Your Customer Journey Has Gaps? Here’s How to Find Them

You’ve invested in a new website. Your social media is active. You’re sending emails, running campaigns and getting people through the door.

But somewhere between someone discovering your business and becoming a loyal customer, people seem to be disappearing.

The problem might not be your marketing. It might be the gaps in your customer journey.

After years of working with businesses on their marketing, one thing we see time and again is that we focus heavily on individual activities – the website, social media, email campaigns and events – without always looking at how they connect.

Your customer doesn’t experience your marketing in separate boxes. They experience one customer journey.

And if that journey feels confusing, slow, inconsistent or simply stops, there’s a good chance you’re losing potential customers along the way.

So, how do you identify the gaps and improve your customer journey?

Start by mapping the customer journey you ACTUALLY have

This is not the journey you think or believe customers take.

It’s easy to imagine a nice, straightforward process:

They see you on Instagram → visit your website → make an enquiry → become a customer → come back again.

In reality, the customer journey is usually much messier.

They might see a post, forget about you, Google your business three weeks later, read a review, visit your website, leave, follow you on Instagram, ask a friend about you and then finally make contact.

Start mapping these customer touchpoints.

How do people first discover you? Where do they go next? What information are they looking for? How do they contact you? What happens after they enquire? What happens after they buy?

Once you put the whole customer journey in front of you, the gaps become much easier to spot.

Look at the handovers between your marketing channels

Some of the biggest customer journey problems happen between two perfectly good pieces of marketing.

Your Instagram content might be brilliant, but where are you sending people?

Your website might look fantastic, but is it obvious what somebody should do next?

Someone might make an enquiry, but how quickly do they receive a response?

You might deliver an excellent service, but what communication happens afterwards?

These are the handover points, and they’re where we’d look first when reviewing a customer journey strategy.

Think of it like a relay race. Each individual runner can be brilliant, but if you keep dropping the baton, you’re still not going to win.

Become your own customer

This is one of the simplest exercises you can try. Take off your business-owner or marketing hat and experience the customer journey yourself.

• Google your business.

• Visit your social media profiles.

• Click the link in your Instagram bio.

• Use your website on your phone.

• Try to find your prices, opening hours, location or services.

• Fill in your enquiry form.

• Sign up for your newsletter.

• Try to make a booking.

How easy was it?

You may be surprised by what you find: broken links, old information, forms with far too many fields, unanswered questions or pages that look great on desktop but are frustrating on mobile.

We become so familiar with our own businesses that we stop noticing the friction.

Your customers don’t.

Look at where customers are dropping off

Your data can tell you a lot about the gaps in your customer journey.

If lots of people visit a service page but very few enquire, ask why.

If people are clicking through from social media but leaving your website quickly, there could be a disconnect between the content that attracted them and what they find when they arrive.

If you’re receiving plenty of enquiries but conversions are low, the problem may be further down the journey.

And if you have lots of happy customers but very few return, perhaps your biggest gap happens after the sale.

Rather than simply looking at how many followers, website visitors or enquiries you have, start looking at what happens between those numbers.

That’s often where the useful information is hiding.

Pay attention to the questions customers keep asking

If customers regularly ask the same question, don’t see it as an inconvenience.

See it as free customer research.

“Where do I park?”

“How much does it cost?”

“Do you offer this?”

“What happens after I book?”

“Can I bring the kids?”

“Who do I need to speak to?”

Every repeated question is potentially telling you that something in your customer journey isn’t as clear as it could be.

Could that information be added to your website? Could you create a social media post about it? Could it be included in your confirmation email?

Good marketing doesn’t just persuade people to buy. It removes the reasons they might decide not to.

Don’t forget the customer journey after the sale

For many businesses, the customer journey seems to end the moment money changes hands. In reality, that should be the start of another part of the journey.

What happens after somebody buys from you?

Do you thank them? Check in with them? Ask for feedback? Encourage them to leave a

review? Tell them about another relevant service? Give them a reason to follow you? Remind them to come back?

You’ve already done the hard work of turning that person into a customer. Don’t immediately disappear.

Some of the easiest opportunities for business growth are sitting within the customers you already have.

