The Buyer’s Journey: What It Is & How to Map It

What Is nan Buyer’s Journey?

The buyer’s travel (or acquisition journey) is nan process a customer typically goes done earlier making a purchase. From nan infinitesimal they place a desire aliases request to erstwhile they determine to buy.

Understanding nan buying travel helps you take nan champion trading strategies and pass pinch your assemblage much effectively. And that should yet lead to much sales.

The process is typically surgery down into 3 stages.

What Are theBuyer Journey Stages?

The 3 stages of nan buyer’s travel are awareness, consideration, and decision.

The user becomes alert of a problem, considers nan solution(s) available, past decides wherever to buy.

Let’s opportunity you waste room appliances: 

• Someone’s dishwasher breaks and they want a replacement (awareness)
• They publication online comparison guides astir nan champion models (consideration)
• They determine to bargain from you because you connection free transportation (decision)

In reality, your customers’ buying journeys are unique. And they tin beryllium acold much analyzable than this exemplary suggests.

But nan consciousness > information > determination model makes it easier to understand prospects’ thoughts and behaviors astatine nan astir important stages. So you tin activity retired really to prosecute them earlier successful their decision-making process. And summation nan chance that they yet bargain from you.

How to Do Buyer Journey Mapping

Buyer travel mapping is nan process of defining and visualizing nan awareness, consideration, and determination stages.

The thought is to create representatives of valuable purchaser journeys. So you tin activity retired really to prosecute prospects astatine each important phase.

Let’s dive in.

1. Create Buyer Personas

Buyer personas are fictional profiles that correspond different types of prospects. They thief you understand nan assemblage segments you’re targeting.

Personas typically cover:

• Demographics
• Socioeconomic status
• Personality and habits
• Pain points
• Content preferences

Here’s an illustration created pinch Semrush’s Persona tool:

To create effective purchaser personas, you request to behaviour audience research.

First, analyse your competitors’ audiences pinch Semrush’s One2Target tool.

Choose your target country, participate nan domains of up to 5 competitors, past click “Analyze.”

The instrumentality will stitchery insights astir these rivals’ audiences. 

Here are nan charts you’ll find successful each report:

• Demographics: Age, gender, and location
• Socioeconomics: Household size, family income level, employment status, and acquisition level
• Behavior: Most visited societal media platforms, apical interests (based connected visited domains), and most-used devices

You tin analyse your ain website visitors successful Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

After signing in, spell to “Reports” > “User” > “User attributes” > “Overview.”

GA4 collects nan pursuing information astir web users by default:

• Demographics: Age, gender, interests, language, 
• Location: City, country, region, continent, subcontinent
• Technology: Browser, operating strategy and version, platform, instrumentality brand, instrumentality category

To get further data, you request to configure your ain user-scoped dimensions.

You tin past usage nan “Audiences” study to spot really predefined aliases civilization segments (e.g., users successful San Francisco) interact pinch your tract differently.

The information you stitchery will thief build realistic purchaser personas for existing and prospective audiences. So you tin get into their mindsets much easily.

2. Analyze Users’ Traffic Journeys

Traffic journeys are routes users return done various webpages aliases websites.

When you cognize what websites and channels are progressive successful nan buyer’s journey, you tin effort to prosecute your prospects done them much effectively.

For example, a imaginable pinch a surgery dishwasher mightiness return this journey:

1. google.com, to hunt for accusation astir nan latest models
2. consumerreports.org, to spot their dishwasher ratings
3. google.com, to hunt for their chosen model
4. bestbuy.com, to spot nan value of their chosen model
5. lowes.com, to spot nan value of their chosen model
6. bestbuy.com, to bargain their chosen model

Knowing that, you mightiness determine to:

• Use search motor optimization (SEO) and/or paid hunt ads to get much vulnerability successful hunt motor results pages
• Run digital ads connected celebrated sites successful your niche
• Form partnerships pinch influencers
• List your business connected directories, reappraisal sites, etc.
• Post social media content and ads

By reaching prospects earlier and much frequently, you summation nan chance they yet bargain from you.

You tin spot what sites and channels your existent visitors travel from by going to “Life cycle” > “Acquisition” > “Traffic acquisition” successful GA4.

To find retired wherever your competitors’ visitors travel from, usage nan Traffic Analytics tool.

After entering nan domain(s) you’re willing in, unfastened nan “Traffic Journey” report.

Then, scroll down to “Traffic Journey Details.”

Below, we tin spot that integrated (unpaid) Google results thrust 27.99% of competitors’ traffic. This indicates that integrated hunt plays a awesome domiciled successful consciousness and information stages.

