Digital Marketing Funnel : Stages with Examples

The digital marketing funnel describes the customer journey. From the first step of learning about brand service to the final step of purchasing, there are many stages a customer goes through to make the decision. These major stages are brand awareness, consideration, conversion, and loyalty.

Focusing on each stage, businesses can optimize their strategy to ensure every lead becomes an actual customer. That’s why this funnel is considered one of the main pillars of digital marketing.

Online marketing funnels are one of the most powerful and fantastic strategies for businesses to increase their sales. Small to large organizations focus on these types of digital marketing to stay ahead of their competitors and establish their name broadly.

When a customer can buy anything from anywhere, a digital marketing funnel helps you to connect with potential customers. Once the customers become aware of your services, they look for the other products they need. When they get a better deal and feel satisfied after buying, it builds trust and encourages them to purchase from you again.

How digital marketing funnel stages help businesses attract more customers and encourage them to make final purchases, leading to business growth. Here, we have described all the stages of the online marketing funnel with examples to make you understand how they work and help businesses make a strong and loyal customer base.

Awareness is the first and one of the most important digital marketing funnel stages that a brand needs to understand. Because at this time, your audiences don’t know about you and your services.

So when you want your audiences to become aware of you, then you must understand that it is an initial step and they are not thinking of buying anything from you right now. That’s why your focus should be only to make them aware of your business.

Netflix is one of the popular OTT platforms and a great example of a digital marketing funnel. It uses social media widely to create excitement for upcoming shows.

Short summaries and clips attract people to watch, even before the release. On Instagram, they use IGTV videos, stories, and reels to engage their 33M+ followers, promoting new shows and creating a community feel.

They also use broad marketing like ads, billboards, and commercials to reach a large audience. Lastly, word-of-mouth plays a big role; friends often discuss Netflix shows when they chat. Online and offline, Netflix excels in spreading the word.

Consideration is the second stage of the online marketing funnel which allows you to move forward after awareness. At this time, your audiences know about you, like what you do and offer and audiences are willing to know more about you.

Right after that, you can start engaging your customers in the sales approach with their interests and needs that help you to be their top consideration. This approach of lead generation in digital marketing helps you connect and attract potential customers which aids you stay ahead of the competitors.

Once users know the brand, Netflix moves them to the next step. They understand that a subscription fee might make people unsure, so they address any worries first-time visitors might have. By being clear upfront, Netflix builds trust. The rest of the page highlights the features and benefits of using Netflix.

After guiding customers through the early stages, Netflix is ready to catch them when they are ready to subscribe, moving them from thinking to taking action.

A key online marketing funnel is a conversion that comes after your customer's consideration. It means now your customer is ready to buy. Customers know their pain point and they are looking for solutions, and you are one of them can solve their problems. At this time, marketing teams and sales teams play a pivotal role in converting leads into customers.

When users reach the third stage, Netflix keeps things simple, smooth, and secure. After signing up, they land on the billing page, where Netflix reassures them that there are no long-term commitments. Cancellations are easy, and they even send a reminder before the free trial ends. The entire process is hassle-free and builds trust from the start.

Have you got any new customers? If yes, then congratulations. Now it's time to make them happy. When you keep your old customers happy and value them, so they consider buying only from you.

To retain them, give quality and value services and offer discounts so they know that you care about their customers. This is one of the biggest benefits of digital marketing strategies for businesses to grow in the market.

Netflix builds loyalty by offering amazing content that grabs viewers' attention from the start. It highlights fans who support its shows on social media, which shows even more loyalty.

The entire sales process feels easy and natural, turning viewers into enthusiastic fans quickly. This is why Netflix earned an impressive $8.5 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2023.

After an example of Nexflix, you can understand that why funnel stages are the most powerful and effective digital marketing strategies. That’s why every business must focus on it to boost their sales and business growth.

When running a business, your main focus is brand awareness, generating leads, and staying competitive. A digital marketing funnel helps with all of this, from gaining new customers to keeping them. This article highlights all the essential information about the funnel and where you need to optimize your campaign and strategy.

If you are seeking a digital marketing service provider for a funnel strategy, we are here to help you. We offer digital marketing solutions for all your business requirements.