Customer Journey by Cluster

The Customer Journey by Cluster Chart is a visual tool that shows how your content supports different stages of the customer journey across your various topic clusters. This colorful bar chart makes it easy to see where your content is focused within each topic area and identify potential gaps in your customer journey coverage.

Why This Chart Matters for Your Content Strategy

This chart helps you:

See the journey focus of each topic cluster: Quickly identify which customer journey stages are well-covered in each topic area
Spot journey gaps: Identify which stages of the customer journey might be underserved in specific topics
Balance your content approach: Ensure you're supporting customers at every stage of their journey
Guide content creation: Make data-driven decisions about what types of content to create next

Understanding the Customer Journey Stages

Before using the chart, it's helpful to understand what each journey stage represents:

Awareness Stage

What it means: When customers first realize they have a problem or need
Content example: "Top 10 Signs Your Roof Needs Repair" (for a roofing company)
Customer mindset: "I think I might have a problem..."

Consideration Stage

What it means: When customers are researching possible solutions
Content example: "Different Types of Roofing Materials Compared"
Customer mindset: "What are my options to solve this problem?"

Decision Stage

What it means: When customers are ready to choose a specific solution
Content example: "Why Choose Our 30-Year Warranty Shingles"
Customer mindset: "Which specific solution is best for me?"

Retention Stage

What it means: When someone is already a customer and needs support
Content example: "How to Maintain Your New Roof"
Customer mindset: "How do I get the most from my purchase?"

Advocacy Stage

What it means: When satisfied customers might recommend you to others
Content example: "Share Your Roofing Story and Get 10% Off Your Next Service"
Customer mindset: "I'm happy and might tell others about my experience"

Undefined

Content that hasn't been assigned to a specific journey stage

How to Read Your Customer Journey by Cluster Chart

The chart uses colored bars to provide a clear visual of your content organization:

Horizontal axis (bottom): Shows your content clusters (topic areas)
Vertical axis (side): Shows the count of content pieces
Colored bar segments: Each color represents a different customer journey stage
Bar height: The total height shows how much content is in each cluster
Segment size: The size of each colored segment shows how much content targets that journey stage

Example: If you see a cluster called "Home Maintenance" with a large red segment for "Awareness" and a small blue segment for "Decision," it means you have lots of educational content but few conversion-focused pieces in that topic area.

Using the Chart Controls

Finding the Chart

Go to the Content Analysis page
Look for the section labeled "Customer Journey by Cluster"

Control Options

Project dropdown: Select which project you want to analyze
- By default, the first project will be selected automatically
  Published Status dropdown: Filter to see:
- "All" content (both published and draft)
- "Published" content only
- "Draft" content only

Getting Strategic Insights from Your Chart

What Patterns to Look For

Journey Stage Dominance:
- Is one journey stage (color) much more prominent across all clusters?
- Example: If "Awareness" content dominates everywhere, you might be great at attracting visitors but not converting them.
  Cluster-Specific Imbalances:
- Are certain clusters missing specific journey stages?
- Example: If your "Product Features" cluster has no "Consideration" content, potential customers might not understand how to compare options.
  Complete Journey Pathways:
- Which clusters have content for all journey stages?
- Example: A balanced cluster would have content for awareness, consideration, decision, and possibly retention/advocacy.
  Undefined Content:
- Are there large segments of "Undefined" content?
- This suggests content that hasn't been properly categorized by journey stage.

Ideal Patterns for Different Businesses

E-commerce Site

An e-commerce site might want:

Balanced journey coverage across product category clusters
Strong "Consideration" content for high-value products
Robust "Retention" content for product categories with accessories or refills

Service Business

A service business might benefit from:

Strong "Awareness" and "Consideration" content in problem-focused clusters
Solid "Decision" content in service-focused clusters
Expanded "Retention" content for ongoing service relationships

B2B Company

A B2B company with longer sales cycles might want:

Comprehensive "Awareness" and "Consideration" content across all clusters
Strategic "Decision" content for solution-focused clusters
Targeted "Retention" content for customer success topics

Using Chart Insights to Improve Your Content Strategy

When You See Journey Gaps

If important journey stages are missing in key clusters:

Create targeted content to fill the specific journey stage gap
Prioritize the most strategically important gaps first
Consider repurposing existing content from other clusters
Track conversions between journey stages to measure improvement

Example: If your "Organic Skincare" cluster lacks "Decision" stage content, create product comparison guides, buying guides, or product highlight pages.

When You See Journey Imbalance

If your content heavily favors certain journey stages:

Audit your existing content to understand why the imbalance exists
Determine if the imbalance is strategic or needs correction
Create a content calendar that prioritizes underrepresented stages
Consider your sales funnel and where customers might be getting stuck

Example: If your content is 80% "Awareness" focused, your audience might be learning a lot but not getting the information they need to make purchasing decisions.

When You Have Undefined Content

If you have significant "Undefined" content:

Review and categorize this content by appropriate journey stage
Update your content management process to include journey stage assignment
Train your content team on journey stage classification
Re-analyze your chart after updates to see the true distribution

Common Questions

"What's the right distribution of journey stages?"

There's no universal "perfect" distribution, as the ideal pattern depends on:

Your business model and customer acquisition strategy
Your sales cycle length and complexity
Your primary business objectives (awareness, conversion, retention, etc.)

However, most businesses benefit from having at least some content at each stage of the journey within their key topic clusters.

"Should every cluster have content for every journey stage?"

Not necessarily. Consider:

Some clusters may intentionally focus on specific journey stages
Awareness-focused topics might not need much Decision content
Product-specific clusters might emphasize Decision and Retention content

Focus on creating complete journey pathways for your most important topic areas.

"How do I know which gaps to fill first?"

Prioritize based on:

Business impact: Which gaps are most likely affecting your conversions?
Strategic importance: Which topic clusters align with your priority products/services?
Resource efficiency: Where can you make the biggest impact with the least effort?
Current performance: Which topics are already getting traffic but not converting?

"The chart shows no data"

Make sure:

You've selected a project from the dropdown
Your project has content with journey stages assigned
You have permission to view this project

"How often should I review this chart?"

For best results:

Check monthly if you're actively creating new content
Review quarterly as part of strategic content planning
Analyze before and after major content initiatives
Compare year-over-year to track long-term trends