In the CPG industry, decisions happen fast, often on autopilot, and with very low switching costs.
Consumers are not agonizing over which laundry detergent to buy. They reach for the familiar option until something disrupts the habit, and they no longer reach for yours.
What separates the brands that catch this early from the ones that read it in a quarterly sales report is simple: research.
Specifically, structured, ongoing market research that maps how consumers discover, evaluate, buy, and remain loyal to CPG products, and tracks the factors that cause them to leave.
This guide covers exactly how to do that.
We will walk through each stage of the CPG customer journey, explain why sales data alone will mislead you, and show you which research methods (brand equity surveys, mobile ethnography, shelf testing, loyalty tracking, segmentation, and advanced analytics) give you the clearest picture of what is actually happening with your consumers.
At Drive Research, we have conducted CPG market research for food and beverage brands, dairy companies, beverage manufacturers, produce companies, and retail brands nationwide. The patterns we see in that work inform everything in this guide.
The CPG customer journey is the path a consumer takes from first becoming aware of a product to making a repeat purchase and potentially becoming a brand advocate.
At its core, customer journey mapping is the process of boiling down all touchpoints and interactions a customer has with a brand into one path to purchase.
For CPG brands specifically, this matters in a very different way. They’re making a split-second decision at the shelf or clicking past your product online.
Unlike high-consideration categories, CPG journeys are typically short, habitual, and low-involvement, but they can be disrupted at any point.
Factors like competitive promotions, out-of-stocks, price changes, or shifting preferences can affect a brand’s customer journey.
That disruption is exactly why research is so important. Journey mapping helps organizations understand the entire customer experience, including every touchpoint along the way and points often missed by quantitative surveys alone.
It’s also worth understanding the difference between what consumers say and what they do.
A shopper might tell you price isn’t a major factor, but purchase data shows volume drops every time the price even slightly ticks up. The best CPG journey research combines what consumers report with what behavioral data actually shows.
Depending on the brand’s goals, a customer journey research study might address:
CPG customer journey research goes far beyond a standard consumer survey.
It maps every meaningful touchpoint a shopper has with your brand across different stages of the customer journey.
Recommended Reading: 3 CPG Market Research Options for Excellent Consumer Insights
The CPG customer journey is not a straight line. Most frameworks depict it as a funnel awareness to purchase, but that model misses what makes CPG so different from other categories.
In CPG, the journey can be thought of as a loop. Consumers discover a product, try it, decide whether to keep buying it, and then either become habitual purchasers or drift away.
The loop can be disrupted at any point.
Understanding where in that loop your consumers currently are (and what influences them at each point) is the foundation of smarter marketing, better products, and higher retention.
Consumers can not buy what they do not know exists. For CPG brands, discovery happens across a wide range of touchpoints, and the mix varies significantly by category.
According to research, social media and TV are the top discovery channels across beauty, food and beverage, and OTC health categories. But the platforms within social vary: Facebook remains the most common discovery channel overall, while TikTok dominates for Gen Z beauty shoppers (who are nearly seven times more likely to discover beauty products on TikTok than on Facebook).
At this stage, brands need to understand whether target consumers even know they exist.
A brand equity survey is the right starting tool here. It measures unaided and aided awareness, word associations, competitive awareness, and initial perceptions, giving you a baseline to measure against as your marketing evolves.
Once a consumer is aware of a product, they shift into evaluation mode (though in CPG, this process is often compressed or subconscious).
Written reviews consistently rank as the most helpful element on product detail pages, followed by star ratings, photos, and product comparisons.
Consumers want social proof and to see the product in action, especially in categories like beauty, where the experience is highly sensory.
Influencer content plays an outsized role here, too: at least 59% of consumers across beauty, food and beverage, and OTC health said they had purchased a product based on an influencer’s recommendation in the past year, according to Tinuiti data.
Brands need to understand how consumers evaluate them versus competitors on the shelf and online.
The moment of purchase is where the shelf wins or loses. And for CPG brands selling through retail, this moment is largely out of your direct control, unless you have researched it.
Product placement matters enormously.
Research shows that most consumers consider the middle shelf (closest to eye level) to be the most premium position in a store. But placement alone does not determine the outcome. Packaging design, shelf presence, price position, and promotional signage all factor into the split-second decision a shopper makes.
