How Many Customer Pathways Does Your Website Need?

Key terms

Customer pathway

The route one kind of visitor takes through a website, from the page where they arrive to a next step with the business. A pathway is defined by the visitor's decision, the information they need first and the next step they take. It can have more than one entry point.

Customer decision

The question a visitor needs to settle before taking a next step, such as whether the business fits their situation or which option to choose.

Entry point

The page where a visitor first arrives on a website. It may be the homepage, a service page or a Knowledge Catalog entry, reached from search, a shared link or a referral.

Next step

The action that moves a visitor toward doing business, such as visiting, calling, booking, ordering or requesting a quote.

Convergence point

A page, form or tool where more than one pathway ends. It serves each pathway well when it records which situation the visitor came from.

The four parts of a customer pathway

Every customer pathway has four parts. The entry point is where the visitor arrives. The customer decision is the question they need to settle. The information needed first is what the website must show before they can settle it. The next step is the action that moves them toward doing business, drawn from the business's action inventory.

The parts depend on each other. A clear next step cannot help a visitor who has not yet found the information they need. Complete information cannot help a visitor who never reaches it from the page where they arrived. Planning a pathway means checking all four parts in order.

How pathways are counted

Two visitors are on the same pathway when they face the same decision, need the same information first and take the same next step. When any one of the three differs, they are on separate pathways.

The entry point does not change the count. Search engines index individual pages and can return any of them as a result [6], so visitors on one pathway may arrive on the homepage, a service page or a guide. A single pathway can have several entry points, and each one needs to welcome a first-time visitor. What makes it one pathway is the route the visitor follows once they arrive.

Customer type labels do not decide the count on their own. A business may describe its customers as homeowners, property managers and builders, and those labels create separate pathways only where the decisions, information or next steps differ. Research from Nielsen Norman Group on audience-based navigation describes the cost of organizing a website around labels: visitors may fit several groups or none, choosing a group adds effort before they reach their task, and separate audience sections are worth building only when the content is unique to that audience [2].

The rule works in the other direction as well. A business with a single kind of customer can still need more than one pathway. A first-time buyer and a customer returning to reorder may be the same person on different days, facing different decisions and taking different next steps.

Counting in five steps

1. List the kinds of visitors the business actually serves, drawn from inquiries, calls and sales records. A description of the ideal customer is a weaker source, because it records who the business wants to reach, which may differ from who arrives.
2. For each kind of visitor, write the decision in their own words, the information they need before deciding and the next step they take.
3. Merge any rows that match on all three. Merged rows share one pathway.
4. Note where each pathway's visitors are likely to arrive: the homepage, a service page, a Knowledge Catalog entry or a shared link.
5. Mark each step where more than one pathway ends. These are convergence points, usually a form, a booking tool or a phone number.

The list of real customer questions behind step 2 is the same list that decides which customer questions belong on the website.

Pathways, pages and navigation are separate counts

A pathway is a route, and a page is a place on that route. One page can serve several pathways: a contact page may be the final stop for every one of them. One pathway can cross several pages: a visitor may read a guide, open the related service page and then use the form at the end of it. The number of pathways and the number of pages are independent.

Navigation is a third structure. Menus organize pages so visitors can find them, and they show no particular visitor's route. In practice, pathways are connected through links placed in context, inside guides and service pages, where the visitor is already reading. WCAG 2.2 requires more than one way to locate a page within a set of pages, with an exception for steps in a process, and links to related pages are one of its documented techniques [4]. Google's link guidance makes a parallel point for search: each important page should be linked from at least one other page, with link text that describes the destination [5].

The link that opens a pathway needs to be written in the visitor's terms. Visitors choose which link to follow by estimating how likely it is to answer their need and how much effort it will take, and the link label carries much of that estimate [3]. A link that names the visitor's question, such as "Do you work in my area?", gives a stronger signal than the name of an internal service category.

