Where is your business on the marketing funnel?
It is critical for small and medium-sized e-commerce companies to understand and leverage the marketing funnel. The marketing funnel is a model that illustrates the journey a customer goes through from discovering a brand to becoming a loyal customer. This journey is typically divided into four key stages:
Visibility
Interest
Sales
Loyalty
By strategically targeting and connecting with potential customers at each stage, brands can guide them through the buying process, from awareness to loyalty, and achieve long-term success.
Let’s take a detailed look at the marketing funnel and how brands can leverage targeted advertising on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google, and Amazon at each stage. Please note that brands can run ads across two or more of these channels in parallel.
1. Grow Visibility: Making your brand known
The primary goal at this stage is to increase brand visibility and attract potential customers. According to a study by Google, 72% of consumers prefer to learn about products through video content, making video ads an effective tool for building awareness.
Brands looking to gain awareness should target a wide audience and provide valuable information that addresses potential customers' pain points or interests via blog posts, infographics, and videos. Brands should use a combination of ad channels, depending on their budget, to help drive awareness.
Brands looking to gain awareness should target a wide audience and provide valuable information that addresses potential customers' pain points or interests via blog posts, infographics, and videos. Brands should use a combination of ad channels, depending on their budget, to help drive awareness.
Facebook & InstagramWe recommend using a combination of short video ads and high-quality image ads with compelling captions to capture attention.
Google
Display Ads that leverage Google's Display Network to show visually appealing banner ads across millions of websites could boost awareness.
Amazon
Sponsored Brand ads are well suited to drive awareness enabling brands to showcase their logo and a selection of products at the top of search results.
Sponsored Brand ads are well suited to drive awareness enabling brands to showcase their logo and a selection of products at the top of search results.
Key metrics to evaluate for this phase of the funnel are:
Reach
The total number of unique users who have seen your ad or content.
Impressions
The total number of times your ad or content has been displayed.
Engagement Rate
The percentage of people who engaged with your content (likes, shares, comments) relative to the total number of impressions.
Website Traffic
The number of visitors to your website from your ads.
2. Attract Interest: Drive consideration
At this stage, the goal is to engage potential customers, educate them about your products, and nurture their interest.
HubSpot reports that 81% of shoppers conduct online research before making a purchase, highlighting the importance of informative content. (Hubspot blog)
In this stage, brands should continue building interest by highlighting the benefits and unique selling points of their products. When it comes to advertising, brands should use a combination of ad types across channels.
HubSpot reports that 81% of shoppers conduct online research before making a purchase, highlighting the importance of informative content. (Hubspot blog)
In this stage, brands should continue building interest by highlighting the benefits and unique selling points of their products. When it comes to advertising, brands should use a combination of ad types across channels.
Facebook & Instagram
Carousel ads that display multiple images or videos in a single ad to showcase different product features work well.
Carousel ads that display multiple images or videos in a single ad to showcase different product features work well.
Google
Both search ads that capture intent-driven audience by targeting specific keywords and shopping ads that present detailed product information, including images, prices, and merchant names, directly in the search results work well.
Both search ads that capture intent-driven audience by targeting specific keywords and shopping ads that present detailed product information, including images, prices, and merchant names, directly in the search results work well.
Amazon
Brands should use sponsored products ads to promote individual products within search results increasing visibility.
Brands should also leverage email marketing to send newsletters and personalized emails.
Brands should use sponsored products ads to promote individual products within search results increasing visibility.
Brands should also leverage email marketing to send newsletters and personalized emails.
Key metrics to evaluate for this phase of the funnel are:
Bounce rate
The percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page.
Time on site
The average duration visitors spend on your website.
Product page views
The number of times users visit a specific product's detail page
Add to carts
The number of times users click on the "Add to Cart" button on a product page after being directed there from an ad.
3. Increase sales: Converting interest into purchase
The primary focus here is to drive conversions; encouraging potential customers to make a purchase.
The goal at this stage is immediate action and brands should use various incentives such as discounts, or special promotions to incentivize the purchase. Advertising in this stage should center around converting interested prospects into paying customers.
The goal at this stage is immediate action and brands should use various incentives such as discounts, or special promotions to incentivize the purchase. Advertising in this stage should center around converting interested prospects into paying customers.
Facebook & Instagram
Catalog ads that automatically promote relevant products to people who’ve expressed interest.
Catalog ads that automatically promote relevant products to people who’ve expressed interest.
GoogleRemarketing ads to re-engage your website visitors and product listing ads to showcase your products directly in search results.
Amazon
Sponsored products ads to promote your products in search results.
Sponsored products ads to promote your products in search results.
Key metrics to evaluate for this phase of the funnel are:
Conversion rate
The percentage of visitors who complete a desired action (e.g., making a purchase)
Cost per Acquisition (CPA)
The average cost to acquire a new customer
Average Order Value (AOV)
The average amount spent by customers per transaction
Ad-attributed sales
The total revenue generated from your advertising efforts
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
The revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising
4. Nurture Loyalty: Retaining customers and encouraging repeat business
The objective here is to turn your customers into loyal advocates. In this stage, brands should focus on building and maintaining strong relationships with customers by providing their loyal customers with exclusive offers. Advertising efforts should center around driving repeat purchases.
Facebook & InstagramLeverage custom audiences to target existing customers with special offers, new product announcements, and loyalty programs. Additionally, brands could run engagement ads to encourage customers to interact with your brand through polls, questions, and interactive content.
GoogleUse your customer data to reach and re-engage past customers across Search, Shopping, YouTube, and Gmail.
AmazonOffer discounts, via subscribe & save, to customers who subscribe to regular deliveries of your products.
GoogleUse your customer data to reach and re-engage past customers across Search, Shopping, YouTube, and Gmail.
AmazonOffer discounts, via subscribe & save, to customers who subscribe to regular deliveries of your products.
Key metrics to evaluate for this phase of the funnel are:
Customer retention rate
The percentage of customers who continue to purchase from your brand over a specific period
Repeat purchase rate
The percentage of customers who make more than one purchase
Conclusion
Understanding the marketing funnel and effectively advertising at each stage is vital for the success of your e-commerce business. Tracking the right metrics at each stage of the marketing funnel helps SMBs understand the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns and make data-driven decisions to optimize performance.
At 4XDigital, we’ve developed an AI-powered framework, that executes tailored advertising strategies based on where our customers are in the funnel. The framework is called GAIN and it stands for Grow visibility, Attract interest, Increase sales, and Nurture loyalty.
Our AI evaluates the health of each stage in a customer's purchase funnel, assigning a score from 1-10. Using these scores, it creates targeted ads that efficiently allocate budget to areas needing improvement. Our tool also provides actionable metrics and insights, empowering businesses to guide shoppers successfully through the entire funnel.
At 4XDigital, we’ve developed an AI-powered framework, that executes tailored advertising strategies based on where our customers are in the funnel. The framework is called GAIN and it stands for Grow visibility, Attract interest, Increase sales, and Nurture loyalty.
Our AI evaluates the health of each stage in a customer's purchase funnel, assigning a score from 1-10. Using these scores, it creates targeted ads that efficiently allocate budget to areas needing improvement. Our tool also provides actionable metrics and insights, empowering businesses to guide shoppers successfully through the entire funnel.
