a single source, nothing corroborates it

Reconstruct the chain that led to a purchase

Model buying as a sequence rather than a visit that ends in a decision: what first put the thing in their head, who was talking about it, what changed, and what happened after the payment. Practise on your own receipts, where the chain can run for years, and use it to spot the moment a person crosses from wanting to needing, such as a hobbyist outgrowing the manual workaround.

The method

1. 01

   Reconstruct the chain of events leading to a purchase rather than just the moment of purchase, because that sequence tells you what actually triggers buying - and it can run for decades.

2. 02

   Reconstruct the actual chain of events that preceded a purchase instead of modelling buying as one visit that ends in a decision.

3. 03

   Map the events on either side of the payment notification - what drove the person to look, and whether they used, liked and recommended the product afterwards.

4. 04

   Practise the analysis on your own receipts: take a recent purchase and answer when you first considered it, what the circumstances were, who was recommending or discussing it, what problem it solved, and what job you hired it to do.

5. 05

   Time your pitch to the moment a hobbyist outgrows their manual workaround or hits an audience milestone, since that is when the purchase becomes a need rather than an aspiration.

What it returned

• $26

  The author's $26 of comics traced back 25 years to a lost gift at his eighth birthday party, not to a decision made while ill in bed.

• 2011

  Justin traced his own purchase of Sprint.ly back through at least seven touch points spanning May 2011 to June 2012, more than a year from first trigger to payment.

• 30,000

  Justin's trigger examples: a newsletter grown too big to send by hand from Gmail, a YouTube audience asking for a Spotify audio version, two years of weekend DJ income funding a PA upgrade, 30,000 Instagram followers justifying a better phone camera, and a band with five shows behind it ordering merch.

Sources

• My embarrassing iTunes receipt – exploring the customer journeyJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Explore your customer journey · undated
• Play the long gameJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · How marketing actually works · undated
• The Prosumer market is underratedJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · The Prosumer Mindset · undated
• Why I bought your softwareJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · How to get people to buy your software (or SaaS) · undated
• Product Purgatory: When they love it but still don’t buyJason Cohen · longform.asmartbear.com · Motivation & Urgency: Why is today the day? · 2025-05-04