Buyers Journey

The buyer’s journey is the process a potential customer goes through before making a purchase or commitment. It describes the stages of awareness, consideration and decision, and helps marketers understand how to engage and support users at each step. The journey begins when someone identifies a need or problem, continues as they explore solutions, and ends when they select a product, service or partner. This framework is central to content marketing, sales alignment and customer experience design.

The journey typically includes three key stages:

Awareness: The buyer realizes they have a problem or need. Content at this stage should educate and inform, such as blog posts, explainer videos or research-backed guides.

Consideration: The buyer defines their problem more clearly and begins to compare possible solutions. Useful formats include webinars, product comparisons and case studies.

Decision: The buyer chooses a solution and vendor. Content at this stage focuses on trust and conversion, including demos, testimonials, pricing pages and one-on-one consultations.

Mapping content and messaging to the buyer’s journey helps deliver the right information at the right time. It also supports lead nurturing, sales enablement and measurement of campaign effectiveness. For nonprofits, the journey may lead to a donation, volunteer sign-up or advocacy action. For B2B and SaaS businesses, it may involve a longer evaluation with multiple stakeholders. Understanding your audience’s journey allows you to anticipate questions, remove friction and build confidence. This approach ensures that your marketing strategy is aligned with the real needs and behaviours of your ideal customer.