Understanding your customer journey is about more than just tracking where sales come from. It’s about seeing every touchpoint that leads a buyer from first discovery to final purchase. In ThoughtMetric, customer journey mapping gives e-commerce brands a clear, detailed view of how each marketing effort works together to drive revenue.

Before you dive into customer journeys, it’s important to choose how credit is assigned to each touchpoint. In ThoughtMetric, we recommend using the multi-touch attribution model because it distributes credit across every interaction a customer has before placing an order. This ensures you see the full picture of how channels work together, not just the one that gets the final click.

That said, we know every business is different. That’s why ThoughtMetric also offers four other attribution models: first touch, last touch, linear paid, and position-based. You can switch between them easily to compare perspectives and align reporting with your team’s goals.

Customer journeys don’t just vary in the number of touchpoints, they also vary in length. ThoughtMetric tracks the average time between a customer’s first interaction and their completed order.

For some brands, conversions happen within hours of the first click. For others, it might take weeks of consideration, retargeting, and email nurturing.

Alongside individual journeys, ThoughtMetric calculates the average number of touchpoints per order. If most customers buy after one or two clicks, your funnel is highly efficient. If it takes five or six, it’s a sign that nurturing channels like email or retargeting are playing a bigger role.

Another benefit of ThoughtMetric is on top of averages, it lets you drill down into the journey for each individual customer.

You can click into a specific customer profile and see the complete sequence of touchpoints that led to their order. Maybe they first discovered you through an Instagram ad, clicked a Google Shopping listing two weeks later, and finally purchased after opening an abandoned cart email.

Having both the bird’s-eye view of overall trends and the customer-level detail gives your team confidence in the data, no matter how deep you need to go.

Customer journey mapping in ThoughtMetric ensures you’re not undervaluing the channels and campaigns that make the sale possible. Instead of siloed reports that exaggerate last-click performance, you see the big picture. 

When you can trust the data, you can act quickly and scale with confidence.

Book a demo and explore how ThoughtMetric helps you measure what matters.

What is customer journey mapping in ThoughtMetric?
Customer journey mapping in ThoughtMetric is the process of tracking every touchpoint a customer interacts with before making a purchase. This includes ads, emails, organic search, and social clicks, giving you a complete view of how different channels work together to drive sales.

What is “average time to order” and why does it matter?
Average time to order measures how long it typically takes a customer to convert from their first touchpoint to their purchase. This metric helps you understand buying cycles, compare performance across channels or products, and identify opportunities to shorten the path to conversion.

What does “average touchpoints per order” tell me?
This metric shows how many interactions customers usually have before purchasing. A low average of one to two touchpoints suggests an efficient funnel, while a higher number of five to six shows the importance of nurturing campaigns like retargeting ads and email flows.

Can I see the journey for individual customers in ThoughtMetric?
Yes. In addition to averages, ThoughtMetric lets you drill down into the journey of each customer. You can view the full sequence of touchpoints such as ads, search clicks, and emails that led to a specific order. This helps you understand both individual behavior and broader trends.

Why is customer journey mapping important for e-commerce brands?
Without journey mapping, it is easy to overvalue last-click channels and undervalue the campaigns that actually build trust and drive conversions. ThoughtMetric provides the full picture so you can make confident budget decisions, optimize creative, and strengthen retention strategies.