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What is a marketing funnel?

5 minutes, 9 steps, workout 1 of 6 in this module

What you'll be able to do

By the end of this workout, you'll know the 4 stages of the marketing funnel and be able to look at real numbers and spot the stage where customers are getting lost.

A first look: Warm-up: Nobody buys at first sight

The first time you see a brand, you don't reach for your wallet. First you notice it. Then you get curious and take a look. You compare. Maybe you buy. If you like it, you come back. A marketing funnel is a map of that journey. It's wide at the top, because lots of people see you. It gets narrower as it goes down, because some people drop off at every step. That loss is normal. Your job is to find the spot where the loss is bigger than it should be.

Example: 10,000 people see Corner Coffee's Instagram ad. 300 check out the profile, 60 come in and buy a coffee, and 20 come back the next week. That's a funnel.

What this workout covers

  1. 1Warm-up: Nobody buys at first sight
  2. 24 stages, 4 questions
  3. 3Find the leak: the rate from stage to stage
  4. 4Case: Northpack's leaky bucket
  5. 5Set complete: The funnel is a diagnostic tool

A question from this workout: Northpack's leaky bucket

Northpack ran Instagram ads for 2 weeks for its new laptop backpack. The ad got attention, but sales are low. Daniel, the founder, says, “Let's double the budget.” You look at the numbers first.

Saw the ad
80,000
Clicked and visited the site
2,400 (3% of those who saw it)
Added to cart
720 (30% of visitors)
Bought
14 (1.9% of those who added to cart)
Cart to purchase at similar stores
About 25-35%

What do you tell Daniel? What do you change first?

  1. Check the checkout step and find what makes people quit at the last moment, like surprise shipping fees, forced account sign-up, or too few payment options
  2. Double the budget. More visitors means more sales
  3. Refresh the ad creative. People might not have liked the ad
  4. Change the target audience. The wrong people are coming to the site

Pick your answer first, then open the reasoning below.

Show the answer and the reasoning

Answer: A. Check the checkout step and find what makes people quit at the last moment, like surprise shipping fees, forced account sign-up, or too few payment options

The ad (3%) and the product page (30%) are working well. The bucket leaks after the cart: a rate that's 25-35% at similar stores is 1.9% here. Doubling the budget just sends 1,440 cart adders into the same hole. Fix the checkout step first. A shipping fee that only shows up at the last step is a common cause.

The other steps work the same way: you decide first, then see why each option is right or wrong.

How you practice here

  • 4 short concept cards
  • 2 multiple-choice questions
  • 1 campaign case with real-looking numbers
  • 1 put-in-order exercise
  • 1 matching exercise