What’s the Buyer’s Journey? And How It’s Changed Over Time

Let’s say you need to buy a sales automation tool. You’ll probably start with a quick Google search, right?

From there, you’ll click a few links, read articles, and watch videos. You might even talk to a friend before finally settling on the right product to try out or purchase.

See what's going on?

You, the buyer, are already on a journey to make a purchase or decide not to for reasons you’ll discover along your research process. This entire journey is what marketers and salespeople call the buyer’s journey.

Before we go too deep into this topic, let's start with a proper definition…

What is the Buyer's Journey?

It applies to purchase decisions of all sizes; whether you’re looking for the perfect pillow or want to replace the CRM with a global company, you’ll navigate the buyer’s journey.

Some people call it "the sales funnel" because it often starts with many potential buyers at the top (awareness), narrows down to fewer people who are considering your product or service (interest), and finally reaches the bottom of the funnel with those who are ready to buy (decision).

To better understand how your sales process fits into this funnel and optimize your strategy accordingly, you can use tools like Close's Sales Funnel Calculator. It can help you visualize and plan your sales strategy more effectively.

Understanding this journey is important because it helps you create relevant content that speaks to your buyer at each stage of the buying process.

But, of course, the buyer's journey doesn't always look like a perfectly neat sales funnel. In reality, it's often more like a winding road with lots of detours, U-turns, and sometimes dead ends.

Now that we've gained a general understanding of the buyer's journey let's examine it more in-depth to see how it has changed over time.

How the Buyer's Journey Has Changed in Recent Years

Here are three of the biggest changes we've seen in the buyer's journey over the last few years—starting with the most important change of all...

1. The Internet Has Given Buyers More Control Than Ever

Thanks to technology and the internet, buyers have more power than ever before.

A recent survey by Demand Gen Report found buyers rank (1) conducting anonymous research on potential solutions and (2) developing an informal list of potential vendors as their top two priorities after identifying a business need.

So customers can easily find information on products and services without speaking to a salesperson. Sometimes, they even make their final decision before making that first contact.

This means you can no longer rely on traditional marketing and selling techniques to attract customers. You'll have to work harder to reach them and earn their trust.

For instance, you must be active on social media, regularly providing valuable content that helps potential buyers make informed buying decisions. You should create educational resources on your website and optimize them using SEO (search engine optimization) so buyers can find those when they search on Google, Bing, and other search engines.

You'll need to do all that for free; that's the cost of earning their trust (remember: they're in control now, and they'll only do business with businesses and people they trust).

2. Nearly Every Sale Requires Multiple Touchpoints

The average buyer interacts with a company multiple times before they make a purchase decision.

These touchpoints include online ads, social media posts, search engine results, blog articles, and even company reviews. Each of those points allows you to build trust with potential buyers and guide them further down their purchase journey.

For example, if you send cold emails to fifty people, you might get one or two responses—which may be good enough for you.

But ‌there's an opportunity to get better results; if you're sending those emails to people who have already visited your website, read or viewed your content, and built some level of familiarity or trust with your business, you're likely to get more responses and conversions (sales).

Side note: if you're doing cold calling, here's a sales cadence you can use to create multiple touchpoints with potential customers:

It's all about providing value at each stage of the buyer's journey and building trust so they'll eventually do business with you.

It's also important to ensure each touchpoint is consistent with your brand, using the same colors, fonts, logos, and messaging across all channels. Buyers will instantly recognize your brand no matter where they interact with you, and they'll be more likely to do business with you.

3. Social Media Now Allow Buyers to Interact with Each Other

Another big change we've seen in the buyer's journey is how social media has changed buyer-to-buyer interactions.

Potential buyers often ask their network of friends and followers for recommendations on products and services. In fact, social media is the third most-used channel for product discovery among 18-—to 54-year-old buyers.

Think of the last time you made a purchase—whether it was a new house/apartment, a piece of furniture, or even a new pair of shoes.

Your first research point may have been Google (or another search engine), but chances are good that you asked your friends, family, or social media followers for input before making your final buying decision.