Online, the equivalent is the product detail page: the title, images, number of reviews, and the buy box determine conversion just as much as organic traffic does.
Consumer behavior is also shifting in ways that affect the purchase stage. According to Flexe’s Omnichannel Consumer Survey, 62% of shoppers say delivery speed influences their purchase decisions, and 30% expect same-day delivery.
Subscription models are growing as a preferred format for frequently purchased items, removing the in-store decision entirely for loyal buyers.
We conducted a study for a brand that wanted to launch new packaging for their trail mix. The goal was to improve the packaging design to maximize purchases in-store.
We tested four package designs in two formats: a clear plastic tub and a stand-up resealable pouch, across trail mix and dried fruit.
The market research study addressed the following objective:
The results showed a clear winner:
| Key Takeaway | Details |
| The best-performing client SUP (Stand-Up Pouch) package was SUP 4, followed by SUP 1. | SUP 4 tied for first in the MaxDiff analysis among the 4 client packages and was the best-performing tested package in the competitive shelf-set comparison using MaxDiff. |
| Although the stand-up-pouch was predominantly preferred by buyers over tubs, the best-performing client tub was Tub 4. | Client Tub 4 performed the best in the MaxDiff analysis among the 4 client tub packages. It performed second best to Mariani in the competitive shelf-set MaxDiff analysis. |
| Although the stand-up pouch was predominantly preferred by buyers over tubs, the best-performing client tub was Tub 4. | Taste/flavor, high quality, value for the money, and the ability to see the product appealed to 99% of respondents. This means at least one of those factors resonated with nearly all buyers. Featuring only taste/flavor and high quality resonates with 93% of the buyers. |
| More likely to purchase if it supports environmental causes. | Supporting environmental causes was not a top factor in buyers’ consideration sets compared with taste/flavor, high quality, etc. However, when probed, it is a secondary influencer and presents an opportunity to differentiate from the competition. |
The purchase is not the end of the journey. It is where the cycle restarts or continues. In CPG, repurchase rates and brand loyalty are the metrics that actually drive business value.
McKinsey research shows that in advanced markets, more than one-third of consumers have tried different brands, and around 40% have switched retailers to find better prices or discounts.
That is the reality of the CPG loyalty environment: most consumers are not deeply committed, and switching is easy.
Loyalty in CPG generally shows up as habitual repurchase. Loyal shoppers are those who insist on their preferred product even when substitutes are cheaper, closer, or on promotion.
Building that kind of loyalty requires understanding which emotional and rational factors keep consumers coming back and which early warning signs predict churn.
Post-purchase research includes:
The goal is to catch drifting consumers before they switch to another brand (not after they switch).
💡 Pro Tip: The most underinvested stage in CPG research is the post-purchase stage. Brands typically spend heavily on awareness and acquisition research while undertracking what happens after the first purchase. Given that retaining an existing customer is almost always cheaper than acquiring a new one, loyalty research often delivers the highest ROI of any CPG research investment.
This measures whether target consumers know your brand exists (brand awareness), and what they think of it when prompted (aided awareness and brand perception).
Why it matters: You cannot convert consumers who have never heard of you. And consumers who have heard of you but associate you with the wrong attributes are just as hard to sell.
Brand equity surveys establish your awareness baseline and track how marketing investment moves these numbers over time.
It’s ideal to conduct a brand equity study at least annually (biannually if possible) to see how your advertising and distribution changes affected awareness and perception. For even better quality data, include NPS for your brand and key competitors in the same study.
NPS for CPG brands is a 0 to 10 likelihood-to-recommend scale that divides consumers into Promoters (9–10), Passives (7–8), and Detractors (0–6).
Your NPS is the percentage of Promoters minus the percentage of Detractors, ranging from -100 to +100.
Why it matters in CPG: In a category where word-of-mouth and social proof influence purchase decisions at every stage, NPS tells you whether your buyers are actively advocating for your brand
For context, here are a few NPS calculation examples:
A high NPS in CPG also correlates with stronger negotiations with retailers, as it signals consistent sales velocity and shopper satisfaction.
