A marketing funnel maps your customer’s path from discovery to purchase. This article breaks down the three core stages (awareness, consideration, conversion), provides targeting strategies for each level, and shares actionable tactics to optimize your funnel performance in 2025. Whether you’re running a B2B service or e-commerce store, you’ll learn how to build a funnel that consistently generates qualified leads and sales.
Understanding the Marketing Funnel in Modern Strategy
What a Marketing Funnel Really Means in 2025
Let’s be honest, most businesses are doing funnels all wrong in 2025. They’re still stuck in the outdated ’build it and they will come’ mentality, but in reality, today’s marketing funnel strategy requires multiple entry points that meet customers where they are. I’ve watched countless clients struggle with this concept. Just last month, I worked with a course creator who was spending thousands on ads but couldn’t figure out why his conversion rate was stuck at 0.8%. It turns out he was sending cold traffic straight to his sales page—a classic funnel mistake that ignores how real people actually make buying decisions.
According to a 2024 study by McKinsey, consumers now interact with brands across an average of 6 different channels before purchasing, up from 4 channels in 2020. This means your funnel needs to be omnipresent and consistent, not just a linear path.
A modern marketing funnel acknowledges that customers will enter, exit, and re-enter your ecosystem multiple times before converting. Your job is to create touchpoints that capture attention, build trust, and make the eventual purchase feel like the natural next step—not a high-pressure decision.
Need help building or fixing your funnel? Our sales funnel service helps you consistently turn traffic into qualified leads.
Funnel vs. Sales Funnel: Aligning Marketing and Sales Teams
"But wait, isn’t a marketing funnel just a sales funnel?" Not exactly, and the distinction matters.
A marketing funnel focuses on moving prospects from awareness to interest to consideration. A sales funnel picks up where marketing leaves off, converting that interest into specific product evaluation, purchase decisions, and post-purchase relationships.
The problem? Most companies have these two systems completely disconnected. Marketing celebrates getting 1,000 new leads, while sales complain that none are qualified.Sound familiar?
I’ve seen this firsthand while consulting with a SaaS company last year. Their marketing team was getting fantastic lead generation numbers, but only 3% of those leads were converting into demos. After digging deeper, we discovered that marketing was targeting broad interest-based audiences, while sales needed industry-specific decision-makers with budget authority.
When we realigned their funnel to pass along only qualified leads that met specific engagement thresholds (downloaded two resources, visited the pricing page, etc.), their demo conversion rate jumped to 18% within 60 days.
Why Marketing Funnels Are Critical for B2B and B2C Growth
Whether you’re selling a $20,000 consulting package or a $20 t-shirt, proper funnel strategy is non-negotiable for sustainable growth.
For B2B companies, the buying cycle is complex and often involves multiple stakeholders. Your funnel needs to educate, build consensus, and overcome objections at every stage. According to Gartner, the typical B2B buying journey involves 6-10 decision-makers, each consuming 5-8 pieces of content. That’s potentially 80 touch points before a purchase!
For B2C brands, especially in the ecommerce funnel space, you’re fighting against endless distractions and alternatives. Your funnel needs to create an emotional connection and urgency while reducing friction.
I implemented a simple three-stage funnel for a boutique skincare brand last year, focusing on education first (skin issues), then product differentiation (unique ingredients), and finally conversion (limited batch offers). The result? Their cost per acquisition dropped 42% while order value increased by 28%.
The 3 Core Stages of the Marketing Funnel (TOFU, MOFU, BOFU)
Top of the Funnel (TOFU) – Awareness & Reach
The top of your funnel is where you cast the widest net, introducing your brand to potential customers who may not even know they have a problem you can solve.
Objectives: Generate brand awareness, attract prospective customers, and begin positioning yourself as a potential solution.
Tactics: Content marketing (blogs, videos, podcasts), SEO optimization, paid social media advertising, PR mentions.
I’ve found that the most successful TOFU content answers questions your audience is already asking. When I helped a real estate technology company with their funnel strategy, we created a series of YouTube videos addressing common home selling mistakes. These videos weren’t sales pitches—they were genuinely helpful resources that positioned the brand as knowledgeable guides.
Metrics to track: Reach, impressions, website traffic, new users, SEO rankings, and content engagement.
The key is casting a wide enough net without wasting resources on completely unqualified prospects. A good TOFU strategy brings in visibility without breaking the bank on your digital marketing sales funnel.