Ask real customers about their experience

Analytics are useful. Actual conversations are even better.

Speak to customers and ask them how they found you.

• Ask what made them choose you.

• Ask whether there was anything they struggled to find.

• Ask what nearly stopped them buying.

• Importantly, ask what happened before they discovered you.

Sometimes the answer you get will be completely different from the customer journey you’ve built your marketing strategy around.

Your customer journey will never be ‘finished’

Customer behaviour changes. Platforms change. Your business changes.

The customer journey that worked two years ago may not be the journey people are taking today.

That’s why customer journey mapping shouldn’t be a document created during a marketing strategy session and then forgotten about.

Revisit it, test it, talk to your customers and look at the numbers.

And keep asking one very simple question:

What would make the next step easier?

You don’t necessarily need another marketing channel or a bigger advertising budget.

Sometimes, you simply need to close the gaps in the customer journey you already have.

5 key things to take away

1. Map the real customer journey, not the ideal one

Look at how customers genuinely discover, research, contact, buy from and return to your business.

2. Check the handovers

Pay particular attention to what happens between social media and your website, website and enquiry, enquiry and sale, and sale and repeat business.

3. Experience the journey yourself

Go through your customer journey on desktop and mobile as though you’ve never encountered your business before. Better yet, ask a fresh pair of eyes to do the same.

4. Listen to the friction

Drop-off data, repeated questions, abandoned enquiries and customer feedback are all clues about where your journey needs work.

5. Don’t stop at the sale

Your existing customers are one of your biggest marketing opportunities. Build reviews, referrals, repeat purchases and ongoing communication into the journey.

The goal isn’t to create a perfectly linear customer journey, because customers simply don’t behave that way.

The goal is to make sure that, wherever someone encounters your business, their next step is clear, easy and worth taking.

Looking for a Marketing Partner That Genuinely Cares?

Whether you need help with social media, PR, SEO, AI search or your overall marketing strategy, we'd love to help your business become more visible.

Get in touch with Liz - 📞 07814 080119 ✉️ liz@totalguideto.com

Customer Journey FAQs

What is a customer journey?

A customer journey is the complete experience someone has with your business, from first discovering you through to making an enquiry, becoming a customer and, ideally, returning again.

It includes every touchpoint along the way, such as social media, Google searches, your website, emails, reviews, conversations with your team and post-purchase communication.

What is customer journey mapping?

Customer journey mapping is the process of looking at each stage a customer goes through when interacting with your business.

Rather than focusing on individual marketing channels separately, it helps you understand how those channels connect and identify any gaps, confusing steps or points where potential customers might drop off.

Why is customer journey mapping important?

Customer journey mapping can help you spot problems that aren't always obvious when looking at your marketing channels individually.

For example, your social media might be generating plenty of interest, but if people arrive on your website and can't easily find the information they need, you could be losing potential customers at the next stage.

What are customer touchpoints?

Customer touchpoints are the individual interactions someone has with your business throughout their journey.

These could include seeing a social media post, finding you on Google, reading an online review, visiting your website, receiving an email, making an enquiry or speaking to a member of your team.

How do I identify gaps in my customer journey?

Start by mapping how customers genuinely discover, research, contact and buy from your business. Then look closely at what happens between each stage.

Website analytics, enquiry data, repeated customer questions and direct feedback can all help highlight areas where people are becoming confused, losing interest or dropping out of the journey.

How often should I review my customer journey?

There isn't a set rule, but customer journey mapping shouldn't be treated as a one-off exercise.

Customer behaviour, marketing platforms and your own business will continue to change, so regularly revisiting the journey can help you spot new gaps and make sure the next step remains clear and easy for your customers.

About the author – Sarah Moon

Sarah Moon is a Bath-based Marketing Consultant and Business Editor for Total Guide to Bath. With experience leading national campaigns for some of the UK’s most recognised hotels, Sarah combines strategic thinking with creative marketing to help businesses clarify their messaging, connect with their customers and stand out.

Passionate about making marketing feel less overwhelming and more effective, Sarah brings a practical, customer-focused approach to everything from marketing strategy and customer journeys to brand messaging and content.