The Modern Marketing Funnel: Conversion & Nurture post thumbnail

Over the last couple of months we have been discussing the different stages of the modern marketing funnel; how to construct your messaging, content and resources for your audience at every stage. As our series comes to an end, we reach BOFU – the Bottom of Funnel.

A lot of people would be forgiven for thinking this is where the funnel reaches its peak – surely once prospective clients are converting into leads, there’s nothing left to worry about, right? Not quite.

The BOFU is important for two reasons – it’s the place you’ll find your highly qualified leads that are most likely to convert, but it is also the gateway to ensure your nurture these leads for future conversions.

BOFU content ideas are a little more in depth than the content from MOFU and TOFU – why? By this point your prospective client is relatively prepared to talk to you. They know about your brand, what you do and what you provide. They have defined your services as their solution.

Therefore, the best type of content to provide to BOFU audience is:

  • Case Studies of previous clients / customers
  • Demos
  • Video Testimonials
  • Money-back guarantee
  • A consultation or trial for B2B
  • A discount code or incentive for B2C
  • Comparison guides (highlighting why you’re the best choice, of course!)

It’s important to remember that although you can create a wonderful nurture campaign for your prospective clients, with valuable resources and information at every stage of their journey, they can still spend a considerable amount of time at the BOFU prior to converting. It’s important to keep your BOFU content relevant and up to date, because those old aggressive sales pitches are a thing of the past – they’re just not very effective anymore.

Obviously, the logical end to a sales funnel is that a client converts into a sale and moves directly out of the bottom of the funnel and into a client relationship. But what next? Sometimes, clients or customers may use your services or products once and move on. That’s okay. Maybe there is no opportunity for repeat business, or the scope of your offering doesn’t lend itself to what they require. However, it is important to ensure you have touch points with your customers after their purchase.

Avinash Kaushik refers to this as the ‘care’ phase. The people that have already converted once are your largest qualified, addressable audience. These are the people that you’d like to make multiple purchases, or renew contracts with. This audience are very valuable to an organisation and they deserve the care and nurture to continue after the fact. Too often you can see the bare minimum of efforts made for clients that have already converted (i.e. a confusing customer FAQ section, follow-up comms, etc).

How can you look after your ‘Care’ audience?

  • Provide follow up emails to check on progress
  • Provide follow up emails with exclusive resources and information
  • Ask for reviews and surveys
  • Provide how-to guides
  • Thank them with a follow up code or incentive for next time
  • Give them early bird access to specific deals and events
  • Newsletters

Delivering targeted, valuable content at each stage of the marketing funnel is paramount to ensuring your audience feels catered for. The content you provide is essential to nurturing your prospective leads down the funnel, as well as afterwards in the phase after purchase. The sales funnel as a whole is a great tool to gain a deeper understanding of your audience’s wants, needs and behaviours. Using that data to create the right content at the right time can make the difference to optimal conversions for your business.

Need help with your digital marketing and funnel strategy? Get in touch with the Energise team for a chat!