Customer Journey Mapping: Stop Random Acts of Marketing

When I start a new marketing role, or whenever I feel stuck, the first thing I do is go through the customer journey.

If you haven’t done this yet, or haven’t done it recently, that’s probably where your marketing problems are coming from.

You can’t write good landing page copy if you don’t understand what people are going through. You can’t run ads that convert if you’re not sure what questions they have, or what objections are holding them back. You need to walk through the experience as they see it, not as you hope it works.

So before you run another campaign, pause and map the journey. It’s how you avoid wasting time and budget on disconnected, low-impact marketing.

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Why I Always Start With the Customer Journey

I filmed a little walkthrough of how I use the customer journey and how I map it out in Notion using the free template I built:

The customer journey is just a map of what your customer actually experiences, from the first touchpoint to long-term advocacy. It highlights friction, gaps, and opportunities for improvement.

When I joined magier, there were already some interview notes and research in place. But I still felt disconnected. I didn’t fully get the blockers. So I did my own interviews. That helped me understand which touchpoints felt unclear, where we were overpromising, and what was missing entirely.

Plus, there’s always too much to do in marketing. If you try to fix everything at once, you fix nothing. The journey map helped me prioritize based on impact.

Free Notion Template

Customer Journey Map for Marketers

A ready-to-use template to uncover gaps, improve conversion flows, and prioritize what matters.

Get the Free Template

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What I look for in each stage

Make this your own, but here’s how I typically break down the journey:

• Discovery – How do they first hear about us?
• Evaluation – What helps or stops them from trusting us?
• Action – How easy is it to try us out?
• Conversion – What convinces them to say yes?
• Onboarding – Is the handoff smooth?
• Usage – Are they getting value fast?
• Retention – Are we keeping them happy?
• Advocacy – Would they recommend us?

Each phase surfaces different emotions and blockers.

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How I gather the insights

You don’t need to start from scratch. Begin with what you have:

• Google Analytics
• Search Console
• Heatmaps (Microsoft Clarity)
• Top blog posts and landing pages
• PR coverage
• Social Media Channels

But don’t stop there. Always talk to real people - buyers, lost leads, users who left. Here’s what I ask:

• How did you first find us?
• What almost stopped you?
• What’s been frustrating?
• Would you recommend us, and why (or why not)?

Also talk to people who haven’t converted but are in your ICP. They’ll show you where your positioning breaks down.

Don’t forget sales & support

These teams are goldmines:

• Support knows where users get stuck
• Sales knows what objections come up
• Calls and demo recordings reveal how prospects describe their problems

And yeah, I also lurk on Reddit, Slack groups, etc. The questions people ask there are often more honest than what you’ll hear in a user interview.

The template we use (and now you can too)

To make it easier for you, I built a Notion customer journey mapping template.

For each stage, it includes:

• Touchpoints
• Actions
• Emotions
• Questions
• Pain points
• Opportunities
• Content ideas
• Messaging focus
• Score from 1–5

Once you fill it in, gaps jump out at you. You might realize your top landing page doesn’t answer a single top-of-funnel question—or that you’ve been pouring effort into conversion, but retention is where you’re leaking users.

Map → Insights → Tasks

The final section of the Notion doc is a task list. Because filling out the customer journey map and leaving it at that isn’t the end goal. It's only the beginning.

Some examples of what it will help you do:

• Add SEO content and FAQs for common awareness-stage questions
• Rewrite onboarding emails to address real confusion
• Design new landing pages to smooth out decision-making

You’ll walk away knowing what to test, fix, or create next.

Be honest about the good... And the bad.

Don’t sugarcoat. If your signup form sucks or your pricing page is confusing, write that down. No journey is perfect—and pretending it is won’t help you grow.

Revisit the customer journey map regularly

Your journey changes. Products evolve. Competitors launch new features. Every quarter or so, I re-score the map to keep our priorities aligned.

It’s also a great way to reflect on what’s working, and what’s not.

FAQ: Customer Journey Mapping

How long does this take?

You can build a solid v1 in about a week, especially with the Notion template. But then you'd have to cram in all the interviews and analysis into one week, which is a lot.

Who should be involved?

Marketing leads it. But loop in Sales, CS, Product, and Customer Support to get the necessary insights.

What tools should I use?

Notion (you can use this free template), FigJam, Miro, Airtable – whatever you prefer.

Do I need separate customer journey maps for different personas?

Yes, if your ICPs differ meaningfully. Start with your most valuable segment.

What happens after I fill it out?

Prioritize fixes, create action items, get clarity and track changes over time.

Final Thought

If you’re stuck, or your company isn't growing as you planned, pause the next campaign. Look at the journey. That’s where the answers (and your biggest wins) usually are.