The customer journey is the sequence of phases a customer moves through in relation to a solution. BRI Associates uses a canonical nine-phase sequence: Discovery, Evaluation, Commitment, Fulfillment, Setup/Onboarding, Use/Operation, Troubleshooting, Expansion/Upgrade, and Retirement/Exit. The point of mapping all nine — rather than only the moment of purchase — is that a customer has a different job to be done in each phase, and solutions that win on Discovery and Evaluation routinely fail on Setup or Troubleshooting, in a phase the team never analyzed.
In BRI's methodology the customer journey is where jobs to be done are defined across the whole lifecycle, which in turn shapes the Whole Solution — everything the customer needs across every phase, not just the core product at purchase. For the full treatment, see the Strategy Framework pillar at /supporting/strategy-framework. Related Terminology Index entries: Jobs to Be Done (JTBD); Whole Solution; Unmet Needs; Value Network.
