For years, marketers have relied on the sales funnel to map out the customer sales journey. It was a tool that seemed perfect for a time when consumer behavior was more straightforward. But here’s the thing: times have changed, and so have your customers. The traditional funnel might have been effective once, but today, it’s starting to show its age. If you’re still following it, you could be missing out on some big opportunities.
Let’s discover why the classic sales funnel is losing its credibility and why a modern customer-centric approach is more appropriate for driving growth.
What Is the Traditional Sales Funnel?
The traditional sales funnel is something most marketers have followed for years. It starts with a broad group of potential customers who go through stages that narrow down as they get closer to making a purchase. This funnel is divided into four stages:
- Awareness: This is where potential buyers first hear about your brand. They’re now aware of your products or services, but they’re still far from making a purchase.
- Interest: In this stage, customers start to show interest. They may look at your website or sign up for a newsletter but haven’t made any decisions yet.
- Desire (Consideration): At this point, the buyers weigh options, considering if your product fits their needs.
- Action (Purchase): Finally, the customers purchase your product or service. This is where the customers’ journey generally ends.
This model has been the go-to for mapping the consumer purchase funnel for years. It’s simple, linear, and seems to make sense on paper. However, while the funnel focuses on consumer acquisition, it fails at keeping those buyers around after the sale is done.
The Problem With the Classic Sales Funnel
Here’s where things get a little tricky. The traditional funnel implies that the journey is completed once a buyer has made a purchase. The customer is out of the funnel, and your focus shifts to attracting new leads. But today’s consumers expect a lot more than just a product or service; they expect continuous value.
This is the main drawback of the customer sales journey funnel. It treats consumers like one-time transactions rather than long-term relationships. Once they’ve passed through the stages, they’re left behind, and this often leads to them moving to a competitor who offers ongoing support or engagement.
In a world where consumers are more connected and have higher expectations, this approach doesn’t cut it anymore. Brands that follow the old buyers’ journey funnel often lose customers who feel undervalued after their purchase. This can lead to poor retention rates and less brand loyalty over time.
Changing Consumer Behavior Demands a New Approach
Today’s consumers are savvy and well-informed. With so much information at their fingertips, they no longer follow a predictable, straight-line path from awareness to purchase. Instead, they jump back and forth between stages. They may research your product, leave, compare with competitors, and return later.
The traditional funnel doesn’t account for this non-linear behavior. That’s why it’s become less effective in mapping out the customer journey marketing funnel. Customers expect brands to engage with them at every stage, even after they’ve made a purchase. This means your relationship with them doesn’t stop once they buy something; it only begins.
The digital world has shifted power into the hands of consumers. They have more choices higher expectations, and demand better service throughout their journey. This shift means brands need to rethink how they approach the customer funnel stages, ensuring they cater to the customer even after they’ve hit the “buy” button. It’s all about building loyalty and trust.
The Flywheel: A New Customer-Centric Approach
The marketing flywheel is a concept introduced by HubSpot. Unlike the traditional sales funnel, the flywheel doesn’t view customers as merely passing through stages and then moving on. Instead, it puts the customer at the heart of everything you do, focusing on retention as much as acquisition.
The flywheel breaks down into three key stages:
- Attract: This stage is about getting new people interested in your brand, like the top of a sales funnel.
- Engage: Once customers are interested, you have meaningful conversations with them, like sending personalized messages or helping them with questions.
- Delight: Even after they buy, you keep giving them value. You can follow up with support, share helpful resources, or offer special deals to keep your customers happy and connected to your brand.
The flywheel is different from the buyer’s journey funnel because it puts the customer at the centre and builds a strong relationship by encouraging them to come back for more.
The Key Difference: Continuous Customer Focus
- Customer Focus: The flywheel keeps customers involved. In the traditional funnel, when someone buys, they’re no longer important. But the flywheel always puts buyers first.
- Ongoing Engagement: With the flywheel, you keep meeting customer needs even after they buy. This helps keep them delighted and connected to your brand.
- Building Loyalty: By staying in touch, you can turn customers into loyal buyers. Unlike the traditional funnel, which treats customers as one-time buyers, the flywheel understands that buyers might return to check out more products.
