What are sales funnels and why do you need one in marketing?
2 min of reading
Index:
1st Funnel stages
2º How to work each stage
3º BC2 and B2B funnels
The marketing funnel is an essential tool in any digital marketing strategy, it offers a detailed guide to understanding and optimizing the customer journey.
This model describes the path that consumers follow from brand discovery to conversion. It also provides a structure of key stages to segment marketing actions and strategies at different stages of the buying process.
From initial awareness to customer loyalty, the marketing funnel provides a more advanced view of the customer lifecycle, allowing marketers to tailor their tactics to the specific needs and behaviors of each phase.
As the customer progresses through the funnel, from the awareness stage to consideration and finally the purchase decision, companies can implement specific strategies to educate, persuade at various stages and convert prospects into satisfied customers.
Understanding each stage of the marketing funnel is critical to designing effective campaigns that drive engagement, conversion and ultimately brand growth.
Funnel stages
The stages of the Marketing Funnel offer a journey to understand and optimize the customer journey, from the first leg to conversion:
Awareness: At this stage, potential customers realize they have a need or a problem and start looking for solutions. Your goal at this stage is to attract these potential customers to your website or marketing channels, through PPC or SEM advertising, SEO strategies and relevant content.
This stage is mainly for the prospect to get to know us so that we can provide solutions to their problem. The content of this stage should not be aimed at a direct sale. The part to offer our product or service is in one of the following stages.
The main objective of this stage is to connect with the audience.
Interest: Once prospects are aware of their problem, they begin to actively seek solutions. At this stage, your goal is to provide educational content that helps prospects understand their options. Strategies such as blogging, webinars and helpful guides can capture the interest of this audience.
At this stage we demonstrate authority and responsibility. Prospects who have reached this stage (remember that at each stage fewer and fewer are coming in, so the goal is to get as many as possible to conversion) see us as a source of information and inspiration that can help them solve their problem.
This stage has a shorter duration than the first or awareness stage. It is important to keep in mind that each stage transforms the customer, and that only 3% of prospects are at the final decision or purchase stage. By this we mean that each stage should lead the prospect more quickly towards conversion.
Consideration: At this stage, potential customers are considering different solutions and comparing their options. Your goal is to demonstrate why your product or service is the best option.
Here, testimonials, product comparisons and demonstrations can help influence the customer's decision. Prospects who have reached this stage should already know the benefits that your product or service will bring them, and therefore, they already know that they need a solution to their problem that you or your company can solve.
In addition to the consideration stage, we can call it the decision stage. At this stage the prospect decides if your service is useful to him, and is at the pre-purchase stage.
Conversion: This is the final stage of the marketing funnel, where prospects are "hot" to make a purchase and decide to buy from you.
Your goal at this stage is to facilitate the buying process and provide excellent customer service to ensure a positive experience.
Strategies such as effective landing page design, personalized offers and post-sale follow-up are crucial to convert prospects into satisfied and loyal customers.
This is the stage in which a prospect spends the least amount of time. Think that the more days that pass, the more complicated it will be to convert, because the prospect will be somehow returning to colder stages, and even considering not making a purchase at all.
As mentioned above, only 3% of people are in this buying phase.
How to Work Each Stage of the Funnel
Awareness:
In the awareness stage, your goal is to attract as many potential customers as possible. This can be achieved through a variety of marketing tactics, such as search engine optimization (SEO), the creation of relevant and engaging content, the effective use of social media, as well as the implementation of paid advertising strategies, among others.
Interest:
In the interest stage, your goal is to educate your potential customers about possible solutions to their problem. This can be done through informative and useful blogs, the creation of detailed guides, the organization of interactive webinars, the production of demo videos, among other content strategies that help deepen the public's understanding of your brand and its solutions.
Consideration:
At the consideration stage, your goal is to demonstrate why your product or service is the best choice. This can be accomplished by presenting compelling case studies that show how your product or service has helped other customers, gathering real testimonials that support the quality and effectiveness of your offering, as well as making detailed comparisons between your product and your competitors' products to highlight their unique advantages.
Conversion:
At the conversion stage, your goal is to facilitate the buying process and ensure a smooth experience for the customer. This can be achieved by creating an intuitive and easy-to-navigate website, implementing a simple and transparent checkout process, as well as offering excellent customer service to resolve any questions or concerns that may arise during the purchase process.
B2B vs B2C Marketing Funnels
Marketing funnels can vary depending on whether you are in a B2B or B2C business.
In general, B2B funnels tend to be longer and more complex, as buying decisions typically involve more stakeholders and a larger financial commitment. In the case of B2B marketing, the stages typically include lead generation, product or service education, solution evaluation and business-level decision making.
On the other hand, B2C funnels tend to be shorter and more emotionally driven. In B2C marketing, stages may focus on generating brand awareness, product or service consideration, and rapid conversion to purchase.
This difference is due to the fact that in B2C marketing, customers tend to make purchasing decisions more quickly and based on emotional impulses, while in B2B marketing, decisions tend to be more deliberate and based on commercial and financial criteria.
If you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Have a great day and much success in your marketing projects!
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