Customer Journey vs. Buyer Journey

I've noticed a lot of businesses get confused when it comes to understanding the difference between the customer journey and the buyer journey.

Here’s the deal: the buyer's journey covers the entire process from the moment someone becomes aware of your product to the point they purchase it (and even beyond). Buyers don’t just wake up and decide to buy — they go through stages of awareness, consideration, and, finally, decision-making.

The customer's journey, on the other hand, is all about how your brand fits into that process. It’s the specific customer touchpoints where you interact with your customers during their buying journey. By mapping out your customer journey, you’re making sure every interaction is intentional and impactful, rather than just hoping for the best.

At HubSpot, for example, we break our customer journey into three main stages: pre-purchase, onboarding, and ongoing use/renewal.

At each stage, we have key touchpoints — like educational blog posts or onboarding tools — that guide our customers along the way.

Your brand’s customer journey stages might look different, and that’s okay. What matters is starting with a clear plan. Let’s discuss how you can create a customer journey map.

What is a Customer Journey Map?

A customer journey map is a visual representation of the customer's experience with a company. It also provides insight into the needs of potential customers at every stage of this journey and the factors that directly or indirectly motivate or inhibit their progress.

The business can then use this information to improve the customer experience, increase conversions, and boost customer retention.

The customer journey map is not to be confused with a UX journey map. But, for clarity, let’s distinguish these two below.

What is UX journey mapping?

A UX journey map represents how a customer experiences their journey toward achieving a specific goal or completing a particular action.

For example, I can use the term “UX journey mapping” interchangeably with the term “customer journey mapping” if the goal being tracked is the user’s journey toward purchasing a product or service.

However, UX journey mapping can also be used to map the journey (i.e., actions taken) towards other goals, such as using a specific product feature.

Why is customer journey mapping important?

I’ve learned that the customer journey isn’t as simple as it looks. It’s easy to think: offer a product → customer buys. But honestly, it’s way more intricate. Before a customer even knows about your product, they’ve already realized they’ve got a problem that needs solving.

Throughout their journey, they’ll hit different touchpoints. Maybe they’ll see a competitor’s ad, read a review, hop on a sales call, or try out a demo. Each of those interactions shapes how they feel about your brand.

Here’s something I find interesting: 80% of customers value their experience with a company just as much as the product itself.

By mapping out the customer journey, I’ve seen how it gives marketing, sales, and service teams a clear understanding of each stage. It reduces friction and leads to happier customers. And when we meet customer needs quickly? We see higher brand loyalty.

That’s huge — so don’t miss out on the power of customers.

What data is necessary for customer journey mapping?

When I’m mapping the customer journey, I focus on real data, not assumptions. Here’s what I look for:

Customer Surveys and Interviews

I find that asking customers directly through surveys (like NPS) or interviews reveals valuable insights into their experiences, pain points, and how they use the product. This is solicited data because I ask for it specifically.

Unsolicited Data

I also gather data from customers they don’t actively provide, like their purchase history, page views, and email clicks. This unsolicited data is super useful for filling in the gaps that surveys might miss.