If you’re running an ecommerce business and struggling to scale, chances are you’ve missed one of the most valuable tools available: your customer journey.
Most early-stage founders focus heavily on their product, ads or website without ever asking: How does a customer actually go from not knowing we exist to clicking ‘Buy Now’?
Mapping your customer journey isn’t just for big businesses. At Gro, it’s one of the first steps we take with founders looking to grow. In just 30 to 60 minutes, this exercise can reveal bottlenecks, hidden leaks and easy wins that could be holding your business back.
What is a Customer Journey?
A customer journey is the full path someone takes from not knowing your brand exists to becoming a loyal customer. It includes every touchpoint they have with you, across both digital and real-world spaces.
A touchpoint is any moment your customer sees, hears or interacts with your brand. This might include:
- A TikTok they scroll past
- A Google search result they click
- A review they read on Trustpilot
- Your homepage or landing page
- A product image or email follow-up
The customer journey brings these touchpoints together into a clear visual, so you can see where people are flowing through and where they’re falling off.
Why Founders Overlook This Step
Many ecommerce founders are so focused on traffic and sales that they don’t stop to ask why some customers buy and others don’t. This leads to:
- Spending money on ads that drive clicks but not conversions
- Blaming your product when it’s actually the website
- Missing key signals about customer intent
- Failing to follow up with warm leads
As Joel Atkinson explains in the Customer Journeys session inside Gro, most founders haven’t been taught to look at the full system. Instead, they treat marketing as a set of disconnected tasks. The customer journey puts everything in one place and makes growth more measurable.
The 4 Stages of a Customer Journey
At Gro, we simplify the customer journey into four clear stages:
-
Unaware
These people have never heard of you. They don’t know you exist and they might not even know they have a problem yet.
Touchpoints at this stage include:
- Paid social ads
- Organic content
- Referrals from friends
- Viral posts or shares
-
Problem Aware
They now realise they have a problem or desire, but don’t yet know you are the solution. They might be searching for solutions or comparing products.
Touchpoints here might include:
- Google searches
- YouTube explainers
- Reddit discussions
- Blog content
-
Brand Aware
At this point, they’ve seen your brand. Maybe they’ve followed you or visited your site, but they haven’t taken action yet. They’re comparing you to others.
Touchpoints here include:
- Landing pages
- Testimonials
- Product reviews
- FAQs or how-to content
-
Conversion and Beyond
This is when they decide to buy. But the journey doesn’t end here. If you want repeat buyers and word-of-mouth marketing, you also need to map post-purchase experiences.
This could include:
- Packaging
- Shipping updates
- Follow-up emails
- Customer service
- Requests for reviews
Each of these stages should be connected. If one is broken, you lose potential customers.
How to Map Your Customer Journey
Founders inside Gro use free tools like Miro or whiteboards to create their journey map. Here’s a simple process to follow:
Step 1: Start on the Left
Write down all your traffic sources. These might include:
- TikTok content
- Instagram ads
- Google search
- Blog posts
- YouTube videos
- Word of mouth
- Trade shows
List each one as a separate starting point.
Step 2: Track Where They Go Next
For each source, draw a line to where that person goes next. This might be:
- A specific landing page
- A product detail page
- A content piece
- A newsletter sign-up
Continue mapping each path forward, including every major interaction. Think of it like a flowchart.
Step 3: Add Data (If You Have It)
Once your touchpoints are mapped, add rough conversion figures where possible.
For example:
- 1,000 people see your TikTok
- 100 visit your site
- 10 add to basket
- 3 purchase
This helps you spot your biggest drop-offs and conversion gaps.
Step 4: Identify the Bottleneck
Find the point where the most people fall off.
It could be:
- A low-converting landing page
- An unclear product description
- A confusing checkout flow
- No clear call to action
Fixing this step first often leads to the biggest growth gains.
What Most Founders Get Wrong
One of the most common mistakes is assuming that more traffic solves all problems. But traffic is only valuable if your journey converts.
Here are a few red flags Joel regularly sees:
- You’ve got strong engagement on social, but no one is buying
- Your website looks good but has a very low conversion rate
- Customers ask the same questions over and over
- You’re getting traffic but have no idea where it’s coming from
All of these issues point to gaps in your customer journey.
A Real Example from the Gro System
One founder inside Gro was getting strong traffic from YouTube reviews and blog content. But sales were flat.
After mapping their journey, we discovered:
- YouTube viewers landed on a general homepage
- The homepage had too many options and no clear next step
- Customers were clicking away without taking action
By building a dedicated landing page just for those YouTube viewers, conversions increased by over 40 percent. The content hadn’t changed. The ads hadn’t changed. The only change was the journey being more direct.
Why This Step Feeds Everything Else
Once your customer journey is mapped and optimised, every other part of your business improves.
You’ll know:
- Which traffic sources drive real results
- Where to spend your marketing budget
- What content converts best
- What questions are blocking purchases
- What your most profitable customers do differently
This makes it easier to scale, easier to delegate and easier to make decisions based on facts, not gut feel.
What To Do Next
If you haven’t mapped your customer journey yet, here’s your action plan:
- List every touchpoint where someone discovers or interacts with your brand
- Map out the sequence of steps they take before buying
- Highlight your biggest conversion drop-off
- Fix that step before doing anything else
- Repeat the process monthly to keep improving
This is one of the highest-leverage tasks a founder can do.
If you’re running an ecommerce business and want more predictable growth, build your journey map today. It might be the clearest path to 10k months you haven’t explored yet.
