EVOLUTION OF THE DIGITAL MARKETING FUNNEL : PAST AND PRESENT

In today’s modern and digitised world, things are a little different. The promotional material used to lurernyour prospects in are Google Ads, emails, videos, SEO and other materials and techniques designedrnat directing traffic towards your website. Building on brand awareness and pulling in traffic, as well asrnexisting customers are all functions for top of funnel marketing strategies.

Building on confidence in your brand, products or services forms a large part of your middle of funnel.rnYour MoF efforts should focus on presenting solutions to your prospective customers. Throughrntargeted ads and emails, you can present customer reviews and stories, in depth videos, blogs andrncontent aimed at presenting you as a thought leader in your field. Middle of Funnel customers are stillrnresearching and deciding whether to buy from you. The top of the funnel brought them into your shoprn(your website), your efforts now are to close the sale.

The final stretch of the journey focusses on those who are almost certain they will make a purchase. Itrnis possible they have left an item in their basket, or you may have brought them back to the siternthrough PPC efforts.rnrnThe bottom of the funnel sees your prospective customer make the purchase, reported as arnconversion you can now identify at which part of the process your new customer came to make thernpurchase. This valuable feedback means you can tailor your approach to maximise conversions.rnrnYour efforts have paid off, but out the end of the funnel, you still have some work to do if you plan onrngetting repeat business. Follow up emails requesting feedback gives you more fire for your top andrnmiddle of funnel. This also helps build rapport with your new customer.

Rather than the linear journey of the traditional funnel, which was used in earlier digital marketingrnstrategies as well as in non-digital campaigns; a business can now loop the bottom of the funnel backrnin at the top or middle with a little extra work.rnrnThis method helps with customer retention, but also with brand awareness and confidence. Byrnrequesting feedback, you help other prospects make their decision.

What we are left with now then, is less a funnel and more a loop. With customers leaving productrnreviews, encouraged to share and like social pages and posts, they become an integral part of thernprocess.rnrnWith the bottom of the funnel feeding back in to the top and middle sections through the post-rnpurchase experience loop, businesses optimising for this process can benefit exponentially. The morernreviews, the more chance of conversions and the more conversions the more reviews.

A whopping 9 out of 10 online shoppers read reviews before committing to a purchase. Setting uprnGoogle my Business is a great way to bring your reviews to the forefront of your prospectiverncustomer’s journey.rnrnGMB ensures you are discoverable and that your business details are all correct and present. Thernreviews of your business are easily accessible and GMB also allows you to make posts, upload imagesrnand lets customers contact you at a click of a button.rnrnBy capitalising on the simplicity of GMB, you maximise the chance of conversions.

This stage of the digital marketing loop is also why follow up emails are important. When a customerrnhas a good experience, they are less likely to leave a review. Prompting reviews for good service is thernbest way to bump up high quality review numbers.