Sheera Eby
Vice President,
Director Strategic
and Client Services

The Funnel has Changed

The traditional sales funnel has changed, but does it still exist? In my mind, the answer is a definite “yes.” People still go through steps before jumping into a buying decision. The process however, is so much more fragmented than it was before. Information can be accessed through so many different sources.

From this standpoint, search engine marketing is directly related to social media, and other parts of the upfront part of the “funnel.” It’s undeniable that the majority of people search and seek out information as a first step in their purchase process. In an ideal world, we like to look at all the places a prospect or customer will seek information, to create the most comprehensive touch point plan. The process however needs to strongly consider direct and indirect channels.

This includes consideration of paid and unpaid media, and all places a prospect will gather information during their initial process. Technology and analytics help us determine what all the appropriate sites are that need to be considered, however it generally takes more than one data source. Generally, we use a combination of web analytics, search engine analytics and our social media monitoring platform to create the comprehensive picture.

We recently worked with a client that focused on their paid search engine marketing efforts but didn’t consider their organic search or what other sites were influencing prospects opinions of them. We explained to this company that:

• In focusing only on paid search, they were ignoring their organic search, which meant that they were not maximizing the relationship the two have with each other (I will talk more about this relationship in a future post)
• That users consider multiple avenues in doing their research; therefore, it is essential to identify paid and non-paid outlets, including social media outlets
• Organic search has a high level of credibility and needs to be the touch point map design
• Content is king, and therefore educational and thought leadership content will help complete the circle and deliver a vehicle to drive engagement leading to the next stage of the “funnel”
• Even though their brand isn’t always the focal point of discussion, their category does have some discussion that could be influenced

Using our social media monitoring platform and search engine data we were quickly able to identify the sites that have the greatest traction and areas of opportunity. In designing the touch point map, it turns out only a handful of sites currently drove the majority of the traffic, which in turn drove the focus of our plan. Even where the breadth is greater, we are able to easily isolate which sites have the greatest presence, priority and require the greatest investment. A great example of how combining analytics and behavior helped deliver a streamlined and effective contact strategy and plan.

More to come on analytics, the changing funnel and information harnessing in future blogs. I would love to hear your thoughts so please feel free to comment below.