How to build a seamless customer journey for memorable experiences

The customer journey represents all the customer's actions and interactions with your company, through different stages, from consideration to purchase, to recommendation of the product or service.

It can be an in-store customer journey, a digital customer journey, or a combination of both (research on the Internet, then purchase in a physical store). It's a broader notion than " purchase path ", as it takes into account both "pre-purchase" and "post-purchase" dimensions, and focuses on the customer experience as a whole.

But with the development of the Internet and digital uses, the customer journey is richer, but also more complex to follow. You need to be present online and offline, multiplying points of contact, transforming the country lane into a motorway network, the classic customer journey into an omnichannel customer journey.

Why study it, and what are the key stages of the customer journey? Discover the answers in this article, co-written with Gabriel Dabi-Schwebel, president and founder of 1min30.

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What is the customer journey? Definition

The customer journey is simply the path a consumer takes from the moment they discover a need... to the moment they recommend your brand to friends and family (the ultimate goal!). This lifecycle can start on social networks, continue on a website, pass through an exchange with customer service and end up in a store or any other physical point of sale. Or just the opposite!

👉 The customer journey is rarely linear; it is very often unpredictable and always rich in interactions, contacts and data.

A complete customer journey encompasses several key stages, to which we'll return later in this article:

1. information gathering,
2. comparison,
3. purchasing
4. receiving the product or service,
5. evaluation,
6. after-sales (or loyalty)
7. and recommendation.

These are all contact points where the company's reputation and the buyer's trust are at stake. The customer journey is not (just) a matter of marketing strategy, but above all an essential lever for improving customer relations and strengthening your loyalty strategy, across all channels, both online and physical.

Why study the customer journey? What's at stake?

To understand your customers' deepest needs

Knowing exactly how your customers feel, at every stage of the customer journey, is vital for any business today! Indeed, the customer experience is almost as important as the quality and use of a product or service itself.

💡 A few figures to illustrate this:

• According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2025, 73% of consumers believe that a positive customer experience throughout the customer journey is the main factor in their purchasing decision.
• Salesforce's State of the Connected Customer study indicates that 88% are more likely to repurchase if their user experience has been good.
• Conversely, one wrong move and customers are on the run! The study published by Emplifi, The state of consumer - brand social engagement in 2025, assures us: 70% of consumers say they would abandon a brand after just two bad interactions. And for around a quarter of them, the first negative experience would be directly fatal.

Moral: studying a company's customer journey means identifying critical moments, improving every point of contact and never letting a prospect get lost along the way. Every opportunity must be transformed into concrete action.

To propose a tailor-made offer and trigger a purchase

By analyzing :

• the different phases the customer goes through,
• the channels used, online and offline,
• breaking points and decisive moments of truth ,
• their motivations and behaviors;

you'll know how to be present in the right place at the right time to propose your offer and guide them towards their purchasing decision.

In line with your inbound marketing strategy

Studying the customer journey therefore contributes to the inbound marketing strategy, centered on the consumer, which aims to:

• target the right people;
• attract them to the company :
  • by offering quality content,
  • that responds to concrete issues,
  • at the right time, depending on the stage of the customer journey;
• provide a good customer experience;
• build customer loyalty ;

and consequently :

• optimize marketing and communication investments,
• attract and convert more customers,
• detect growth drivers, brand or product strengths and weaknesses at each stage of the customer journey;
• continuously improve the offer, the product and/or service catalog.

A word from the expert

We are witnessing a major transformation in the customer journey, driven by the constant evolution of technologies and consumer expectations. A key trend is the centralization and strategic use of data. Data is becoming the fuel that powers memorable experiences.

Centralizing data in CRM is crucial. It consolidates customer interactions from a variety of channels, providing a holistic view. It is from this centralization that the possibility of advanced personalization is born. The interconnection of all tools with a CRM at the heart of the ecosystem is the key to collecting data consistently and in real time.

This approach enables us to be ever more precise in understanding individual customer needs. Using this data, we can personalize our marketing actions, anticipate expectations and offer customer experiences that go beyond simple transactions. In this way, data centralization, combined with intelligent interconnection, becomes the foundation for effective marketing actions and smooth, memorable customer journeys.

