After I first began consulting for B2B SaaS corporations, I made the error of considering the customer journey and the shopper journey have been principally the identical factor — simply two sides of the identical funnel.
They aren’t.
I realized the arduous means when a consumer’s churn charge quietly climbed at the same time as new offers stored coming in. We have been profitable consumers however shedding clients.
Since then, mapping the customer journey vs buyer journey individually and designing content material for every has grow to be a core a part of my technique work.
On this piece, I’ll break down the distinction between the 2 journeys, the place they overlap, and the way clarifying them will help you shut offers sooner and flip extra clients into loyal advocates.
Desk of Contents
What’s a purchaser’s journey?
The purchaser journey is the trail a possible buyer takes from first realizing they’ve an issue to deciding on an answer and making a purchase order.
You may break into three primary levels:
The purchaser journey focuses completely on the pre-purchase expertise and entails the questions, doubts, and motivations that drive somebody to purchase.
For instance, once I labored with a mission administration SaaS consumer, we mapped a typical purchaser journey like this:
A advertising director realizes their group is lacking deadlines (Consciousness), compares instruments like Asana and Monday.com (Consideration), after which indicators up for a free trial with my consumer’s software program (Resolution).
Getting this proper meant we may tailor content material exactly to the customer’s mindset at every stage.
What’s a buyer’s journey?
The buyer’s journey begins after your purchaser makes a purchase order.
It’s the total expertise somebody has along with your model as soon as they grow to be a paying buyer, together with onboarding, product use, help interactions, renewals, and referrals.
The place the customer’s journey ends with a transaction, the buyer’s journey turns into about relationship-building. It covers each second that both strengthens loyalty or sours it.
For instance, with one SaaS consumer I supported, we realized new clients have been excited at sign-up however confused throughout onboarding. Although that they had “purchased,” they rapidly misplaced momentum. By enhancing their onboarding circulation and including milestone emails, we helped clients get worth sooner and elevated retention by 18%.
The shopper’s journey is vital as a result of a sale is the start line for incomes belief, satisfaction, and finally, advocacy.
P.S. Undecided the place to start out with yours? Right here’s a buyer journey map template to make use of as a place to begin.
Purchaser’s Journey vs Buyer’s Journey
Each the customer’s journey and the shopper’s journey are important as a result of they serve totally different objectives, and ignoring both one leaves cash on the desk.
The client’s journey helps you entice and convert new leads by assembly them the place they’re of their decision-making course of. The shopper’s journey, then again, ensures that after somebody buys, they stick round, succeed, and finally assist herald new clients via referrals or advocacy.
Right here’s a abstract of their variations:
|
Purchaser’s Journey |
Buyer’s Journey |
|
|
Focus |
Changing prospects into clients |
Constructing loyalty after the sale |
|
Main Emotion |
Curiosity, skepticism, pleasure |
Belief, satisfaction, empowerment |
|
Phases |
Consciousness, Consideration, Resolution |
Onboarding, Adoption, Success, Advocacy |
|
Relationship Standing |
Stranger to buyer |
Buyer to advocate |
|
Key Query |
“Why ought to I select this?” |
“Was this the proper selection for me?” |
|
Possession |
Often led by advertising and gross sales |
Often led by buyer success and help |
|
Typical Content material |
Instructional blogs, webinars, case research |
Onboarding guides, FAQs, loyalty applications |
|
Foremost Aim |
Win the deal |
Earn long-term loyalty and referrals |
|
Frequent Pitfalls |
Over-promising, unclear messaging |
Below-delivering, neglecting help |
|
Typical Metrics |
Lead conversion charge, gross sales closed |
Buyer retention, churn charge, lifetime worth, NPS |
In my expertise, treating these journeys as separate however linked helps you to optimize each first impressions and lasting relationships.
The place the Purchaser and Buyer Journeys Intersect
The client’s journey and buyer’s journey might look like two separate paths, however there’s at all times a degree the place they meet — and that intersection is the place lasting loyalty begins.
This second seems to be totally different for each enterprise:
- Typically it occurs with the primary product expertise.
- Typically via model storytelling.
- Typically, via relationship-building proper after the sale.
In my work as a B2B SaaS content material guide, I see it when a lead interacts with considered one of my audits and realizes I’m already eager about how one can assist them succeed after launch. The shift occurs early, and it adjustments the tone of all the things that follows.
Different corporations engineer this intersection level with equal care.
Riley Westbrook, co-founder of Australian espresso chain Valor Espresso, focuses on creating a way of belonging. The client may first stroll in simply wanting a cup of joe, however the journey deepens once they perceive Valor’s objective.
“They arrive in for a cup of espresso, however grow to be a buyer once they know who we’re… They’re not a purchaser nor a mere buyer however a buyer who has objectives. It’s not in regards to the cup they’re carrying, however what that cup stands for,” Westbrook says.
The group at Valor is aware of the emotional bridge isn’t constructed on the money register. It’s constructed via storytelling, shared objective, and small every day rituals that make clients really feel like contributors in one thing larger.
