How Customers Make Decisions
Customer journeys don't follow the diagrams we draw on whiteboards.
You know those clean funnels where prospects glide from awareness to consideration to purchase? Where everything flows in orderly stages like a well-managed assembly line?
That's not how people buy anymore.
Real customers bounce around like pinballs. They discover your brand on TikTok at 2 AM. Research competitors during lunch breaks. Check prices on their phone while standing in a physical store. Then buy three weeks later because a podcast ad caught them at precisely the right moment.
What are most marketers doing? Optimising conversion rates between funnel stages.
Here's what's happening: While we've been perfecting linear processes, customers have been designing their own chaotic, human experiences. Their version makes more sense than ours.
The marketing funnel worked when brands controlled information.
Back then, customers had limited choices and predictable paths. You could expect someone who saw your TV ad to visit your store, talk to a salesperson, and make a decision within a few weeks.
Now? Customers write their own rules.
They research on their own timeline. People skip steps. They backtrack. They pause their journey for months, then restart when something triggers their interest again. Salesforce found that 73% of customers expect companies to understand their needs rather than push them through predetermined steps.
What are we doing instead? Trying to force people through stages they never agreed to follow.
They use touchpoints we can't track. Where brands once managed three or four customer interactions, people now hopscotch between dozens of platforms before making decisions. LinkedIn ads lead to website visits. Website visits lead to Amazon reviews. Amazon reviews lead to YouTube comparisons. YouTube videos spark Facebook conversations. Facebook posts drive Reddit deep-dives.
Then they buy somewhere completely different.
They make emotional decisions with logical justifications. Funnels assume rational progression: awareness creates consideration, consideration drives purchase. But real decisions happen in the spaces between logic. Trust develops during a customer service call. Doubt creeps in during a complicated checkout process. Excitement builds when a product exceeds expectations.
These feelings don't march through stages in a single file.
Consider how Netflix approaches this reality. They don't funnel people toward subscriptions. Instead, they create an environment where discovering content, getting recommendations, and watching shows all blend into one seamless experience. People don't "convert" to Netflix. They gradually integrate it into their entertainment habits until canceling feels unthinkable.
Great customer experiences work like well-designed cities.
Multiple routes lead to the same destination. Some paths are direct highways—fast and efficient. Others meander through interesting neighbourhoods where people discover things they didn't know they wanted. Savvy travellers switch between walking, driving, and public transit based on their mood, schedule, and what catches their attention.
The best customer experiences give people the same freedom.
They offer options without overwhelming. They respect preferences without becoming rigid. They make every interaction valuable, even when it doesn't lead to an immediate sale.
Most importantly? They're designed around what customers want to accomplish, not what we want them to do.
Start with Human Goals, Not Business Processes
Here's a radical idea: organize experiences around customer objectives instead of internal departments.
A software buyer isn't thinking about your lead scoring system. They're trying to solve a business problem without getting fired for choosing poorly. They want to understand capabilities, assess risks, and build confidence in their decision.
Your funnel probably looks like this: Marketing generates leads → Sales qualifies prospects → Deals close → Support onboards customers.
Their reality looks like this: Problem surfaces → Research begins → Options multiply → Anxiety grows → Decision stalls → Pressure mounts → Choice happens (maybe).
Which experience are you designing for?
When Adobe shifted from selling perpetual software licenses to Creative Cloud subscriptions, it stopped thinking about purchase transactions. Instead, they focused on creative workflows. Now users can trial tools, collaborate with teammates, access tutorials, and manage projects all within the same ecosystem.
The result? The boundaries between marketing, product, and support basically disappeared, which is exactly how customers experience brands—as unified entities, not departmental silos.
Connect Every Touchpoint Without Suffocating Them
Connection doesn't mean identical.
A luxury hotel's mobile app might be minimalist and functional, while its lobby radiates old-world grandeur. Both reinforce the same brand values through completely different expressions.
Starbucks masters this balance. Their app handles pure convenience—order ahead, pay fast, collect rewards. Their physical stores provide community and atmosphere. Their social media builds cultural relevance. Each channel serves a distinct purpose while feeling unmistakably Starbucks.
What would happen if you stopped trying to make everything look the same and started making everything feel cohesive instead?
Respect the Clock and Context
Timing determines whether your message feels helpful or invasive.
The same cart abandonment email that delights someone browsing leisurely becomes harassment when they're dealing with a family crisis. Context shapes reception more than content.
Amazon figured this out with anticipatory shipping. By analysing purchase patterns, they position inventory near customers before orders are placed. The result feels like magic—instant gratification without requiring actual instant logistics.
