A typical customer journey is usually described in 5 distinct stages, but you can add to or reduce this to meet your specific business model or industry. In general, the stages are supposed to describe a unique phase in the customer journey that will help you understand the customer's behavior, pain points, and motivations during that step. It can help you optimize your product and sales and marketing strategies.
The most common stages are described as:
- Awareness. Customer recognizes a problem or need they have and seeks to better understand it.
- Consideration. Customer understands their problem and researches different solutions.
- Purchase or Decision. Customer identifies the correct solution for their needs.
- Retention. Customer considers renewing their license or buying more products.
- Advocacy. Customer is willing to share their positive experience both within their organization and with strangers in the form of reviews and case studies.
Other names for these 5 stages:
5 Es: Entice, Enter, Engage, Exit, and Extend
5 Cs: Connection, Cultivation, Consideration, Conversion, and Continuation
5 As: Awareness, Appeal, Ask, Act, and Advocate
Some also add stages like support, evaluation, onboarding, and usage.
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