Whether you’re a CPG brand manager or a B2B marketer, your customer’s decision journeys are complex, dynamic, and easily disrupted by new options and inputs – online and offline. Today’s omnichannel world has created a new path to purchase for consumers, business professionals, and healthcare decision makers. Their decision journey is influenced by technology and media that didn’t even exist a few years ago, but do you know how, where, and when?

If you want to create impactful and efficient marketing strategies to attract, convert and retain your customers, you must be equipped with, an accurate understanding of their decision journey today.

Customer decision journey mapping helps brands develop strategies by answering key questions:

  • What are the strategic touchpoints in the decision journeys?
  • What are the content expectations at these touchpoints?
  • What are the friction points and desired experiences for customers?

Decision journeys can vary significantly within a category thanks to a variety of factors. Think of the journey framework as the scaffolding upon which the customer journey is built. At SKIM we have identified four journey frameworks that capture our clients’ most common customer journeys.

Selecting the correct framework for our client’s industry lays the groundwork for the most accurate, and actionable customer journey maps.

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4 frameworks to map customer decision journeys
  1. The planned journey. Applicable industries include auto, financial services, telecommunications and consumer electronics
  2. The ecosystem journey. Ideal for B2B industries
  3. The patient-centric journey. Applicable industries include healthcare and pharmaceutical
  4. The (disrupted) habitual journey. Applicable industries include fast moving, CPG and OTC goods such as health and beauty, household, consumables, pet food

Download our guide for information on how the frameworks vary and how they can better inform your marketing and communications strategies. We think it’s useful and Quirks readers agree! (in 2017 it was one of the most viewed articles on their website).