Journey maps and marketing funnels
- sushrutha d
- Sep 22, 2024
- 4 min read
Customer journey: The path customers take from learning about a product, to getting questions answered, to making a purchase
Customer journey map: A visualization of the touchpoints a typical customer encounters along their purchase journey
Before a purchase happens, each interaction with a brand during a customer journey is called a touchpoint. Touchpoints should also be customer-centric. A map drawn connecting all the touchpoints is considered as customer journey map.
Journey maps aren't about predicting the future. They help you understand how and why customers are interacting with your business. When you know how customers are finding you, how they're learning about you, and what problems they want to solve, you can work to make their experiences better.
A simple and generalized funnel design with four stages:
Awareness
Consideration
Conversion
Loyalty
ToFU is an acronym for Top of Funnel. There’s also MoFU and BoFU which stand for Middle of Funnel and Bottom of Funnel, respectively. When using any funnel, the aim is to get the most desirable outcomes for ToFU, MoFU, and BoFU.
Sales funnel
Awareness (ToFU): The customer has a general awareness of your brand, product, or service.
Interest (MoFU): Your brand, product, or service comes up as a top choice when the customer researches, comparison shops, or thinks about options.
Decision (MoFU): The customer chooses your brand, product, or service over your competitor’s.
Action (BoFU): The customer purchases your brand, product, or service.
Combined sales and marketing funnel
Awareness (ToFU): The customer has a general awareness of your brand, product, or service.
Interest (MoFU): Your brand, product, or service comes up as a top choice when the customer researches, comparison shops, or thinks about options.
Desire (MoFU): The customer has motivation or an incentive to purchase your brand, product, or service.
Action (BoFU): The customer purchases your brand, product, or service for the first time.
Conversion (BoFU): The customer makes regular purchases and a customer relationship is established.
Digital marketing funnel
Note that the Remarketing stage of the funnel is only for customers who engaged with your brand, product, or service at least once before and didn’t previously convert. New customers can proceed directly from the Consideration stage to the Conversion stage.
Awareness and engagement (ToFU): The customer has a general awareness of your brand, product, or service, and engages in online activity to learn more.
Consideration (MoFU): Your brand, product, or service comes up as a top choice after the customer has engaged.
Remarketing (MoFU): The customer who didn’t convert is re-engaged to consider your brand, product, or service again.
Conversion (BoFU): The customer purchases your brand, product, or service for the first time.
Retention (BoFU): The customer makes regular purchases and a customer relationship is established.
E-commerce marketing funnel
To focus on attracting and retaining customers:
Awareness: Build awareness of your e-commerce business.
Consideration: Build the brand.
Differentiation: Stand out in the business category.
Purchase: Reach shoppers most likely to purchase.
Brand readiness: Increase the potential for shoppers to make return purchases.
Social media marketing funnel
To turn a customer with brand awareness into a customer who is an advocate:
Awareness: Attract potential customers unaware of your brand, product, or service.
Consideration: Stand out among your competitors so potential customers have a good impression of your brand, product, or service.
Action: Convince potential customers to act and make a purchase.
Engagement: Keep customers engaged after they make a purchase so your brand, product, or service remains top-of-mind and in the spotlight.
Advocacy: Build trust with customers so they recommend your brand, product, or service to others.
Content marketing funnel
To help marketers organize and focus their content:
Awareness: Build web pages, blogs, social media posts, infographics, and podcasts.
Evaluation: Focus on surveys, email, webinars, and educational events.
Conversion: Provide customer success stories, webinars, specifications, and demos.
Ex: MERSEA brand
Awareness
For the awareness stage, MERSEA uses online ads including Google Ads and Facebook Ads.
There are several types of Google Ads MERSEA uses. For example, the company uses Search ads for brand name and product searches. It also uses Shopping ads for specific types of products, such as “kimono sweater.” For the Facebook Ads, MERSEA advertises to potential customers from lifestyle-based targeting.
Both of these ads help get the MERSEA brand and products in front of those searching and interested in their type of products.
Consideration
During the consideration marketing funnel stage, MERSEA continues to apply online advertising, and also uses social media marketing and email marketing.
For online advertising, a marketing strategy MERSEA uses is delivering ads to people who previously visited their website. This is called remarketing. After the customer visits the website, they then receive ads specifically for the products they viewed. This type of advertising is in the consideration stage because the remarketing ads build interest in the potential customer.
For social media marketing and email marketing, MERSEA tells stories about products and introduces potential customers to the brand.
Conversion
MERSEA is continually working to improve the conversion stage of its marketing funnel. One strategy it uses is following up with customers who have abandoned their carts. An abandoned cart is when a customer adds an item to their cart in an online store but does not make a purchase. If the customer enters their email during the checkout process, but doesn’t make a purchase, MERSEA automatically sends follow up emails reminding the customer about the product in their cart. This follow-up leads to an increase in the conversion rate.
Loyalty
During the loyalty stage, MERSEA turns its paying customers into repeat customers.
After making a purchase, the customer receives emails about additional and newly released products they may be interested in. These emails are typically sent twice a week: one during the week and another during the weekend.
In addition, one unique strategy MERSEA uses to build loyalty is through text messaging. It has success with sending text messages for order delivery confirmation and updates. When done well, this texting strategy creates a more personal relationship with customers.