Rethinking the Funnel: Christine Russo on the Non Linear Customer Journey and the New Rules of Marketing Strategy and Retention

Christine Russo, host and creator of What Just Happened, continues to explore brand marketing strategies that work in a retail everywhere world. Russo selected her guest Jenny Coates to discuss the non linear shape of the customer journey and how marketers can build clarity and connection in an environment defined by fragmented attention and unpredictable discovery.

Throughout the conversation, Russo frames the modern customer path as a system without a single entry point. Consumers discover brands through social platforms, micro influencers, video, email, word of mouth and AI driven search, and often arrive through side doors rather than the digital front door. Instead of a predictable funnel, Russo emphasizes that today’s journey moves like a pinball machine, with brand touchpoints acting as the paddles, bumpers and signals that keep the customer engaged and moving.

The discussion highlights why authenticity and consistency are now the most important tools for marketers. Russo examines how brands must be prepared to meet customers wherever they land, how weak touchpoints break momentum, and how retention depends on keeping customers inside a living ecosystem rather than treating purchase as the end of the relationship. They also explore the tension between the human desire for linear frameworks and the nonlinear reality of modern behavior, and the need to build a structured internal plan that still accommodates nonlinear engagement patterns.

The episode reinforces Russo’s point of view that discovery, engagement and loyalty are no longer sequential steps. They are continuous loops shaped by content quality, channel readiness and the strength of a brand’s experience across every entry point. By breaking down how marketers can operate in this environment, Russo continues to lead conversations that map the new rules of brand building in a retail everywhere world.