Even if you’ve never built marketing funnels before, you’ve probably participated in them as a potential customer. Funnels are an integral element of any marketing strategy to generate leads and conversion. However, this increasingly popular area is shrouded in uncertainty.

This guide will connect the dots and explain what marketing funnels are, how they work, and how to build one.

What Is a Marketing Funnel?

The term marketing funnel refers to all the stages of customer-business interaction, from the first interaction to purchasing the brand’s products or services. In other words, a marketing funnel is a roadmap strategically laid out by a company to generate sales or achieve other goals.

A marketing funnel is named thus as you inevitably lose customers as you move through the stages. That’s a rule regardless of your industry and audience. Your ad may reach 10,000 people, but only 1,000 will click your link, and only 100 will make a purchase (if that is a very optimistic example).

But why do you need a marketing funnel, and how is it different from a regular marketing strategy? Currently, the modern market is saturated with brands and information. People have hundreds of options and tend to carefully evaluate their purchasing decisions. Typically, users have to interact with a brand more than once until they make a purchase.

Think about it: you’ve likely engaged in marketing funnels as a customer more than once. You see a Facebook ad and ignore it, then you see it again and click it if you like the product. But you don’t purchase it right away – instead, you find the brand on social media or subscribe to the newsletter. Perhaps, you will forget about that product until the brand sends you an email with a special offer. And even then, you will likely research alternatives before buying.

A marketing funnel isn’t simply how you position your brand or how you overcome competition. It’s a tool designed to push a specific audience towards a purchase. A marketing funnel is a targeted mechanism tailored to appeal to people at different steps of their relationship with your brand.

Marketing funnels are a pivotal point of your advertising campaigns and conversion generation. To build a marketing funnel that works, you should understand what people want at every stage of your interaction and consistently bring them value. Simply put, marketing funnels keep your audience re-engaging with your company until they convert into paying customers.

Marketing Funnel Stages

While not every marketing funnel is the same, each consists of specific stages. Let’s take a closer look at each stage to understand how marketing funnels work.

Awareness

Every marketing funnel starts with awareness. At this stage, people get acquainted with your brand. They may find out about it from social media ads, by reading your blog post, listening to your podcast, or finding your website via Google. The method you use for reaching new audiences may differ depending on your business and target audience.

The key to the success of this stage is correct targeting. You should understand which pain points your product or service relates to. If a problem frustrates a person strong enough, they may even make a purchase right away. However, in most cases, you will need to guide people through multiple marketing funnel stages to convert them into clients.

Interest

People won’t make a purchase right after they find out about your brand. First, they will evaluate whether they need your product or service and look for alternatives. No matter how great your product is, if you fail to maintain audience interest, they will most likely forget about it quickly.

At the second stage, you should start building a relationship with your potential customers. Note that a significant percentage of people won’t get to the second stage. Regardless of your awareness-building method, most will scroll past your campaign, and that’s okay.

Those who move on to the second stage are already hooked. People may start searching for your social pages or reviews of your business. Therefore, focus on your online presence – invest in SEO to rank higher in search engines, create valuable content, and provide high-quality customer service.

The objective of this stage is to make people follow you or sign up for your newsletter, converting the audience to leads. Offer them something valuable – for instance, free consultation for a subscription.

Consideration

You determined your audience’s pain point, got them interested, and convinced them to follow you. One may think that’s enough to convert leads to paying customers, but here’s the catch. The fact that your leads are aware of you and know you can solve their problem doesn’t mean they will choose you.

You likely have plenty of competitors, and your leads will evaluate each option before they make a purchase. Knowing about the benefits of Xbox doesn’t mean a person will choose it over PlayStation. The objective of the third stage is to convince people your product or service is the best fit for them.

Determine what makes your product or service special and get your leads to know about it. Even if you have a mediocre product, it’s all about positioning. You can inform your leads about your offer’s benefits by sending emails, writing blog posts, or filming engaging Instagram Reels – whatever fits your industry.

Sale

You’ve gone a long way, but it isn’t yet time to relax – the last marketing funnel stage isn’t the easiest. Even knowing all the benefits of your product or service, most people won’t rush to buy from you. You should give them a nudge, provide them with a compelling reason to make a purchase right now rather than add your website to bookmarks and forget about it.

Create a sense of urgency. For example, inform your leads about ending offers or products low in stock. Make sure the checkout process is straightforward and quick. You may also offer your leads something valuable to push them to the purchase – for instance, free shipping or a discount.

How to Build a Marketing Funnel

Now that you know how marketing funnels work, you may wonder how to create one. In general, the process can be divided into six steps.

Create Ads and Content

The first stage is building awareness, so you need to create attention-capturing ads and content. The content and ad formats include but aren’t limited to:

• Social media ads
• Videos
• Blog posts
• Guest posts
• Pay-per-click ads
• Search engine ads

Correct targeting is essential at this stage. Create content that relates to your audience’s pain points. An ad with spot-on targeting reaching 100 people is more effective than the same ad that reaches 1,000 people without targeting.

Create a Lead Magnet

Your next goal is capturing interest and gathering leads. Make an enticing offer:

• eBook
• Webinar
• Free trial
• Whitepaper
• Mini-course

Most importantly, the lead magnet should be free and relevant for your target audience. Businesses will likely be more interested in whitepapers than eBooks, and people on social media don’t need case studies.

Set Up a Landing Page

If you don’t yet have a landing page, it’s just about time to get one because a landing page is an integral element of any funnel. It’s a place where your potential customers will arrive if they click your ad. Your landing page is your chance to make an impression, build trust, and provide more information about your product or service.

Create an Email Sequence

Gathering a potential customer database is not enough. You should nurture your leads to move towards the bottom of your marketing funnel. This is usually done with a sequence of emails aimed at creating interest and informing people about your product or service benefits. Email marketing is far from dead – on the contrary, it’s the most powerful tool in most funnels.

Generate Conversion

Now, it’s time to make an offer your leads won’t refuse. Create a sense of urgency in your last email to push your leads to convert into paying customers.

Test Away

The marketing funnel setup doesn’t end with a purchase. You should gather data, analyze it, and test different funnels to determine which version is the most cost and time-efficient. No marketing funnel works equally well for all audiences and industries. For that reason, testing and optimization are crucial to success.

Using the correct metrics for evaluating your funnel results is vital. Many businesses look at vanity metrics instead of actionable metrics. Think whether you care about how many people clicked your email link or how many opened your email, how many visited your landing page, or how many made a purchase. Your metrics should align with your objectives.

Create a Funnel and Generate Sales

Even though you know the basics, building a marketing funnel on your own is a challenging task. The good news is that you’ve found the right place to start. The Interactivated team is experienced in creating landing pages necessary for every marketing funnel. Our mission is to help you find the right solutions to generate maximum conversion. Contact us for a consultation today to learn more about your opportunities.