Unlocking the Secrets of the Ultimate Marketing Funnel

The Marketing Funnel

A funnel is an ideal tool for analyzing the effectiveness of the entire sales process: from the first stage to the last. It allows you to determine at which stages the loss of potential customers most all occurs, to identify its causes, to draw conclusions about the quality of management, and the need to intensify efforts at any stage of the sale. A clear view of the funnel helps to find out the reasons for failure after the fact and predict potential losses and prevent them. For our purposes, we will discuss a typical four-stage funnel: awareness, interest, desire, and action.

A marketing funnel is a marketing model that describes the movement of a buyer through the stages of the sales process: from the first contact to the closing of a deal.

Stages of a Marketing Funnel

The marketing funnel in the image below is a visual representation of a potential customer's steps from first acquaintance with a brand to conversion. While the action varies with the client and the industry—which usually refers to buying, registering, or filling out a form. Conversion is the transition from view to action when customers do what you want them to do. Typically, a funnel has four stages:

• Awareness: A prospect sees your ad, social media post, or testimonial from a friend.
• Interest: The prospect assumes that you can solve their problem and wants to know more.
• Desire: The prospect has done their research and wants a product.
• Action: The prospect makes a purchase, signs up for a demo lesson, or performs any other activity.

The model is also called the AIDA model, which is the acronym for each stage. Each step of the AIDA model describes how people think (cognitive), feel (affective), and act (behavioral).

Always remember that the set of steps is called a funnel because, at the first stage of the process, many people are involved, however, not every funnel participant will make a conversion, but only the most interested ones. In reality, uninterested customers often move back and forth between stages, skip stages, or even exit the funnel altogether. Let's take an online store's marketing funnel as an example. Before buying anything, a site visitor takes a few steps.

First, the potential customer will head over to the website and browse the product selection till an item catches their eye. Once they have read the product description and specifications and are familiar with it, they may make the decision to add the product to the cart and proceed to checkout by using a payment method of their choice (credit or debit card payments). Once the order is received by the seller, the customer will get updates via email regarding the status of their order (when it's being processed, when it has been shipped, etc.), and finally, the customer will receive the order.

In between these stages, the prospect can take other actions as well. For example, take a look at the 'Careers' page on the website. However, this step is not conducive to the final act, so it does not need to be considered in the marketing funnel.

Benefits of a Marketing Funnel

While virtually all ad campaigns aim to increase sales in one way or another, not all go directly to that goal. With the AIDA model, marketers can visualize the steps and tasks that ad campaigns must complete before a customer decides to buy a particular product or service. For each stage of the customer journey, they can select the appropriate marketing tools and techniques to bring people closer to buying. They also use different metrics and KPIs at each stage to track the effectiveness and progress of their campaigns.

While virtually all ad campaigns aim to increase sales in one way or another, not all go directly to that goal. With the AIDA model, marketers can visualize the steps and tasks that ad campaigns must complete before a customer decides to buy a particular product or service. For each stage of the customer journey, they can select the appropriate marketing tools and techniques to bring people closer to buying. They also use different metrics and KPIs at each stage to track the effectiveness and progress of their campaigns.

Moreover, by building a marketing funnel, you can analyze the data received and see at what stage you are losing customers.

Another realistic example out of digital space can be the marketing funnel for traditional retail. Traditional retail refers to selling products or services through physical stores, like department stores, specialty shops, and boutiques. Here are the corresponding steps for an online store below:

• The customer enters the store.
• They browse for products in the store until something catches their eye.
• They take the product and puts it in the basket.
• Once they're satisfied with their pick, they'll head to the checkout counter.
• They will then continue to pay for their purchases with cash or card.

Marketing Funnel for an Online Store

An online store is a website or app that enables buyers to browse through a catalog of products or services and purchase them electronically. It is similar to a brick-and-mortar retail business that displays and sells its merchandise on a website. Customers can view the available options, like color and size, both at the physical location and online. Some online stores do not have physical stores and operate solely on the Internet. One stand-out feature of an online store is that it can track clicks, time spent on the page, and other metrics, which helps you monitor and analyze visitor and customer behavior. [1] Here's how a funnel for an online store would work:

• The buyer visits the site.
• Views the product page.
• Adds a product to the cart.
• Begins the checkout process.
• Completes the checkout and clicks "Buy"

For a more insightful and hands-on learning experience, be a part of our Fundamentals of Digital Marketing Online Training.

References  

[1] https://www.optimizely.com/insights/blog/what-is-an-online-store/

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