The marketing funnel is a fundamental concept in the world of marketing, providing a framework for understanding the journey consumers take from initial awareness to becoming loyal advocates.

Originating from the early days of traditional marketing, nowadays the funnel has evolved to take into account the complexities and psychology of modern consumer behaviour.

For copywriters who are just starting out, you may think that the marketing funnel is more relevant to agency managers, rather than rookie employees.

But, in our experience, we’ve often found that having an understanding of the funnel serves as a guiding principle in crafting effective copy for every situation.

It’s a useful model that you can harness in your own work.

What is the marketing funnel?

At its core, the marketing funnel represents the stages through which a potential customer progresses before making a purchase decision.

Kind of like mapping the consumer’s thought process, we can use the model to work out the best way to target individuals with our marketing as their opinions towards our brand change and shift.

As you can see, the stages include:

1. Awareness: This is the stage where consumers become aware of a product or service.
2. Interest: The phase where interest is piqued, and consumers seek further information – a great place to grab our audience’s attention and hold it.
3. Consideration: Here, consumers evaluate options and weigh their choices. This is arguably the most important stage where consumers have demonstrated a readiness to make a purchase. Consumers are scrutinising the product or service and the copywriter’s job is to address any concerns or objections as well as answer key questions about the product.
4. Purchase: This is the point of transaction where the consumer converts into a customer, but the funnel doesn’t end here.
5. Loyalty: In the loyalty phase, our job is to build a long-term relationship with customers and to foster loyalty towards our product or service.

Some marketers also add “advocacy” as a final section, but we would argue that this is akin to loyalty – or at least can fall under the same label.

Advocacy is simply harnessing that loyalty and encouraging satisfied customers to promote the brand through word-of-mouth.

Loyal customers, in theory, should be doing this anyway, hence we have not mentioned it here.

Your role as the copywriter

As a copywriter, your role is to facilitate the consumer’s move to the next stage – regardless of where they are on the funnel – until they become loyal customers.

At which point, your job is to keep them in the loyalty stage.

However, with each phase comes distinct responsibilities and questions we must answer.

• Awareness: In the awareness stage, our job is to craft attention-grabbing headlines and content to draw in potential customers. Tailor language and tone to resonate with the target audience’s mindset. Utilise relevant keywords and phrases to enhance visibility – especially if SEO is a relevant part of your marketing efforts.
• Interest: Now, we must engage audiences through compelling storytelling that captures their imagination. We need to employ storytelling techniques to establish an emotional connection with the audience and get them deeply engrained with our brand narrative.
• Consideration: Here, we must provide informative and persuasive content that addresses consumer needs, questions, concerns and desires. You’ll want to incorporate social proof and testimonials to bolster the credibility and trust of your product or service so that readers can make easy decisions. You’ll also need to create compelling calls-to-action that prompt consumers to take the next step.
• Purchase: Encourage action through your copy and facilitate a seamless buying process through clear and concise actions, laid out to the reader. When we are writing copy for websites, the navigational aspects of the copy are particularly relevant here. We want to direct our reader to the purchase, making the journey as clear and easy as possible.
• Loyalty: Build trust and foster ongoing relationships through personalised communication and exceptional service. Encourage word-of-mouth referrals and social sharing by delivering exceptional experiences.

Throughout the funnel, you might want to implement A/B testing to refine copy effectiveness and thus maximise results.

Find out what works and be diligent in continually improving your work.

The Absurd Insights view

While the marketing funnel serves as a valuable framework for understanding consumer behaviour, it’s essential to remember that it should not be explicitly referenced within your copy.

Consumers do not need to be aware of the underlying model guiding your messaging.

Instead, focus on seamlessly integrating the principles of the marketing funnel into your copywriting practices.

To effectively implement the marketing funnel into your copywriting practices, we suggest you stick to the following tips:

• Conduct thorough audience research to understand consumer motivations and pain points.
• Tailor your messaging to resonate with each stage of the funnel, addressing specific needs and concerns.
• Continuously monitor and analyse performance metrics to identify areas for improvement.
• Test different approaches and iterate based on data-driven insights.
• Collaborate with other departments, such as web design, graphics and sales, to ensure brand and narrative alignment throughout the customer journey.

The marketing funnel serves as an invaluable tool for copywriters and we highly recommend you get to grips with how it works – even if you are not making key decisions within your organisation.

We suggest that beginner copywriters use the funnel to provide a structured framework for crafting compelling messaging that resonates with consumers at every stage of their journey.

As a copywriter, understanding your role within the funnel and implementing best practices can elevate your copywriting efforts and drive meaningful results for your brand or clients – which is, of course, great for your career and your business!

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