Middle of the Funnel (MOFU) – Consideration & Nurturing
This is where the magic happens—turning casual browsers into genuinely interested prospects. Too many businesses neglect this critical stage, jumping straight from awareness to asking for the sale.
Objectives: Educate prospects, qualify leads, build trust and credibility, and begin addressing specific pain points.
Tactics: Email nurture sequences, webinars, case studies, comparison guides, retargeting ads, and more in-depth content.
One of my favorite MOFU tactics is what I call the "micro-commitment sequence." For a coaching client, we created a 5-day email challenge that required small daily actions. By the end, participants had invested time and energy with the brand, dramatically increasing their likelihood to convert in the next stage.
Metrics: Email engagement rates, lead magnet downloads, webinar attendance, retargeting click-through rates, and time on site.
At this stage, your funnel emails should focus less on selling and more on building the relationship. According to Campaign Monitor, nurture emails get 4-10 times the response rate of standalone email blasts. That’s because you’re meeting prospects where they are in their journey, not where you want them to be.
Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU) – Conversion & Purchase
The bottom of the funnel is where prospects become customers—but only if you’ve done the work in the previous stages.
Objectives: Convert qualified leads into paying customers, overcome final objections, create buying momentum.
Tactics: Product demos, free trials, consultation calls, detailed pricing pages, limited-time offers, testimonials, and guarantees.
Metrics: Conversion rate, cost per acquisition, sales qualified leads, trial-to-paid conversion, and average order value.
One of my clients, a membership site owner, was struggling with BOFU conversion despite strong top- and middle-funnel engagement. After analyzing their funnel tracking data, we discovered that prospects were stuck on pricing objections.
We created a simple ROI calculator and added specific social proof from members in similar industries, resulting in a 34% increase in checkout completions within 30 days. Sometimes small tweaks at the bottom of the funnel can produce massive results.
Targeting Strategies for Each Stage of the Marketing Funnel
Stage-Based Audience Segmentation & Targeting
The biggest mistake I see in funnel strategy is treating all prospects the same way. Different funnel stages require different messaging, offers, and targeting parameters.
For a Shopify sales funnel I recently optimized, we created distinct customer segments based on their behavior:
- TOFU: Broad interest-based targeting (skincare enthusiasts, clean beauty followers)
- MOFU: Behavior-based segmentation (visited product pages 2+ times, added to cart)
- BOFU: High-intent actions (abandoned checkout, pricing page visitors, comparison shoppers)
This segmentation allowed us to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time—the holy grail of funnel marketing.
According to research from Salesforce, segmented campaigns drive a 760% increase in revenue compared to one-size-fits-all approaches. I’ve gotta say, I’ve seen this play out consistently across industries.
TOFU Targeting Tactics
Use content to build awareness (blogs, podcasts, short-form videos)
Content is your best friend at the top of the funnel. Call me bold, but I firmly believe in giving away your best top-funnel content for free. This builds major trust early on. When we created a comprehensive guide on "7 Agency Growth Strategies" for a marketing firm client, some team members worried we were giving away too much. But that guide generated over 400 qualified leads in the first month alone.
The key is creating genuinely helpful content while subtly positioning your solution. Don’t make the rookie mistake of creating thinly-veiled sales pitches disguised as content—today’s consumers see right through that.
Paid acquisition to drive top-funnel traffic (YouTube Ads, Google Display)
Organic content takes time to gain traction. To accelerate your funnel, strategic paid acquisition at the top of funnel can work wonders—if done right.
For top-of-funnel paid campaigns, focus on engagement and awareness metrics, not immediate conversions. I’ve had success with video view campaigns on YouTube and Facebook that introduce the brand story and core problem you solve, followed by retargeting to viewers who watched at least 50% of the video.
This approach typically results in a 30-40% lower cost per qualified lead compared to direct-response ads to cold traffic.
MOFU Targeting Tactics
Use email campaigns to nurture interest
Once someone enters your funnel, email becomes your most powerful tool for moving them to the next stage. But please, don’t just send generic newsletters and wonder why no one’s buying.
Instead, create behavior-based nurture sequences. When someone downloads your lead magnet about "Facebook Ad Strategies," follow up with case studies, common mistakes, and specific examples related to Facebook ads, not your general content about SEO or email marketing.
I recently helped a client implement this approach using segmented funnel emails, and their email-attributed revenue increased by 62% in just 60 days.
Offer comparison content, webinars, and case studies
Middle-of-funnel prospects are actively evaluating solutions, including your competitors. Don’t ignore this reality—address it directly with comparison content.