Gabriel Dabi-Schwebel,

The 4 stages of the customer journey

1 - Awareness and information gathering

This stage includes :

• identifying needs,
• defining priority criteria,
• finding generic product information.

🎯 This is when you need to:

• identify their problem or buying motivation,
• offer them informative content about the product or service they need.

2 - Considering and comparing offers

This is also known as evaluating offers. The prospect goes to the store to try it out, or does further research on the Internet to compare offers and the competition on different criteria:

• product features,
• ancillary services (guarantees, delivery, etc.),
• price,
• customer experience, thanks to reviews or past experience with certain brands).

🎯 This is the time for the brand to highlight all its assets. Don't hesitate to use "drive to store" or "click and collect" techniques to create a bond with your customers and show them your expertise.

95% of people intending to buy do research.

« Le parcours d’achat des Français en 5 étapes clés » — IFOP pour Wincor Nixdorf

Most of the time, this research is done on the Internet, before visiting the store. An effective digital strategy, i.e. good natural referencing and an appropriate SEO strategy, as well as a well-constructed, ergonomic website, are now essential.

3 - Decision-making

This involves :

• purchase, in-store collection,
• ordering online and receiving the goods.

🎯 Even if the sale is completed, it remains a fully-fledged customer experience that should not be neglected:

• physical welcome,
• atmosphere in the store,
• short checkout times,
• speed of delivery,
• in-store availability,
• customer service, etc.

4 - Reception

This is the first physical contact with the product or service. Careful packaging? 📦 Fast delivery? Tutorial on how to get started? This stage triggers the first impressions, good or bad, that will influence the entire customer experience:

• On-time delivery

• Delivery or collection as expected

• Careful packaging, product in good condition

• Ease of use

• Clear welcome materials (instructions, e-mail, interface).

Reception is a fragile moment when the promise must become reality. The ideal moment to provoke a "wow" effect. ✨

5 - Evaluation

Once the product or service has been used, it's time for the verdict! Evaluation, whether conscious or not, compares expectations with reality:

• Judgment on perceived quality

• Product functionality or service efficiency

• Ease of use

• General feeling about the customer experience

• Possible triggering of a return, opinion or complaint.

👉 This phase provides valuable data for analyzing the experience and better responding to future needs. This is the moment when people decide whether or not to come back!

6 - After-sales

This involves doing everything possible to guarantee customer satisfaction, future purchases and the recommendation of your brand to other potential customers, in particular through :

• handling after-sales requests,
• technical support,
• personalized promotional offers.

🎯 This is the ideal time to carry out a satisfaction survey, for example, to collect customer feedback, their return on experience throughout the customer journey.

☝️ The customer journey can also be broken down into 10 more specific stages, as suggested by Social Business:

1. awareness,
2. research
3. selection,
4. acquisition,
5. discovery,
6. use,
7. maintenance,
8. loyalty,
9. recommendation,
10. engagement.

7 - Post-purchase commitment

Customer relations don't end with the purchase! The aim of this phase is to maintain an active link with the customer through appropriate channels, in order to build loyalty and enrich the customer experience. For example, by

• sending follow-up e-mails or useful content,

• suggestions for additional services or improvements,

• an invitation to join a community (on social networks, in a club, for example),

• personalized messages or exclusive offers,

• and, of course, the availability of customer service to support the user.

The aim? Create a seamless experience, reinforce trust and avoid the "thank you, goodbye!" effect. Active customer service at this stage can make all the difference, turning a customer into a true ambassador.

8 - Recommendation

When all goes well, the customer becomes your brand's best salesperson! This phase adds value to your company through the voice of someone who recounts an experience, via a review on the Internet, arecommendation on social networks or in person,participation in a referral program, or a repeat purchase followed by positive word-of-mouth.

This recommendation is a reward for you, but also a powerful acquisition lever. That's why it should be encouraged. 🔥

Visualize the customer journey with mapping

What is customer journey mapping?

