Once I first began consulting for B2B SaaS corporations, I made the error of considering the customer journey and the client journey had been principally the identical factor — simply two sides of the identical funnel.

They aren’t.

I realized the laborious approach when a consumer’s churn fee quietly climbed at the same time as new offers saved coming in. We had been profitable consumers however dropping prospects.

Since then, mapping the customer journey vs buyer journey individually and designing content material for every has develop into 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 can assist you shut offers sooner and flip extra prospects into loyal advocates.

Desk of Contents

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’ll be able to break into three important levels:

The purchaser journey focuses totally on the pre-purchase expertise and entails the questions, doubts, and motivations that drive somebody to purchase.

For instance, after I labored with a undertaking administration SaaS consumer, we mapped a typical purchaser journey like this:

A advertising and marketing director realizes their workforce 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 might tailor content material exactly to the customer’s mindset at every stage.

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 prospects had been excited at sign-up however confused throughout onboarding. Although that they had “purchased,” they rapidly misplaced momentum. By bettering their onboarding stream and including milestone emails, we helped prospects get worth sooner and elevated retention by 18%.

The client’s journey is important as a result of a sale is the start line for incomes belief, satisfaction, and finally, advocacy.

P.S. Undecided the place to begin with yours? Right here’s a buyer journey map template to make use of as a place to begin.

Riley Westbrook, co-founder of Australian espresso chain Valor Espresso, focuses on creating a way of belonging. The client would possibly first stroll in simply wanting a cup of joe, however the journey deepens once they perceive Valor’s goal.

“They arrive in for a cup of espresso, however develop into a buyer once they know who we’re… They’re now not a purchaser nor a mere buyer however a buyer who has targets. It’s not in regards to the cup they’re carrying, however what that cup stands for,” Westbrook says.

The workforce at Valor is aware of the emotional bridge isn’t constructed on the money register. It’s constructed by means of storytelling, shared goal, and small each day rituals that make prospects really feel like members in one thing greater.

Then again, 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 by means of our product excursions, our AI-generated demos tailor-made to their workforce’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 fingers. Patrons are gently moved into changing into prospects as a result of the product already behaves like a accomplice.

Whenever 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.

I feel that is much more important at this time when you think about that, based on our 2024 Gross sales Tendencies Report, 96% of prospects do their very own analysis earlier than chatting with a gross sales rep. By the point they present up at your demo, they want relevance reasonably than a fundamental 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 informed them, “This doesn’t really feel like a pitch — it seems 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.

Should you wait till after somebody indicators up or pays to construct belief, you’ve already misplaced useful 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 really promoting. A lot of the purchaser expertise occurs outdoors stay conversations, that means your product and onboarding should do numerous the work.

Take Fireflies, for instance.

Once I began a free trial, they didn’t depart me to determine issues out by myself. They instantly despatched onboarding ideas like “Overview your Be a part of and Recap settings” and confirmed me the way to 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. Preserve 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 and marketing guarantees simplicity, however your onboarding seems like homework, belief erodes.

Take a model like Notion. The identical calm, minimalist tone you see of their launch movies carries by means of their web site, welcome emails, and in-app guides.

From the primary “Get began” display screen to the primary template you employ, I discover the expertise feels intentional, not fragmented.

And it’s not simply digital manufacturers that do that effectively. Michael Capote, chief advertising and marketing 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 similar one which our employees makes use of when speaking with prospects face-to-face, leading to a easy stream of knowledge.”

I discover that consistency reduces nervousness, particularly in high-trust environments like auto restore, as a result of the client by no means seems like they’ve stepped into a unique world. This sort 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 whole GTM engine round one core promise.

Our analysis reveals that 72% of firm income now comes from present prospects, not new ones. But most groups nonetheless construction their go-to-market (GTM) motions round one objective: acquisition.

To repair this, I like to recommend utilizing a constant gross sales methodology and worth framework throughout advertising and marketing, gross sales, and buyer success. No blended messages. No new definitions of success post-sale.

And but, solely 30% of gross sales execs say their gross sales and advertising and marketing 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 targeted 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 had been skilled on the identical value-based framework to create a seamless purchaser expertise.

The end result? A 30% enhance in demo-to-meeting conversions and 40% income progress as a result of each workforce stayed anchored to the identical definition of worth.

5. Construct group round prospects, not simply merchandise.

Repeat purchases aren’t the one signal of loyalty. The deeper sign is when prospects begin figuring out along with your model and wish to take part in it past the transaction.

That shift doesn’t occur by means of loyalty factors or reductions alone. It occurs when prospects really feel seen, included, and invited into one thing they worth.

Valor Espresso does this deliberately. When prospects are available for an order, the workforce 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’d recognize helps maintain that connection,” shares Westbrook.

However community-building doesn’t cease on the counter. Valor additionally engages prospects throughout channels and acknowledges them on social media, hosts occasions, and invitations participation outdoors 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 prospects to purchase extra espresso, I 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 usually 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 workforce 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 purpose offers fall by means of, which suggests serving to your champion succeed internally isn’t nearly retention. It might probably shorten deal timelines, too.

Dextego builds for that. Throughout the gross sales course of, Mantzouridou Onasi and the workforce labored straight with a VP of gross sales to form teaching prompts aligned to her workforce’s real-world gross sales challenges.

“We made her the inner hero by turning these prompts into stay dashboards her workforce used from Day 1. That easy transition made her look nice and bought us deep adoption quick.”

As a substitute of resetting expectations post-sale, they strengthened the precise resolution the customer had envisioned. The VP didn’t have to re-explain something. She confirmed up with a working product that already mirrored her enter, and her workforce adopted her lead.

I see this type of strategic onboarding as turning your purchaser right into a trusted voice contained in the group. And when that occurs, growth and advocacy develop into 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 by means of 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 reasonably than a tough reset.

I like how dwelling hospital mattress firm SonderCare applies this in observe by segmenting prospects based mostly on their buying habits. CEO Kyle Sobko mentions that as a result of some prospects purchase after intensive session, whereas others make fast selections based mostly on particular wants, every group receives completely different onboarding content material and follow-up communication tailor-made to their resolution type.

“We section our prospects based mostly on the way in which they buy, after which tailor our communication to swimsuit their necessities. That is what has allowed us to realize excessive engagement, turning consumers into long-term prospects.”

This method shortens the time it takes for purchasers to really feel assured of their resolution. 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, prospects usually tend to maintain transferring ahead as a result of the journey already matches them.