For a SaaS client, we created "Alternative to [Competitor]" pages that honestly presented the pros and cons of each solution. Instead of just claiming superiority, we highlighted specific use cases where our solution excelled and even acknowledged areas where competitors might be a better fit for certain users.
This transparent approach actually increased qualified demo requests by 28% because it built trust and pre-qualified prospects who were the best fit.
BOFU Targeting Tactics
Target hot leads with limited offers, demos, and sales reps
Bottom-of-funnel prospects need a reason to act now rather than continuing to research or waiting for "someday." This is where appropriate urgency and scarcity come into play.
For a coaching client, we implemented a "Strategy Session" application funnel with limited weekly availability. This wasn’t fake scarcity—the coach genuinely had limited time for these calls. By communicating this limitation and showing the calendar filling up, we created natural urgency that increased application completion rates by 42%.
Use CRM and automation to trigger action
Smart funnel software can identify when prospects are ready to convert and trigger the right outreach at the right moment.
I worked with a B2B client to set up automated triggers when prospects visited their pricing page twice in a week, downloaded a case study, and spent more than 4 minutes on the features comparison. This behavior pattern indicated high purchase intent, so we triggered a personalized outreach from a sales rep.
The result? 68% of these automated outreaches resulted in a discovery call booking, compared to just 12% from their standard lead follow-up process.
Full-Funnel Marketing Strategy: Building & Managing the Funnel
Mapping the Entire Customer Journey to Funnel Stages
A truly effective funnel isn’t a collection of random tactics—it’s a strategic mapping of your customer’s actual journey from problem awareness to solution implementation.
Last year, I worked with a B2B software company that was generating plenty of leads but struggling with conversion rates. We conducted customer interviews asking successful customers, "What was your journey to finding and choosing us?"
What we discovered transformed their funnel. Most customers had a 3-month research process involving multiple stakeholders before ever contacting sales. By mapping this journey and creating content specifically for each stage (including internal champion enablement materials), we increased their deal closure rate by 22%.
Using attribution data from funnel tracking tools can help identify these paths. Don’t just look at last-click attribution; examine the entire path to purchase to understand how customers really move through your funnel.
Aligning Marketing & Sales for Funnel Success
This is probably the most underappreciated aspect of funnel optimization—getting marketing and sales teams on the same page.
I’ve seen too many organizations where marketing celebrates high lead volume while sales complains about lead quality. The solution? Shared definitions and KPIs.
For one client, we implemented a lead scoring system where marketing was measured not just on lead quantity but on qualified leads that met specific criteria. Sales, meanwhile, committed to following up with these qualified leads within 4 hours and providing feedback on lead quality.
The result was a much healthier funnel with 36% fewer total leads but a 58% higher conversion rate—generating more customers with less wasted effort.
Integrating Automation and Funnel Tools
Let’s be real—managing a sophisticated marketing funnel manually is nearly impossible in 2025. The right stack of funnel software tools can make all the difference.
For most of my clients, I recommend a core stack including:
- CRM system (customer relationship management)
- Email marketing platform with automation capabilities
- Landing page and form builder
- Advertising platforms with retargeting capabilities
- Analytics and attribution tools
The key is making sure these systems talk to each other. When someone downloads a lead magnet, that information should automatically flow to your CRM, trigger the right email sequence, and update their lead score.
I recently helped a client connect disparate marketing tools, and the improved data flow alone increased their conversion rate by 18%—simply because leads weren’t falling through the cracks anymore.
Metrics That Matter: Measuring Funnel Performance
Key Marketing Funnel Metrics by Stage
Different funnel stages require different success metrics. Here’s what I recommend tracking:
TOFU Metrics:
- Traffic volume and sources
- Content engagement (time on page, shares)
- New visitor to returning visitor ratio
- Top entry pages
- Ad click-through rates
MOFU Metrics:
- Email open and click rates
- Lead magnet conversion rates
- Marketing qualified leads (MQLs)
- Webinar/event registration and attendance
- Blog-to-subscription conversion rate
BOFU Metrics:
- Sales qualified leads (SQLs)
- Demo/consultation show-up rate
- Proposal/quote request rate
- Cart abandonment rate
- Conversion rate by traffic source
- Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
According to a Gartner study, companies that measure performance at each funnel stage see 23% higher conversion rates than those that only track bottom-line results.
Funnel Drop-Off Analysis
Every funnel has leaks—points where prospects exit without moving to the next stage. Identifying and fixing these leaks often produces better results than trying to pour more traffic into the top.