However, at AI gross sales teaching platform Dextego, co-founder Ioanna Mantzouridou Onasi mentions the customer and buyer journeys are virtually inseparable from the beginning. As a result of their product delivers personalised worth from the primary demo, prospects instantly really feel seen.
“Whether or not it’s via our product excursions, our AI-generated demos tailor-made to their group’s gross sales movement, or the insights we share in preliminary conversations, we’re not simply promoting — we’re already teaching.”
Right here, belief is constructed earlier than any cash adjustments palms. Patrons are gently moved into changing into clients as a result of the product already behaves like a accomplice.
While you’re intentional in regards to the handoff between purchaser and buyer, you open a relationship. The sooner you create that emotional shift, the stronger your long-term loyalty turns into.
Methods to Weave the Purchaser and Buyer Journey Collectively
I do know it’s straightforward to deal with the customer journey and buyer journey as separate workflows — one centered on conversion, the opposite on retention. However in observe, the hole between them is the place momentum will get misplaced and belief begins to slide.
Weaving the customer and buyer journey collectively means designing each stage to really feel steady, not compartmentalized. Right here’s how I try this in observe.
1. Mirror the shopper’s actuality early.
The sooner a purchaser sees themselves in your services or products, the sooner they begin performing like a buyer.
When early interactions really feel generic, consumers keep indifferent. However when your demo, pitch, or messaging displays their particular challenges, language, and objectives, it short-circuits skepticism and builds speedy emotional buy-in.
I believe that is much more vital immediately when you think about that, in response to our 2024 Gross sales Developments Report, 96% of prospects do their very own analysis earlier than talking to a gross sales rep. By the point they present up at your demo, they want relevance somewhat than a primary overview.
At Dextego, Mantzouridou Onasi stresses how they make this a core a part of the gross sales course of. As a substitute of utilizing normal templates of their demos, they customise all the things across the prospect’s actual gross sales playbook, objection-handling examples, and KPIs. One CRO even instructed them, “This doesn’t really feel like a pitch — it looks like onboarding.”
As a result of the demo already spoke the customer’s language, the transition to changing into a buyer felt pure, in contrast to a leap of religion.
As a substitute of only a “sure,” you wish to get a “that is precisely what we want.”
2. Engineer loyalty moments earlier than the sale.
Loyalty begins the second a purchaser will get their first small win.
If you happen to wait till after somebody indicators up or pays to construct belief, you’ve already misplaced worthwhile momentum. As a substitute, engineer loyalty by creating quick, tangible victories early: throughout trials, demos, onboarding emails, and even easy walkthroughs.
That’s particularly essential when you think about that gross sales execs solely spend two hours per day truly promoting. Many of the purchaser expertise occurs exterior stay conversations, which means your product and onboarding should do numerous the work.
Take Fireflies, for instance.
After I began a free trial, they didn’t depart me to determine issues out by myself. They instantly despatched onboarding suggestions like “Assessment your Be a part of and Recap settings” and confirmed me how one can seize my first assembly notes inside minutes.
These tiny early wins helped shift me from “I’m attempting this out” to “That is already serving to me.”
The sooner you make somebody really feel profitable, the sooner they begin behaving like a buyer.
3. Keep emotional continuity throughout channels.
The message somebody hears in your homepage ought to match what they expertise in your demo, onboarding, and first few weeks as a buyer. Not simply in phrases, however in feeling.
Patrons discover when the tone shifts. In case your advertising guarantees simplicity, however your onboarding looks like homework, belief erodes.
Take a model like Notion. The identical calm, minimalist tone you see of their launch movies carries via their web site, welcome emails, and in-app guides.
From the primary “Get began” display to the primary template you utilize, I discover the expertise feels intentional, not fragmented.
And it’s not simply digital manufacturers that do that properly. Michael Capote, chief advertising officer (CMO) of German Automobile Depot, highlights how they deliberately mirror their on-line voice of their bodily service expertise.
“The reason we use on our web site is identical one which our workers makes use of when speaking with clients face-to-face, leading to a easy circulation of data.”
I discover that consistency reduces anxiousness, particularly in high-trust environments like auto restore, as a result of the shopper by no means looks like they’ve stepped into a distinct world. This type of emotional follow-through, whether or not in an app or a ready room, turns curiosity into confidence and confidence into loyalty.
4. Align your complete GTM engine round one core promise.
Our analysis reveals that 72% of firm income now comes from current clients, not new ones. But most groups nonetheless construction their go-to-market (GTM) motions round one purpose: acquisition.
To repair this, I like to recommend utilizing a constant gross sales methodology and worth framework throughout advertising, gross sales, and buyer success. No combined messages. No new definitions of success post-sale.
And but, solely 30% of gross sales execs say their gross sales and advertising groups are strongly aligned. That leaves loads of room for miscommunication and disconnects, particularly within the buyer-to-customer handoff.
