In the current communication scenario where any end user can be reached by an infinite amount of information and advertising, an effective and accurate communication is paramount. In this view, designing an effective Marketing Funnel can prove extremely useful. If leveraged correctly, this tool allows us to reach only the users who are truly interested in our product. 

A Marketing Funnel is a model that illustrates and analyses the customer journey toward the purchase of a product or service. It represents the ideal journey we would like our perspective customer to make, generated by the interaction between a consumer and a brand. The legs of the online and offline journey are called touchpoints, and the goal of a funnel is to lead the customer from the first stage - attention - to the last one - action, which is also the conversion phase.

A funnel is a simple and effective metaphor to indicate the stages of a customer’s decision-making process that will lead him to actively engage with a brand. At the beginning, the user recognises a high number of brands and products. In the following stages, the customer proceeds to progressively screen them until the final purchase choice is made.

Thanks to programmatic advertising we can reach the best profiled and the most receptive audience with the most relevant products for their needs and interests. Statistics show that the vast majority of website visitors exit it with no conversion. Since most visitors will not become clients after the first access, building a strong connection with them is crucial.

This is even more important for brands working in the fashion world, as it pays particular attention to socio-demographic variables in taste, purchase and web browsing habits.

To explain how a funnel works, we can divide it into three main stages, from inception to evolution:

• Brand awareness: the top part of a conversion funnel aims at making consumers aware of the existence of a product or service. From a communication standpoint, this first stage corresponds to building customer awareness of a brand or product. 

• Brand consideration: in the intermediate stage of a funnel, the customer is aware of the qualities and characteristics of a product, compares it with competing products and considers whether to buy it or not. This stage corresponds to the building of brand or product consideration in the consumer’s mind. In other words, a brand needs its products to be part of a perspective buyer's consideration set, which is the group of products on the market that a consumer considers purchasing based on his needs.

• Call to action: in the last stage of a funnel the consumer shows a preference for a product over every other potential alternative and expresses the intention to make a purchase. In this phase, we can notice a peculiar conversion event: the consumer performs a specific act in response to the stimuli and call to actions of a campaign. These actions may be, for example, making the final purchase or subscribing to a newsletter.

Our newsletter will back in your inbox next Thursday, as always. Next week we will continue our analysis of the marketing funnel model, with examples to design one and practical implementation advice.