The concept of the marketing funnel is not new. It has been remarkably successful for many years. This is primarily due to its contribution in providing a simple and concrete framework for planning and tracking marketing goals and campaigns. But what is its concrete interest? To put it simply, it seems relevant to attribute a meaning to it that truly indicates its purpose: converting visitors into customers.
In reality, a conversion funnel does not correspond to a monolithic and substantial conversion from a visitor to a customer. It consists of a series of more progressive conversions: visitor to contact, contact to lead, lead to prospect, and prospect to customer. Each of these stages has a specific designation and relies on specific communication tools and methods. It’s important to remember that the conversion funnel is specific to each channel used.
For example, a conversion funnel specific to a company specializing in SaaS marketing would be as follows:
- A visitor arrives on the site via a blog article (visitor)
- They click on a CTA to discover the offer
- They enter an email address on the landing page (contact)
- They open the email containing the offer/quote (lead)
- They agree to continue the relationship with you: schedule a consultation or demonstration, etc. (prospect)
- They become a customer. (customer)
Awareness Stage
The first stage involves exposing your brand to attract potential customers through various marketing channels such as social media, search engines, or advertising. The goal is to generate interest and strengthen brand awareness. To maximize the impact of your marketing efforts, you need to target each of your audience with the right message, at the right time, and through the right channels.
Interest Stage
Once the potential customer becomes aware of your brand, they may become curious and want to learn more. Here, the idea is simply to meet their needs and provide them with more detailed information about your products or services and what sets you apart from your competitors to satisfy their curiosity.
This can be done in the form of product demonstrations, case studies, customer reviews, or blog articles. The goal is to educate the customer and address all their questions about your offering.
Desire Stage
At this stage, the potential customer is interested in your offering and considering making a purchase. You need to create a sense of urgency or desire for your product or service.
This can be achieved by highlighting the benefits of your offering, such as solving a problem or satisfying a need, and emphasizing the positive outcomes of using your product or service and the achievements of your customers. You can also use scarcity tactics, such as limited-time offers or limited availability, to urge action.
Action Stage
This is the stage where the potential customer takes the desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a service. A clear and simple call-to-action is important to prompt the customer to take the long-awaited action. This could be a button on a website, a link in an email, or a phone number on a billboard. The goal is to enable the customer to easily and directly take the lead.
Retention Stage
Once the customer has taken the desired action, it’s important to keep them engaged and satisfied to encourage customer loyalty and positive word-of-mouth. This is where excellent customer service comes into play, along with active listening, loyalty programs, and ongoing customer contact. The goal is to maintain a positive customer experience that will encourage the customer to return.
All these preceding elements work together to create a conversion funnel that guides potential customers from awareness to action and beyond. By understanding each stage of the funnel, you can develop a more effective marketing strategy and increase your chances of profitability.
Moving to the “Action” stage seems more likely when the content of your funnel meets the business expectations of your ideal customer. For this reason and with this premise in mind, it is more intuitive to break down the process of constructing the funnel by attaching an action and an objective to each stage on the part of the seller.
Objective #1: Identify the buyer persona you want to attract
A buyer persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer. You can have several buyer personas, but choose one for your conversion funnel. What is the most pressing problem or challenge this buyer has regarding your product or service?
Objective #2: Create an offer that highlights your solution to this problem
This offer could be an ebook, a case study, or any downloadable item providing an in-depth look at how your offering addresses the buyer’s problem.
Objective #3: Create a “story” around this offer
All other content elements in your conversion funnel should directly relate to your offer. For example, if you are offering an ebook on using storytelling to create brand content, you will need at least one or more blog posts on this topic, as well as a case study or success story to showcase. In other words, the entire funnel should have a cohesive theme with consistent messages – each element of the funnel exploring a different facet of your topic.
Objective #4: Design a straightforward path to discover this offer
How will your buyers find this wonderful ebook on storytelling and brand content? The most common path is through your blog. Visitors may arrive at a blog article directly from their own search or via a PPC ad. The key is that the blog article should be closely related to your offer. Then, link this article in a fairly simple but smart way to your offer. This means the blog article must have a prominent call-to-action (CTA) leading to a pleasant and intuitive landing page where visitors can view your offer in exchange for their email address.
Objective #5: Smoothly hand over to the sales team
This part is sometimes overlooked because it technically comes after the “end” of the marketing funnel. But the true final stage of your conversion funnel is when a prospect becomes a customer. Thus, coordination between marketing and sales will ensure a more seamless experience for everyone and better outcomes.
In conclusion, the conversion funnel is a crucial element of any successful marketing strategy. The five essential elements of the conversion funnel – awareness, interest, desire, action, and retention – work together to guide potential customers from their initial exposure to your brand to the desired action and beyond. By focusing on building brand awareness, providing valuable information, creating a sense of urgency, facilitating customer action, and providing excellent after-sales service, you can optimize your conversion funnel and achieve better results.
