As B2B marketers, we're always searching for new ways to understand and engage our customers. We've gone from funnels to flywheels, from megaphones to magnets, from campaigns to conversations. But what if the next great analogy came from Physics and Chemistry?
Enter Atomic Buying Journeys – a model that views your brand as the nucleus of an atom and your customers and prospects as electrons orbiting in different energy states.
It's time to put on your lab coats and safety goggles, because we're about to split the atom of traditional marketing thinking.
The Structure of Atomic Buying Journeys
In this model, your brand sits at the center as the nucleus. Around it orbit your customers and prospects in different shells, each representing a stage in the customer lifecycle:
Awareness (innermost, lowest energy)
Consideration
Decision
Purchase
Adoption
Advocacy (outermost, highest energy)
This structure flips our traditional thinking on its head. Instead of a funnel where customers fall through stages, we now have a model where moving customers outward – towards advocacy – requires energy input.
Why does this make sense? Because turning a prospect into a vocal advocate is hard work. It requires significant effort, resources, and engagement – in other words, energy.
The Physics of Customer Engagement
Let's dive deeper into the science of this model:
Energy States and Transitions
In atomic physics, electrons occupy discrete energy levels or "shells." Moving an electron to a higher energy state requires an input of energy, often in the form of a photon. Similarly, in our model, moving a customer from one stage to another requires energy input from our marketing and sales efforts.
For example, moving a customer from Awareness to Consideration might require the energy of several blog posts, a white paper, and a few targeted ads. Moving them from Consideration to Decision could take the combined energy of a product demo, case studies, and a series of sales calls.
The beauty of this model is that it acknowledges the effort required to progress customers through their journey. It's not a passive process of customers falling through a funnel, but an active process of energizing them to higher states. And the amount of energy needs to be just right, symbolizing the importance of getting the right touch at the right time for each customer.
Quantum Leaps
In quantum mechanics, electrons can sometimes jump multiple energy levels at once in what's called a quantum leap. In our Atomic Customer Model, this represents those magical moments when a customer jumps multiple stages at once.
For example, a prospect might go straight from Awareness to Purchase after talking to a highly satisfied customer. These quantum leaps are rare but powerful, and they're what every company dreams of achieving.
Probability Clouds
In quantum physics, we can't know both the position and momentum of an electron with perfect accuracy (thanks, Heisenberg). Instead, we deal with probability clouds that show where an electron is likely to be.
The Atomic Customer Model embraces this uncertainty. We can't always know exactly where a customer is in their journey. Maybe someone from the account downloaded a whitepaper, and another attended a webinar and interacted with our chatbot. These actions increase the probability that they’re moving from Awareness to Consideration or even Decision, but we can’t pinpoint their buying stage with absolute certainty. They might be comparing competitors, waiting for budget approval, or simply gathering information for future use.
This is why we need to always remember that scoring, even when driven by AI, is inherently a probabilistic activity. Just because a model says an account is showing intent or even in “Consideration” doesn’t guarantee that to be true — it just means it’s perhaps the most likely state. And it also provides some clues about the limitations of attribution.
Non-Linear Progressions
Just as electrons can move both up and down in energy levels, customers in our model can move both forward and backward in their journey. A once-loyal advocate might drop back to mere awareness if neglected, releasing energy in the process. A customer considering a purchase might revert to the awareness stage if business priorities change.
This non-linear progression mirrors the complex reality of B2B customer journeys far better than a simple linear funnel.
Brand Strength and Customer Retention
In atomic physics, the size of the nucleus (determined by the number of protons) affects how tightly electrons are bound to the atom. Atoms with larger nuclei have a stronger electrostatic attraction to their electrons.
In our model, this translates to brand strength. A stronger brand – represented by a larger nucleus – has a stronger pull on its customers. It requires more energy for a competitor to "ionize" your customers – that is, to pull them away from your brand's influence.
This aspect of the model elegantly explains why strong brands have higher customer retention rates. The gravitational pull of a powerful brand makes it harder for customers to leave and easier for them to progress to higher energy states like Advocacy.
Ions in the Market
An atom becomes an ion when it gains or loses electrons, resulting in a net electric charge. Similarly, in our Atomic Buying Journeys model, the balance between your brand’s nucleus (protons) and your customers (electrons) determines your “market charge.” When your brand has more protons than electrons—meaning a strong, well-established brand with loyal customers—it becomes a positively charged ion, or cation. This positive charge enhances your company’s ability to attract prospects and partners alike. It’s like having a electromagnetic pull that naturally draws new opportunities into your orbit with less effort.
Conversely, if your brand has fewer protons than electrons—representing a weaker brand with fewer loyal customers—it becomes a negatively charged ion, or anion. This requires more energy (go-to-market efforts) to attract customers, and without the strong pull of a positive charge, you must work harder to keep electrons (customers) from drifting away.
Molecular Bonds as Partnerships
Just as atoms form molecules through shared or transferred electrons, companies in a B2B ecosystem can form relationships by sharing resources, data, or customers.
A strong partnership might look like a covalent bond, with companies sharing customers or leads. A vendor-client relationship could resemble an ionic bond, with one company transferring value (in the form of payment) to another in exchange for products or services.
This molecular view of the B2B ecosystem provides a fascinating framework for analyzing and strategizing about partnerships, channel relationships, and even competitive dynamics.
Conclusion: The Power of Quantum Marketing
By viewing the buying journey as electrons in various energy states, we gain new insights into the effort required to move them through their journey, the power of brand, and the complex ecosystem of B2B relationships.
This model encourages us to think about:
The energy required to move customers to higher-value states
The importance of consistent engagement to maintain high-energy customer states
The power of creating "quantum leap" moments in the customer journey
The probabilistic nature of customer journeys and the limitations of scoring and attribution
The role of brand strength in customer retention and acquisition
The ecosystem view of B2B relationships and partnerships
So what do you think of this analogy? Does it give you new ways to think about building customer relationships? How would you build or expand on these ideas? And what other ways does science help you think about B2B go-to-market?
Want more ways science can help us understand B2B go-to-market? Check out my prior article, What Physics Taught Me About Marketing, for more.