Consumer Behaviour in Marketing: The Funnel

The funnel is a way to visualize consumer behaviour in marketing as they move from potential to paying customers. However, it isn’t a simple, one-size-fits-all model. Businesses need to tailor the funnel according to their unique buyer persona. Here are some tips to maximize your funnel.

Buyer’s Journey and the Funnel

Funnels can be visualized as a three-stage model:

  • Top of the Funnel (TOFU): Awareness
  • Middle of the Funnel (MOFU): Consideration
  • Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU): Conversion

In the online world, it’s impossible to control how customers will discover your product or website. A customer can discover your product through external marketing or may stumble upon your website through browsing. The funnel, then, needs to be considered at both points of entry.

Understanding your buyer’s journey will enable you to maximize the funnel from awareness to conversion however customers discover your product.

Full-funnel Strategy

Based on nearly fifty cart abandonment rate statistics, almost 70 per cent of online shopping orders worldwide did not convert into a purchase. Understandably, this can be frustrating, causing marketers to fixate on the final, conversion stage of the funnel. However, brands that commit to a holistic, full-funnel strategy find the most success.

In 2021, 33 per cent of buyers spent more time researching products before purchasing. Customers want to know more about a brand before buying a product. A full-funnel approach will enable companies to build their brand and become more relevant to their buyer persona, understanding more fully the effectiveness of their marketing plan.

A full-funnel marketing plan can actually increase ROI by 15 to 20 per cent, improving overall return on ad spending compared to focusing only sales channels alone.

Nurture Leads

A robust MOFU is key to an effective full-funnel approach. This is when marketers can nurture leads into convertible customers by delivering relevant content as they consider a solution to their problem. However, without contact information, it will be challenging to nurture that lead.

Following up engaging content with a call-to-action to provide contact information is an easy solution, but, surprisingly, 70 per cent of small business websites lack a CTA on their websites. This is a devastating oversight considering email marketing has an ROI of $36 USD for every dollar spent, making it one of the most effective tools available. Traffic from email campaigns have a higher conversion rate than the traffic from search, direct, and social media.

If you would like help better understanding consumer behaviour in marketing, please contact us today.