Definition
A buyer journey is the path one buyer takes from first noticing a problem to choosing a solution, usually told in three stages: awareness, consideration and decision. It is written from the buyer's side, and teams use it to decide what content and contact each stage needs, rather than what the seller wants to say.
Why it matters when you sell B2B
Marketing uses it to plan content. Sales uses it to avoid pitching too early. Both use it to stop talking about the product to someone who has not yet agreed they have a problem.
The B2B buying process is what the company does. The buyer journey is what one person thinks and needs at each point. Each journey belongs to a buyer persona.
A worked example
Here is one invented support lead's journey.
One buyer, three stagesExample
Awareness
Something is wrong
She sees replies to customers getting slower every month.
Useful: an article on why replies slow down.
Consideration
What are the options?
She compares hiring, new software and outsourcing.
Useful: an honest comparison of the three.
Decision
Which one?
She trials two tools and needs her CFO's yes.
Useful: a trial, references and a business case.
A demo offer in the awareness stage would have been ignored. A business case in the decision stage might have won the deal. Much of the awareness stage happens out of sight, in the dark funnel.
Common mistakes
- 1Calling your funnel the buyer journey. Your stages describe your process. The journey describes theirs.
- 2One journey for every buyer. A finance lead and a support lead take different paths to the same purchase.
- 3Skipping consideration. Most content is either awareness or a demo. The middle, comparing options, is where buyers decide.
- 4Only writing for the decision stage. By the time a buyer is ready to decide, they have often already picked a favourite.
- 5Treating it as a straight line. Buyers go back a stage when something changes. Plan for loops.
Map one real buyer journey
- Talk to three recent customers.
- Ask what started it, what they read and who they asked.
- Ask what nearly stopped them.
- Write each stage in their words.
- Match what you offer to each stage, and note the gaps.