Our Guide to Creating a Customer-Centric Marketing Funnel

A marketing funnel is a model that describes the journey that customers take as they move from the initial stages of learning about your brand to becoming loyal paying customers. It is essential for understanding the needs, wants, and expectations of your target audience, and thus essential to identifying and attracting potential customers.

A “full-funnel” marketing approach, therefore, is all about tailoring your marketing efforts to the particular stage that the customer is at in their journey. It is an approach that shifts the emphasis from sales to the customer experience. That is why creating a customer-centric marketing funnel is central to a full-funnel marketing strategy.

This blog will delve into the stages of a customer-centric marketing funnel, how to go about creating one, why it is so important for eCommerce businesses to do so, and how to measure its success!

What Are the Key Stages of a Customer-Centric Marketing Funnel?

1. Awareness: This is when a potential customer becomes aware of your brand or product. They may see an ad, read an article, or be referred by a friend.
2. Interest: Once they are aware of your business and its offerings, they may start to develop an interest. They may visit your website, read more about your product, or sign up for your email list.
3. Consideration: The potential customer may then evaluate their options and consider whether your product is the right fit for them. This could involve comparing you to other brands, reading reviews, or requesting more information from you. 
4. Conversion: This is when the potential customer becomes a paying customer, whether that involves buying your product outright, signing up for a free trial, or subscribing to your service. You will need to ensure that you have a smooth and effective sales process in place to close the deal.
5. Post-purchase: The journey does not end after someone buys from you. You need to continue providing value and delivering on your promises to keep them as a satisfied customer. If you can do that, they will become a loyal advocate for your brand and help you bring in new customers through word-of-mouth marketing.

Why Is Creating a Marketing Funnel So Important for eCommerce Businesses?

A marketing funnel is a crucial tool for eCommerce stores because it helps them focus their marketing efforts on the most promising leads, and ultimately convert more of those leads into paying customers. By understanding the different stages of the marketing funnel, businesses can tailor their strategies accordingly and maximise their ROI.

How Do You Create a Customer-Centric Marketing Funnel? 

Creating a customer-centric marketing funnel means starting with the customer in mind and working backwards. It is about understanding what your customers want and need at each stage of their journey, and then creating content and experiences that guide them towards becoming paying customers.

1. Define your target audience: Who are you trying to reach with your marketing funnel?
2. Identify the stages of the marketing funnel: What are the steps that potential customers will take as they move through your funnel?
3. Create content for each stage of the marketing funnel: After you have determined the needs and wants of your target market – and you have mapped out their journey – you need to create a strategy for reaching them. What kind of content will appeal to potential customers at each stage of the funnel? [more on this later]
4. Measure key metrics: Without measuring key metrics, it’s impossible to know whether or not your marketing funnel is effective. In turn, it’s impossible to know if your strategy is not working and it needs changing. [more on this later]
5. Nurture customer relationships: Some marketers will make the mistake of thinking that their marketing funnel is complete once someone has made a purchase. However, it’s important to continue nurturing your relationship with customers even after they have become paying customers. This will help to increase customer loyalty.

Content Creation in Full-Funnel Marketing

One of the most common mistakes that marketers make is failing to create content specifically tailored to the buyer’s journey. As a result, they end up creating content that is either too general or too sales-focused. In order to truly tap into your target audience, you need to create content that is relevant to each stage of the marketing funnel.

At the top of the funnel (TOFU), your content should be focused on raising awareness and building interest. For instance, you may write a blog that will help your potential customers understand how your product or service could solve their problems on a broad level.

As potential customers move down the funnel, you should provide more detailed information about your products or services. This could include lead generation tactics such as e-mail marketing, webinars, and free trials to capture leads.

Finally, at the bottom of the funnel (BOFU), your content should be focused on converting customers into paying customers. At this stage, eCommerce brands often use case studies, product demos, and price comparisons to persuade leads that their product or service is the best option.

How Do You Know If Your Marketing Funnel Is Successful? 

There are many indicators that will show you whether or not your marketing funnel is working, all of which can be tracked in analytics programmes. We will discuss three key metrics:

Conversion rate

This is the percentage of people who take the desired action, such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase. If your conversion rate is low, it could be because your funnel is not effective in capturing leads. Make sure you have a strong offer and a compelling call-to-action (CTA) to encourage people to take the next step.

Customer lifetime value (CLTV)

This metric shows how much revenue a customer will generate over the entire lifetime of their account. A higher LTV means that your marketing funnel is successful in acquiring and, more importantly, retaining customers.

Average order value (AOV)

This is another indicator of a successful marketing funnel.  It measures how much each customer spends when they make a purchase. A higher AOV means that your funnel is driving more valuable traffic to your site, and thus suggests that you are targeting the right customers.

Final Thoughts

If you want to improve your marketing funnel, start by testing different offers and CTAs to see what encourages people to take action. You may also wish to segment your audience to create more targeted campaigns.

A marketing funnel is a blueprint for how you should focus your marketing efforts but it should not be static and unchanging. Ensure that you track your progress and continue to optimise your funnel over time.

Our approach to UI/UX, SEO, and PPC is rooted in full-funnel marketing. It is only by defining a target audience, understanding their needs at different stages in the buyer’s journey, and adjusting our marketing efforts accordingly that we can develop highly targeted digital strategies for our clients.

If you are interested in seeing what we can do for your eCommerce business, why not book a free 30-minute discovery call with one of our experts today?