The lead generation funnel is the process by which prospects discover your company, products, or services; build familiarity with your brand; and convert into a lead for your sales team. It consists of 5 stages:
- Discovery
- Interest
- Appraisal
- Confirmation
- Conversion
At each stage, you will lose some prospects as they lose interest in your company—whether due to changing circumstances, deciding to work with another company, or simply because your products or services weren’t the right fit for them in the first place. This is what leads to the funnel’s shape—and thus its name—as represented in the image below:
The first two stages of the funnel, discovery and interest, are referred to as top-of-funnel. During these stages, your job is to create an initial positive impression with prospects. The next stages, appraisal and confirmation, are mid-funnel, and it’s during these stages that a prospect will dig more deeply into your company to assess whether or not you can truly solve their pain points. The final stage, conversion, is bottom-funnel, and is where a prospect decides to actually reach out to your sales team. We’ll discuss each stage in more detail below.
Stage 1: Discovery
Discovery refers to the moment your target audience first comes across your company or brand. The discovery stage happens in different ways depending on your choice in marketing channels. They might first find your company through an advertisement, trade show, or a Google search.
Increasing the number of prospects is best done by investing in multiple channels, thereby increasing the number of potential touchpoints. This approach is especially effective when combined with a modular content strategy, in which original long-form content is broken down and re-segmented across various channels. For example, a business taking this approach would use:
- SEO as the primary channel, using a project-based campaign strategy to more quickly gain traction on Google
- Social Media as a low cost secondary channel that repurposes content developed for SEO material
- SEM/PPC to generate short term leads until SEO and social media developed enough to bring in enough leads to support the business
To further optimize the discovery stage, your team should also narrowly target your marketing to focus only on those prospects who are most likely to buy your product. This increases the number that will ultimately make it to the next stage: Interest.
Stage 2: Interest
The interest stage is marked by the prospect beginning to decide whether or not your product is applicable to their needs. This stage tends to take place on your website’s landing pages and blog articles, making content marketing the best way to connect with interest-stage prospects.
At this stage, prospects are not yet ready to be sold to so more neutral-appearing, informational content is more likely to resonate with them. And because prospects are only beginning to learn about your company, skimmability is paramount for maintaining interest. Examples of content that are particularly effective at the interest stage are:
- Solution-oriented articles that quickly and directly answers the reader’s question before providing a deep-dive into the topic
- Skimmable landing pages featuring high quality images and skimmable elements like charts, tables, and graphs
Content should also include clear and actionable next steps that helps push prospects further down the lead generation funnel, or convert immediately should they decide to skip the remainder of the funnel. For example, someone who clicked on to an article to find out whether an eCommerce platform can integrate with their current website needs the following:
Lead Generation Funnel: Interest Stage Content Needs
| Need | Example |
| An immediate response to their needs | An article introduction stating “Our ecommerce platform can integrate with most website builders” |
| Skimmable, information-rich elements | A table detailing website builders that the ecommerce platform is natively compatible with, and which require additional plugins |
| A CTA that pushes prospects further down the funnel | A CTA that links the reader to case studies and client testimonials, as well as a product demo page |
Remember that most prospects are not yet ready for an immediate purchase at this stage, and most will look to external resources to learn more about your product in the Appraisal stage.
Stage 3: Appraisal
At the appraisal stage, prospects are now actively attempting to evaluate your product against your competitors. At this point, they have determined that they are going to purchase something along the lines of your product, but they aren’t yet sure if your product is the one they wish to commit to.
Much of the the appraisal stage takes place on external websites as prospects conduct independent research about your company on platforms like LinkedIn and Glassdoor, or discussion forums like Reddit or Quora. Industry reputation especially important, making PR and reputation management important tools at this stage of the lead generation funnel.
More in-depth thought leadership content can also be effective for the appraisal stage. Reports, in-depth guides, and webinars can all help to establish your expertise. Once a prospect has sufficiently researched your company, they’ll move onto the fourth stage: Confirmation.
Stage 4: Confirmation
By the time the lead gets to the confirmation stage, they are now seriously considering your product and are looking for that last final push. Sometimes, this can be a missing piece of information. Sometimes, it’s a process of justifying a cost issue. Whatever the case, it is your job at this stage to
- Provide the reader with the information they are looking for
- Provide them with easy access to the final conversion pages
Because leads at this stage are more ready to buy than in previous stages, content targeting it can be much more sales-oriented. What type of content you use should directly one of several concerns that a prospective lead is likely to have at this stage, such as:
Confirmation Stage Content Types
| Page Type | Best For Concerns About… | |
| White Paper | Brand Expertise | Industry Reputation |
| Technical Knowledge | Future-Proofing | |
| Case Study | Provided Resources | Customer Service |
| Typical WorkFlow | Social Proof | |
| Product/Services Page | Pricing | Product Specs |
| Usability | Integration | |
Having comprehensive FAQs provide a good catch-all option for companies to cover multiple bases at once. Having your FAQ page linked in all the materials below can also provide an excellent go-between from your content to your conversion pages.
Stage 5: Conversion
Once the lead has made the decision to make their purchase, the most important thing to do is streamline their path to your contact/checkout page. You can make conversion as easy as possible by:
- Clearly highlighting the contact button at the top and bottom of website pages
- Provide multiple, unobtrusive CTAs on every page
- Including an abridged contact form in the sidebar of blog content
- Keeping contact form-fill fields as few as possible
Once prospects have filled out a contact form, they’re ready for your sales team to reach out.
Implementing Your Lead Generation Funnel
Although there is a great deal of theory involved in developing a working lead generation funnel, the practical aspects of bringing it to life make it all the more complicated. Assuming you have an in-house team available, it’s important to remember that even experienced marketers often struggle with the nuances of funnel development and content creation, so it’s important to expect setbacks as you iterate and adjust.
Another option is to have an expert team handle the heavy lifting for you. Our agency specializes in combining thought leadership content marketing with SEO to generate organic leads for B2B and B2C clients. Reach out to us here if you’d like to learn more about our services.
