Customer journeys are typically portrayed as highly complex. But customer journeys play out on two dimensions, and there are four main journey types. Find out how you can leverage them in your marketing strategies.

1. THE FOUR CUSTOMER JOURNEYS IN
“WANT”-BASED ECOMMERCE
Alex Greifeld
@Heyitsalexp

2. “WANT”-BASED ECOMMERCE
= NOT NECESSITIES
= NOT MANY COMPLICATED TECH SPECS
= BUYING CYCLE > ONE YEAR

3. LAST 5 YEARS = CUSTOMER JOURNEY OBSESSION
SOURCE: GOOGLE SEARCH TRENDS, 2015-2020

4. CUSTOMER JOURNEYS ARE TYPICALLY REPRESENTED AS
SOMETHING HIGHLY COMPLEX

5. BUT I LIKE TO PUT THINGS INTO
BIG, CAUSATIVE BUCKETS

6. CUSTOMER LIFECYCLECUSTOMER JOURNEY
STARTS WITH FIRST
BRAND ENCOUNTER
IN THE BUYING CYCLE
ENDS WITH THE
PURCHASE
STARTS WITH THEIR
FIRST PURCHASE
ENDS THE LAST TIME
THEY PURCHASE
FROM YOU…EVER

7. CUSTOMER JOURNEYS PLAY OUT ON TWO
DIMENSIONS:
1. LEVEL OF IMPULSE
2. LEVEL OF PROMOTION

8. LEVEL OF IMPULSE
HIGH LOW
• IN MARKET
• READY TO BUY
• “LETS GO TO THE MALL”
MENTALITY
• DOESN’T FEEL THE
SHOPPING ITCH
• MAY NOT HAVE THE
FUNDS RIGHT NOW

9. LEVEL OF IMPULSE – REAL JOURNEYS
HIGH LOW
NOTE: MANY COOKIES HAVE A 30 DAY LIFETIME & WON’T CAPTURE THE ENTIRE JOURNEY

10. LEVEL OF PROMOTION
HIGH LOW
BUYS AT
FULL
PRICE
ONLY BUYS AT
DEEP
DISCOUNT
CAN’T AFFORD
TO BUY AT FULL
PRICE FROM
YOU, BUT DOES
BUY SOME
THINGS AT FULL
PRICE

11. 75% OF US SHOPPERS HAVE SHOPPED AT AN OFF-PRICE
RETAILER LIKE TJ MAXX.
71% OF LUXURY SHOPPERS HAVE SHOPPED AT AN OFF-PRICE
RETAILER.
SOURCE: HTTPS://QZ.COM/733345/NOBODY-IN-THE-US-WANTS-TO-PAY-FULL-PRICE-FOR-CLOTHES-ANYMORE/

12. THE FOUR CUSTOMER JOURNEYS IN ECOMMERCE
HOT ITEM
SHOPPER
CLEARANCE
SHOPPER
DISCOVERY
SHOPPER
ASPIRATIONAL
SHOPPER
LEVELOFIMPULSE
LEVEL OF PROMOTION

13. SO WHAT CAN WE DO WITH THIS
INFORMATION?

14. HOW EACH TYPE PERCEIVES THE BRAND
HOT ITEM SHOPPER
• In “lets go to the mall”
mentality
• Product-focused, brand is an
afterthought
CLEARANCE SHOPPER
• Looking for the dopamine hit
of “scoring a deal”
• Promo-focused, brand is an
afterthought
DISCOVERY SHOPPER
• Loves the brand/ product but
not ready to buy
• May return when they feel
spendy or need “x”
ASPIRATIONAL SHOPPER
• Loves the brand but can’t
afford it at full price
• Obsessively tracks favorite
items, waiting for a sale
LEVELOFIMPULSE
LEVEL OF PROMOTION

15. INTERNAL TEAM MOST CRITICAL TO WINNING EACH TYPE
HOT ITEM SHOPPER
Design & Merchandising
CLEARANCE SHOPPER
Pricing & Production
(Made for Outlet strategy)
DISCOVERY SHOPPER
Brand Marketing & Digital
Marketing
ASPIRATIONAL SHOPPER
Brand Marketing & Planning
(Markdown Strategy, Product
Extensions)
LEVELOFIMPULSE
LEVEL OF PROMOTION

16. A NOTE ON DIGITAL/PERFORMANCE MARKETING & CRM:
YOUR JOB IS TO UNDERSTAND HOW TO TAILOR YOUR STRATEGY
TO EACH TYPE OF JOURNEY.
YOU CAN’T MARKET YOUR WAY OUT OF A BAD ASSORTMENT OR
PRICING STRATEGY.