- Continuous Cycle: This way of thinking creates a cycle that helps your business grow. Happy customers keep coming back and might tell their friends about you.
- Increasing Value: By building strong relationships with existing customers, you can make each customer worth more over time. In today’s market, it often costs less to keep consumers than to find new ones.
- Smart Approach: Focusing on customer relationships is not just smart; it’s necessary for long-term success.
How the Flywheel Works
When a customer makes their first purchase, the traditional customer sales journey funnel would end there. But with the flywheel, it’s just the start.
After they buy, you keep in touch by sending helpful guides, follow-up emails, or special offers. This is the “Delight” stage, where you make sure the customer is delighted and finds value in your brand.
This ongoing engagement can lead to repeat purchases or recommendations to others. Over time, they may even return to the “Awareness” stage to explore more products. This creates a cycle where happy customers keep coming back and attract new ones, helping your business grow.
The Impact on Your Business Growth
When you focus on making customers joyful after they buy, your business grows. Pleased customers become repeat buyers and share their positive experiences with others. This word-of-mouth method is one of the best marketing tools you can have.
This is where the flywheel really shines in the debate on the marketing funnel vs. customer journey. The more satisfied your buyers are, the faster the flywheel spins. This boosts your sales and improves your brand’s reputation.
Attract Stage: Bring In the Right Audience
The first step in the flywheel is the Attract stage, where you bring new leads into your business. Instead of casting a wide net like an old customer journey marketing funnel, you want to attract the right audience. Create content and messaging that speaks directly to those who benefit from your product or service.
This stage includes SEO-optimized content and social media strategies to drive traffic to your website. By attracting quality leads, you increase your chances of moving them through the next stages, leading to higher conversion rates and greater long-term satisfaction.
Engage Stage: Create Meaningful Interactions
After you attract the right audience, the next step in the flywheel is to engage. This stage is all about making real connections with potential customers. Unlike the customer funnel stages that push leads through a strict process, the flywheel takes a more flexible and personal approach.
Your goal is to build relationships, not just make sales. You can do this by offering personalized content, answering questions, or providing helpful resources. Use email marketing, live chat support, or tailored recommendations to show you care about their needs. These ongoing interactions help build trust and loyalty over time.
Delight Stage: Build Long-Term Satisfaction
The final stage of the flywheel is delight, and this is where the real magic happens. Many businesses focus on attracting and engaging customers but often have trouble keeping them satisfied after they buy. The flywheel makes sure delighting customers is just as important as making a sale.
In this stage, your job is to ensure buyers have a great experience long after they purchase. Offer support after their buy, share helpful information, or send personalized follow-ups to keep them interested. By always delighting customers, you increase their chances of buying again and turn them into loyal brand shoppers.
Why the Flywheel Outshines the Funnel
- Focus on Customers: The flywheel puts customers first, making it more suitable than the traditional buyers’ journey funnel.
- Continuous Loop: Instead of pushing consumers through a straight path, the flywheel creates a loop that connects each step.
- Keep Customers Happy: The flywheel helps you keep your current customers happy and loyal, not just attract new ones.
- Build Trust: After customers buy, create a cycle of trust that helps your business grow.
- More Engagement: The traditional buyers’ journey funnel only focuses on getting new leads, but the flywheel keeps customers connected.
Implementing the Flywheel in Your Business
Now that you know the benefits of the flywheel, how can you use it in your business? Transitioning from a traditional customer sales journey funnel to a flywheel approach is easier than you might think. The key is to put customers at the centre and focus on adding value throughout their process.
Start by looking for ways to improve how you engage and satisfy your buyers. For example, after a purchase, provide extra support or helpful resources. Also, find ways to connect with buyers during the attract and engage stages. You can use personalized emails, friendly customer service, and social media to keep buyers delighted.
Change your mindset to see buyers as long-term partners, not just one-time buyers. This is where customer journey retargeting is important. After a customer interacts with your brand, keep engaging them with useful content and offers to keep them connected.
In conclusion, the flywheel is a much more clever sales strategy that ensures you’re not just attracting new customers but also focusing on satisfying your old customers and making them a loyal part of your brand.