4. Buyers are Big On Mobile Now

More than half (54.67 percent) of all web traffic worldwide comes from mobile devices.

That number will only increase in the years to come as more people acquire smartphones and mobile internet access.

‎For businesses and sales reps, this means that if you don't design your website and the customer journey for mobile users, you'll likely lose out on a lot of business.

For instance, if your website takes too long to load on a mobile device, potential buyers will likely click away and go to a competitor's site. Or if they're unable to easily navigate your website on a smaller screen, they’ll have a hard time finding the information they need—and again, they'll likely go to a competitor.

So, if you want to stay ahead of the curve, you must make "mobile-friendliness" a top priority for your business.

3 Stages of the Buyer Journey

Here are the three stages of the buyer's journey and what they look like today:

1. Awareness Stage

When buyers are aware, they recognize they have a problem or need to take action on something, but they don't know how to solve it yet.

So, they’re doing research on potential solutions to help them solve their challenge or seize the opportunity they've identified. They want to learn as much as possible about their options, but they’re not ready to buy anything yet.

A good example is someone who’s just realized they need to increase sales for their business. They know they need to do something, but they know little about their options. So, they do research using a Google search, such as “best ways to increase sales."

They’ll get search results with different options (like cold emails, content marketing, ads, etc) and eventually narrow their choices to a few that look promising.

Challenges Buyers Face in the Awareness Stage

Here are three significant challenges buyers face during the awareness stage:

• They don’t know what they need: They're just trying to figure out how to solve their problem or take advantage of their opportunity. They haven’t settled on a specific solution yet, so they don’t know what to buy.
• They don’t know who to trust: Buyers are also trying to figure out who they can trust. They’re looking for information from credible sources, but they may not have found those sources yet.
• They don’t know what end results look like: Buyers in the awareness stage also don’t know what successful results look like for their specific situation. They might have a general idea but need more information to paint a clearer picture.

What Sellers Can Do During the Awareness Stage

Here are three important things sellers can do to help buyers during the awareness stage:

• Help them understand their problem or opportunity and be detailed when providing information about potential solutions.
• Prove your authority and credibility by sharing your experience and case studies.
• Help them identify the right products to use and why they should use them.

2. Consideration Stage

At this stage, buyers have a pretty good understanding of their problem or opportunity, and they’re considering potential solutions.

For instance, someone who wants a better way to manage their sales contacts and customer data knows they need CRM software. They’re now considering whether they need software for it or if they can use a spreadsheet.

They may also be considering whether to buy a CRM system that’s specific to their industry or one that’s more general.

Challenges Buyers Face in the Consideration Stage

Major challenges they face here include:

• Comparing options: There are a lot of potential solutions out there, so buyers can have a hard time comparing them side-by-side. They may not be sure what factors to compare, or they might get bogged down in the details.
• Making the right choice: Buyers also want to be sure they’re making the right choice. They don’t want to regret their decision later, so they’re being cautious and researching.

What Sellers Can Do During the Consideration Stage

Here are a couple of ways to help buyers during the consideration stage:

• Help them compare different options by providing detailed information about each option, like different strategies they could use to solve their problem.
• Share insights from your personal experience and expertise on the topic to help them see you as a credible information provider on their situation.

3. Decision Stage

At this point, buyers have decided which solution they want to use, and they’re ready to buy.

Now, they must decide which product or service they want and how to complete the purchase.

For example, someone may decide to buy a CRM tool and decide which brand to buy from. They may compare pricing, features, and reviews before making their final purchase decision.

Challenges Buyers Face in the Decision Stage

The challenges buyers face at this stage include:

• Finding the right product: With so many options, buyers can have difficulty finding the right product. They already know what they need but need help zeroing in on the right option.
• Comparing many products and brands: Once buyers have narrowed their options, they must compare them to find the best one. This can be overwhelming because they must consider many factors, like price, quality, and features.
• Knowing which brand to trust: Buyers must also be careful about which brand they trust. They want to make sure they’re working with a reputable company that will provide a great product and customer service.

