Things you should know about the Marketing Funnel

The Marketing Funnel, surely, you’ve seen this term while researching marketing, but what is it, and how does it work?

What is the Marketing Funnel?

Also known as the Purchase Funnel, the Marketing Funnel is a marketing model that illustrates the consumer’s journey towards making a purchase, developed by Elias St. Elmo Lewis in 1898.

Since then, it has gone through countless reiterations, but fundamentally, it is based on 4 key components: Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action.

1. Awareness: The good or service is brought to the attention of the customer through means of your marketing campaigns such as advertising, events, social media.
2. Interest: The customer begins to learn about the product or service through reviews or from the source, this is where your targeted advertising comes in.
3. Consideration: The customer starts comparing similar products, if you have an ongoing sale or event, you will be more likely to attract this customer.
4. Desire/ Intent: Your product is added to the customer’s cart, or product demos have been used. This is also when the customer is preparing to check out.
5. Action: The sales transaction has been completed/ Successfully signed up.

If that’s a lot to digest, think of it this way:

• A customer comes across your product somewhere online, then they proceed to their shopping platform, let’s say Lazada.
• While searching for your product, they come across many similar products.
• After having a look at the different listings, they add one to the cart.
• The purchase is completed

This model can be further simplified into 3 main sections:

• Top of Funnel (TOFU),
• Middle of Funnel (MOFU) and
• Bottom of Funnel (BOFU).

You will find that competition increases as we go down the funnel (BOFU). This is because customers tend to compare products between brands before deciding to make a purchase. Whether you make the sale or not at this point usually depends on the effectiveness of your marketing campaign and whether your sales team can close the deal.

One of the main reasons why it’s called a ‘funnel’ is because there are many people at the top of the funnel, but as they go down, fewer people remain until you’re left with those that closed the deal.

To increase the amount of such people that make it all the way down the funnel, you’ll want to widen the top, as in reaching wider audiences, increasing brand awareness and attracting more people in.

How do I use it?

There isn’t a fixed method of applying funnels or applying them just for people to make purchases or sign up to your services. You can use all stages of the funnel throughout your website.

The important part is to not make your funneling a linear process. You want your funnel to be able to attract customers at every stage, and finally guide them to the bottom where the deal is made.

There are many people who may not be interested in your brand now, but even more that may be interested but not know of your existence.

There are also those that are looking for a product that you just happen to be offering but are waiting for the right deal. Your customer at the end of your funnel might have been in the middle of someone else’s funnel but found your brand while making comparisons.

You can include targeted elements representing each stage of the funnel for every visitor. New-comers will fit into the ‘Awareness’ stage, while repeat visitors will likely fall in the ‘Consideration’ or ‘Desire’ stage.

With analytical data on your customer’s behaviour, you can find out which stage you should place more emphasis on and develop marketing strategies to bring them closer to making a purchase.

At the end of the Funnel.

The bottom of the funnel where the purchase is made, is also known as the Conversion stage. The completion of a sale converts the visitor into a customer. Beyond that, the funnel can be inverted, and the customer experience funnel begins. Think of it as how someone with a positive buying experience would recommend your product or service to a friend.

1. Customer Relationship: The customer is satisfied with the product and receives personalized newsletters or is entitled to a rewards program.
2. Retention/ Loyalty: The customer returns to make another purchase and may develop a preference for your brand. Personalized products and engagements are important to nurture customers to make more purchases and encourage repeat actions.
3. Referral: When a customer is satisfied with your brand, they are more likely to recommend and refer your brand to a friend.
4. Advocacy: Customer writes positive reviews, posts your brand on social media without sponsorship, and encourages people around them to try your brand.

Once you have developed a community with a positive consumer base, you can engage advocates to create more consumer-generated content on social media and create more brand awareness and offer rewards in return.

Your goal is to increase your sales and subsequently use those numbers to increase the size of your marketing funnel, effectively creating a referral loop that draws more people in.

All these sounds great on paper but carrying it out is no easy task. Our experts in digital marketing can assist you in setting up your own marketing funnel, and many more, to help you make the most out of your marketing campaign and grow your business online. Consult us today for a FREE digital audit to get started.