Here’s the customer journey as a textbook might imagine it: A consumer sees an ad, becomes interested in the product being promoted, weighs the various benefits, and goes to a store or website to buy it. If only it were that straightforward and predictable.

Instead, customers might hear about a product through friends, a livestreaming series, a social media influencer, or a podcast long before they see an ad for it. They might research it online, read customer reviews, and visit a store to look at it, but not buy it right away. Maybe they’ll wind up coming back to the store, or maybe they’ll decide to order it online instead. That’s just one example in a veritable multiverse of nonlinear customer journeys, happening every day.

Research from eMarketer bears this out. While 31% of consumers who found a product in-store bought it right away, even more (33%) first looked up a product online, and nearly 22% talked to family or friends first.

Even their sources for getting information online can vary greatly. PwC’s latest “Voice of the Consumer” research shows that 41% of purchases are influenced by social media, but 70% of people are also looking up reviews online.

Now factor in all the time consumers spend streaming movies, music, TV shows, and even their favorite social influencers, including ad-supported services that could inspire their next purchase. They consume this content all day long, which means their awareness, consideration, and buying intent develops the way it might when they pass a neighborhood store every day for a week before deciding to go inside.

The evolution of these nonlinear journeys makes the map look a lot messier for brands. Being successful takes the strategic use of tools and data to orchestrate campaigns that bring their messages to life across all these touchpoints and paths. You may not always know exactly where audiences will journey next, but you need to be prepared to go along for the ride.

Brands aren’t the only ones tagging along on customer journeys. A 2024 survey from creator management platform GRIN found nearly three-quarters (74%) of consumers made a purchase because an influencer recommended it.

There is no denying that social media creators and influencers have become a part of the modern buyer’s journey. And brands need to show up during these moments to foster the deeper connection that customers want.

Influencing the products people consider, however, can happen through many different channels. Think of this as the consideration phase of the new customer journey, a time when people may have a sense of what they want or need. It’s a time when they turn to trusted sources to give them the confidence they need to make their purchase.

Watching videos and listening to podcasts in their connected homes, checking out livestream events, or digging into product reviews can all sway consumers one way or another. Beyond sharing specs and price points, you need to share content at this stage that makes consumers feel confident you’ll deliver a great experience and that investing with your brand marks the beginning of a valuable relationship.

Focus on the value
you can provide

There’s a reason why the Content Marketing Institute’s data shows 70% of B2C marketers believe content marketing is more important now than ever. All those video tutorials, blog posts, and guides build trust with customers by educating or inspiring them about their interests. Choose creative that tells a relevant story, leaving viewers feeling like your brand deserves their curiosity.

Help customers fully
explore the options
you provide

Are customers considering a single product, or are they seeking some kind of benefit that could encompass multiple products and services? Leave no stone unturned by continuing to build awareness even during the consideration phase. For instance, using Sponsored Display or Sponsored Brands to link audiences to specific subcategories in an Amazon store could give customers more to consider and may ignite interest in products they wouldn’t have otherwise considered.

Quantify consideration
through measurement

It’s never been easy for marketers to justify their budgets, but it is now more important than ever for them to understand how their ad spend contributes to the outcomes they need. Part of the challenge may be focusing exclusively on a few metrics. Revenue and profit are important, but they tend to represent the end of the consumer journey. It’s time to begin monitoring and reporting on metrics specific to the consideration phase and learn about how audiences move from one touchpoint along the journey to another. These could be as simple as the number of branded searches a campaign drives, the amount of traffic delivered to a store page, or as granular as the number of page views a product receives or data from an ad partner that compares your consideration percentile to that of your peers.

Rather than mapping out the path to purchase with a fixed beginning and end, think of journeys as episodic. And it’s what you do in between episodes that makes customers loyal or not. This probably isn’t news to you: Recent research from customer loyalty agency stratLX found a 2X increase in companies prioritizing retention over acquisition.

This all comes back to how well you collect, manage, and analyze the data customers share with you to better understand their needs and expectations. It’s where you can find additional opportunities to surprise and delight them to reinforce their loyalty.

In fact, loyalty links back to every stage of the journey: It makes customers open to deepening brand awareness, more likely to consider a brand, and interested in making additional purchases.

And the benefit of managing this customer data extends far beyond loyalty. Understanding the behavior and preferences of your current customers sets you up to successfully reach and engage with customers like them (lookalikes) using AI and other advanced technology.

Remarket to existing customers using data as your cornerstone

Some customers may buy the same item over time, but others will be enticed by relevant, contextually aware recommendations for other products and services. Effective cross-promotions put them back into discovery mode and closer to the purchase stage again. Look for trusted third-party adtech to assist you here. Amazon Ads, for example, offers advertisers of all sizes the ability to remarket to audiences via Sponsored Display ads so brands can capture missed sales from people who have visited detail pages for their products or similar ones on Amazon.

Don’t just cultivate customers—
develop a community

Social media accounts aren’t just for promoting your products and offering support. They can also bring like-minded customers together to share ideas and enthusiasm about a brand’s products. The same is true of online forums and other vehicles that host digital communities. This is a way of keeping the conversation going without necessarily leading it. In fact, 80% of consumers believe community is important to fostering brand engagement, and 84% say that the community surrounding a brand directly impacts their feelings about it.

Double down
on analytics

There are many different ways to calculate customer lifetime value. The point is to consistently measure how you could develop better experiences along the non-linear journeys all your other customers take. You can get a lot of this data by offering services that entice repeat purchases through the convenience of scheduled deliveries, like Amazon’s Subscribe and Save program or by tracking brand store follows as you build traffic to those curated shopping experiences. Taking advantage of Amazon’s billions of shopping signals and joining them with your brand messaging and full-funnel campaign strategy can be a powerful combination to help reach customers along their path to your brand.