Always follow your NPS question with an open-ended “why” question. The score tells you where you stand with the customer, and the follow-up tells you why (and what to fix).
CSAT measures satisfaction at specific touchpoints, such as after using the product, interacting with the brand online, or contacting customer service.
Where NPS is a broader loyalty metric, CSAT zooms in on individual moments.
Why it matters in CPG: Consistently high CSAT scores build the foundation for loyalty. However, loyalty isn’t guaranteed.
A consumer can be satisfied with a single purchase and still choose a competitor’s promotion next time. This is why we always recommend combining CSAT with behavioral metrics.
For CPG brands, customer journey mapping is only as useful as the research methods behind it.
Different stages of the journey require different methodologies, and the most complete picture comes from combining them.
Here is a breakdown of the core methods we use with CPG clients, what each one captures, and when to deploy it.
Surveys are the foundation of any CPG journey research program.
They are scalable, quantifiable, and when designed well, they tell you exactly how consumers think and feel at each stage of the funnel.
For customer journey work, we typically deploy surveys at two moments:
A well-designed CPG survey uses a mix of closed-ended questions (for benchmarking and trend analysis) and open-ended questions (to surface the nuance behind the numbers).
We always recommend pairing a satisfaction rating with an open-ended follow-up: “What’s the primary reason for your score?” because the qualitative response is often where the most actionable findings live.
A one-time survey gives you a snapshot. A tracking survey gives you a trend line — and in CPG, the trend is often the most important finding.
Tracking studies run the same core questionnaire at regular intervals (typically quarterly or biannually) with a fresh representative sample each wave. Because the questions remain consistent, you can measure how metrics such as NPS, brand awareness, purchase intent, and CSAT change over time in response to marketing activity, competitive pressure, pricing changes, or product launches.
For CPG brands, tracking surveys are particularly valuable because:
In our work with CPG clients, we often see that the second or third wave of a tracking study is where the real strategic value kicks in. That’s when the trend data starts to tell a story that a single survey never could.
💡 Pro Tip: Set your tracking questionnaire conservatively. Every question you add makes it harder to maintain consistency across waves. Keep the core module tight (15–20 questions) and add a rotating module for topics specific to that wave.
Mobile ethnography is a qualitative research method in which participants use their smartphones to capture video, photos, and audio of their real-time shopping experience (in-store or online).
Rather than asking consumers to recall their experience after the fact, mobile ethnography captures the path-to-purchase moment as it actually happens.
For CPG brands, this is especially useful at the consideration and purchase stages, where the gap between what consumers say in surveys and what they actually do at the shelf is often wide.
Mobile ethnography reveals what consumers can’t or won’t tell you in a retrospective survey: the hesitation at the shelf, the moment they pick up a competitor’s product, and the packaging claim they actually read versus the one they skip.
We’ve used mobile ethnography with clients to uncover path-to-purchase behaviors that completely reframed how they thought about shelf presence and promotional strategy.
It’s most powerful when combined with a follow-up quantitative survey. The ethnography generates the hypotheses, and the survey tests them at scale.
Shelf testing, also called shelf placement research or simulated shelf studies, gives CPG brands a research-backed read on how their product performs in a competitive retail context before committing to packaging changes, new SKUs, or distribution decisions.
In a shelf testing study, the idea is to present respondents with a simulated shelf set, either digitally rendered or physically constructed, that replicates the actual retail environment.
Key metrics (under real shelf conditions) to measure are:
This type of research is especially valuable before a packaging redesign, a new product launch, or when a brand is negotiating for better shelf positioning with a retail partner.
It gives you quantitative evidence of what works and what doesn’t, before you invest in production runs or retail placement fees.
Not all CPG consumers are the same, and treating them as if they are leads to messaging that resonates with no one.
Consumer segmentation research divides your buyer base into distinct groups based on:
So you can tailor marketing, product development, and distribution decisions to the segments that matter most.
For customer journey mapping specifically, segmentation answers a critical question: Does the journey look the same for your core loyalists as it does for your occasional buyers or lapsed customers?
In our experience, it almost never does.
Heavy buyers often discover the brand differently, weigh different factors at the shelf, and respond to retention triggers that differ completely from those of light or trial buyers.
