How to Spot & Fix Customer Journey Pain Points
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What if your customer isn’t confused – they’re just exhausted?
You’ve spent months perfecting your product. It’s better, faster, smarter. You’re proud of it – and you should be.
But there’s one thing bothering you – the customer doesn’t care.
They don’t care how many hours you’ve spent in meetings. They don’t care about your branding document. They don’t even care that your competitor’s solution is worse.
They care about the blisters. The ones they get from walking a broken customer journey. Every click, every delay, every email that doesn’t quite land – that’s what we define as friction, and friction creates pain points.
Most customer journeys don’t fail because of big catastrophes. They’re usually from a small issue that frustrates the customer. Perhaps a confusing form, a missing CTA, or a follow-up email that feels like it was written by a robot having a bad day.
In this blog, we’ll go through how to fix that, discussing how to spot the pain, and more importantly, how to heal it.
1. The Myth of the “Perfect Journey”
Marketers love blueprints. The customer starts here, moves there, and, ultimately, they buy. Conversion complete.
But real people aren’t that linear. They get distracted. They Google your competitor halfway through. They ask their friend. They forget the tab’s open. They go to lunch.
The journey isn’t a funnel. It’s a wandering, emotionally-charged, decision-making adventure.
So when we talk about pain points, we’re not just talking about UX bugs or missing links. We’re talking about psychological friction, doubt, boredom. Overwhelm. Suspicion.
If you want to fix the journey, you need to stop thinking like a designer and start thinking like a human.
2. The Difference Between a Speed Bump and a Wall
Firstly, not all friction is bad.
Some brands build it in on purpose. Think about luxury fashion. The slow sales process is part of the story. The velvet rope, the waiting list – it creates desire.
But most of us aren’t running Hermès.
Most of us are accidentally putting up walls where there should be open doors.
Pain points fall into three categories:
- Cognitive: “I don’t get it.”
- Emotional: “I don’t trust this.”
- Functional: “It doesn’t work.”
You’ve got to spot them all. Because if you miss one, the customer will find it.
And they won’t call to complain. Instead, they’ll ghost you.
3. Start with the Empathy Map, Not the Heatmap
Sure, you can run analytics. You can build funnels and obsess over conversion rates. That’s important. But the gold is in empathy.
Try this exercise:
- What is the customer thinking at each stage?
- What are they feeling?
- What are they afraid of?
- What are they hoping for?
Ask those questions before you look at the data. Because the data will show you what happened, but not why.
The empathy map helps you spot emotional friction – the stuff Google Analytics will never show you.
It’s not just about what’s broken. It’s about what’s missing.
4. Read the Bad Reviews (Even If They’re Not Yours)
Want to know what’s broken in your industry? Read the 1-star reviews of your competitors.
You’ll see recurring themes:
- “I couldn’t speak to a real person.”
- “I felt like they just wanted my money.”
- “It took forever.”
- “No one followed up.”
Now look in the mirror. Be honest.
Are you doing the same thing?
Because pain points are often systemic. Not personal. Your competitor isn’t bad at customer service – they’re just caught in the same cycle of automation and efficiency as everyone else.
To stand out, you don’t need to be perfect, but you need to be better where it counts.
5. Pain Point #1: The Dead End
Imagine you’re trying to book a consultation. You land on a gorgeous homepage. You click “Book Now.” The page loads – and all you see is a generic contact form. No calendar. No availability. No confirmation.
That’s a dead end.
It’s not broken, technically. But it does feel broken.
Dead ends happen when we forget to close the loop. The customer is trying to move forward, but the path stops. They hesitate. They bounce.
Fix It:
- Make the next step ridiculously clear.
- Remove ambiguity. Add buttons, context, and confidence boosters.
- Use copy like a human: “We’ll get back to you within 2 hours.” This response is straight to the point, and therefore powerful.
6. Pain Point #2: The Overload
Choice is good. Until it isn’t.
Your pricing page has five packages. Your features page is a 40-scroll monstrosity. Your emails are packed with every single offer you’ve ever had.
The customer freezes.
This is called the paradox of choice. The more you give, the less they choose.
Fix It:
- Curate instead of dumping.
- Use progressive disclosure: show less upfront, reveal more as they engage.
- Create default paths: “Most people choose this plan.”
Be the guide, not the catalog.
7. Pain Point #3: The Robotic Moment
Let’s say your customer abandons their cart. You send an email:
“We noticed you left items in your cart. Click here to complete your purchase.”
This is where most brands go to die. Automations that sound like automations. Chatbots that feel like talking to a brick wall.
The customer wants to be seen, not processed.
Fix It:
- Add personality to automations.
- Include humour, empathy, and a reason to care.
- Try something like: “Still thinking it over? We saved your cart – no pressure. Here’s 10% off if it helps tip the scales.”
Surprise them. Remind them there’s a human on the other end.
Final Thought: Your Customer Is the Hero. You’re the Map.
The customer journey isn’t about optimising clickthrough rates. It’s about honouring attention. treating people with respect as they navigate a world full of noise, and giving them a path that feels like someone thought about them.
We’re presented with so much AI and so many bots that showing how you value the customer is rare, powerful, and worth doing well. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes to heal the blisters and tell a better story. But most importantly, make it feel good for the customer to keep going.
