How Long is the Customer Journey?

In a survey of 158 business professionals by Arm Treasure Data, 71 percent say they believe the time between first customer engagement and purchase is a month or longer.

By Tom Ryan

About a quarter (23 percent) didn’t know how long their typical customer journey was.

The survey infers that the journey has become lengthier because of the increasingly multichannel nature of shopping. Sixty-one percent of respondents indicated customers typically engage with their brand three or more times before making a purchase. For 15 percent, the number of touchpoints prior to purchase is 11 or more.

BRP’s “2019 Consumer Shopping Survey” released in April suggests that the customer journey is evolving as consumers move across channels to research, purchase and review products with easy access to merchandise and information on mobile devices.

Among digital consumers (ages 18-37), 65 percent in the BRP survey said they want the ability to receive personalized recommendations, and 65 percent prefer the ability to pay via a mobile wallet or retailer app. Same-day delivery was cited by 77 percent as a reason to choose a store. Digital consumers were also found to be more likely than traditional consumers (ages 38+) to share feedback on social media for both exceptional and unsatisfactory shopping experiences.

Wunderman Thompson’s recently-released “Future Shopping” study found search engine dominance shrinking during the inspiration phase of the shopper journey but social media gaining. In its survey, only 36 percent of Gen Z shoppers (ages 16-24) said they turn to search engines for inspiration versus 51 percent of overall survey respondents. Half of Gen Z look for inspiration on social versus only 32 overall. Thirty-six percent of Gen Z respondents seek inspiration on brand websites and 28 percent in-store — similar to all consumers.

However, when it comes to actively searching for individual products to buy online, 56 percent of consumers go directly to Amazon to start their search. That tops search engines (49 percent), brand websites (29 percent) and retailers (27 percent).

This article originally appeared in RetailWire.