The path to purchase is shorthand used by marketers to describe the customer journey or different touchpoints across the customer lifecycle. These touchpoints may include paid, owned and earned digital media.
The research from GlobalWebIndex in their social media trends 2020 report shows how social media inform purchase decisions on the path to purchase. It shows that younger age groups are particularly keen on researching products online via social networks. Both organic and paid posts from businesses can help support this process.
Other definitions explain different marketing models and frameworks such as a customer journey map used to understand the path-to-purchase. Attribution in digital marketing gives an analytical research technique to assess the influence of different channels