← DictionaryCustomer Journey
also called buyer journey
The full sequence of experiences a person has from first contact to after purchase.
Everything a customer goes through, in order.
What It Is
In the BWH map, Customer Journey lives under Marketing — Funnel. In practice it means this: the full sequence of experiences a person has from first contact to after purchase.
It is a repeatable structure, which means it only pays off when it is actually followed through instead of quoted. Keep it that plain and it will still be true in twelve months.
How It's Used
You will usually meet Customer Journey in campaign planning, channel choices and the reporting that follows them. It normally appears alongside Journey Map, Funnel and Brand Touchpoint. The practical test is whether anyone can follow it without the person who wrote it in the room.
Why It Matters
Customer Journey is cheap to get right early and awkward to fix late. When it is unclear, spend keeps moving but nobody can say what it bought. Clarity here removes a surprising amount of downstream argument.
Picture flat-pack instructions. Boring, and much faster than improvising. Everything a customer goes through, in order.
Termshift™
How the meaning shifts depending on who is using it, and where.
Professionally, Customer Journey carries the narrow meaning: the full sequence of experiences a person has from first contact to after purchase.
Explained to someone with no marketing background, Customer Journey is everything a customer goes through, in order.
The Bottom Line
Keep Customer Journey plain: everything a customer goes through, in order. That is the version that holds up in a real project.