To understand a digital marketing funnel, we must see what the past should look like pre-digital marketing. It should help us assemble some reference points at a base level by which we can understand the modern digital marketing funnel and how it is used.
A marketing funnel is essentially a customer journey that starts in the world where your business or products are unknown. A digital marketing agency uses the funnel to direct prospects by raising awareness of your brand, educating them on the benefits of your products or services, and finally converting the prospective customer into a sale.
TRADITIONAL MARKETING FUNNEL
Traditional marketing is promotional material at the top of the funnel. It can be a flyer that is given through your door, a poster, or some POS (point of sale) in a poster or shop window on the side of a bus stop. The top of the funnel increases awareness about your brand, products or services.
The future will represent the future customer considering the product or service between the funnel. They want more information about your brand, products or service. This could include speaking to friends or visiting your shop for brochures or other informative material to aid their decision.
During this stage, they may speak to an employee or salesperson from within your business. Their job is to create a desire in the prospective customer, aiding their decision in choosing your product or service. Reviews in local or national publications could also be seen as the middle of the funnel; with the prospect aware of your brand, such material serves to reinforce their confidence in deciding to purchase.
The final stage of the journey is under the funnel. With the decision made to purchase the product or service, the new customer completes traditional and linear travel.
DIGITAL MARKETING FUNNEL STAGES
AWARENESS
In today’s modern and digitized world, things are a little different. The promotional material used to lure prospects in are Google Ads, emails, videos, SEO, and other materials and techniques designed to direct traffic towards your website. Building on brand awareness and pulling in traffic, as well as existing customers, are all functions of top-of-funnel marketing strategies.
CONSIDERATION
The creation of confidence in your brands, products or services makes a large part of the middle of your funnel. Your MoF efforts should focus on presenting solutions to your prospective customers. Through targeted ads and emails, you can present customer reviews and stories, in-depth videos, blogs and content aimed at presenting you as a thought leader in your field. Middle-of-funnel customers are still researching and deciding whether to buy from you. The top of the funnel brought them into your shop (your website); your efforts now are to close the sale.
CONVERSION
The final stretch of the journey focuses on those who are almost certain they will make a purchase. They may have left an item in their basket, or you may have brought them back to the site through PPC efforts. The bottom of the funnel sees your prospective customer make the purchase, reported as conversion. You can now identify at which part of the process your new customer came to make their purchase. This valuable response means that you can tailor your approach to maximize conversions. Your efforts have paid off, but at the end of the funnel, you still have some work if you plan to get repeat business. Follow-up emails requesting feedback give you more fuel for your top and middle of the funnel. This also helps build rapport with your new customer.
BUT WAIT… THIS SURELY CREATES ANOTHER STEP?
Rather than the linear journey of the traditional funnel, which was used in earlier digital marketing strategies as well as in non-digital campaigns, a business can now loop under the top or under the funnel in the middle with little extra work. This method helps with customer retention, but also with brand awareness and confidence. By requesting feedback, you help other prospects make their decision.
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SO, MORE A LOOP THAN A FUNNEL?
POST-PURCHASE EXPERIENCE
Now, what we are left with is a funnel and more of a loop. With customers leaving product reviews and being encouraged to share and like social pages and posts, they become an integral part of the process. With the bottom of the funnel feeding back into the top and middle sections through the post-purchase experience loop, businesses optimizing for this process can benefit exponentially. The more reviews, the more chance of conversions, and the more conversions, the more reviews.
GOOGLE MY BUSINESS (GMB)
Read reviews from 9 out of 10 shopkeepers before purchasing. Setting up Google My Business is a great way to bring your reviews to the forefront of your prospective customer’s journey. GMB ensures you are discoverable and that your business details are all correct and present. The reviews of your business are easily accessible, and GMB also allows you to make posts, upload images, and let customers contact you at the click of a button. By capitalizing on the simplicity of GMB, you maximize the chance of conversions.
FOLLOW-UP EMAILS
There is also a phase of digital marketing loops why follow-up emails are important. If the customer has a good experience, it is less likely that he will leave a review. Prompting reviews for good service is the best way to bump up high-quality review numbers.
CHANGES IN CUSTOMER BEHAVIOURS
This extra step has resulted from a shift in consumers’ online activity. The wide availability of products and services at the tips of your fingers, 24 hours a day, has driven up customers’ expectations.
As we mentioned, 9 out of 10 customers will read reviews before committing to a purchase. The
modern shopper also looks at company ethos and sustainability as part of the decision-making
process. For this reason, engaging positively with your reviews, both good and bad, in spaces such as Trustpilot and GMB gives the prospect or returning customer an insight into who you are as a business.
In the modern world, businesses can be largely faceless. Having pictures of you and your staff on your website, your GMB page, or social channels can make the business seem more personable.
The age-old cliché, People buy off people, has never really disappeared. By placing an individual element for a digital business, dividends can be paid to your digital marketing loop.