If you spell to nan “Destinations” tab, you’ll spot wherever users spell after visiting your competitors.

This tin supply valuable penetration into nan information and determination stages.

In our example, galore users spell to coupon sites for illustration capitaloneshopping.com aft visiting a competitor. This suggests that discounts play a awesome domiciled successful nan determination stage.

Our dishwasher retailer mightiness truthful determine to connection exclusive discounts. Or partner pinch coupon sites.

3. Perform Keyword Research for Every Stage

Keyword research is nan process of identifying hunt motor queries that prospects use. So you tin activity retired really to look successful nan results for them.

Here’s a keyword illustration for each purchaser travel stage:

• Awareness: dishwasher not draining
• Consideration: champion dishwasher 2024
• Decision: frigidaire dishwasher

Many marketers rightfully attraction connected buyer keywords (search queries that group usage erstwhile they’re fresh to purchase). Because they’re keen to make sales.

But it’s important to target keywords utilized successful nan earlier stages, too. Not only will this maximize your brand’s reach, but it will thief you build spot that tin salary dividends later.

One of nan champion ways to find keywords is pinch Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

Enter a word to guidelines your hunt astir (e.g., “dishwasher”), take your target country, and click “Search.”

By default, nan instrumentality presents a database of “Broad Match” keywords that incorporate your starting keyword aliases a adjacent variation.

In nan “Intent” column, you tin spot nan type(s) of search intent down each keyword—i.e., nan wide intent down nan user’s search. This gives a bully denotation of what purchaser travel shape nan keyword corresponds to.

You tin easy select by intent. And different information points, specified as:

• Volume: The mean number of monthly searches for nan keyword
• KD %: The keyword trouble score, which measures integrated ranking trouble retired of 100
• CPC (USD): The estimated costs per click to advertise connected this keyword

Once you’ve identified nan keywords you want to target, you tin create SEO-friendly content and/or paid hunt ads.

4. Fill Out nan Buyer’s Journey Template

Use our free buyer’s travel template to grounds cardinal accusation astir your purchaser journeys.

Follow nan nexus past click “Use Template” to create your transcript successful Google Docs. (You mightiness request to motion into Google first.)

Then, travel nan proposal successful this guideline to capable retired each section.

You should extremity up pinch a fewer purchaser travel maps that look thing for illustration this:

Buying Journey Content: Tips & Examples

Let’s research immoderate contented trading tips and examples for nan 3 purchaser stages:

Awareness Stage

Awareness shape contented should thief prospects to admit and understand their symptom point. 

That way, you tin build spot pinch nan prospect. And commencement guiding them toward purchase.

For example, appliance marque Whirlpool has a blog station astir really agelong dishwashers tally for. It gets astir 7.3K unpaid visits from Google each month, according to Semrush’s Organic Research tool. 

The station attracts group who are concerned astir their appliance’s performance. And gives them useful proposal and information—with nary difficult sell.

As a result, prospective customers are mildly guided toward nan adjacent shape of nan buying journey. Having built familiarity and spot pinch nan Whirlpool brand.

Generally, nan champion types of contented for nan consciousness shape are:

• Troubleshooting guides/videos
• How-to guides
• Checklists
• Thought leadership
• Industry/company news articles
• Original research
• Templates

Consideration Stage

Consideration shape contented should thief prospects measurement nan solutions disposable to them. And coming your merchandise aliases work arsenic 1 of nan champion options.

For example, Whirlpool has a dishwasher measurement guideline that equips shoppers pinch each nan accusation they request to find nan right-sized model. 

It besides introduces them to applicable products.

Generally, nan champion types of contented for nan information shape are:

• Comparison guides
• Buying guides
• FAQs
• Product buying quizzes
• Gift guides

Decision Stage

Decision shape contented should person customers to get their chosen merchandise aliases work from you (rather than a competitor).

For example, Best Buy’s merchandise pages instantly tie attraction to typical offers, financing options, pickup/delivery information, and customer reviews. Which tin each play a pivotal domiciled successful customers’ buying decisions.

Shoppers tin besides publication various questions and answers. Or speak to a customer work advisor.

This reduces nan consequence that they wantonness their acquisition owed to a deficiency of information. 

Generally, nan champion types of contented for nan information shape are:

• Landing pages/product pages
• Free tests aliases demos
• Customer reviews/testimonials
• Case studies/success stories

Start Mapping Your Buyer Journeys

If you haven’t already, create your buyer travel template.

Then, declare your free Semrush trial to commencement collecting valuable data:

• Define your audience’s demographics, socioeconomics, and behaviors
• Research your prospects’ postulation journeys
• Find retired what keywords your prospects use
• Analyze your competitors’ content