How are you reading the room before you speak?
Turn Every Interaction Into Intelligence
Traditional funnels end when someone makes a purchase.
Smart customer experiences use every post-purchase moment to deepen relationships. Unboxing experiences. Set up processes. Support conversations. Renewal touchpoints. Each interaction teaches you something about customer preferences and generates opportunities for authentic connection.
Tesla owners become evangelists not just because they love their cars. Tesla designs remarkable ongoing experiences that keep the relationship evolving. Software updates feel like getting a new vehicle every few months. The Supercharger network eliminates range anxiety. Service appointments happen at your home or office.
These experiences generate more genuine word-of-mouth than any advertising campaign could buy.
Map What's Happening
Before designing ideal experiences, understand the current reality.
Talk to customers. Shadow sales calls. Read every support ticket from the past month. Follow the actual paths people take through your brand ecosystem, not the ones you think they should take.
Pay obsessive attention to emotional moments. Where do people feel confused? Frustrated? Delighted? Empowered? These feelings predict behaviour better than demographic data.
Netflix discovered something surprising: users' first ten minutes on the platform predicted long-term engagement more accurately than content variety or subscription pricing. This single insight drove massive investments in personalisation algorithms and interface design.
Traditional funnel thinking would have focused on content acquisition and pricing optimisation instead.
What emotional moments are you missing in your customer data?
Create Multiple Valid Pathways
Design several routes to the same destination. Make sure each path provides genuine value, even when people don't reach your ultimate business goal.
A fitness app might celebrate workout consistency long before mentioning premium subscriptions. A B2B software company might publish genuinely helpful industry research before ever pitching enterprise deals.
Think of these as waypoints where customers achieve meaningful progress toward their objectives. Their success becomes your success, whether they buy immediately or not.
Build the Technology Foundation
These experiences require sophisticated orchestration.
Customer data platforms unify behaviour across touchpoints. Marketing automation triggers contextual responses based on real-time signals. AI predicts optimal timing and messaging for individual customers at scale.
But here's the crucial part: start with experience design, then determine technical requirements. Too many companies automate broken processes and wonder why results don't improve.
Technology amplifies strategy. It doesn't replace it.
Conversion rates tell incomplete stories.
Cost per acquisition reveals nothing about relationship quality. Pipeline velocity ignores customer satisfaction. These metrics optimise for short-term extraction rather than long-term value creation.
Better measurement frameworks focus on the complete customer relationship:
Customer Effort Score asks a simple question: How easy was it for people to accomplish their goals? High-effort experiences predict churn more accurately than satisfaction surveys. Customers forgive mistakes. They don't forgive obstacles.
Net Promoter Score captures emotional connection and likelihood of authentic recommendations. Promoters generate more than double the revenue growth of detractors. They also cost less to retain and provide more honest feedback.
Customer Lifetime Value includes the full economic impact of relationships—direct purchases, referrals, upsells, and brand advocacy. Optimising for CLV often means investing in apparently "unprofitable" early interactions that build trust and competence.
Goal Completion Rates track whether customers accomplish what they set out to do, not just what you want them to do. Someone who solves their problem using your free resources might become a future buyer. They'll definitely refer others if the experience exceeds expectations.
Which metrics are you optimising for?
Moving beyond funnel thinking requires more than tactical changes.
It demands a philosophical shift from viewing customers as conversion targets to seeing them as collaborators in value creation. It requires patience with non-linear progress and investment in experiences that may not drive immediate revenue.
This challenges fundamental organisational structures. Marketing, sales, and service teams must share customer data, align on unified metrics, and coordinate strategies across departments. Finance teams need to evaluate investments over extended time horizons. Technology teams must support real-time personalisation at scale.
The payoff? Organisations that master this complexity build customer relationships that resist commoditization and price competition.
While competitors optimise individual funnel stages, journey-focused companies create switching costs through superior experiences rather than contractual barriers.
Choose one customer segment. Map their complete journey across every touchpoint you can identify. Find the three most significant friction points and design targeted improvements.
Test new approaches. Measure holistic outcomes. Scale what works.
Remember: customers don't care about your internal processes, departmental boundaries, or quarterly targets. They care about solving problems, achieving goals, and feeling understood by the brands they choose.
Organisations that align around these customer truths will define what marketing looks like for the next decade.
The funnel worked when the world was simpler. Today's customers have sophisticated expectations that demand equally sophisticated experiences.
You'll eventually move beyond linear thinking. The only question is whether you'll lead this transition or follow competitors who figured it out first.
What are you waiting for?
