Marketing funnel

Example

A services firm counts one month stage by stage:

• 10,000 impressions across an article and an ad.
• 300 visits to the site — 3% of the impressions.
• 60 people open the service page — 20% of the visitors.
• 12 enquiries — 20% of those.
• 3 contracts at €1,500 — 25% of the enquiries, or €4,500.

Double the impressions and, at the same rates, the month ends with 6 contracts. Fix the middle instead, so that 90 of the same 300 visitors reach the service page rather than 60, and the month ends with 4 or 5 — without another euro of media. Which of the two is cheaper only becomes visible once the numbers sit on separate steps.

Why it matters for a business

A single overall conversion rate hides the thing that needs repairing. A shop converting at 2% may have excellent traffic and a broken checkout, or a sound checkout and visitors who came for something else. Split into stages, the journey shows the biggest fall between two neighbouring numbers, and that gap is where the next change pays for itself.

The second consequence is editorial. The bottom of the funnel — prices, terms, comparisons, reviews — usually exists, because sales people ask for it. The top exists because it is enjoyable to write. What is missing is the middle: the material that helps someone choose a kind of solution before choosing a supplier. Most people are lost there, and that is the step least often measured.

What to ask

• Which number marks each stage, and where does it come from: analytics, the ad platform or the order system?
• Where was the largest fall between two neighbouring stages over the last three months?
• What content exists for the middle, rather than only for the top and the bottom?
• How long does the journey take for your customers, days or months, and is the reporting period long enough to see it?

In our digital marketing work the weekly plan is built stage by stage, and the monthly report shows the fall between them.