a user’s online activities, is one of the most valuable sources of actionable insights into users’ behavioural patterns. 

This article will cover everything marketing teams need to know about clickstream data, from the basic definition and examples to benefits, use cases, and best practices. 

What is clickstream data? 

As a form of web analytics, clickstream data focuses on tracking and analysing a user’s online activity. These digital breadcrumbs offer insights into the websites the user has visited, the pages they viewed, how much time they spent on a page, and where they went next.

Your clickstream pipeline can be viewed as a “roadmap” that can help you recognise consistent patterns in how users navigate your website. 

With that said, you won’t be able to learn much by analysing clickstream data collected from one user’s session. However, a proper analysis of large clickstream datasets can provide a wealth of information about consumers’ online behaviours and trends — which marketing teams can use to make informed decisions and optimise their digital marketing strategy. 

Clickstream data collection can serve numerous purposes, but the main goal remains the same — gaining valuable insights into visitors’ behaviours and online activities to deliver a better user experience and improve conversion likelihood. 

Depending on the specific events you’re tracking, clickstream data can reveal the following: 

• How visitors reach your website 
• The terms they type into the search engine
• The first page they land on
• The most popular pages and sections of your website
• The amount of time they spend on a page 
• Which elements of the page they interact with, and in what sequence
• The click path they take 
• When they convert, cancel, or abandon their cart
• Where the user goes once they leave your website

As you can tell, once you start collecting this type of data, you’ll learn quite a bit about the user’s online journey and the different ways they engage with your website — all without including any personal details about your visitors.

Types of clickstream data 

While all clickstream data keeps a record of the interactions that occur while the user is navigating a website or a mobile application — or any other digital platform — it can be divided into two types: 

• Aggregated (web traffic) data provides comprehensive insights into the total number of visits and user interactions on a digital platform — such as your website — within a given timeframe 
• Unaggregated data is broken up into smaller segments, focusing on an individual user’s online behaviour and website interactions 

One thing to remember is that to gain valuable insights into user behaviour and uncover sequential patterns, you need a powerful tool and access to full clickstream datasets. Matomo’s Event Tracking can provide a comprehensive view of user interactions on your website or mobile app — everything from clicking a button and completing a form to adding (or removing) products from their cart. 

On that note, based on the specific events you’re tracking when a user visits your website, clickstream data can include: 

• Web navigation data: referring URL, visited pages, click path, and exit page
• User interaction data: mouse movements, click rate, scroll depth, and button clicks
• Conversion data: form submissions, sign-ups, and transactions 
• Temporal data: page load time, timestamps, and the date and time of day of the user’s last login 
• Session data: duration, start, and end times and number of pages viewed per session
• Error data: 404 errors and network or server response issues 

Try Matomo for Free

Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

No credit card required

Clickstream data benefits and use cases 

Given the actionable insights that clickstream data collection provides, it can serve a wide range of use cases — from identifying behavioural patterns and trends and examining competitors’ performance to helping marketing teams map out customer journeys and improve ROI.

According to the global Clickstream Analytics Market Report 2024 , some key applications of clickstream analytics include click-path optimisation, website and app optimisation, customer analysis, basket analysis, personalisation, and traffic analysis. 

The behavioural patterns and user preferences revealed by clickstream analytics data can have many applications — we’ve outlined the prominent use cases below. 

Customer journey mapping 

Clickstream data allows you to analyse the e-commerce customer’s online journey and provides insights into how they navigate your website. With such a comprehensive view of their click path, it becomes easier to understand user behaviour at each stage — from initial awareness to conversion — identify the most effective touchpoints and fine-tune that journey to improve their conversion likelihood. 

Identifying customer trends 

Clickstream data analytics can also help you identify trends and behavioural patterns — the most common sequences and similarities in how users reached your website and interacted with it — especially when you can access data from many website visitors. 

Think about it — there are many ways in which you can use these insights into the sequence of clicks and interactions and recurring patterns to your team’s advantage. 

Here’s an example: 

It can reveal that some pieces of content and CTAs are performing well in encouraging visitors to take action — which shows how you should optimise other pages and what you should strive to create in the future, too. 

Preventing site abandonment 

Cart abandonment remains a serious issue for online retailers: 

According to a recent report, the global cart abandonment rate in the fourth quarter of 2023 was at 83%. 

That means that roughly eight out of ten e-commerce customers will abandon their shopping carts — most commonly due to additional costs, slow website loading times and the requirement to create an account before purchasing. 

