Sales Funnel

What is a sales funnel?

A sales funnel is a marketing term that defines the journey a customer takes from becoming aware of a company to completing a purchase transaction.

The funnel metaphor is used because a large number of leads or potential customers enter at the top (TOFU) and, as the funnel narrows (MOFU), that number decreases until only a small fraction (BOFU) ends up making the purchase of the product or service.

The AIDA model for completing the sales funnel

The AIDA model is the most widely used by companies because it divides the funnel into 4 well-defined steps:

Attention

This is the first stage, where the goal is to capture the attention of a large portion of the audience through basic, non-personalised sales funnel marketing content and communications.

Interest

At this step, the company should begin to forge a deeper relationship with potential customers by addressing their concerns, goals and problems and providing valuable information.

Desire

Users who reach this stage of the sales funnel have clearly convinced themselves that they have a problem requiring a solution, and are prepared to make a purchase to resolve it. At this point the company should subtly present its proposed solution.

Action

This is the final stage of the sales funnel — the moment at which potential customers decide whether or not to make the purchase. If the transaction does not take place, the value proposition has probably not been communicated effectively, or the potential customers need further nurturing (lead nurturing) to become qualified leads ready to buy.