A model that shows the stages users go through before completing a conversion. Sometimes also referred to as a consideration funnel. This is a general concept about designing marketing tactics for different stages of consumer behavior, separate from a conversion path or attribution, though those concepts will play a role in defining tactics within a conversion funnel as well.
A conversion funnel is sometimes summarized as:
- Awareness: The user first learns about your brand, product, or service.
- Consideration: The user actively assesses or compares options, looking for more information before making a decision.
- Action (or Conversion): The user completes the desired action, such as making a purchase.
Depending on a typical user journey, the funnel may have additional steps that better summarize a user’s journey. It is also important to note that this is a summary concept and visualization about how different channels, tactics and messaging may be designed to influence different stages of shopping behavior. However, actual user behavior tends to be non-linear and may not follow a funnel diagram.
Putting It Into Practice
The conversion funnel is like a game plan for every marketing stage. At the top is building awareness, casting a wide net to reach many people. Lower down, you’re retargeting those who’ve already checked your brand out but haven’t converted. The goal? Keep moving them closer to action. What is important to remember is that a person’s actions aren’t always in a straight line. People tend to engage in many points on a site to understand the product better. So people skip steps, reconsider, and take their paths to conversion. That’s why it’s key to look at how your typical audience engages with your ads, tactics, messaging, etc. at each stage so that you can improve your strategy and make your customers’ path to conversion easier.
- Understanding the conversion funnel is made easier when considering the conversion path and attribution. A conversion path follows the series of steps a user takes before completing a conversion, and attribution is the process of determining which interactions influenced a customer to take an action on your product.
- These key ideas can help improve your sales funnel. When you analyze conversion paths, you can see which customer journeys work best. Attribution then helps you figure out which strategies or channels are most effective at each step.
Conclusion
To push consumers down the funnel, one should improve each step of the conversion funnel. A better experience for potential customers can improve your marketing performance.