Goodbye Marketing Funnel
For the past years, the purchasing funnel guided prospects from awareness to conversion in a neat, predictable flow. With channel and platform proliferation – this concept doesn’t work any more.
So How Do We Drive Growth Now?
Modern consumer behaviour defies linear progression. Today's buyer journey resembles a complex network rather than a straight path:
Discovery on social media, research via reviews and YouTube
Price comparisons across multiple platforms
Cart abandonment followed by returns through different channels
Purchase decisions influenced by peer and influencer opinions
This fragmented, non-linear path challenges our fundamental assumptions about customer acquisition. The funnel assumed control we simply no longer have.
Two Critical Paradigm Shifts
Forward-thinking organisations are embracing two transformative approaches:
1. From Funnels to Influencer Maps
Not all touchpoints carry equal weight across the customer journey. However what has really changed is that each channel plays a role from awareness to conversion and repeat. The efficiency to which each channel contributes is also influenced by the content. Smart brands identify the right level of investment for each step of the journey by channel. They also learn which interactions influence conversion and loyalty most —then prioritise investment accordingly.
This means mapping moments of maximum impact across the customer journey. Product experience and satisfaction, customer service, and word-of-mouth remain powerful.
2. Reach AND Relationships
Reach remains important in the context of top-of-mind awareness of category buyers. To market successfully and make our marketing brand-building brands need to add the dimension of relationship quality—particularly with superusers who are brand enthusiasts:
Spend significantly more than new customers
Are more likely to repurchase
Have greater lifetime value
Generate more word-of-mouth referrals
Practical Implementation for Modern Brand-builders and Marketers
Leverage first-party data strategically—prioritise privacy while building deeper customer understanding.
Map the actual customer journey—research to understand real behavior patterns.
Adjust your measurement—consider reach, earned / efficiency of awareness, and customer lifetime value
Break down silos— align brand, performance, and customer experience teams behind unified action plans and goals
Build agile marketing capabilities—to respond quickly to changing consumer preferences.
The Path Forward
The question is no longer "how do we push more people through our funnel?" but rather "how do we create value that naturally draws people into our orbit and keeps them there?"
Would you like to discuss how this applies to your business?