Customer purchase path - what is it and what stages does it have?

The fast-growing sales market means that today's consumer has a wide range of products to choose from. For your company, this means one thing: a lot of competition. So it's worth knowing what the customer's purchase path, or, the so-called buyer journey, looks like so you can improve it, increasing the chance of completing the transaction.

What is a customer's purchase path?

A consumer's purchase path is the route a buyer takes from the moment he or she becomes interested in your offer to the point where he or she realizes the purchase of your product or service. Customer path mapping is most often done graphically and takes the form of a line graph.

Pictorially depicted, the consumer path has one primary goal: to improve and increase the efficiency of the sales process, translating into profits for the company. If you know what a potential customer's purchase path looks like, it will be easier for you to assess whether your marketing efforts actually result in a purchase transaction. Mapping the customer's path will also allow you to "catch" points where the consumer abandons further interaction with your offer.

Remember that the buyer journey map is a tool on the basis of which you will analyze the need to make certain adjustments, allowing you to improve the sales process. Preparing a map of the customer's purchase path, you will also learn which points of contact between the buyer and your products or services guarantee the most successful transactions.

Stages of the purchase path

When looking to create your own example of a purchase path, you need to pay attention to the nature of the target audience you are targeting with your products or services. Key in this context is types of customer behavior.  Note also that a B2B (business to business) purchase path will differ from a B2C (business to consumer) path.

In a B2C transaction, the purchasing decision is made by a single person. Sometimes he or she has to consult someone close to him or her, such as a husband or wife, especially if the household budget is shared, but usually the decision-making process itself is not as long and complicated as in B2B. In other words, the B2B purchase path can be more problematic to map and optimize.

If your offer is aimed at companies you must expect that the proposal to purchase the service or products you propose will "go through" several, if not a dozen people. It is possible that the purchasing department will first discuss the offer internally, in order to later consult the rationale for implementing a particular product or service with the specialists who are ultimately to use it. The final purchasing decision, on the other hand, may be made by the company's CEO.

If you already know who you want to target, you need to answer the question: how do you do it? At this stage of mapping the customer's purchase path, it is important to identify the touch points with your offer. Analyze how consumers most often come across information about your products or services. Do you get the best results from online advertising? Perhaps flyers or outdoor banner ads are more effective? This is a highly individual issue, depending primarily on which advertising activities most effectively interact with your target audience.

The third step in mapping the customer's purchase path is to determine how the transaction is most often finalized. Do you sell the most at an online store, a stationary store, or maybe at industry events? Determining which forms of sales produce the best results for your business will help you shift the center of gravity to them.

Don't forget that usually the purchase of a product or the ordering of a service is first preceded by a stage in which a potential customer becomes interested in your offer. Usually, however, you can't count on the consumer's first contact with what you have to offer him to result in a sale. Usually several such points of contact are needed, because the consumer is well aware that there are many other, perhaps even more interesting or financially attractive offers waiting for him in today's market.

See also: what is video analysis? We explain!

When mapping the purchase path, don't stop at the moment when the customer makes the decision to buy. Acquiring a new customer is one thing, but it's worth ensuring that you maintain a satisfactory customer-your brand relationship even after the transaction is completed. That's why proper after-sales service is so important. Note that in many cases it will be cheaper to maintain customer loyalty than to reach new consumers and encourage them to buy.

The customer path in a stationary store versus an online store: how is it different?

Keep in mind that the customer path in a stationary store can differ significantly from what the purchase path looks like in an online store. Stationary, your customer can see the product on offer live and interact with it physically. The e-commerce purchase path, on the other hand, is based primarily on product photographs, text descriptions and, possibly, short videos demonstrating the functionality of individual items. In both cases, professional merchandising can be fundamental to customers' purchasing decisions. In stationary stores, weaknesses can be identified through a professionally conducted retail audit.

The points of contact between the customer and your store's offerings may also be different for stationary and online sales. In the case of e-shops, SEO campaigns that raise the position of a website in organic search results and PPC (pay per click) campaigns, i.e. paid links, can bring good results. Of course, stationary stores can also be effectively promoted in this way, but here more traditional forms of advertising also work: flyers or banners pointing the way to your store.

In stationary and online sales, concern for customer experience will also look different. In a stationary store, customer attitude and the qualifications of the staff (store employees must be able to advise on the right products), the cleanliness of the store and properly displayed merchandise are crucial. In an online store, on the other hand, you need to pay attention to making the ordering process as simple and intuitive as possible. Information about the price of the product, shipping methods and payment options should also be clearly communicated. It will also be important for customers to choose between several ways to pay for their order - this will allow them to decide on the option they prefer most.

When planning to increase sales in a stationary or online store, it is worth considering the solution of experience marketing, i.e. customized promotional activities to induce positive feelings towards the advertised brand.

To recap: mapping the customer's purchase path will help you find points in the sales process that need improvement.