Customer experience optimisation and customer journey are more of those tech phrases that put terror into the uninitiated. The concepts, however, are not new.
We’ve always wanted to monitor and understand who our customers are, where they come from, what percentage stay on the customer journey from the first moment they become aware of us, and how many return to buy again. These metrics are the fundamentals of all sales and marketing funnels.
Digitilization and customer journeys
When companies began establishing websites, measurement had to go digital. Only by measuring and optimising can we maximise our sales efforts. Unsurprisingly, today’s digital tools follow many of the old-school KPIs, tracking where people drop off, why, and how satisfied they are with the process.
Clarity of brand identity has always been crucial, but it’s even more so now with the internet’s visibility and the many channels customers use to engage. Omnichannel cohesion is vital. Without it, your brand risks becoming a split personality.
If a first visit or touchpoint jars with how your brand is perceived, visitors will feel off-balance. It’s like walking into an eco-friendly store only to find staff in fur coats and everything wrapped in plastic. That disconnect sends customers running—not ideal.
The customers’ narrative
Your brand is no longer fully in your control. With growing scepticism about advertising and increased reliance on personal recommendations, brand loyalty now has a crowd-driven element. Customers co-create your brand and reputation—but only if you deliver a great experience at every touchpoint.
David Meerman Scott, a contributor to Scale for Success, coined the phrase Fanocracy. He explains how fans now take ownership of brand interpretation. As your brand grows, your community, not you, will increasingly shape the narrative. So it’s crucial to align your message across channels and stay in tune with how your fans perceive and share it.
As ever, sales and engagement are driven by emotion—people buy to feel better or avoid feeling worse. This emotional connection must run through every step of the journey. Whether your brand evokes laughter, desire, or worry, no emotional spark means no engagement. No tech, however advanced, can replace this.
Optimising the customer journey with speed
Speed and ease are central to customer experience optimisation. A clunky bot or poor website layout can seriously harm your brand. You want digital visitors to feel welcomed and engaged throughout their journey.
But speed means different things in different contexts. In fast food, speed is the essence; in a fine-dining restaurant, we expect a slow, luxurious pace. It’s the same with digital journeys. Some products call for quick access; others benefit from a more immersive experience. The pace must suit the market.
This is where technology meets insight. The longer users stay on your site, the more data you gather. That data enables personalisation, which can increase return visits and conversions, yet another benefit of a well-optimised journey.
Entrepreneur Dean Cherny of SocialQ shared a great example. His appointment-based retail platform, created during Melbourne’s lockdown, allows stores to personalise each visit. On average, customers who book through SocialQ spend four times as much as walk-ins. That’s the power of data-driven retailing.
Simplicity, ease, and emotional design
Navigation is critical—online and off. If you can’t find the restaurant (or website), can’t read the menu (or see product categories), or get served the wrong item, frustration sets in. These pain points are just as real in digital environments.
The point of using the internet is convenience. Nothing triggers keyboard rage faster than a bad user experience—dead ends, unclear menus, and unhelpful bots asking you to “rephrase your question” again and again.
In summary
Old sales principles like upselling and cross-selling still apply. Just as pushy salespeople fail, upsells must be offered subtly and at the right time—once the customer is already engaged in the journey.
A well-designed customer journey supports your brand from first contact through post-sale engagement. And while tech tools are evolving fast, they can’t compensate for a poor product or disconnected experience.
I speak with entrepreneurs every week—many now tech-driven—and see a common pitfall: measuring success by revenue alone. That’s short-sighted. Clever marketing may bring customers in, but like food, it’s the taste that brings them back. The product has to deliver.
As a writer, I measure success in engagement: how long readers stay, whether they explore other pages, and whether they come back. Book sales and reviews offer even more clarity. Ultimately, it’s about what connects and what doesn’t. Optimisation is ongoing.
The best reward isn’t a viral hit—it’s a message from someone who found value in your work. That’s success. And no one gets there without a great customer journey.
Don’t be blinded by flashy tech. Your customers don’t care about your backend systems or even your product. They care about solving their problem in a way that makes them feel good.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. But the right blend of experience, speed, emotion, and brand alignment creates what matters most: happy customers, who buy, return, and become your fans.
This is an updated version of an article that originally appeared in CX Buzz
