Customer Research

Customer Journey Pain Points: How to Identify & Fix Them

9 min read

Every founder knows the frustration: traffic is coming to your website, people are clicking around, but conversions remain disappointingly low. The culprit? Customer journey pain points that you haven’t identified yet. These friction points silently push potential customers away at every stage of their interaction with your product or service.

Understanding customer journey pain points isn’t just about improving user experience—it’s about survival. Studies show that 86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience, yet most founders struggle to pinpoint exactly where their journey falls short. This guide will walk you through identifying, prioritizing, and fixing the pain points that matter most to your bottom line.

What Are Customer Journey Pain Points?

Customer journey pain points are specific moments of friction, frustration, or confusion that potential customers experience while interacting with your brand. These pain points occur across every stage of the customer journey—from initial awareness to post-purchase support—and they directly impact conversion rates, customer satisfaction, and lifetime value.

Unlike general product pain points, customer journey pain points focus specifically on the experience and process rather than the product itself. A customer might love your product but abandon it because the checkout process is confusing, the onboarding is overwhelming, or they can’t find answers to their questions.

The Four Main Categories of Customer Journey Pain Points

Process Pain Points: Complicated sign-up flows, confusing navigation, or lengthy checkout processes
Support Pain Points: Difficulty finding help, slow response times, or inadequate documentation
Financial Pain Points: Unclear pricing, hidden fees, or payment friction
Information Pain Points: Missing product details, unclear value propositions, or insufficient social proof

The Five Stages Where Pain Points Lurk

To effectively identify customer journey pain points, you need to understand where they typically occur. Let’s break down each stage and the common friction points founders overlook.

Stage 1: Awareness and Discovery

At this initial stage, potential customers are just learning about your product. Common pain points include:

Your value proposition isn’t immediately clear
Marketing messages don’t address actual customer problems
Website loads slowly or looks unprofessional on mobile
Jargon-heavy content that confuses rather than clarifies

The biggest mistake founders make here is talking about features instead of outcomes. Your prospects don’t care about your “AI-powered algorithm”—they care about saving three hours per week.

Stage 2: Consideration and Evaluation

When prospects are comparing you to competitors, these pain points cause drop-off:

Lack of transparent pricing information
Missing comparison charts or competitor analysis
No free trial or demo option
Insufficient case studies or customer testimonials
Unclear differentiation from competitors

This stage is critical because prospects are actively trying to give you money—they just need confidence that you’re the right choice.

Stage 3: Purchase Decision

The checkout or sign-up process is where many well-designed journeys fall apart:

Forms asking for too much information upfront
Unclear next steps after payment
Payment method limitations
Surprise fees or unclear billing terms
No option to contact sales for questions

According to Baymard Institute, the average cart abandonment rate is nearly 70%, and complicated checkout processes are the leading cause.

Stage 4: Onboarding and First Use

You’ve won the customer—now don’t lose them during onboarding:

Overwhelming feature dumps instead of guided experiences
No clear “first win” or quick value demonstration
Missing contextual help or tooltips
Generic onboarding that doesn’t match user’s specific use case

The first hour with your product determines whether users become advocates or churners. Make it count.

Stage 5: Ongoing Use and Support

Long-term customer journey pain points often receive the least attention:

Difficult-to-access customer support
Outdated or incomplete documentation
No proactive communication about account issues
Complicated upgrade or downgrade processes

How to Actually Identify Your Specific Pain Points

Theory is helpful, but you need practical methods to uncover YOUR unique customer journey pain points. Here’s a step-by-step framework that works.

Method 1: Analytics Deep Dive

Start with your existing data. Look for patterns that indicate friction:

High exit rates on specific pages
Form abandonment rates
Time spent on pages versus expected duration
Drop-off points in your conversion funnel
Customer support ticket themes and frequency

Set up event tracking for critical actions like “started checkout,” “viewed pricing,” or “clicked help.” These micro-conversions reveal where users struggle.

Method 2: User Session Recordings

Tools like Hotjar or FullStory show you exactly how real users interact with your product. Watch for:

Rage clicks (repeatedly clicking the same element)
Confusion loops (going back and forth between pages)
Hesitation (unusually long time spent on simple decisions)
Unexpected navigation patterns

Spend 30 minutes weekly watching actual user sessions. You’ll discover pain points you never imagined.

Method 3: Direct Customer Conversations

Nothing beats talking to actual humans. Conduct regular interviews with:

Recent customers (their memory is fresh)
Churned customers (they’ll tell you the brutal truth)
Long-term advocates (they’ve experienced the full journey)
People who didn’t convert (understand the “almost” customers)

Ask open-ended questions: “Walk me through your first experience…” or “What almost made you choose a competitor?” Avoid leading questions.

