Understanding the Customer Journey on Your Website

When someone lands on your website, they don’t just scroll aimlessly. Every visitor follows a path – a journey – whether they’re aware of it or not. Understanding this customer journey is crucial if you want your website to convert visitors into leads, sales or loyal customers. Yet it’s one of the most overlooked parts of web strategy by small business owners.

Whether you’re selling products, offering services or simply looking to generate enquiries, your website needs to guide users from arrival to action. In this post, we’re going to break down what the customer journey is, how to map it, and how you can improve your website to match it at every stage. We’ll also look at the common mistakes that hurt conversions and offer actionable ways to fix them.

What is the Customer Journey?

The customer journey refers to the series of steps a person takes from first discovering your business to taking a desired action – like booking a consultation, filling in a contact form, or making a purchase. It can start with a Google search, a social media post, a recommendation from a friend, or even seeing your van on the road. But once they land on your website, that journey becomes digital.

This journey typically moves through a few key phases:

• Awareness – The user discovers your business and visits your site for the first time.
• Consideration – They’re exploring whether what you offer is right for them.
• Decision – They’re ready to take action – but only if your site makes it easy, clear and trustworthy.
• Post-action – They’ve submitted an enquiry or made a purchase, and you follow up to keep them engaged.

Understanding this path allows you to design a website that supports your users every step of the way.

Why the Customer Journey Matters for Your Website

Far too many websites are built like digital brochures – they look nice, but they don’t lead people anywhere. If your site doesn’t guide visitors smoothly towards a goal, they’ll likely leave and go elsewhere.

Here’s why it matters:

• It reduces friction and confusion.
• It builds trust by giving people the right info at the right time.
• It increases conversions by making it easy to take the next step.
• It helps you focus on the pages and messages that actually matter.

Once you understand your customer journey, your site becomes a helpful guide – not a guessing game.

Mapping the Customer Journey on Your Website

To improve your site, you first need to map out the journey. Start by asking yourself a few key questions:

• How do people typically find your site?
• What questions or doubts might they have when they arrive?
• What content would help them trust you or understand what you do?
• What’s the main action you want them to take?

You can sketch this out on paper or use a tool like Miro or Lucidchart.

Here’s an example journey for a small business website:

1. User searches for “web designer in Leeds” on Google.
2. They click through to your homepage.
3. They scan for signs that you’re professional, experienced and local.
4. They read your services page or portfolio.
5. They check your testimonials or reviews.
6. They click through to your contact page.
7. They submit an enquiry form.

Every step in that process should be supported by strong content, a clear layout, and a user-friendly design.

Matching Website Content to the Journey

Let’s break it down stage by stage:

1. Awareness

At this point, the visitor doesn’t know much about you. Your homepage or landing page needs to:

• Communicate clearly what you do and who you help
• Build trust immediately with clean design and fast loading
• Include strong headlines and simple messaging
• Highlight benefits, not just features

Include internal links to key areas of the site, such as your services page or portfolio.

2. Consideration

Now they’re exploring. They’ll want to see:

• Detailed service pages that explain what you offer and how it works
• Testimonials or case studies to show social proof
• FAQs that answer common concerns
• A clear tone of voice that matches your brand

Make sure your about page is personal and professional – people want to know who they’re dealing with.

3. Decision

This is the moment that counts. The visitor is ready to act – but they need that final nudge. Your contact or quote page should:

• Be easy to find from any page
• Have a simple form with only essential fields
• Reassure them with what happens next
• Include a strong call-to-action, like “Let’s build something brilliant” or “Request a quote today”

Reinforce their confidence with clear contact details, professional credentials, or even a link to client reviews.

4. Post-action

Just because they’ve contacted you doesn’t mean the journey’s over. Think about:

• Sending an automatic thank-you email
• Following up within 24 hours
• Offering a free resource or helpful next step
• Staying in touch via email or social media

This helps you stay top of mind and makes a professional impression.

How Design and Navigation Support the Journey

No matter how good your content is, it won’t work if your site is confusing to navigate or visually cluttered. Your layout, menu structure and mobile responsiveness should all support the customer journey, not get in the way of it.

Here are a few tips:

• Keep your main navigation simple and predictable
• Use clear headings and visual hierarchy to guide the eye
• Make your call-to-action buttons stand out
• Test your site on mobile, tablet and desktop

If your site makes people work to figure it out, they probably won’t bother.

Common Mistakes That Break the Journey

Plenty of websites fall into traps that push people away. Here are a few to watch out for:

• Too much jargon – Talk like a human, not a tech manual.
• No clear next step – Always have a CTA visible.
• Slow load times – Visitors won’t wait.
• Walls of text – Break it up with bullet points, subheadings and images.
• Missing trust signals – No reviews, testimonials or credentials.

Fixing these small things can make a big difference.

Measuring the Journey

To really understand what’s working, you need to track it. Use tools like Google Analytics and Hotjar to see:

• Where users come from
• Which pages they visit
• Where they drop off
• What they click on most

This insight helps you improve weak spots and double down on what works.

Make It Easy for Visitors to Get in Touch

If someone has made it through your site and is ready to take the next step, make sure there’s no friction. Include multiple ways to contact you:

• A short contact form
• A clickable phone number
• An email address
• A live chat or WhatsApp link if you offer it

People have different preferences – don’t limit them to one method.

Ready to Optimise Your Website for Conversions?

If you’re not sure whether your website is helping or hindering your customer journey, it’s worth taking a fresh look. I specialise in designing websites that don’t just look good, but actually work – helping you attract, engage, and convert more of the right kind of visitors.

Whether you’re planning a full redesign or just need some tweaks, I’d be happy to help.

Get in touch for a free consultation or quote here – let’s make your website work smarter for your business.