You may have heard of the term marketing funnel, sometimes known as sales funnel, being thrown around quite a bit.
But what exactly is a marketing funnel, and how can it help your business increase sales and acquire more customers?
In essence, it is a system that maps your customer journey from a place where they have no idea that your business exists, right to becoming a loyal customer and even an advocacy for your business.
A common funnel framework is the AIDA. But AIAPA is a better suit for modern marketing.
Let’s take a look at how each step of the funnel works.
STAGE 1. AWARENESS
The first thing you want to do is to get your potential customer to know that you exist, and that you have something that they want.
This can be done through paid ads, search engines, social media content, etc.
STAGE 2. INTEREST
Once they show a bit of interest by interacting with one of your medium, the next step is to build up their desire and trust in your product.
This is commonly done through retargeting with online ads and value-added content.
Retargeting ads can keep you on top of your prospect’s mind, and give them more motivation to take action.
It can focus on things like… Why is your product better? How are their concerns handled? What are other customers saying about your product?
Value-added content could be related posts or videos that make your prospect’s life better in one way or another. Such as tips, or even just entertainment.
STAGE 3. ACTION
With enough desire and trust in your product, it shouldn’t be difficult to get your prospect to take an action.
If it’s a low ticket item, like food or clothing, the prospect could go straight to making a purchase.
But for high ticket items, you may want them to make a small commitment first, so that you can get an opportunity to actually show them how your product can fulfill their needs and how good it really is.
For example, a test drive for a car, a free trial for a software, or in our case, a consultation call for our marketing service.
This is also your chance to build a deeper relationship with your prospect.
STAGE 4. PURCHASE
If you’ve done a good job so far, chances are, the prospect will eventually make a purchase if your product is a good fit.
But if you think that is the end of the deal, you are dead wrong.
STAGE 5. ADVOCACY
No business can maintain a long-term success by just relying on new customers.
Buyers’ remorse is real. If your product sucks or has a poor after-service, you just spent this whole process for a mere one-time profit. And possibly a horrible review that can make your future marketing much harder.
On the other hand, if they genuinely had a great experience with you and your product, you just earned yourself a long-term customer, and perhaps even an ADVOCACY for your brand.
They will tell their friends, they will leave great reviews, they will comment nice things on your post…
And to this day, no marketing can convince a prospect better than a genuine advocacy.
It should be said that modern marketing has become more complex due to the nature of social media and customers becoming more aware, but this remains a great framework to understand the different steps required to convert a customer.
