Marketing Funnels: What Are They? (Explained)

Introducing You Conversion/Marketing Funnel

If you’ve spent some time on our website, you’re likely to have come across the term ‘conversion funnel’.

Conversion funnels, also called marketing or sales funnels, are automated marketing systems that take your customer from initial contact to action without any human intervention.

Think of it this way, courtesy of Crazyegg:

“…a conversion funnel is an idea or way to visualize and comprehend the flow and conversion of potential customers… into paying customers.”

Breaking Down The Marketing Funnel With AIDA

Different business need different types of marketing funnels, but every funnel is built on the AIDA principle. AIDA is an established marketing acronym that stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.

We can use it to visualize the four main steps we want our prospects to go through in order to take the action we require.

Attention

First, your prospective customer has to become aware of your brand and the products and service you offer. You can create attention through a Google or Facebook ad, a blog post they find while searching for information or a social media post.

Interest

Then, you have to build the prospect’s interest in your products and services. It’s at this point that you start qualifying and eliminating people from your funnel.

Not everyone who becomes aware of your product will have an interest in it.

Desire

Next, your marketing has to create a desire for your product or services in the prospect. Ideally, you’re providing a solution to a problem, and this is the point where you show the prospect this.

Again, some prospects will drop out at this point because they are interested in but don’t desire your products or services.

Action

This is where we ask the prospect to take action. This could be making the sale, signing up for our newsletter or downloading our app. Once again, only a small number of the initial prospects will have made it this far and take action.

Closing Thoughts

Marketing funnels are automated systems through which prospects find us and are guided to take a specific action. That action can be a sale, joining our mailing list or downloading our app.

Funnels run 24/7, need little human attention (for the most part) and are a great way for you to grow your business online.

What is your experience with marketing funnels? Have you ever used them? Where they helpful?

We’d love to hear what’s worked for you in the past or what you’re excited about trying in the future, in the comments below.

 

PS: If you like this article you might also want to read our article on Growth Hacking and Evergreen Content.