Jordan Dockendorf, Director of Strategic Marketing Programs at impact.com, takes a detailed look at the contemporary customer journey and offers a blueprint for marketing success in a multichannel world

The way consumers discover and shop for products has changed drastically in recent years. While marketers once relied on the traditional linear funnel to reach audiences, today’s landscape is much more complex, with an intricate web of touchpoints spanning digital and physical channels, publisher sites, social platforms, and in-person interactions. To engage an increasingly informed audience, marketers must adopt smarter strategies, turning to innovative methods like influencer and affiliate marketing to drive results.

A recent eMarketer and impact.com report reveals that consumers typically research products at least three times before making a purchase. However, with nearly 80% of purchases still occurring in-store rather than online, attribution remains a significant challenge for marketers.

Stage one: the contemporary discovery journey

In the first phase of the consumer journey, the vast number of discovery channels presents a significant challenge for brands and advertisers. Historically, there were only a few ways for consumers to research and purchase, but today new products can be discovered almost anywhere — through word-of-mouth, social media, and digital video.

A 2024 Jungle Scout study suggests that Amazon is the go-to starting point for product discovery, but that search engines, social media platforms and a host of other digital spaces are playing increasingly prominent roles in introducing new products to consumers constantly.

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Stage two: intricate consideration

In the second stage of today’s consumer journey, the consideration phase has become increasingly complex, with consumers consulting multiple digital and traditional touchpoints before making a purchase decision. In fact, impact.com and eMarketer’s research suggests consumers refer to websites, in-store experiences, social platforms and word-of-mouth channels more than three times before committing to a transaction. In the digital sphere, search engines (44.3%), branded social (24%) and influencers (18.4%) are the most powerful discovery tools, while print catalogues and mailouts (38.4%) and the opinions of our friends and family (31%) rule the roost for traditional channels.

Every customer is unique, and consumer behavior varies significantly across age and income segments. For instance, low-income consumers tend to value in-store research experiences, while younger, tech-savvy groups rely more on online reviews than on recommendations from family and friends. This highlights the importance of sophisticated segmentation strategies.

Stage three: the purchase phase

The purchase phase, a crucial part of the modern customer journey, brings exciting challenges for brands. With 69% of consumers discovering new products weekly, how can businesses stand out and convince customers to spend their limited resources on their offerings? The situation becomes even more complex when consideration and purchase happen across different channels. The key is to meet customers where they are—whether that’s in-store, on social media, or on a brand’s website.

Driving purchase decisions

Regardless of the channel, several key factors influence a customer’s decision to purchase. Price and value are the primary drivers, with product quality (34.7%) and price (20%) forming the core of most decisions. Discounts play a major role in this phase, with 62.3% of consumers citing them as a key consideration. Secondary drivers include customer reviews (10.7%), brand reputation (8.9%), and product availability (8.3%). Social proof, trust, and convenience are also essential to today’s consumer.

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Multichannel consideration points

eMarketer and impact.com’s research demonstrates a number of key business implications for businesses looking to reach consumers in the ever expanding multichannel world, including three particularly critical considerations.

• Attribution. Despite the proliferation of the digital world, 80% of retail dollars are still spent in-store. The challenge is that much of consumer research happens online, making it difficult to track their journey accurately. This results in lost insights and the risk of running misaligned marketing campaigns that often operate without a clear understanding of the customer’s path.
• Channel effectiveness. Consumers explore a variety of sources during the discovery and research phases, including search engines, social media platforms and retailer websites. Brands must be present across these touchpoints while also understanding which ones deliver the most value in the purchase journey.
• The demographic divide. Consumers’ behavior varies greatly across age and income segments, particularly when it comes to their research patterns. For example, high earners ($250,000 and above) will research a purchase at least five times – much more than lower income brackets. Brands and marketers need to use nuanced segmentation when targeting their audience.

Building an effective multichannel strategy

There are three critical steps to building a sophisticated multichannel strategy that will engage consumers regardless of age, income bracket, or their research and purchase habits.

First, marketers must recognize that the modern consumer journey often involves multiple stages of research across various platforms. To stay relevant, brands need to consistently produce high-quality content tailored to each channel, maintain consistency in pricing and availability, and provide easy access to authentic reviews, ratings, and other supporting resources.

Next, it’s essential to understand the universal drivers of quality and value, which resonate across all demographics. However, marketing efforts should be tailored to the product type and level of consideration. For instance, high-consideration products are best supported by in-depth educational content and expert consultations.

Finally, address the complex challenge of accurate attribution to gain a comprehensive understanding of your customer’s journey. Investing in multi-touch attribution models will help you connect the dots between a customer’s research and purchase. Additionally, leveraging consumer data to create a unified view of your customer will enable brands to trace intricate channels through probabilistic modeling, providing valuable insights for optimization.

The marketing funnel has changed — and will continue to evolve. Acknowledging these ongoing shifts and adapting your strategy to meet consumers where they are, through authentic partnerships and targeted touchpoints, is how marketers can stay top of mind in today’s highly complex market.