To visualize the customer journey and synthesize all the information collected, one recommended method is customer journey mapping (or customer journey modeling).

Customer journey mapping is the result of answering the following questions:

• What path(s) did your customer take to get to you?
• What user experience did this produce?

Customer journey mapping provides a visual representation of all your customers' points of contact with your company and your product, at the different stages of their customer "life", across all channels.

Collaborative, it provides a common vision and objectives for all company stakeholders.

In the case of a wide variety of customer profiles, a company may choose to focus on :

• its main customer type (persona), the one who buys most of its product or service,
• all its customer types: it then needs to create a typical customer journey for each of these profiles.

Which data to use?

Customer mapping is based on data derived from :

• analysis of navigation on your website (most frequently consulted product pages, for example),
• customer relations and marketing campaigns,
• satisfaction questionnaires,
• mystery store visits,
• statistical studies, etc.

You can focus on :

• certain points of contact, those that have the greatest impact or generate the most frustration (after-sales service, for example);
• certain stages of the customer journey, the most sensitive ones, in particular customer onboarding, i.e. helping a new customer to use the product;
• typical, circumstantial paths, such as the "termination path" for a telecommunications company.

A word from the expert

Acquisition Strategy Design is a methodology we have developed to maximize the effectiveness of customer acquisition. It's all about understanding your target audience and aligning your marketing, sales and service teams.

The first step is to put yourself in your customer's shoes by asking the right questions. The Acquisition Canvas guides you through this step, allowing you to detail your customer's buying journey, so you understand their path and the steps they need to take to purchase. The second step is to formalize the buying journey in detail, with the key steps and actions taken by the customer.

To build the buying journey, we need to focus on 3 levels:

• customer maturity stages,
• the customer's actions
• and the customer's emotional experience along the way.

Then, with the acquisition matrix, you design and list the acquisition actions carried out by your company in relation to the customer's actions.

Finally, you build your Acquisition Plan by prioritizing your investments and aligning your marketing, communication and sales teams on the actions to be taken.

Gabriel Dabi-Schwebel,

Example of a customer journey and diagram

Mapping like this takes into account :

• points of contact with different company departments (or touchpoints),
• points of sale (website, store, etc.),
• communication channels (telephone, chatbots, mobile applications, social networks, etc.),
• customer experience (emotional curve).

[Bonus] Tips and tools for creating a customer journey

Tips for modeling the customer journey

• Use usable, quantified data.
• Involve all teams in a cross-functional way to get a 360° view.
• Break down the stages of the customer journey exhaustively to target the actions to be implemented.
• Prioritize your customer relations objectives.
• Draw up relationship scenarios according to the reasons for contact and the different contact points.
• Define satisfaction measurement indicators.
• Use appropriate CRM or marketing software.

Examples of tools for optimizing the customer journey

• A Data Management Platform (DMP) such as Mapp Acquire, to collect, reconcile and unify omnichannel customer data for personalized marketing actions, taking into account the customer journey.
  
  
• A CRM suite like Salesforce's, including :
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud, to engage customers at every touchpoint by building personalized journeys (with the Journey Builder module) across channels (email, mobile, advertising, social networks, etc.) ;
• Salesforce Service Cloud, for omnichannel customer support and data centralization, as well as better understanding of the customer journey, obstacles encountered or customer satisfaction criteria.

• A multi-channel customer engagement platform like Twilio Flex, to :
  • optimize your customer relations across channels,
  • personalize each stage of the customer journey,
  • automate certain interactions using a chatbot, for example.

Free customer satisfaction questionnaire template

How do you know if your customer journey is smooth, coherent, enjoyable... or just long and frustrating? Sometimes all it takes is asking the right questions. A well-thought-out customer satisfaction questionnaire helps you collect valuable data at every stage of the journey: whether in-store, on your website, after a purchase or following an interaction with customer service.

It's a simple tool to deploy, yet frighteningly effective, to include in any project aimed at analyzing, improving and personalizing your customer relations strategy.

❓ Here are some examples of the different questions to include in your satisfaction survey:

• What was your first point of contact with our brand?

• Was the necessary information easy to find?

