One concern I often hear from prospective clients is that some businesses seem to attract customers effortlessly while they may feel like they struggle to get noticed.
It’s not luck. It’s not only “having the best product.”
It’s because the businesses that win understand how people buy.
Whether it’s a $5 coffee or a $50,000 architect fee, almost every purchase—big or small—follows some version of the same five stages.
For impulse buys, this happens in seconds.
For bigger, high-stakes decisions, it can take a lot longer.
And if you miss a step, customers drop off.
Rush the process, and they may not trust you enough to buy.
If you know how to guide customers through these stages, you can stop the leak that’s losing sales before they even start.
The 5 Stages of the Customer Journey
Although I’m jargon allergic, these terms are helpful to keep in mind as you think through your customer’s experience with you from one endpoint to the other. Over the next few posts, I’m going to break these down one by one, but here’s the big picture:
- Awareness – They realize they have a problem (but they may not know you exist).
- Consideration – They start looking for solutions (but may not see why you’re the best choice).
- Decision – They’re ready to buy (but hesitation, confusion, or friction can still push them away).
- Retention – They’ve bought, but will they stay? Will they buy again? (Or was it a one-and-done?)
- Advocacy – The golden stage: They love you so much they start telling everyone. (Free marketing? Yes, please.)
Any of the stages can have a leak–sometimes more than one stage–and when that happens, it’s most often because something in the journey isn’t working.
Today’s Step Forward.
Next up, we’ll be looking at the first stage–Awareness—because if people don’t know you exist (or don’t understand what you do), nothing else matters. In the meantime, where do you think most of your potential customers drop off? Hit reply and let me know.