Julie Thomas, CEO of gross sales coaching firm ValueSelling Associates, explains:
“In our enterprise and our shoppers’ companies, the customer and buyer journeys are cyclical. The AE works with the customer to outline worth and ROI, and that actual plan is handed off to the CSM, who makes use of it because the north star. Advertising then reinforces those self same outcomes with content material. Everybody stays centered on fixing the customer’s issues — as a result of that’s what retains them a buyer.”
In a current interplay with Readymode, a buyer engagement platform for outbound calling, this alignment paid off for ValueSelling. Their AI SDRs and CSMs have been educated on the identical value-based framework to create a seamless purchaser expertise.
The end result? A 30% improve in demo-to-meeting conversions and 40% income development as a result of each group stayed anchored to the identical definition of worth.
5. Construct group round clients, not simply merchandise.
Repeat purchases aren’t the one signal of loyalty. The deeper sign is when clients begin figuring out along with your model and wish to take part in it past the transaction.
That shift doesn’t occur via loyalty factors or reductions alone. It occurs when clients really feel seen, included, and invited into one thing they worth.
Valor Espresso does this deliberately. When clients are available for an order, the group makes use of the chance to get to know them.
“We don’t instantly take their order; we take a second to speak to them as a human being… A follow-up as a human being after a go to, a thank-you notice, or a point out of a cup we predict they might admire helps maintain that connection,” shares Westbrook.
However community-building doesn’t cease on the counter. Valor additionally engages clients throughout channels and acknowledges them on social media, hosts occasions, and invitations participation exterior of purchases.
“Whether or not a morning dialog on X or attending an occasion, we wish to have a group round our model.”
As a substitute of simply pushing clients to purchase extra espresso, I really like how Valor makes them really feel like they belong even once they’re not holding a cup.
6. Flip your purchaser into an inner hero.
When a deal closes, the one that signed off on it typically must justify that call internally. They want proof that the answer works — and quick — particularly in the event that they championed it earlier than anybody else on their group was satisfied. That’s the place your onboarding technique can both stall or speed up adoption.
This isn’t simply in regards to the post-sale expertise. Our analysis reveals that 28% of gross sales execs say lengthy gross sales cycles are the #1 motive offers fall via, which implies serving to your champion succeed internally isn’t nearly retention. It could shorten deal timelines, too.
Dextego builds for that. In the course of the gross sales course of, Mantzouridou Onasi and the group labored straight with a VP of gross sales to form teaching prompts aligned to her group’s real-world gross sales challenges.
“We made her the inner hero by turning these prompts into stay dashboards her group used from Day 1. That easy transition made her look nice and acquired us deep adoption quick.”
As a substitute of resetting expectations post-sale, they bolstered the precise answer the customer had envisioned. The VP didn’t must re-explain something. She confirmed up with a working product that already mirrored her enter, and her group adopted her lead.
I see this sort of strategic onboarding as turning your purchaser right into a trusted voice contained in the group. And when that occurs, enlargement and advocacy grow to be a continuation, not a brand new gross sales cycle.
Assist your champion win early, and so they’ll maintain you within the room longer.
7. Personalize the transition based mostly on how they purchase.
Not each buyer enters via the identical door, and treating them like they did creates friction proper when belief is most fragile. Personalizing the post-sale expertise based mostly on how somebody bought (not simply what they bought) can flip that second right into a pure subsequent step somewhat than a tough reset.
I like how dwelling hospital mattress firm SonderCare applies this in observe by segmenting clients based mostly on their buying habits. CEO Kyle Sobko mentions that as a result of some clients purchase after intensive session, whereas others make fast selections based mostly on particular wants, every group receives totally different onboarding content material and follow-up communication tailor-made to their choice type.
“We phase our clients based mostly on the best way they buy, after which tailor our communication to go well with their necessities. That is what has allowed us to achieve excessive engagement, turning consumers into long-term clients.”
This strategy shortens the time it takes for purchasers to really feel assured of their choice. The result’s an expertise that feels much less like a brand new section and extra like a pure extension of their shopping for course of.
When the transition feels private, clients usually tend to maintain shifting ahead as a result of the journey already matches them.
What Occurs After the “Sure” Issues Most
A number of months in the past, I signed up for a brand new SaaS software on a advice. The shopping for expertise was easy: clear worth props, quick onboarding, even a pleasant follow-up e-mail. However inside two weeks, I’d stopped utilizing it.
Not as a result of the product was unhealthy, however as a result of after I signed up, it felt like nobody was on the opposite aspect. No prompts, no subsequent steps, no sign that I mattered past the sale.
That have jogged my memory what most groups get flawed: They over-engineer the pitch and under-invest in what comes after.
The work doesn’t cease at conversion. If something, that’s the place the true work begins.
That’s why mapping and connecting the customer and buyer journey has grow to be a non-negotiable in my technique work. As a result of the manufacturers that win excel at constructing techniques that maintain exhibiting up, lengthy after somebody says sure.