In addition to cart abandonment predictions, clickstream data analytics can reveal the pages where most visitors tend to leave your website. These drop-off points are clear indicators that something’s not working as it should — and once you can pinpoint them, you’ll be able to address the issue and increase conversion likelihood.

Improving marketing campaign ROI 

As previously mentioned, clickstream data analysis provides insights into the customer journey. Still, you may not realise that you can also use this data to keep track of your marketing effectiveness . 

Global digital ad spending continues to grow — and is expected to reach $836 billion by 2026 . It’s easy to see why relying on accurate data is crucial when deciding which marketing channels to invest in. 

You want to ensure you’re allocating your digital marketing and advertising budget to the channels — be it SEO, pay-per-click (PPC) ads, or social media campaigns — that impact driving conversions.  

When you combine clickstream e-commerce data with conversion rates, you’ll find the latter in Matomo’s goal reports and have a solid, data-driven foundation for making better marketing decisions.

Delivering a better user experience (UX) 

Clickstream data analysis allows you to identify specific “pain points” — areas of the website that are difficult to use and may cause customer frustration. 

It’s clear how this would be beneficial to your business: 

Once you’ve identified these pain points, you can make the necessary changes to your website’s layout and address any technical issues that users might face, improving usability and delivering a smoother experience to potential customers. 

Collecting clickstream data: Tools and legal implications 

Your team will need a powerful tool capable of handling clickstream analytics to reap the benefits we’ve discussed previously. But at the same time, you need to respect users’ online privacy throughout clickstream data collection.

Generally speaking, there are two ways to collect data about users’ online activity — web analytics tools and server log files.

Web analytics tools are the more commonly used solution. Specifically designed to collect and analyse website data, these tools rely on JavaScript tags that run in the browser, providing actionable insights about user behaviour. Server log files can be a gold mine of data, too — but that data is raw and unfiltered, making it much more challenging to interpret and analyse. 

That brings us to one of the major clickstream challenges to keep in mind as you move forward — compliance.

While Google remains a dominant player in the web analytics market, there’s one area where Matomo has a significant advantage — user privacy. 

Matomo operates according to privacy laws — including the General Data Protection Regulation ( GDPR ) and California Consumer Privacy Act ( CCPA ), making it an ethical alternative to Google Analytics. 

It should go without saying, but compliance with data privacy laws — the most talked-about one being the GDPR framework introduced by the EU — isn’t something you can afford to overlook. 

The GDPR was first implemented in the EU in 2018. Since then, several fines have been issued for non-compliance — including the record fine of €1.2 billion that Meta Platforms, Inc. received in 2023 for transferring personal data of EU-based users to the US.

Clickstream analytics data best practices 

As valuable as it might be, processing large amounts of clickstream analytics data can be a complex — and, at times, overwhelming — process. 

Here are some best practices to keep in mind when it comes to clickstream analysis: 

Define your goals 

It’s essential to take the time to define your goals and objectives. 

Once you have a clear idea of what you want to learn from a given clickstream dataset and the outcomes you hope to see, it’ll be easier to narrow down your scope — rather than trying to tackle everything at once — before moving further down the clickstream pipeline. 

Here are a few examples of goals and objectives you can set for clickstream analysis: 

• Understanding and predicting users’ behavioural patterns 
• Optimising marketing campaigns and ROI 
• Attributing conversions to specific marketing touchpoints and channels

Analyse your data 

Collecting clickstream analytics data is only part of the equation; what you do with raw data and how you analyse it matters. You can have the most comprehensive dataset at your disposal — but it’ll be practically worthless if you don’t have the skill set to analyse and interpret it. 

In short, this is the stage of your clickstream pipeline where you uncover common sequences and consistent patterns in user behaviour. 

Clickstream data analytics can extract actionable insights from large datasets using various approaches, models, and techniques. 

Here are a few examples: 

• If you’re working with clickstream e-commerce data, you should perform funnel or conversion analyses to track conversion rates as users move through your sales funnel. 
• If you want to group and analyse users based on shared characteristics, you can use Matomo for cohort analysis . 
• If your goal is to predict future trends and outcomes — conversion and cart abandonment prediction, for example — based on available data, prioritise predictive analytics.

Organise and visualise your data

As you reach the end of your clickstream pipeline, you need to start thinking about how you will present and communicate your data. And what better way to do that than to transform that data into easy-to-understand visualisations? 