17. KEY CONCERNS FOR EACH TYPE
HOT ITEM SHOPPER
• More likely to be a “one and
done” customer
• How to build loyalty post-
purchase
CLEARANCE SHOPPER
• Churn inventory but
contribute little to no profit
• How to reduce cost to retain
and leverage strategically
DISCOVERY SHOPPER
• Front-loaded relationship
building = higher loyalty
• Don’t sabotage yourself via
bad post-purchase experience
ASPIRATIONAL SHOPPER
• Loyal but low frequency, low
margin contribution
• How to win additional share
of wallet for more margin
LEVELOFIMPULSE
LEVEL OF PROMOTION

18. PAYOFF PROFILE FOR EACH TYPE
HOT ITEM SHOPPER
• Low marketing investment
• High margin contribution
CLEARANCE SHOPPER
• Low marketing investment
• Low margin contribution
DISCOVERY SHOPPER
• High marketing investment
• High margin contribution
ASPIRATIONAL SHOPPER
• High marketing investment
• Med-low margin contribution
LEVELOFIMPULSE
LEVEL OF PROMOTION

19. WHERE TO INVEST PRE-PURCHASE
HOT ITEM SHOPPER
• Capturing them via key item-
focused performance digital
marketing
CLEARANCE SHOPPER
• Low cost performance digital
marketing
• Marketing to relevant
retained customers
DISCOVERY SHOPPER ASPIRATIONAL SHOPPER
LEVELOFIMPULSE
LEVEL OF PROMOTION
• Reach them where they discover brands (probably online)
• Paid & owned multichannel marketing to create the
impression that the “right” people are talking about you
• Digital dialogue channels – social feeds, email

20. WHERE TO INVEST POST-PURCHASE
HOT ITEM SHOPPER
• Post-purchase experience and
marketing to win the second
purchase
CLEARANCE SHOPPER
• Inventory planning & outlet
strategy to increase margin
contribution
DISCOVERY SHOPPER
• Fulfillment operations, post-
purchase support and
unboxing to maintain brand
impression
ASPIRATIONAL SHOPPER
• Assortment strategy – lower
priced line extensions to
capture incremental margin
while maintaining cache
LEVELOFIMPULSE
LEVEL OF PROMOTION

21. WHERE DOES YOUR ECOMMERCE DEMAND COME FROM?
TODAY’S DEMAND
MORE PREDICTABLE
REVENUE
• Impulse Shoppers
• Easy to attribute/
measure within a 7 day
window
LESS PREDICTABLE
REVENUE
• End of long customer
journeys
• Difficult to measure
when the journey started

22. THE PROPORTION OF THESE TWO SOURCES VARIES BY BRAND
YOUNG DTC BRAND
• Minimum viable assortment
• Growth driven by performance marketing
• Mostly hot item demand
MATURE BRAND
• Complex assortment
• Brand is more widely known
• More discovery demand
More
Predictable
Less
Predictable
More
Predictable
Less
Predictable

23. NOTE: AS A BRAND MATURES, ITS MULTIPLE YEARS OF RETAINED
CUSTOMERS BECOME AN ADDITIONAL SOURCE OF
PREDICTABILITY.

24. DESIGN STRATEGIES THAT WORK WITH
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, NOT AGAINST IT

25. THE HOT ITEM SHOPPER: COMMON MISSTEPS
• Many retailers point traffic to new arrivals or homepage, via broad campaign creative.
• Need a strategy to hero products that are best sellers or have potential.
ADS CAN’T ALL BE THIS NEED TO MIX IN SOME OF THIS
Brand’s
Homepage
Espadrille
Category
Page

26. THE HOT ITEM SHOPPER: BONUS TIP
• Your product page is your landing page/sales page for these customers. So make it
function like one.
• Critical product information and add to cart button are visible above the fold.

27. THE DISCOVERY SHOPPER: COMMON MISSTEPS
• Longer customer journey does not mean we need to be in every channel
• Need to understand who your target customer is, what channels actually matter to
them/are influential
• Cut channels that are not delivering profitable customers
X
X
X

28. THE ASPIRATIONAL SHOPPER: COMMON MISSTEPS
• If your entire marketing and product strategy is based on aspirational customers (“going
younger”) you will wind up with a lot of one and done customers.
• The Aspirational Shopper is an incremental unlock, not a core customer.

29. THE CLEARANCE SHOPPER: COMMON MISSTEPS
• When brands do deep end of season clearance events on their main site, they pollute
their core advertising pixels, email lists and customer files.
• If you email-gate your “sample sale” (a growing trend recently), you’ll end up with an
email file full of people who will never purchase at full price.
• Clearance is not a valid customer acquisition event, even if CACs are really low.

30. THIS IS JUST THE START.
USE THIS FRAMEWORK TO EVALUATE HOW YOU ATTRACT AND
RETAIN CUSTOMERS.
DIVERSIFY YOUR CUSTOMER MIX ACCORDING TO YOUR OWN
UNIQUE PRODUCT AND BRAND NARRATIVE.