I helped an e-commerce client analyze their funnel drop-offs using heat mapping and session recordings. We discovered that 42% of users abandoned their carts when they saw the shipping costs on the checkout page.
By testing a "free shipping over $50" offer (which actually increased their average order value) and making shipping costs visible earlier in the process, we reduced cart abandonment by 28%.
Regular funnel audit sessions focusing specifically on where and why people exit your funnel can reveal these critical optimization opportunities.
Optimization Techniques for Each Funnel Layer
The beauty of a well-instrumented funnel is that you can continuously improve each stage:
TOFU Optimization:
- Test different content formats and topics
- Experiment with ad creative and targeting
- Optimize landing pages for search intent
MOFU Optimization:
- A/B test email subject lines and content
- Try different lead magnet types
- Experiment with webinar formats and timing
BOFU Optimization:
- Test pricing presentations
- Experiment with different calls-to-action
- Try adding or removing steps in the checkout process
One technique I’ve found particularly effective is the "one change, one stage" approach. Rather than overhauling your entire funnel at once, make a single meaningful change to one stage, measure the impact, and then move on to the next optimization.
This methodical approach prevents the "we changed everything and now don’t know what worked" problem I see with many marketing teams.
Real-World Examples of Marketing Funnels That Work
B2C Funnel Example – E-commerce Brand Awareness to Purchase
Looking at successful sales funnel examples can provide inspiration for your own strategy. Let me walk you through a real funnel we built for a direct-to-consumer skincare brand:
TOFU: Educational content about skin concerns ("5 Reasons Your Skin Is Breaking Out After 30") distributed via Instagram and TikTok, driving traffic to blog content.
MOFU: Free skin analysis quiz that provided personalized recommendations and captured email addresses, followed by a nurture sequence with skin education and subtle product mentions.
BOFU: Limited-time offers on personalized starter kits, with abandoned cart sequences and social proof from similar skin types.
This funnel reduced their customer acquisition cost by 38% while increasing average order value by 22% compared to their previous direct-to-sale approach.
B2B Funnel Example – Lead Magnet to Demo Conversion
For a B2B software company selling marketing automation tools:
TOFU: Research report on "State of Marketing Automation 2025" promoted via LinkedIn ads and industry partnerships.
MOFU: Webinar on "5 Automation Workflows That Saved Our Clients 10+ Hours Per Week" requiring registration, followed by a case study delivered via email.
BOFU: Free "Automation Readiness Assessment" that scored their current processes and recommended next steps, with high scorers invited to request a personalized demo.
This funnel generated 412 qualified demo requests in Q1 2025, with a 28% demo-to-sale conversion rate—more than double their previous results.
Service-Based Funnel Example – Local SEO to Booking
For a local service business (home renovation contractor):
TOFU: Locally targeted blog content ("Denver’s Permit Process for Home Renovations") and before/after project highlights on social media.
MOFU: Free home renovation cost calculator and "Renovation Planning Guide" PDF in exchange for email address.
BOFU: Book a "Virtual consultation" directly from the email sequence, with social proof from similar projects in their neighborhood.
This funnel filled their consultation calendar for three months straight and allowed them to be more selective with which projects they took on, increasing their average project value by 40%.
Final Thoughts: Improve Your Marketing Funnel Strategy
Building an effective marketing funnel isn’t a one-and-done project—it’s an ongoing process of refinement based on real customer behavior and changing market conditions.
The most successful funnels I’ve helped build share three common elements:
- They’re built around the customer’s actual journey, not an idealized path
- They provide genuine value at every stage, not just during the sale
- They’re constantly measured, tested, and improved based on data
As we move deeper into 2025, the fundamentals of good funnel strategy remain consistent even as the channels and technologies evolve. Focus on solving real customer problems, building genuine trust, and making the next step obvious at every stage of the journey.
Remember that your funnel is ultimately about people, not processes. Every click, open, and conversion reflects a real person weighing whether your solution is the right fit.
Ready to take your marketing funnel to the next level? Our team at Brook Hiddink specializes in creating sales funnel services that generate consistent leads and sales. Whether you need help fixing a leaky funnel or building a new customer acquisition system from scratch, we’re here to help.
Want to see real results from our work? Check out our course reviews to hear directly from clients who have transformed their businesses with our funnel strategies.
Book a free funnel strategy call today and discover how we can help you build a marketing funnel that consistently converts.