Method 4: Social Listening and Community Research

Your potential customers are already discussing their frustrations online—you just need to listen. This is where understanding real-world pain points becomes invaluable for improving your customer journey.

PainOnSocial helps you systematically discover these authentic customer journey pain points by analyzing Reddit discussions across relevant communities. Instead of guessing which parts of your journey cause friction, you can see what problems people are actively discussing—whether it’s frustration with complicated onboarding processes, confusing pricing models, or lack of adequate support.

For example, if you’re building a SaaS tool for project management, PainOnSocial can surface discussions from r/projectmanagement or r/productivity where users complain about specific journey friction points: “spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to invite my team,” or “gave up because I couldn’t understand the pricing tiers.” These real quotes, complete with upvote counts and permalinks, give you evidence-backed insights into which pain points matter most to your target audience.

This research approach is particularly powerful because it shows you pain points you might not think to ask about in surveys. People are more candid in community discussions than in formal feedback channels, revealing the emotional impact of journey friction that drives their decisions.

Prioritizing Which Pain Points to Fix First

You’ve identified dozens of pain points—now what? Not all friction is created equal. Use this prioritization framework:

The Impact-Effort Matrix

Plot each pain point on a grid:

High Impact + Low Effort: Fix these immediately (quick wins)
High Impact + High Effort: Plan these for next quarter (strategic projects)
Low Impact + Low Effort: Batch these together (nice-to-haves)
Low Impact + High Effort: Deprioritize or eliminate (time wasters)

The Revenue Impact Formula

For each pain point, estimate:

Revenue Impact = (Number of affected users) × (Conversion improvement estimate) × (Average transaction value)

For example: If 1,000 users per month hit your pricing page, and fixing confusion about pricing tiers could improve conversion by 5%, and your average sale is $500, that’s a potential $25,000 monthly impact.

Practical Fixes for Common Customer Journey Pain Points

Fixing Awareness Stage Pain Points

Create a clear, benefit-focused headline that passes the “5-second test”
Add customer quotes that address specific problems
Optimize page load speed (aim for under 3 seconds)
Include a prominent video demo that shows actual value

Fixing Consideration Stage Pain Points

Make pricing transparent and easy to understand
Create honest comparison pages (yes, mention competitors)
Offer risk-free trials without credit card requirements
Display recent customer wins with specific metrics

Fixing Purchase Stage Pain Points

Reduce form fields to absolute essentials
Show progress indicators in multi-step processes
Display trust signals (security badges, money-back guarantees)
Provide multiple payment options
Add live chat for last-minute questions

Fixing Onboarding Pain Points

Create role-based onboarding flows
Focus on one “aha moment” per session
Use empty states to guide next actions
Send timely, contextual email nudges
Celebrate small wins to build momentum

Fixing Support Pain Points

Build a searchable, comprehensive knowledge base
Implement chatbots for common questions
Create video tutorials for complex features
Make contact options prominent and easy to find
Proactively reach out when users seem stuck

Measuring the Impact of Your Fixes

After addressing customer journey pain points, you need to validate that your changes actually work. Track these metrics:

Conversion Rate: At each funnel stage
Time to Value: How quickly users achieve their first win
Customer Effort Score: Survey users on how easy tasks were
Net Promoter Score: Overall satisfaction indicator
Support Ticket Volume: Decreased tickets indicate smoother journeys
Activation Rate: Percentage completing onboarding

Run A/B tests when possible, but don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Sometimes directional improvements matter more than statistical significance, especially for early-stage companies.

Creating a Continuous Improvement Process

Identifying and fixing customer journey pain points isn’t a one-time project—it’s an ongoing discipline. Here’s how to build it into your workflow:

Weekly: Monitor Quick Wins

Review user session recordings
Check support ticket themes
Analyze funnel drop-off points
Make small, immediate improvements

Monthly: Deep Dive Analysis

Conduct customer interviews
Review analytics trends
Gather team feedback
Prioritize major improvements

Quarterly: Strategic Journey Audits

Map the complete customer journey
Compare against competitors
Test your own product as a new user
Plan significant enhancements

Conclusion: Turn Journey Friction Into Competitive Advantage

Customer journey pain points represent your biggest opportunity for growth. While your competitors ignore these friction points, you can systematically eliminate them and create experiences that convert prospects into advocates.

Start small. Pick one high-impact pain point identified through analytics, user sessions, or community research. Fix it this week. Measure the impact. Then move to the next one. This compound improvement approach transforms mediocre journeys into exceptional ones over time.

Remember: every pain point you identify is a gift. It’s a clear signal showing you exactly where to focus your limited time and resources. The founders who obsess over eliminating customer friction are the ones who build sustainable, growing businesses.

Ready to identify your most critical customer journey pain points? Start by talking to five users this week and watching ten session recordings. The insights you gain will be worth more than any growth hack or marketing tactic.