What Is a Digital Marketing Funnel & How It Works
A digital marketing funnel is a framework that represents the steps a user goes through before purchasing a product or service online. A typical marketing sales funnel has five stages: awareness, discovery, consideration, conversion, and retention.
Benefits of a Digital Marketing Funnel
- Get More Targeted Leads: When using a marketing funnel, the users who make it to the end of the funnel are highly qualified.
- Nurture Customers: When addressing customers at multiple parts of the funnel, you’ll easily progress them from visitors to customers.
- Increased Revenue: When using a marketing funnel many aspects of the digital marketing sales funnel can be automated, resulting in more sales with less effort.
Stages of a Digital Marketing Funnel
Stage 1 – Awareness
Initially, individuals become acquainted with your business or website. This introduction may happen through various channels such as organic traffic, social media, word of mouth, email, press releases, referrals from other websites, and more.
Stage 2 – Discovery
In this phase, visitors begin exploring several pages on your website, engaging with content, and delving into your company’s offerings.
Stage 3 – Consideration
At this juncture, your visitors invest more time in browsing your site, consuming your content, and possibly subscribing to your email list.
Stage 4 – Conversion
The conversion process varies in duration, influenced by factors such as the nature of your offerings, pricing, and the urgency of the problem your products or services address.
Stage 5 – Retention
Once a purchase is made, it’s crucial to ensure customer loyalty. This involves maintaining high-quality customer service, ensuring customer satisfaction with the product, and fostering communication post-sale.
TOFU, MOFU, BOFU
Another way to look at marketing funnels is through the lens of providing a solution to your visitors. This simplified marketing funnel model, has three stages.
- Top of the Funnel (TOFU) Customers are aware of the problem but unsure what the solution is. (Awareness Stage)
- Middle of the Funnel (MOFU) – Educating customers on how to choose the best solution, and what the solutions are. (Discovery & Consideration Stage)
- Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU) – Show why your products or services are the best solutions to their problem. (Conversion)
How to Create a Powerful Digital Marketing Funnel
1. Build Brand Awareness
Establishing brand awareness is the initial step in crafting a digital marketing funnel, aiming to drive traffic to your website by introducing your brand to a broad audience, commonly known as “top of the funnel marketing” (TOFU). It involves directing individuals to your site, identifying responsive audience segments, and leveraging brand signals such as branded searches and mentions to establish authority with Google. Key brand signals include verifiable business information, active social media presence, and positive brand mentions across authoritative sources. Strengthening your brand entails maintaining relevant contact information, engaging in PR campaigns, guest blogging, active social media participation, and prioritizing SEO efforts for improved search engine rankings.
2. Identify Your Target Audience
The stages of your funnel address different aspects of your target audience, with targeting becoming more precise as they progress. For instance, in the pet niche, the top of the funnel attracts a broad audience of pet owners or animal enthusiasts, while the middle and bottom segments refine targeting based on user actions, spending behavior, and other criteria. Additional segmentation strategies include categorizing based on traffic sources, user activities, and monetary value.
3. Set Your Marketing Goals
Before setting up your marketing funnels, define your goals. Different funnel types suit different purposes, such as boosting eCommerce sales with paid ads or attracting email subscribers with long-form content. While the general process remains consistent, specifics vary. Examples include increasing email subscribers through Facebook ads, growing the list with strategic blog post opt-ins, boosting store sales via Google Ads, driving direct sales with Instagram ads, and generating more leads for telephone sales.
4. Set Up Different Conversion Funnels for Each Goal
Unless you’re selling a single product with a straightforward sales page, you’ll likely employ multiple conversion funnels to achieve different goals. These funnels can range from capturing email subscribers to driving sales for high-ticket items. For instance, you might use YouTube videos or Facebook ads to direct traffic to product pages, employ landing pages with email sequences, or leverage blog posts for email list growth and product promotions. The choice of funnels depends on your content assets and objectives, but testing different approaches simultaneously is key to optimizing conversion rates.
5. Create Targeted Content for all Stages of the Funnel
Understanding digital marketing sales funnels and your target audience, let’s see how different content types fit: Attraction Stage (TOFU): Introduce your brand with paid ads, landing pages, videos, blogs, and visuals. Engagement Stage (MOFU): Offer value with blogs, product reviews, and case studies to engage and solve problems. Decision-Making Stage (BOFU): Convert with free trials, demos, coupons, and sales pages. Relationship-Building Stage: Deepen customer relationships with special offers, contests, and value-add emails.
6. Use Different Marketing Funnels
Numerous approaches exist to connect with your target audience, contingent upon factors such as audience preferences, online presence, and budgetary considerations. Here are several marketing channels available: Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Elevate your website’s visibility in search engines by optimizing high-quality content. Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Utilize ads displayed above search results to direct traffic to a designated landing page. Paid Social Media Ads: Leverage advertising on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest to reach your audience. Organic Social Media: Share engaging content on social media platforms, incorporating website links in your bio for increased traffic.
7. Measure the Results and Optimize Your Funnel
Your sales funnel is always evolving. To measure success, track key metrics like email sign-ups from Instagram ads or time between subscription and purchase. Analyze data to optimize. Start at the top, experimenting with content creation until traffic builds. Then, refine landing pages, testing elements like headlines and CTAs. Finally, assess offer effectiveness. Even small adjustments can boost revenue. Continuously analyze conversion rates at each stage to identify and address any shortcomings.
8. Pay Attention to Customer Retention
Monitor your customer retention rate closely as it reflects the percentage of long-term customers. Don’t consider the funnel complete after a single sale. A high retention rate reduces the need for continuous lead generation efforts, allowing more focus on serving existing customers.
To Improve Retention
- Prioritize prompt responses to customer inquiries
- Gather feedback through surveys to enhance products or services
- Offer additional solutions tailored to customer needs
- Keeping customers satisfied encourages repeat purchases and promotes brand advocacy