Here are a few examples of easily digestible formats that facilitate quick decision-making: 

• User journey maps, which illustrate the exact sequence of interactions and user flow through your website 
• Heatmaps , which serve as graphical — and typically colour-coded — representations of a website visitor’s activity 
• Funnel analysis , which are broader at the top but get increasingly narrower towards the bottom as users flow through and drop off at different stages of the pipeline 

Collect clickstream data with Matomo 

Clickstream data is hard to beat when tracking the website visitor’s journey — from first to last interaction — and understanding user behaviour. By providing real-time insights, your clickstream pipeline can help you see the big picture, stay ahead of the curve and make informed decisions about your marketing efforts. 

Matomo accurate data and compliance with GDPR and other data privacy regulations — it’s an all-in-one, ethical platform that can meet all your web analytics needs. That’s why over 1 million websites use Matomo for their web analytics.

Try Matomo free for 21 days . No credit card required.

21 day free trial. No credit card required.

Web Analytics Reports: 10 Key Types and How to Use Them

Incrementality Testing: Quick-Start Guide (With Calculations)

9 Form Optimisation Tips to Convert More Visitors

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive regular information about Matomo. You can unsubscribe at any time from it. This service uses MadMimi. Learn more about it within our privacy Policy page.

A powerful web analytics platform that gives you and your business 100% data ownership and user privacy protection.

No credit card required.

Free forever.

Newsletter Subscription - English

Are you in the home services business? Whether you clean carpets, operate a home cleaning company, landscaper, HVAC, plumber you name it. You can grow to 6 figures and beyond and our guests are those that are in your shoes. They built, support & help home services companies become the one they want vs the one they have. Proudly sponsored by our platinum sponsors https://MVPTeamPro.com and https://getoffthetrucknow.com/ every episode is jam backed of advice, inspiration and even some rants!

DriveWay Marketing: The Road to 6 Figures for Home Services Pros Bryan Durkin

• 5.0 • 1 Rating
• APR 18, 2024

Ep 2: My Mission and why you can get the business you want (and not what you have)

Grab your headphones, and let’s dissect the keys to unlocking the full potential of your business: 🔑 **Break the Cycle**: Stop getting caught behind the 8 ball. Consistent marketing and system-building are crucial, even when you're busy. 🔑 **Innovate and Stand Out**: Following the herd? Time to pivot. Learn how to differentiate your business in a saturated market. 🔑 **Scale with Systems**: Implement systems incrementally for sustainable growth - think big like a multimillion-dollar enterprise but start one step at a time. 📈 Bryan's mission is to help you rethink, reimagine, and reinvigorate your business with actionable insights and stories of real success. From direct response strategies to the power of a simple thank-you card, this episode has it all. Ready to revamp your business model? Tune into the Driveway Marketing Podcast and let Bryan guide you from the business you have to the business you desire. #MVPpodcast #BusinessGrowth #MarketingStrategy #Innovation #HomeServicePros #Systems #SuccessMindset #DrivewayToSixFigures [Tune in now 🔗 and don't forget to get that hot dog while you're at it!] To learn more about Bryan & the other guests on the podcast please visit us at https://mvpteampro.com/podcast and thank you to our Platinum sponsor - Rock Creek Coffee for keeping us caffeinated. Visit RockCreekCoffee.com and use code MVP to get 10% off your 1st order.

• APR 11, 2024

Ep 1: The Growth Journey: Essential Insights for Home Service Professionals

In our inaugural episode, I share the windshield view of what it takes to scale your home service business from zero to hero. Whether you're operating from an F-150 or cruising in hopes of a Maybach, 'Driveway Marketing' is your roadmap to growth. Here’s what you can expect from our journey: 🛠️ **Blueprints for Success**: Understand the infancy to adulthood stages of your business and how to navigate through them. 🌟 **Expert Navigation**: Learn from industry experts who will divulge their best practices and success stories. 💭 **Psychology of Success**: Dive into the mindset that drives business success and the importance of knowing your starting point. 📈 **Marketing Tactics Decoded**: Explore whether ads, referrals, or lead generation is right for you, and get concrete advice on staffing and scaling. 🔧 **Practical Takeaways**: Short, actionable insights and conversations with seasoned pros for everyday application. We're rolling out the asphalt and bringing you a mix of solo episodes and expert conversations because we believe in equipping you with the tools to reach those six-figure milestones and beyond. Don't miss out on our next episode! Tune in for more gears of knowledge as we accelerate the growth of your business together. To learn more about Bryan & the other guests on the podcast please visit us at https://mvpteampro.com/podcast and thank you to our Platinum sponsor - Rock Creek Coffee for keeping us caffeinated. Visit RockCreekCoffee.com and use code MVP to get 10% off your 1st order.

• © 2024 null All Rights Reserved.

Customer Reviews

Top podcasts in business.