What is a Marketing Funnel?
The Marketing funnel or AIDA model (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action), developed in 1890 by the North American theorist Elias St. Elmo Lewis, represents the four stages by which the Customer is motivated to make a purchase, with the final stage being a natural result of the first three stages of the Marketing funnel.
When digital transformation began to be implemented in companies, the AIDA model was adopted so that the lead would follow the flow determined by automation. However, with the increase in competition and communication channels that facilitate a variety of points of contact and conversations with the Customer, the traditional Marketing funnel model ended up being insufficient to meet the Customer's intentions more precisely.
It is important to understand that customers are increasingly connected and, therefore, all stages of the funnel should be given the same importance, as they can make the purchase decision at the beginning, middle or end of the funnel. As a result, new leads can jump from the discovery phase to the decision phase, as well as move forward and backward between the other stages.
What does the new Marketing funnel look like?
The concept of the Marketing funnel emerged uk number list with the aim of illustrating all the stages that a Customer goes through until the purchase of a product or service. However, the Customer journey does not end when the purchase is made, as there is a continuation of the Customer Support service and retention.
In this way, your IT company enters a new scenario, changes strategies according to the challenges encountered and numerous sales opportunities appear. In other words, a new moment in the relationship between the company and the customer begins.
But what is different about the new Marketing funnel? Here, the Customer's purchasing journey is multichannel, and it is necessary to create a personalized and unique experience at each moment and channel. Instead of guiding the Customer, it is the Customer who leads the process according to their expectations. Therefore, the evolution of the Marketing funnel must be able to predict the intentions of the lead and leave them free to move throughout the entire purchasing journey.
How does the new Marketing funnel work?
The stages of the traditional Marketing funnel were not eliminated, but instead were replaced by four new stages: Adoption, Retention, Expansion and Advocacy. In this way, the format of the Marketing funnel has also evolved, resembling a looping hourglass, as shown in the image below.
See the characteristics of each of the four new stages of the Marketing funnel:
Adoption: this stage, after purchase, welcomes the Customer through onboarding resources whose mission is to establish a true and lasting relationship;
Retention: at this stage, your delivery must go beyond expectations to ensure that your Customer is satisfied with the relationship you have just begun;
Expansion: Connect and learn from your Customers to discover new solutions to help them achieve success ;
Advocacy: Remember word-of-mouth marketing? At this stage, the customer is able to influence new leads to enter through the top of the funnel.