Common segmentation dimensions we use in CPG research include:
The output of a segmentation study provides your brand with a framework for prioritizing which consumers to invest in, and which journey stages need the most attention within each segment.
Once you have a solid foundation of survey data and behavioral tracking, advanced analytics allow you to go beyond “what is happening” to “why it is happening” and “what should we do about it.”
For CPG brands, three techniques are particularly powerful.
MaxDiff is a choice-based survey technique that identifies the true order of importance for product features, brand attributes, or marketing messages.
Rather than rating everything as “very important” (which most consumers do when asked directly), MaxDiff forces trade-offs that reveal what consumers genuinely value most.
For CPG brands, this is particularly useful for prioritizing packaging claims, ranking potential new product features, and identifying which brand attributes drive the most loyalty.
Conjoint analysis takes the trade-off logic further by simulating real purchase scenarios.
Respondents see multiple product configurations (different combinations of price, format, flavor, size, or claims) and select their preferences.
The output tells you precisely how much each attribute contributes to the purchase decision and what combination maximizes purchase intent.
These insights are critical for pricing strategy and new product development.
Regression analysis identifies which factors are the strongest statistical predictors of a key outcome, such as repurchase intent.
This surfaces the unstated drivers that explain behavior better than anything consumers report directly.
In a CPG loyalty study, regression might reveal that perceived product quality and packaging trust predict repurchase far more strongly than price (even among consumers who say price is their top concern).
That kind of finding completely reframes where a brand should invest.
One of the most common questions we hear from CPG brand teams is: How often do we actually need to conduct CPG customer journey research?
The honest answer is: it depends on your category, your competitive environment, and your business stage. We use a practical framework with our clients.
| Cadence | Best for |
| Monthly / Ongoing | New product launches, major price changes, high competitive pressure |
| Quarterly | Most active CPG categories — tracks NPS, CSAT, purchase intent, churn signals |
| Annually | Full brand equity study, competitive benchmarking, deep segmentation refresh |
For brands in highly competitive categories (such as food and beverage, personal care, beauty, retail, and more), quarterly pulse surveys are the right cadence. Quarterly tracking gives you visibility into:
Quarterly studies do not need to be large.
A focused pulse survey of 400 completed responses (our recommended minimum for statistically significant results at a ±5% margin of error) is enough to track NPS, satisfaction, and key behavioral indicators across your core segment.
Most CPG brands also benefit from a single comprehensive study per year that combines quantitative and qualitative components:
This annual study resets your benchmark and provides your team with the strategic context to interpret quarterly data accurately throughout the year.
New product launches, significant price changes, major packaging redesigns, and aggressive competitive activity all warrant more intensive research.
In these situations, monthly pulse surveys can capture real-time consumer response as the market absorbs the change.
The worst thing a CPG brand can do is make a significant product or pricing decision, then wait six months to see what happens. Research should be running before, during, and after high-stakes changes.
💡 Pro Tip: If budget is the constraint, start with an annual study and add quarterly pulse surveys as the value compounds. The trend data that builds over time, watching NPS or purchase intent move across waves, is where the strategic insight really lives.
What is the most important stage of the CPG customer journey to research?
All stages matter, but the post-purchase and loyalty stage is where most brands underinvest. Brands tend to spend heavily on awareness and acquisition research while undertracking what happens after the first purchase. Given that retaining an existing customer is almost always cheaper than acquiring a new one, understanding what drives repeat purchase (and what causes churn) delivers some of the highest ROI of any CPG research investment.
What sample size do I need for CPG customer journey research?
We typically recommend a minimum of 400 completed responses to achieve statistically significant results at a 95% confidence interval and a ±5% margin of error. If you want to analyze distinct subgroups (competitor users, a specific demographic segment, or non-buyers), you need 400 responses per group. Under-sampling a key segment leads to unreliable results that cannot support confident decisions.
At Drive Research, we are a full-service CPG market research company specializing in customer journey research. We design and execute custom customer-journey research and deliver findings in clear, actionable reports your team can use.
We work with CPG brands of all sizes, from emerging food and beverage companies to established consumer goods brands with national distribution. Every study we conduct is tailored to your specific goals, your target audience, and your decision timeline.
Contact Drive Research today to request a custom quote or speak with one of our CPG research experts.
