End of the Sales Funnel

Consumer behaviour when considering a new purchase has often been likened to a funnel - with our initial considerations being broad ( the wide part of the funnel ) to then narrow as we discount brands and products until our final purchase. Marketing positions themselves at each of these decision points, hoping to influence our decisions and behaviours in favour of the brands they represent.

The assumption is once a brand has been discounted, it is no longer part of the evaluation phase - nor would brands who are not part of the evaluation be able to enter further along this funnel.


It's a journey

The funnel was based on the fact traditional marketing revolved around ' pushing ' messages to consumers ( through limited numbers of channels, TV, Print, Outdoor ) at each of these stages. Now consumers ' pull ' content to help assist with the decision making process, as they become more quantified in their need for data to compare and evaluate our options - the rise of price and feature comparison websites, user reviews and recommendation systems pays testimony to this.

Therefore the funnel is more likened to a journey, with brands and products being able to interrupt and join the consideration path at various points as consumers become better informed - in some instances entering at the last minute pushing other products which may have been ' contenders ' all along to the side (although brands in the initial consideration phase are three times more likely to be purchased than brands who are not).

Where to be

What is evident is it no longer acceptable for brands to focus on a limited number of touch points, the fragmentation of media and virtue in how we evaluate products has changed significantly over the recent years.

With these multiple touch points organisations must ensure that internally they are ' joined up '. Companies need ensure that both the product, marketing, sales and insight data are all leveraged to ensure consistency, quality and relevance of information and product - allowing consumers to 'take' relevant information to reach decisions for themselves.


source: mckinsey the consumer journey