Measuring Success Across the Marketing Funnel
Defining Goals and Measuring Success in Digital Campaigns
For each business, company, or organization, the goals may vary. Some may seek sales and leads, while others might focus on brand awareness campaigns to increase visibility. Since each member of the target audience is at a different stage of the marketing funnel, the marketing process must be tailored to accommodate all potential scenarios arising from that funnel.
It is important to recognize that expecting a first-time visitor to your website to convert is unrealistic. Data indicates that over 90% of first-time visitors leave a site without making any conversions. The more we can extend our marketing efforts across relevant sources to our target audience, the greater the likelihood that they will encounter us repeatedly, ultimately leading to a conversion decision.
The marketing funnel is indeed a valuable tool for understanding and guiding the customer journey. Your description of the awareness stage aligns well with current marketing practices. Here’s a refined overview of the awareness stage based on the latest information:
The awareness stage, also known as the top of the funnel (TOFU), is the initial phase where potential customers first encounter your brand, product, or service. This stage can vary in duration, depending on how quickly users are exposed to your brand. It’s typically characterized by:
Limited knowledge of your brand or offerings
Users searching for information related to their problems or needs
Potential customers not yet ready to make a purchase decision
Openness to learning about potential solutions
Marketing strategies for the awareness stage focus on introducing your brand and providing valuable information rather than aggressive sales tactics. Some effective approaches include:
Content marketing and SEO strategies that educate potential customers about concepts related to your product or service
Creating landing pages or infographics that introduce your brand
Paid advertising on platforms like Google or Facebook, targeting relevant audiences
Sponsored content on recommendation platforms like Taboola or Outbrain
Video content that addresses user pain points or introduces your brand
Conversions at this stage are often “micro-conversions” designed to initiate engagement. These might include:
Clicking “Learn More” buttons
Watching informational videos
Signing up for newsletters
Downloading educational content
These micro-conversions allow you to “paint” or tag users for further nurturing as they progress through the funnel. By focusing on providing value and building brand awareness at this stage, you lay the foundation for moving prospects to the consideration and conversion stages of their journey
The interest stage (Interest) is usually the longest stage in any marketing funnel; weeks and even months. For example, think about someone planning a vacation abroad – how long will it take them to compare between sites, get quotes, and finally choose a provider that met their needs for a trip that will take place in 3 months.
This is usually a stage of nurturing users who made a Micro-Conversion in the previous stage and “cooking” them until they are ready to perform the conversion. The more the user has been exposed to our message or brand in the past, the shorter this stage will be – and vice versa. This is the stage where we invest in content to create a relationship with the user, alongside a combination of soft marketing messages that persuade in a gentle way.
The target audience is mainly composed of visitors to the website or physical business, followers on social media, newsletter subscribers, and so on. If the user is looking for a solution to a problem, we must present to them the product or service as the best solution. We need to understand the pain points and pleasures of the target audience at this stage in order to make the random user ripen to conversion.
The conversions relevant to this stage will be in the format of “Sign up” or any other action that will allow us to collect more information. We can also create segmentation based on the fact that the user visited the product page, a fact that indicates a certain willingness to purchase.
The last stage in the marketing funnel is the action (Action) that the user takes, after ripening from a random surfer to a high-probability potential customer. At this stage, we will offer him comprehensive information about the product or service in which he has already expressed interest; case studies and successes we have had around the product or service (for example: over 80% weight loss in our method within 60 days); recommendations and testimonials from satisfied customers, and more.
The conversions relevant to the action stage will be lead generation (lead) or purchase on the website. Here we are no longer talking about Micro Conversions, but about the main conversions on which we will want to focus: leads and online sales.
Implementing Conversion Tracking in Practice
Before we get started, a general note: marketing funnels come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and sometimes with more stages than the three basic ones mentioned here. For example, the funnel known as AIDA includes four rather than three stages – Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. Alternatively, there are also funnels with five or more stages.
After we have determined what the website and campaign goals are, we will define the relevant conversions for tracking accordingly. For example, not every business wants or can invest in a newsletter, so of course that Micro Conversion is not relevant. In general, it can be said that most businesses and companies will want to track the two most important and important conversions – leads and online sales (depending on the asset at their disposal).
All that remains is to implement conversion tracking in a technical way, such as: Google Ads tracking codes, Facebook Ads, conversions in Google Analytics, and so on. The required codes must be embedded in the relevant assets and a functionality check must be performed. With regard to measuring online purchases, it is important to ensure on a continuous basis that the data displayed in the analytics tool is consistent with the existing version of reality in the business.
Before we finish
It should be remembered that a long-term marketing funnel does not always exist. Sometimes there are situations in which the funnel is significantly shortened, such as impulsive purchases, word-of-mouth recommendations, significantly lower prices, etc. Also, it should be remembered that the conversions attributed to the standard marketing funnel are almost always true for new customers.
What happens with customers who have already purchased from us? Existing customers are in a different type of marketing funnel, and it is easier to get them to purchase than to acquire new customers. It is also worth remembering their existence, and not to focus solely on acquiring existing customers only.
Conclusion
Conversion tracking is an important tool that can help you improve the effectiveness of your digital campaigns.
By following the steps outlined above, you can implement conversion tracking in your assets and analyze the data in an effective way.
