A marketing funnel would display the visual representation of the consumer purchasing process. A marketing funnel would provide a plan for businesses to drive sales in their business, from generating leads at the top of the funnel to closing the sale at the end of the funnel.
There are also a few types of marketing funnel such as:
- marketing sales funnel systems
- Webinars
- Email marketing
- Video marketing funnels
These are the stages of a marketing funnel
1) Creating Awareness
This stage would be at the top of the funnel and also the broadest. This is where marketing efforts are maximized and most focused as they would broadcast their products or service to various channels such as
- Quora
- Instagram
- Reddit
- Facebook
- Tiktok
Even though companies can broadcast their products and services through every social media outlet, they would need to have a clear picture of their ideal customers.
Questions to consider in this stage:
- Where does your target audience spend their time online?
- What marketing activities can generate engagement amongst the community?
- How can the company grab the attention of its target audience?
2) Generate Interest
In this stage, potential leads would have to look through available solutions for a problem they would need to solve. During this stage, there will be people demonstrating intent which means they would search for specific and long-tail content.
This demonstrating-intent leads would be the potential leads for the next stage of the funnel.
To bolster this stage of the funnel, interaction with potential leads on social media is one of the effective ways. Social media management platforms like Hootsuite would collect data from social media outlets that allow companies to track mentions.
Questions to consider in this stage:
- How would the company drive more deep and consistent engagement with their audience?
- What value can the company offer at this stage to potential leads?
3) Customer Consideration
After surveying various available options to their problems, potential leads would compare between those options to finalize their decision.
The factors they would consider can be:
- Price of the product or service
- Brand reputation
- Promotions and discounts
- Membership
- Testimonials
Customer service cannot be neglected as well as customer would also base their decision on the quality of customer service they had received.
Questions to consider at this stage:
- What methods can the company differentiate itself from its competitors?
- How can the company solidify its position as the appropriate solution to its target audience's problem?
- What factors can influence the buying behaviors of their target audience?
Customer Conversion
This is the third stage of the marketing funnel
Survey information and different consumer display monitor patterns in drop-off rates at this level. If clients make it to the conversion stage without taking any action, something has to be adjusted.
Abandoned purchasing carts, low click-thru rates, and bad form-submission rates can be a sign of the disconnect between the potential lead and the seller. Customer remarks can deliver the qualitative numbers into perspective.
Questions to consider at this stage:
- What are the remaining doubts and uncertainties standing in the customer's way?
Customer Retention
This is the post-sale stage where they had purchased a product or service. In this stage, companies would ensure their customers with support such as addressing issues like refunds, product defects, and more.
Questions to consider in this stage:
- In what ways can you ensure communication with the customer at the post-sale stage?
- How would you address issues that may arise in your product/service in the future to ensure smooth customer service?
