What Is the Marketing Funnel and How Does It Work

The phrase "The customer is always right” may have started simply as a department store’s slogan in the early 1900’s, but it has evolved into the core motto of the current humanist society we live in. You may have put your heart and soul on starting a business and creating a website to offer your services or products, but if the results are not as expected, it’s you, not your customers, who needs to change.

This means you need to be able to identify every pain point of the customer journey to figure out where people are losing interest in your offering. Then, you’ll have to come up with an alternative and assess whether the problem is solved. The marketing funnel will give you all the tools and data you need to do so. Read on to learn all about this powerful process and why you should implement it right away.

What is the marketing funnel?

The marketing funnel is a visual representation of all the steps a visitor has to go through before they purchase a product or service. Its origins date back to 1910, when American philosopher John Dewey introduced the five stages consumers go through before, during, and after purchasing a good or service.

This buyer decision process included the following stages: Problem/need-recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post-purchase behavior. Over time, this idea evolved into the contemporary marketing funnel, which focuses on the different stages from the moment people first hear about a business to the moment they make a transaction.

But why is it named funnel? Marketing efforts start with as many leads as possible, which are later nurtured through the journey until they purchase a service or product. As people advance through the different stages, many abandon the process and the crowd thins. Thus the resulting visual representation takes the shape of a funnel.

Benefits of the marketing funnel

Now that you know what the marketing funnel is, you’re probably wondering if you should start using this system for your business. Ask yourself the following question: Do I have a service or product I intend customers to purchase? If the answer is yes, then you should definitely do so.

As a business, your success does not only depend on the quality of your offering but also on the way in which it’s presented. Everything from your website layout and color scheme to the microcopy and navigation of your site also plays a huge role on your customer’s journey through the marketing funnel.

Having a clear view of the customer journey will allow you to identify roadblocks and improve your conversion rate. Based on this data, you’ll be able to redesign your website to offer a better user experience, create successful sales campaigns, and find the best places to promote your business.