Embracing the Messy Reality of Modern Purchase Behavior
I've spent the last decade watching companies torture themselves trying to map customer journeys onto neat, linear funnels. Awareness leads to consideration leads to purchase leads to loyalty. It's a beautiful story. It's also completely wrong.
Modern customer behavior looks nothing like a funnel. It's more like a pinball machine—customers bounce between touchpoints, platforms, and decision stages in patterns that defy traditional marketing logic.
The Funnel's False Promise
The marketing funnel emerged from an era when media was scarce, touchpoints were limited, and customer research was constrained. You saw an ad, visited a store, made a purchase. Linear progression made sense when options were limited.
Today's customers research on mobile, discuss on social media, compare on desktop, purchase on mobile, return via customer service, and recommend through personal networks. The funnel can't contain this complexity.
What Actually Happens
Real customer journeys are characterized by:
Non-linear progression: Customers jump between awareness and consideration multiple times
Channel switching: Research starts on one platform and concludes on another
Social validation: Purchase decisions involve multiple external influences
Extended timelines: Consideration periods stretch across weeks or months
Multiple decision makers: Especially in B2B, purchases involve numerous stakeholders
The Messy Middle
Google's research identified the "messy middle" between initial trigger and final purchase—a complex web of exploration and evaluation that doesn't follow predictable patterns. Customers cycle between discovering options and evaluating choices until internal or external triggers push them toward purchase.
This messy middle is where most marketing actually happens, but it's also where funnel-based measurement fails most dramatically.
Attribution in a Non-Linear World
Traditional attribution models assume linear progression: first touch creates awareness, middle touches nurture consideration, last touch captures demand. But when customer journeys are non-linear, attribution becomes meaningless.
A customer might discover your brand through social media, research competitors via search, discuss options in online communities, and purchase after seeing a retargeting ad. Which touchpoint "caused" the conversion?
The Network Effect Model
Instead of funnels, smart marketers are thinking in terms of networks. Customer journeys involve multiple touchpoints, influences, and decision factors that interact in complex ways.
Network-based thinking focuses on:
Influence mapping: Understanding which touchpoints affect which decision factors
Moment identification: Recognizing key decision moments rather than trying to create them
Experience orchestration: Ensuring consistent value delivery across all potential touchpoints
Measurement for Non-Linear Journeys
Measuring non-linear customer journeys requires different approaches:
Contribution analysis: Understanding how each touchpoint contributes to overall outcomes rather than individual conversions
Incrementality testing: Measuring the causal impact of marketing activities rather than correlation
Brand lift studies: Tracking how marketing affects customer perceptions and behaviors over time
Customer lifetime value tracking: Focusing on long-term relationships rather than individual transactions
The Experience Economy
In a non-linear world, every touchpoint is both a first impression and a last chance. Customers form opinions and make decisions based on cumulative experiences rather than single interactions.
This requires:
Consistent messaging: Ensuring coherent communication across all channels
Contextual relevance: Adapting content to specific touchpoint characteristics
Value at every stage: Providing utility regardless of where customers are in their journey
Building for Non-Linearity
Successful marketing strategies embrace journey complexity rather than fighting it:
Omnichannel integration: Creating seamless experiences across platforms
Content ecosystem development: Building libraries of content that address different needs and contexts
Community building: Recognizing that peer influence often matters more than brand messaging
Flexible measurement: Using multiple measurement approaches to understand complex influence patterns
The Death of Campaign Thinking
Funnel-based marketing encourages campaign thinking: discrete activities with clear start and end points designed to move customers through linear stages.
Non-linear marketing requires always-on thinking: consistent presence and value delivery that supports customers regardless of where they are in their unique journey.
What This Means for Strategy
The death of the funnel requires fundamental strategy shifts:
From campaign optimization to experience optimization
From conversion tracking to relationship building
From channel performance to ecosystem effectiveness
From linear attribution to holistic measurement
The Competitive Advantage
Companies that embrace non-linear customer journeys are building sustainable competitive advantages. They're creating experiences that feel natural rather than forced, measurement systems that reflect reality rather than aspiration, and strategies that adapt to customer behavior rather than trying to control it.
The future belongs to marketers who can thrive in complexity rather than those who demand simplicity.