Customer pathways and related concepts

Applications

One pathway with two customer labels

Illustrative example. A shoe and leather repair shop thinks of walk-in customers and phone callers as two audiences. Both want to know whether the shop can repair a specific item, what affects the cost and how long the work takes. Both bring the item in. One decision, one set of information and one next step make one pathway. The website's job is to answer those questions near the top of the page, alongside the address and hours. A separate section for phone callers would repeat the same answers.

Three pathways that share a form

Illustrative example. A landscaping company serves homeowners who want weekly maintenance, homeowners planning a new design and property managers responsible for several commercial sites.

The three differ on decision, information and next step, so they are three pathways. The quote and bid requests can still share one form if it asks which situation applies; that form is a convergence point, and it should be tested from end to end for each pathway that uses it. The design consultation may need its own booking step. All three pathways can live on one website with one menu. Each needs its own set of answers and a clear entrance, usually a service page built around that decision.

When the visitor is not the one deciding

Illustrative example. A tutoring center hears from parents arranging help for a child and from adults preparing for a certification exam. The parent decides on behalf of someone else and needs tutor qualifications, scheduling and the first step toward an assessment. The adult learner decides for themselves and needs course dates and what the program covers. Two decisions, two sets of information and two next steps make two pathways. The parent's pathway also needs something the adult's does not: information the parent can easily pass along to the student or another family member.

Limits and edge cases

• Visitors who fit several types. A business owner may also need personal tax help, and a homeowner may also manage a rental. A pathway should never require a visitor to pick a single label before continuing. Entrances phrased as situations, with links between related pathways, let a visitor move across [2]. The approach is set out in serving several customer types.
• Utility routes. Job applicants, vendors, existing clients logging into a portal and reporters arrive with real needs, but they are not deciding whether to do business. A clear footer link or a short page serves them. Counting them as customer pathways inflates the plan.
• Returning customers. A returning customer often needs a shortcut more than an explanation: reorder, pay, reschedule. Their route becomes its own pathway when its next step differs from a first-time visitor's.
• Rare visitor types. A kind of visitor who appears a few times a year may not justify a full pathway. A short section on an existing page, or a direct answer in the Knowledge Catalog, can carry them until they appear more often.
• Upkeep. Each pathway has its own answers, and each answer rests on facts that change. Every added pathway is something to keep accurate after launch, so the count should match the business as it actually operates.
• Change over time. A new service, a new kind of customer or a change in how customers buy can add or merge pathways. The count is worth revisiting whenever the offer or the way customers buy changes.

Count your customer pathways

List up to eight kinds of visitors. For each one, choose the next step and what they need to know first, and mark whether they need answers written specifically for them. A different decision shows up as questions that need their own answers, so a visitor marked that way always receives a separate pathway. Visitors who match on everything else are grouped together.

The result is a planning list. It shows which visitors can share pages and answers, and which steps are convergence points. It does not measure an existing website. The pathway list is also the starting point for what the homepage should say first, since the homepage has to open a route for each pathway that arrives there.

How So It Sticks applies this

We map a business's customer pathways before planning its pages. The map decides what the homepage opens with, which service pages and Knowledge Catalog entries are worth writing, and where each form belongs. A form at a convergence point is planned to ask which situation applies, the same job an assessment or intake form does on a larger scale. Start a Project Brief and describe the visitors your website needs to serve.

Sources and method

The pathway model, the counting rule, the examples and the tool are So It Sticks editorial frameworks. The examples are illustrative and describe no real business. Each linked source supports only the statements numbered beside it. Sources verified October 15, 2026.

1. Nielsen Norman Group: User Journeys vs. User Flows
2. Nielsen Norman Group: Audience-Based Navigation: 5 Reasons to Avoid It
3. Nielsen Norman Group: Information Scent: How Users Decide Where to Go Next
4. W3C: Understanding Success Criterion 2.4.5, Multiple Ways
5. Google Search Central: Link best practices
6. Google Search Central: In-depth guide to how Google Search works