Surely in more than one marketing department meeting you have heard about the conversion funnel, and although from the context you may have created an idea of what it is, you probably do not understand what it consists of specifically if you have never worked with this term.
So that you don’t get lost in the conversation again, in this article we are going to explain what a conversion funnel is, what different stages it has and how it is used in all areas of digital marketing. You will also see that this is a method that can help you direct marketing actions towards success.
What Does a Conversion Funnel Consist of?
The conversion funnel is known as the online marketing methodology that analyzes the behavior and steps that users take when visiting a website, from when they enter until they meet their objective, which may be to make a purchase, download a file, request a service, subscribe to a newsletter or provide their data in a registration form, among many others.
Through this tool, you can have access to information as useful as the percentage of loss of interest of visitors to your website in each step they take, which in turn will allow you to know what your bottlenecks are and correct them to improve the conversion rate.
This is an indispensable tool to optimize the conversion of visitors to your website into customers, so it should be a term implemented and widely used in all areas of marketing in your company. For example, it is frequently used in paid SEM advertising campaigns in Google Paid Search or other engines, or those carried out on social networks such as YouTube Ads or TikTok Ads.
What are the Phases of the Conversion Funnel?
The basic idea of the conversion funnel is to accompany each of the potential buyers or users who visit your website through their journey on it, analyzing the actions they take and how the different marketing techniques affect them.
For that reason, we can distinguish three types of phases in this funnel, depending on the moment in which the user is.
Phase 1: Top of the Funnel or TOFU – Recognition
Users are in this stage when they have a certain need and show interest in what you are offering by visiting your blog, your e-commerce or website. Even so, at the moment they are not thinking of acquiring a product or service. At this point, information must be provided to capture their attention and thus be able to reach their conversion.
To encourage recognition you can create organic content on social networks, buy paid ads and optimize the content of your website to attract traffic and improve its visibility.
Phase 2: Middle of the Funnel or MOFU – Consideration
In this intermediate stage of the funnel, users already feel a stronger interest in your service or product, with which they are already familiar and know that it may be what they were looking for to solve their need. Although they are considering acquiring it, they have not yet made the decision.
It is the key moment to offer them more value and place yourself in their minds, which can be achieved through attractive messages in the ads, offering a lot of variety of information, explaining the solutions you provide, showing them examples of success, etc.
Phase 3: Bottom of the Funnel or BOFU – Conversion
The last stage of the conversion funnel, the bottom, is characterized because in it users have already made a decision and are ready to carry out the action you were looking for with the campaign, usually acquiring a product or service. In this way, the conversion from lead to customer takes place.
In this phase, it is necessary to demonstrate to customers all the benefits they can get if they become customers and, to achieve this, nothing like making calls to action (CTA) with the right words.
As we have explained previously, these phases can also be applied to content marketing and different actions such as campaigns with digital creators, in Business Suite or even UGC.
Is the Conversion Funnel the Same as the Sales Funnel?
We have been talking about the conversion funnel, but there is another type of funnel much better known in the world of marketing, with which it can sometimes be confused: the funnel or sales funnel. But is it the same?
Despite their names being very similar (both are funnels), they are somewhat different concepts, although it is not uncommon to hear someone use them as synonyms.
- The conversion funnel refers to the process that a user goes through from the first contact with a website until achieving their conversion into a customer by performing the intended action, which does not have to be a purchase.
- The sales funnel, on the other hand, is related to the phases that a person must go through to buy a product, these being: attention, interest, decision and purchase.
As you can see, although similar, the main difference is that the objective of the conversion funnel is not the sale itself, while in the sales funnel it is.
What Uses Can be Given to a Conversion Funnel?
As we have been saying, the conversion funnel is a methodology that can help you increase the conversion rate, but it also has other uses.
Measures the Percentage of Lost Users
The image of the funnel is very accurate, because in the wide part of the conversion funnel would be placed the number of potential customers that reaches a website and the progressive decrease in size symbolizes the loss of these that do not become customers. And, one of the best uses of this concept is to measure that loss that occurs throughout the conversion process.
Improves Advertising
The conversion funnel is also useful in advertising, because by dividing the path of a user to become a customer in different stages, it is possible to design specific campaigns for each exact moment, such as attractive ads to capture leads in the early stages, or make more forceful calls to action in the later stages.
Identifies when Users are Lost
Analyzing the conversion funnel allows to notice in what part of the process, from the first show of interest until the objective action is carried out, a greater number of users are being lost. Locating this exact point is fundamental because it can give a clue about what is being done wrong.
Facilitates Decision Making
Since through the conversion funnel it is possible to detect possible errors and identify possible elements to improve, this metric is also used to optimize each of the different stages. This is because it makes it easier to make better decisions that will be much more effective and profitable.
Learn how to Create a Conversion Funnel Easily
Now that you know what the conversion funnel consists of and what it is used for, you will be interested in knowing how to develop one for your business. You just have to carry out the following three steps to do it.
Step 1: Identify your Goal
The first thing you should be clear about is what you want to achieve, that is, what is the conversion you want to happen. Unlike the sales funnel, this goal does not have to be a purchase, it may be that they register on the website, that they share the information found, that they subscribe to a service, etc.
In case you want to achieve several objectives, then it will be necessary that you define as many conversion funnels as actions you pursue.
Step 2: Decide the Phases of the Funnel
In general, the conversion process is divided into the three stages explained above, but you can adapt them to suit what you need. The ultimate goal is to have the fewest possible stages, so that the conversion is more direct.
Determining each phase will depend on the mental process that your visitors perform, so you should have a slight idea of it. You should also pay attention to the percentage of users who pass from one to another and when the leads are lost.
Step 3: Measure the Number of Users in each Phase
In order to make a reliable measurement, you can ask your visitors to perform small actions (micro conversions) that allow you to track the number of people who pass from one stage to another.
By taking and analyzing these measures, it will be easier for you to determine the paths that visitors follow on your online site and optimize them so that the results you obtain are increasingly better.
Now you know what a conversion funnel consists of, what it is for and how to create one to your measure, all you have left to do is start this process and improve it constantly to get better results with your digital marketing actions.
And remember, if you need help with your advertising campaigns to achieve a greater conversion, at 2btube we are always willing to lend you a hand. Do not hesitate and contact us without any commitment!