• How would you rate the quality of the customer experience on our website?

• Did the product or service delivered meet your initial expectations?

• Would you recommend our company to others?

• What could we do to optimize your shopping experience?

✅ Here are a few tips for getting the most out of the survey:

• Remember to adapt questions according to the type of customer profile and behavioral variables (new, regular, B2B, B2C...).

• Use clear formats: stars, scales or free feedback.

• Don't forget to send out the questionnaire just after a key phase in the customer journey, to capture on-the-spot impressions.

• You can also offer an express version at order validation.

What happens next? Take the time to analyze the responses. This will enable you to identify areas for improvement, refine your marketing strategy, and optimize each phase of the customer journey. Every response must lead to a concrete action, otherwise there's no point in asking.

How do you measure customer journey performance?

Steering a customer journey is not a matter of instinct. For it to be truly effective, you need to rely on concrete data. Your marketing strategy must meet clear objectives. And for that, there's nothing like well-chosen performance indicators. By tracking these KPIs throughout the customer lifecycle, you can identify :

• which contact points are working,
• which stages of the customer journey are causing problems
• and when customers drop out.

In short, everything you need to conduct a relevant analysis.

Awareness and commitment

This is the first stage of the customer journey. This is where you try to attract attention and create a point of contact with an as-yet-unknown consumer. To do this, you need to be present in the right places, activate the right communication channels and capture the first signals of engagement.

Here's the data you need to track for this phase:

• Number of visitors to your website or in-store.

• Time spent on key pages.

• Click-through rate on your digital content.

• Interaction on social networks.

• Responses to campaigns, e-mails, publications.

All this information enables you to map the customer journey right from the start. And to test, little by little, what really catches the eye, arouses desire or triggers interaction. This is the time to lay the first bricks of your communication. 🧱

Conversion rate

This stage of the customer journey is crucial: it's here that we check whether your strategy really leads to acts of purchase. And above all, whether your efforts on the various communication channels are bearing fruit. For this, certain indicators are essential.

Keep a close eye on :

• Conversion rate by communication channel.

• Number of sales by customer profile.

• Detailed analysis of customer paths leading to conversion.

• Performance of your sales tunnels.

Good analysis enables targeted optimization of this key phase. By combining customer journey mapping and the use of an appropriate tool, you can improve your results... and your understanding of customer behavior.

Acquisition

At this stage of the customer journey, the aim is to move from interest to commitment. In other words: capture attention, then convert a simple visitor into a qualified prospect. This is one of the most important levers for growing your business, provided you monitor the right indicators.

Here's what to look for:

• Number of leads generated per channel.

• Customer acquisition cost (CAC).

• Form or registration completion rates.

• Performance by customer profile.

Each channel attracts a different customer profile, with specific behaviors and needs. Hence the importance of identifying the most effective sources, and adjusting your approach according to user behavior.

Satisfaction and loyalty

The customer relationship doesn't end with the purchase: it feeds on loyalty, retention and recommendation. So keep a close eye on

• the results of your customer satisfaction questionnaire,

• the number of positive reviews left online,

• participation in a referral program,

• retention rate and repurchase frequency,

• the level of satisfaction measured by NPS.

These indicators reflect the quality of the customer experience and help to deliver a personalized, high-value experience.

Remember: the more reliable your indicators, the more you can provide a relevant experience, adapt your content and offer a truly customer-centric experience. ✅ To help you out, consider journey mapping, an effective method for mapping the customer journey, visualizing each touchpoint, and adjusting your marketing strategy in real time.

See all software Customer relationship management

An obstacle course?

You know your product by heart, but how well do you know your customer? Do you know where they've come from and where they want to go? Why and how did they get to you? Why and when did they abandon their decision to buy?

By analyzing, modeling and adapting the customer journey over time and through technological evolution, we can improve the customer experience.

Combine your inbound marketing strategy with intelligent software, and you'll also be able to address each and every one of your customers, thanks to fine-tuned, real-time analysis and functionalities for personalizing and automating marketing actions.

What methods and tools have you chosen to find out more about your customers and build loyalty?