Why your customer journey sucks for search.

It is no surprise that the customer journey isn't linear. The old marketing funnel of brand awareness > consideration > conversion is conceptually there, but as time and consumer behaviors evolve, so does the sequence of the funnel and the never ending path of possible touch points.

This map above looks more like the consumer touchpoint journey in 2025 -- human, messy and complicated. My favorite is the white path because you can clearly see where it starts and ends. As customers research, review competitors and all relevant options, consult independent sources, they are more discerning than ever.

Stage 1: consumer research

What this looks like: Customer information and requirements gathering happening simultaneously on multiple platforms. Data and attribution connectivity questions aside, this customer is not ready for sales... at all. So why are marketers still pushing the gated content white paper via a form submission at this stage when customers aren't ready? Touch points can include: search engine searches for:

• general name of product/ service

• product/ service reviews

• product/ service sizing & dimensions

• product/ service maintenance, troubleshooting, breaking & parts

• product/ service pricing & sales/ coupons/ discounts

• inventory/ availability at location

social media searches for:

• unboxing videos/ influencer review content

• social community reviews from product/ service customers

  
  

Action steps to avoid common shortcomings: If you haven't assigned web behavior based scoring, you might be sending your leads into a black hole. PII is submitted into a web form, what happens next? (and that's best case scenario).

This is the time to explain what differentiates your product/ service from competitors or any other comparable solution out there. Really persuade and explain content in an easy to digest format and offer web behavior based content to help with personalization.

In a search engine scope, these keywords are often the most competitive and will produce the greatest expense by volume, adjust your bidding strategy accordingly.

Stage 2: weighing options & shopping around What this looks like: The consumer has the information and is making a decision how to approach. While not fully ready to talk to sales or even purchase, some touch points in this part can include:

visiting multiple vendors

show rooming behaviors - (physical locations that carry product/ service) search engine searches for:

• brand names, competitors and alternate options.

• store hours

• directions to location

• requesting samples

• scheduling free demonstrations

• inventory/ availability at location

  
  

Action steps to avoid common shortcomings: Connecting offline datapoints are critical here such as POS if in store or any data collecting foot traffic is helpful. In a search engine scope this can look like connecting map listings, and phone numbers.

While branded traffic is often one of the most affordable options in paid search, keep in mind of what the search landscape looks like for the client. Some may consider bidding on their own brand, others may simply rely on organic traffic.

Stage 3: now it's time for sales contact

What this looks like: The customer has information, and a plan of what to ask sales where and when. Touch points for this can include: search engine searches for:

• buy product/ service

• chat support

• phone number

• contact form

• schedule appointment

• billing and account setup

• custom configuration information
  

Action steps to avoid common shortcomings: Often some of the highest converting search terms are also the highest intent based options. CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) planning around these actions are often some of the most time consuming labors of love in marketing when in reality, the hypothesis around what brought consumers to the conversion point are often ignored. Learn the customer pathways, the decisions and the methods to connect the dots for real insights.

In a search engine scope, these keywords will have some of the highest conversion rates in your ads account because they reflect the highest intent. When it comes to proving search ROI to a stakeholder it is important to reflect on the contributions of the whole picture, not just optimizing this segment of the ads account. Keep in mind different attribution models can offer a glimpse into the touch points of the customer journey as a quantifiable guide.

Stage 4: The remarketing, and follow up

So your customer purchased.. congratulations. Like every good long term relationship, this is more than just one date. Once the product/ service becomes tangible to real life scenarios this is where the value add is more important than ever.

Touch points here include:

Recommended or suggested products/ services (this is usually populated by a dynamic field from a product data feed)

services or maintenance packages

subscriptions and notifications for future promotions (and enabled web personalization)

search engine searches for:

• parts

• service & maintenance

• troubleshooting

• support

• repairs

Action steps to prevent common shortcomings: Maintaining and organizing audience list segmentation is critical as it can then be leveraged for remarketing purposes. In search, this is commonly referred to RLSAs (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads).

Questions? Comments, Let me know your thoughts!