Marketing Funnels and How They Work

[djbaxter]

How Marketing Funnels Work
KissMetrics.com
August 2015

If you?ve spent any time learning about marketing analytics, you?ve probably come across the term ?funnels.? If you?re curious about what they are and how they can help, this post is for you.

What Are Funnels?
You undoubtedly want visitors on your website to take certain actions. Maybe you want them to make a purchase, sign up, or fill out a form. When someone does something you want them to do, it?s known as a conversion. The visitor converts from browsing to taking the action you want them to take.

A funnel is the set of steps a visitor needs to go through before they can reach the conversion.

Think about the Amazon purchase funnel. There are a few steps a visitor has to go through before they can purchase a product. Here?s how it looks:

• They have to visit Amazon.com
• They have to view a product
• They have to add a product to the cart
• They have to purchase

Why is the set of steps to conversion called a ?funnel?? Because at the beginning of the process, there are a lot of people who take the first step. Then, as the people continue along and take the next steps, some of them drop out, and the size of the crowd thins or narrows. (And even further along in the process, your sales team gets involved to help close the deal.)

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