The Buyer Journey Is Due For A Refresh

Let’s face it: The buyer journey is the avocado toast of marketing metaphors—everywhere, overused, and occasionally ridiculed. Yet here we are, ready to dust it off and serve it to you again. Why? Because in the last 12 to 14 months, we’ve had countless client conversations about buyer journeys, buying phases, and the “right” content types for each phase. And it became clear: The buyer journey isn’t the problem. How we’ve been using it is.

And no, we have zero regrets admitting that.

Where things went wrong

Recently, there’s been a significant shift in B2B purchasing behavior, with 90% of buyers reporting that their purchase processes were stalled in 2023 (Forrester). This indicates that traditional linear sales funnels are becoming less effective, necessitating a more adaptable and responsive approach to meet evolving buyer expectations.

We’ve become too caught up in formats. The conversation goes like this: We say “awareness phase,” and you reflexively fire back with “article, testimonial, demo.” It’s a volley of tactics—quick and efficient, yet surprisingly devoid of insight.

The problem? We’ve traded meaning for mechanics. Insight for output. And that’s not okay.

Good content doesn’t come from ticking boxes on a spreadsheet or cycling through formats like we’re on autopilot. It comes from going back to first principles—the why behind the what. Because at the end of the day, buyers don’t care about your e-book. They care about relevancy.

Back to first principles: Rethinking the buyer journey

What can we do to improve the situation? Let’s start by going through the buyer journey again. But this time, let’s strip away the format-first thinking and ask better questions.

1. What do you want your buyers to feel?

Buyer decisions aren’t purely rational. Feelings play a massive role—confidence, curiosity, even a sense of urgency. Ask yourself, at every phase of the journey, what emotional state you want to cultivate:

• At the awareness stage, should the buyers feel understood?
• At the consideration stage, should they feel empowered?
• At the decision stage, should they feel absolutely confident in their choice?

Great content doesn’t just inform; it connects.

2. Which behaviors help nudge buyers forward?

The buyer journey isn’t linear. It’s a mess of clicks, hesitations, backtracking, and quiet deliberations. Your content needs to guide—not shove—buyers forward. Think about micro behaviors:

• A skim turns into a click.
• A click leads to a comment or a download.
• A download creates a reason to return.

Every piece of content should act like a nudge—not just to the next stage of the funnel but closer to the ultimate decision.

3. What information provides maximum value?

Stop thinking in terms of deliverables. Start thinking in terms of utility. Buyers aren’t saying, “I’ve read an article about the problem; next, I need a white paper about the solution.” They want information, not formats. They want relevance, not fluff.

Ask yourself:

• What’s the one thing they need to know right now?
• What will make them say, “This is exactly what I needed”?

Your content’s job isn’t to check a box; it’s to be indispensable.

Relevance is your compass

Here’s the truth: Buyers don’t follow your neat little funnel. They don’t think, “Ah, I’m in the awareness phase. Time to consume a blog post.” What they care about is simple: Is this useful? Does it help me solve my problem?

We need to stop obsessing over phases and formats and start obsessing over relevance. Relevance is what makes your article, testimonial, or demo effective. Contact us to talk more about how your buyer journey can be improved by throwing out your old way of looking at the buyer journey.