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A marketing funnel is a strategic visualization of the customer journey from lead to committed buyer. It shows the various steps that a prospective customer takes to move from one stage of the buying process to the next.
A marketing funnel is typically designed based on the 4 stages of a typical buyer journey called AIDA (Attention Interest Desire Action). Visually, a traditional marketing funnel could look like this:
From the company’s point of view, the marketing funnel is a valuable tool for the marketing team to design plans to attract, engage and convert potential customers through relevant marketing material. It is valuable because it is a measurable activity and can help prevent customer leakages, i.e., customers dropping out at different stages before buying.
A marketing funnel can be of two types (as per the end customer):
The growth of digital marketing and growing consumption of content on digital devices has led to modifications in the traditional AIDA model of a marketing funnel. This is especially visible in the B2B segment, as we will see below.
Before we explore the B2B marketing funnel, let us understand the B2B marketing cycle, the factors that affect this marketing cycle, and why a B2B marketing company needs a marketing funnel.
Every B2B marketing company needs to be aware of the buyer journey and the touchpoints possible at each stage of the journey. B2B marketing can be effective only when the company sets out goals for each stage of the buyer journey, designs useful and relevant content and offers, and optimizes its digital marketing activities to reach the maximum number of potential customers.
The marketing effort in a B2B segment consists of the following considerations:
Digitalization and marketing automation have opened a lot of new business opportunities, and smart businesses exploit these opportunities by designing and offering consistent and seamless customer experiences at every touch point. Thus, the B2B marketing funnel needs to be designed thoughtfully and should be customized to the customer’s expectations and requirements.
A B2B business needs to attract leads, nurture these leads and push sales through the leads. However, a typical B2B marketing-sales cycle can be a long and slow process involving multiple touchpoints and multiple marketing channels. Thus, it is imperative for a B2B business to have a properly designed and structured digital marketing funnel.
There are two main challenges in building a modern B2B marketing funnel:
These challenges can be addressed by understanding the customer’s buying behavior and purchase cycles. The following points can help to overcome possible challenges:
The customer (buyer) journey in a B2B situation is not linear. It involves multiple stakeholders and decision-making levels. But it can be condensed to the following:
Let us examine the factors that influence a B2B purchase decision:
A B2B customer also moves through a set of defined stages as he progresses through his purchase cycle. Each stage of the B2B purchase cycle requires a different or specialized content type. What works for one stage of the cycle will not suit another stage.
Thus, it is imperative that a B2B company has a marketing funnel in place to ensure that the right message goes to the customer at the right time and at the right place.
It is clear from the above points that a B2B digital marketing funnel cannot be just a simple AIDA based model. It is important to identify the main pain points of the B2B customer to develop a useful B2B marketing funnel.
The ideal B2B marketing funnel has 4 key stages, covering customer acquisition and retention. Note that the funnel for a B2B company is a hybrid marketing – sales funnel, as both teams need to work in tandem along the customer acquisition and fulfillment journey.
The four stages are:
A B2B marketing funnel can be represented visually as under:
This funnel structure helps the company to map the business buyer journey accurately and design a marketing approach that combines digital channels, messaging, content and offers in a way that helps the buyer make a purchase decision easily.
We will examine here what is the customer mindset at each stage of the marketing funnel, what the company objectives should be and the tools that can be used.
B2B marketing is all about value selling over the long term. B2B buyers make a purchase decision to improve their business or gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. They have access to a lot more information and can control the final purchase decision in a much better way.
The investments of a B2B customer are considerably larger and more complex than that of a B2C customer, and the marketing funnel must be designed keeping these considerations in mind.
The digital marketing tools and content for each stage of the B2B marketing funnel need to be customized to the logical requirements of the customer. B2B marketing cannot use a “same size fits all” approach and use the same marketing funnel for all customer types.
Buyer behavior and funnel stages can change in B2B marketing, but the essential parts of a B2B marketing strategy do not change: identify the customer’s problem, map his journey to arrive at a solution and offer a solution that works.
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