Unpacking how a user discovers a product and then actually engages with it is a powerhouse of insights for any company that wants to build better products for the right user persona. The journey from buyer to user marries context with workflow needs. Together they hold the key to product and marketing insights because they reveal the whole gamut of influences, competitive considerations, internal biases, brand perceptions and usage habits that shape how a user actually interacts with something.

Here are some key milestones and related questions that can help.

Key touchpoints of a buyer’s journey: 

1. JTBD

The job-to-be-done is the key objective behind a buyer’s journey. What is the buyer “hiring” a product or service for? Some questions to ask your user:

• What are you trying to accomplish using this product/service?
• What do you need to get done?
• What excites you most about this product/service? Why?

2. Trigger

Trigger is all about knowing how and when your user learned about your product. Some questions to ask your user:

• What were some circumstances/events that led you to explore our product?
• Do you remember a particular event that made you realize you needed or wanted a solution like ours? 
• Was the desire to seek out a market solution driven by emotional or functional needs? 

3. Exploration

Before a user decides on using a product, there is always some consideration involved. You can think of this phase as one focused on research and doing one’s homework. Some questions to ask your user:

• What competitive brands did you consider before deciding for or against our product?
• Who did you talk to to gather more “intel?”
• What other factors influenced your decision to use the product (reviews, price, features)?

4. Decision

At this juncture your user has decided to go for your product and they are taking action to enact that decision. Some questions to ask your user:

• Did you users opt for a free trial/demo to get started?
• Were there any hesitancies during the decision making process? Can you give me more details?

From here on out, we get into the user journey part. This journey is anchored in milestones around actually using a product/service. 

(P.S.- Here's a handy little User Journey Mapping Blueprint that we personally use at Poocho to give you a jump start 🤸‍♂️)

Key milestones of a user’s journey:

1. Onboarding

At this stage we are curious about what the first impressions of a new product or service are like. Some questions to ask your user:

• What was the first thing you did when you first got access to our product? 
• What did you think about that first experience? 
• What was the learning curve like? 

2. Usage

This stage tracks the different scenarios when your product is used by a user. Some questions to ask your user:

• What do you usually use this product for? 
• When was the last time you used/logged into the product? What did you do?
• What features do you find most useful? Why?

3. Support

This stage tracks the experiences of your users when they engage with your support services. This could include FAQs, documentation, chatbots, emails and customer support. Some questions to ask your user:

• Have you encountered any issues with our product? Please describe them in detail. 
• What resources did you lean on for support? 
• How was their experience with our support services?

4. Offboarding/renewal

In this milestone we are interested in what happens after a user has engaged with your product or service. Do they stick around? Do they renew or leave your product? Some questions to ask your user:

• For how long have you been using our product/service? 
• What led you to leave our product? 
• What was your offboarding/renewal experience like?

5. Referral

Understanding user experiences around referral may indicate the type of social network users have and also the emotional connection loyalists have to your brand. Some questions to ask your users:

• Did you refer our product to anyone in your immediate or extended network? Please elaborate on the people who shared information with.
• What motivated you to spread the word about our product? 
• How did you refer them to it? (online link, word-of-mouth, etc.)?

🔥Have a burning research question? Talk to us.

Cover Image by Anna Shvets

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