The Top 5 Mistakes Founders Make with Their Customer Journey—and How to Fix Them
By Coco Sellman
Welcome back to the Force for Good Community on Substack!
What if your biggest growth problem isn’t that you’re doing too little—but that you’re doing too much…in the dark?
If you’re like most visionary founders, you’ve poured your heart and energy into your business. You’ve launched new funnels, tested campaigns, hired great people, and invested in the latest tools—yet growth still feels stuck.
The truth is, all that effort can become a blur of activity if you haven’t truly seen your business through your customer’s eyes.
You Can’t Fix What You Haven’t Seen
The result? Exhaustion, wasted resources, and a business that never quite breaks through to its next level of impact or prosperity.
The Solution: The 17-Step Customer Journey
The fastest way to replace guesswork with clarity is to define your 17-Step Customer Journey™.
But too often, founders sabotage this process by making avoidable mistakes.
Let’s break down the five most common pitfalls—and how you can sidestep them to unlock real, lasting growth.
The 5 Mistakes & How to Fix Them
Mistake #1 - Skipping Emotional Depth
Why It Matters:
Emotions—not logic—drive decisions. If you aren’t tracking what your customer feels at each step, you’re missing the very levers that build trust, loyalty, and advocacy.
How to Fix It:
Ask: “What is she afraid of? What is she hopeful about? Where does she feel vulnerable?”
Circle moments of intense emotion—these are your leverage points.
Use the five-lens approach: physical experience, thoughts, feelings, interactions, and systems.
Mistake #2. Treating It Like a Marketing Exercise
Mistake: Assuming the journey only belongs to sales or marketing.
Why It Matters:
Your customer’s journey is not a campaign—it’s her reality. Every department shapes her experience, from operations to support to product.
How to Fix It:
Involve cross-functional teams in mapping and reviewing the journey.
Make the journey a strategic blueprint, not just a marketing tool.
Use it to inform hiring, training, product development, and service delivery.
Mistake #3 - Failing to Validate with Real Customers
Why It Matters:
Assumptions are the enemy of growth. Only real feedback can reveal the gaps between what you believe and what your customer actually experiences.
How to Fix It:
Interview 3–5 real customers for each journey step.
Gather feedback through surveys, calls, or observation.
Adjust your journey map based on what you learn.
Mistake #4 - Ignoring Post-Purchase Experiences
Why It Matters:
Retention is cheaper than acquisition. Steps 9–17—onboarding, support, problem-solving, and advocacy—are where loyalty and referrals are built.
How to Fix It:
Map the entire experience, from first touch to post-purchase and beyond.
Identify where customers drop off or become frustrated after the sale.
Design onboarding and support that delights, not just delivers.
Mistake #5 - Letting the Journey Collect Dust
Why It Matters:
A journey map is only valuable if it’s alive. If it sits in a folder, your team will drift back to old habits and blind spots.
How to Fix It:
Review one journey step in every weekly leadership meeting.
Update your map quarterly.
Integrate it into onboarding for every new team member.
Real-World Examples: Women-Led Companies
Example 1: Ellevest (Sallie Krawcheck, Co-Founder & CEO)
Ellevest, the women-focused investment platform, transformed its growth trajectory by deeply mapping the customer journey. Early on, the team realized that women investors were not just looking for financial tools—they were seeking confidence, education, and community.
By interviewing users and mapping the emotional highs and lows of their journey, Ellevest redesigned onboarding, added educational content, and built a supportive community.
The result? Higher engagement, increased referrals, and a surge in repeat investment activity.
Example 2: Landit (Lisa Skeete Tatum, Founder & CEO)
Landit, a career development platform for women and diverse talent, used customer journey mapping to uncover friction points in user onboarding and engagement.
By involving product, customer support, and coaching teams in the mapping process, Landit discovered that new users felt overwhelmed by choices and unsure where to start. The team responded by creating guided onboarding, personalized recommendations, and proactive check-ins—leading to improved user retention, higher satisfaction, and accelerated growth.
How to Apply It
Ready to sidestep these mistakes and transform your business from the inside out? Here’s how:
1. Download the Customer Journey Map™
(It’s free this week—details below.)
2. Schedule Time with Your Team
Walk through all 17 steps together.
3. For Each Step, Write Down:
What she does
What she feels
What she fears
Who she interacts with
What systems are in play
4. Highlight Blind Spots
Identify areas you’re currently ignoring or assuming.
5. Decide on One Improvement
Choose one change you’ll implement in the next 30 days.
Pro Tip:
Make the journey map a living tool. Revisit it monthly. Share stories from real customers.
Stop Guessing, Start Seeing
Imagine what would happen if you stopped guessing and started seeing.
This week only, get the Customer Journey Map™ and a step-by-step video masterclass—free until July 13th.
👉 Download your copy:
https://aforceforgood.biz/weekly-tool/
The clarity you crave is closer than you think.
Build a business your customers never want to leave.
This article is part of the Force for Good ToolKit Series. The full FFG ToolKit is available with the book, A Force for Good: Empowering Visionary Women to Lead High-Impact, High-Growth Enterprises.
Got a question about building, scaling, or selling your business? Ask me anything.
Whether you're stuck on growth, dreaming about an exit, or just need a sounding board—I’m here for it. Drop me a line at coco@aforceforgood.biz. I read every single email myself and reply to as many as I can.
And here’s the fun part: the most thought-provoking questions may be featured in a future issue (with your blessing, of course), so we can lift others while we learn together.
Watch the companion episode to today’s article with Coco Sellman on the Force for Good Business Show:
Apple Podcasts:
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About the Author:
Coco Sellman believes business is a force for good, especially with visionary women at the helm. With over 25 years of entrepreneurial experience, she has launched five companies and guided over 500 startups. As Founder & CEO of A Force for Good, Coco supports purpose-driven women founders in unlocking exponential growth and prosperity. Her recent venture, Allumé Home Care, reached eight-figure revenues and seven-figure profits in just four years before a successful exit in 2024. A venture investor and advisor, Coco’s book, A Force for Good, reveals a roadmap for women to lead high-impact, high-growth companies. She is the host of #WisdomOfWomen Show and the Force for Good Business Show. Coco partnered with ChatGPT and Perplexity to write this article.
Sources
1. A Force for Good: Empowering Visionary Women to Lead High-Impact, High Growth Enterprises, by Coco Sellman