How to Fix a Customer Journey to Increase Sales
If you know where to look, the answers are in the insights.
Drop off at key stages is like watching water pour out of a gutter 💦
One of my clients has been a large not-for-profit in Surrey.
They were struggling with a problem many organisations face:
a leaky customer journey.
They sensed potential customers were falling through the cracks.
But, before they launched a new promotion they wanted to stop the rot and fix the leaks.
Smart Move: Fix Before You Campaign
Crucially, they didn’t want to throw more money at marketing until the pipeline was watertight.
Good plan. They didn’t want gaffer tape – but analysis and strategy built on insight.
As a consultant, this is the sweet spot.
This is the chance to identify what busy teams often can’t.
For team members in the day-to-day melee of marketing, these fixes are very difficult to analyse.
Questions that Reveal the Leaks
The organisation had dominated the market pre Covid for an offer.
But now registrations were lagging. They operated in a busy airspace.
I started looking into 6 key questions:
Were they reaching enough potential customers?
Were their buyers really who they thought they were?
Did their content answer their customers’ problems?
Did their messaging turn interest into action? – or were they losing leads along the way?
How long did it take to check out?
What were their competitors doing better at each stage of their customer journeys?
What the Data Revealed
A mix of analytics, customer feedback and competitor research told a clear story;
There were a lot of fixable gaps – clear opportunities to:
attract more potential customers
engage prospects
convert hot leads
Where did I go to get these Insights?
I generated and drew from:
a website audit from GA4 data and Siteimprove, social media metrics, email marketing reports, market research, plus screen recordings of test purchases and user journeys.
One of the most illuminating tools was a competitor analysis.
Remember, it’s ALL there for you to view: competitors’ social media, newsletters, website – even their ads in the Facebook Ad Library or the Google Ads Centre.
Presenting the Findings with the Team
I’ll be honest – I was a little nervous walking into the presentation.
I was about to share the findings with representatives from across the organisation. Eight senior team members and the chief exec. wanted to hear what I had to say…
What I hadn’t anticipated was how energising the conversation would be.
Almost every insight sparked ideas, debate and plenty of ‘Aha!’ moments. Two and a half hours flew by.
Better yet, the teams’ lived experience added to the insights. What they’d seen day-to-day validated the findings – and helped inform my recommendations.
From Leaks to Lift-Off
With the team’s buy in, everything fed into a refreshed strategy and communications plan.
What were the recommendations?
Sharper Targeting – rooted in a clearer understanding of who their customers were
Stronger Messaging – speaking directly to customer pain points
Stand out Content – new on brand video and images that say in an instant what your audience needs to hear
Streamlined Website and booking platform – landing pages revised to pull warm leads in from top of funnel, pages reduced and check out optimised for conversion
Budgets optimised – resources allocated for channels known to deliver, including Meta ads
Continuous improvement – reporting in place to catch future leaks early
Optimise for TLC
A new campaign is being rolled out and sales went up by 12% in the first few weeks. Watch this space for more results!
Getting someone in to fix the customer journey, was a smart move by a senior marketer at the organisation.
She knew that a Pause and Re-set would deliver results faster and with greater impact.
Don’t choose to keep on plugging away with activiites and campaigns that don’t deliver.
Fix that leaky customer journey.
It’s how you turn more Traffic → Leads → Customers.
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Copyright © Paula Gilbert 2025. All rights reserved.