What Sellers Can Do During the Decision Stage

There are a few things sellers can do to help buyers during the decision stage:

1) Provide detailed info about your product and how it stacks up against the competition. Ensure you’re providing unbiased information and let buyers know what factors they should consider when deciding. For example, Close creates pieces of content that compare different CRMs:

2) Help them understand the features and benefits of your product and how it can solve their specific problem or help them take advantage of their opportunity. Also, use case studies and customer testimonials to build trust and show you’re a credible source.

3) Provide easy sales support, be available to answer questions, and help them make the best decision for their needs.

How to Map Your Buyer Journey in 5 Steps

Now that we’ve gone over the buyer journey, let’s take a look at how to map it out for your business. Here's a quick overview of the steps you need to take:

1. Create Clear Buyer Personas

The first step is to create a buyer persona.

A buyer persona or ideal customer profile is a semi-fictional character that represents your ideal buyer. This persona is based on market research and real data about your existing customers.

It looks something like this:

Creating this buyer persona will help you understand your buyer’s needs, wants, and pain points. Once you have a clear buyer persona, you can start mapping out their buyer journey.

If you’re unsure how to create a buyer persona, we’ve written a helpful guide: How to Create an Ideal Customer Profile for B2B Leads (ICP Guide).

Once you have a clear buyer persona, you can start mapping out their buyer journey for each of the three stages we covered earlier: awareness, consideration, and decision.

2. Align Your Marketing Strategy for Better Inbound Leads

The next step is to align your marketing and sales strategies with the buyer’s journey. This means using inbound marketing strategies to create content for each stage of the buyer's journey.

For example, if you want to generate awareness for your product, you would develop a content marketing strategy that includes creating blog content, social media posts, or even podcasts and webinars that speak deeply to the challenges your target customers face with your product or service to solve.

While you're in it, you can position your product or service as the solution to their problem.

Want to know how AI can revolutionize content marketing? Read our article.

3. Identify Roadblocks at Each Stage of their Journey

The buyer’s journey can be long and complicated. Along the way, there will be roadblocks. It’s important to identify these roadblocks so you can address them and help your target audience move past them to the next stage.

Some common roadblocks include:

• Lack of awareness
• Lack of information
• Too many options
• Trust issues
• Decision paralysis

Once you’ve identified these roadblocks, create relevant content or buyer journeys that help your buyer overcome them.

4. Build a Sales Funnel that Adapts to the Buyer Journey

Your sales funnel should be adapted to the buyer’s journey.

This means creating a logical sales process for each stage of the buyer’s journey and providing the types of content or support your buyer needs at each stage.

For example, someone in the awareness stage might need top-of-the-funnel educational content like informational blog posts, whitepapers, or eBooks. If they’re in the decision stage, they might need product demos or free trials.

By having a sales funnel adapted to the buyer’s journey, you can ensure your buyer is getting the right information at the right time, which will help them move smoothly through each stage until they’re ready to buy.

5. Create a Well-Rounded Customer Experience

The buyer’s journey doesn’t end when they make a purchase. The real journey begins when they make a purchase.

It’s important to create a well-rounded customer experience that keeps your buyers happy and engaged even after purchasing. This could include things like the following:

• Providing a solid customer support experience.
• To keep them coming back, send follow-up emails or even just a thank-you note when they make a purchase or join a loyalty program.
• In B2B marketing, especially SaaS, onboarding and implementation must be ensured to go smoothly.

Creating a positive customer experience can increase customer retention rates, turn your buyer into a lifelong customer, and advocate for your business.

Know Your Buyer's Journey And Align With It

In the modern era, buyers are no longer passive consumers.

They’re active participants in their buying journey, doing extensive research at each stage to find the best possible solution to their problem.

As a seller, it’s important to understand the buyer’s journey and what it looks like today. By understanding the buyer’s journey, you can better align your sales and marketing efforts to address your buyer's needs and their buying process.