User journey content marketing: How to create content for every stage

Content is the foundation of the user journey. At every touchpoint, it plays a crucial role in answering questions, sparking interest, and driving actions that move potential customers further down your sales funnel. By mapping the user journey, you gain the insights needed to align your content with user intent, making your marketing efforts more effective.

Let's explore how to create content that supports each stage of the user journey to ensure your content marketing efforts make the biggest possible impact.

What is the user journey?

The user journey outlines the steps and experiences a customer goes through on your website, from becoming aware of a particular problem to converting and becoming a customer (and potentially an advocate).

Although there are a few different versions, the user journey is generally made up of five stages:

• Awareness: The user becomes aware of a problem or need, but they may not be aware of a specific solution yet.
• Consideration: The user recognizes they have a problem and starts researching potential solutions and comparing different products.
• Decision: The user chooses a product or service and takes a desired action, such as booking a demo or making a purchase.
• Retention: The user continues to use the product or service and becomes a loyal customer.
• Advocacy: The user becomes a strong advocate for the brand and recommends it to others.

What is user journey mapping?

A user journey map is a visual tool that charts a user's entire experience with your site, outlining all the steps, emotions, and touchpoints involved. Mapping the user journey can be complex (luckily, we have a handy user journey mapping guide to help), but the process generally involves:

1. Setting goals for the map
2. Highlighting your target customer personas
3. Understanding your customers and their goals
4. Listing all touchpoints according to stages and sequences
5. Determining the resources you have and the ones you'll need
6. Testing the user journey yourself
7. Analyzing your results
8. Updating your map over time

By leveraging user journey maps in content marketing, you can tailor your content to address the specific needs and intent of your audience at each stage as they make a purchase decision. This ensures that your content is as relevant and effective as possible, ultimately leading to higher engagement, conversions, and customer loyalty.

» Optimize every stage of the user journey with Entail CRO.

The role of content in the user journey

Content is the fuel that drives users through each stage of their journey and helps them make informed decisions. It also plays a crucial role in moving users through your customer journey conversion funnel, building trust, and ultimately leading to a purchase. The more confident your content makes someone feel about your brand, the easier it becomes for them to make a purchase decision.

Here's what your content marketing goals should be at each stage to support the user journey:

• Awareness: Create high-quality content that resonates with users to capture their attention and make a strong first impression. Start introducing your product and its benefits.
• Consideration: Address users' specific issues, concerns, and desires while highlighting how your product stands out from competitors. Frame your solution as the best fit for their needs.
• Decision: Showcase your product with clear, compelling content and guide users toward making a purchase decision with strong calls to action (CTAs).
• Retention: Strengthen relationships with your customers by providing valuable content that fosters loyalty.
• Advocacy: Inspire customers to become enthusiastic promoters of your brand by encouraging loyalty and providing opportunities to share positive experiences.

How to create content for every stage of the user journey

Awareness

At the awareness stage, users recognize they have a problem or need, but making a purchase isn't their priority. Instead, their focus is on research, education, and finding answers to their questions. They're simply trying to understand their problem better and explore potential solutions.

You can support their goals with educational content that helps users solve their problems or find satisfying answers to their questions. As a brand, your focus here shouldn't be on pushing for a purchase but on creating authentic, expert content to establish your brand as a trusted source. The goal is to increase visibility and create a connection with potential customers, positioning your brand as an authority in your industry and making it easy for users to see how you could meet their needs.

To effectively support users in the awareness stage, consider creating the following types of content:

• Informational blog posts
• Thought leadership pieces
• How-to articles
• Guides
• Whitepapers
• E-books
• Social media posts
• Informational videos
• Free checklists, calculators, templates, or similar tools

These formats are ideal for building topical authority and delivering the kind of informative, problem-solving content that users want at this stage of their journey.

» Creating content for every user journey stage? Learn to manage content at scale.

Consideration

Users in the consideration stage have identified their need for a product or service and are actively comparing options to find the best solution. They're interested in learning more about your offerings and how they stack up against competitors. Their goal is to gather enough information to make an informed decision, and this is where you have the opportunity to influence their choice.

To support these goals, focus on delivering content related to your product that helps users compare different options. Highlight the unique benefits of your product or service to make it easier for users to see why your offering is the best fit for their needs. Your content should address common concerns, answer key questions, and provide the detailed information users need to feel confident in their decisions.

You can create the following content for users in the consideration stage:

• Case studies or customer success stories
• Product guides
• Product listicles
• Comparison pages
• Product reviews
• Free trials
• Product videos

These content types are designed to help users navigate a crowded marketplace, weigh their options, and move closer to a purchase decision.

Decision

In the decision stage, users have chosen a solution and are ready to take the final step—whether it's making a purchase, booking a demo, or signing up for a service. At this point, they're completing their goal, and you should help them feel confident and motivated to take action with content that converts.

You can accomplish this by creating content that is highly focused on your product and how it performs in real-world scenarios. This is the time to be brand- and product-centric to really showcase how your solution effectively solves the user's problem. Your content should be clear, direct, and accompanied by convincing CTAs and product widgets. The right CTA can be the final nudge users need to convert.

Consider the following content types for the decision stage:

• Free demos and consultations
• Discount offers and promotions
• Product signup pages
• Pricing pages
• Customer testimonials

This type of content not only reinforces the value of your solution but also provides the final push users need to complete their journey and convert.

» Generate targeted CTAs and embed custom widgets that drive conversions with Entail CRO.

Retention

The focus in the retention stage shifts to nurturing your relationship with your customers to keep them satisfied and engaged. Here, users need ongoing support, product updates, and ways to stay connected with your brand.

To support these needs, you can create content that keeps customers informed while providing the tools they need to maximize the value of their purchase. Your goal at this stage is to refine and improve the user experience, ensuring that customers feel valued and supported. You can also use the feedback you receive at this stage to optimize user journeys on your site and make any necessary updates to your user journey map.

Effective content types in the retention stage include:

• Product updates
• Email newsletters
• Knowledge bases with information on how to use your product
• FAQs
• Community forums

By offering these resources, you facilitate continued engagement, maintain a strong relationship with your customers, and encourage them to advocate for your brand.

» Creating content at scale? Learn the best practices for using AI in your content management processes.

Advocacy

Once they reach the advocacy stage, users become loyal customers ready to promote your brand. This stage is the hardest to achieve but also the most rewarding because advocates leave positive reviews, refer others, and create user-generated content (UGC)—all of which can feed back into the awareness stage to influence potential new customers.

You can encourage users to become advocates by delivering an exceptional customer experience across all touchpoints, from your product to site performance and, of course, content. A consistent and positive end-to-end experience inspires customers to share their satisfaction with others. To capitalize on this, brands should actively encourage and incentivize advocacy through strategies like offering rewards for testimonials and reviews.

To foster advocacy, consider adding the following to your content marketing strategy:

• Loyalty or referral programs
• Affiliate programs
• Personalized offers
• Sharing user-generated content (UGC) on social media

This way, you not only recognize and reward your loyal customers but also amplify their positive experiences, helping to attract new customers.

Support the user journey with stage-specific content

Even with a solid understanding of your customers, the user journey will always be somewhat unpredictable. However, by leveraging user journey maps to create content for each stage, you can guide users through your sales funnel more effectively. Embrace the unpredictability as an opportunity to refine your approach and ensure your content remains relevant and impactful, no matter where users are in their journey.

» Streamline and scale your entire content marketing process with Entail's CMS plugin.