Imagine your brand is a theme park. Your customers aren't always in line for the main attraction.

Marketers of all stripes talk a lot about the customer journey and where they are within it (from prospect who knows little to nothing about you to a raving fan). Through that lens it looks like a tidy, predictable and linear path.

The classic journey (or funnel) goes like this:

1. Awareness: The customer becomes aware of your product or brand.

2. Interest: They develop an interest and want to learn more.

3. Consideration: They actively consider whether to buy the product.

4. Intent: They intend to buy and may start comparing options.

5. Evaluation: They evaluate different choices, perhaps reading reviews or comparing prices.

6. Purchase: They make the decision and complete the transaction.

Simple, right?

While this makes for a tidy graphic for your marketing presentation, this doesn’t at all match reality. Especially for higher ticket items. While WE think constantly about our products and brand, THEY don’t. They’re busy living their lives. And only get to know us when they have a pressing need to solve a problem. Rarely are they standing in line clamoring for you to open your doors.

The real customer journey is one circuitous route. It’s mobile, social and personal. It’s multi-channel with many touchpoint across several platforms. It’s iterative and non-linear (yes, customers may double back or skip around). Yet although they’re unpredictable and erratic, you customers expect YOU to be seamless wherever you show up.

Let’s illustrate with a theme park analogy.

Imagine you’re planning a trip to Disneyland for your family. You might focus on Disneyland over Disney World if you’re on the West Coast or vice versa. So you start looking at the attractions, perusing the website, then Instagram, then talking with your friends. You’re hopping from platform to platform wherever the breadcrumbs take you. You start looking at packages and best places to stay and then veer off considering what else in Los Angeles you might want to do while there.

But then you look at the prices and realize you could go to Europe for about the same price. So you think “Disneyland Paris here we come!” And then your focus turns to where to stay in Paris and what else you should do while there. You might also bounce between Paris and Los Angeles, considering pluses and minuses of each. The process is like a maze; not a straight line at all.

Your journey is personal and unique. Just like no two people shop for groceries the same way, no two customer journeys are identical. Each of us has our own habits, preferences, and quirks. We’re influenced by different outside forces. Friends’ Facebook posts, celebrity tweets, or a random YouTube ad served up because it knows you’re looking.

It's often unconscious. You probably don't wake up thinking, “Gee, I'm going to progress further in my customer journey with Disneyland today.” You go about your day and flit in and out of your research.

It’s becomes a continuous loop as once you’re there experiencing Disneyland and Paris, you’re likely talking about it, posting about and then deciding whether you want to return. Or perhaps thinking you’ll try Los Angeles next. I know some people who go to Disneyland every year and some who go once or twice in their lifetimes.

In essence, the modern customer journey is a lot like life itself - complex, unpredictable, and full of twists and turns. More “Chutes and Ladders” than roadtrip through Kansas. Brands that understand and embrace this complexity tend to be those that succeed in building lasting relationships with their customers.

So how do you effectively work through this?

Knowing it’s not a tidy funnel already puts you ahead. But you need to get a little methodical:

1. Create a touchpoint map: identify all possible points of contact with your customers. Where do they start, stop, backtrack and exit. What are yours and what are owned by others?

2. Story time. Use this info to develop content that addresses what your customers need at each stage.

3. Get personal. Use data to create meaningful experiences throughout the journey and keep them engaged with YOU.

4. Be consistent. Make sure the experience you deliver flows across all channels.

5. Create some wow and delight; provide support at every stage of the journey as well as a little surprise.

6. Once they buy from you, keep them coming back by turning them into brand advocates. This is your opportunity to generate repeat purchases and create loyalty.

7. Finally, because nothing is ever static, analyze the data to understand changing behaviors. Especially if you find something that worked great last year no longer does.

Now go be the ride your customers can't stop talking about.

This week’s kickstart

Map your customer journey from end to end using the outline above. Then create a plan to take your customers on a journey they won’t forget. Bonus points if you’re able to test out your approach on a few customers and get feedback. Did you lose them along the way? If so, make a plan to get them back on track.

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