Sales Funnel
A sales funnel is the narrowing path from stranger to customer, staged as awareness, interest, consideration, and purchase.
What a sales funnel is
A sales funnel is the path from stranger to customer, drawn as narrowing stages: awareness, interest, consideration, purchase. Many enter, fewer pass each stage, some buy.
Marketers shorthand the stages as top, middle, and bottom of funnel: TOFU, MOFU, BOFU.
Why the funnel matters
It locates the problem. “Sales are down” says nothing; “consideration-stage visitors aren’t converting” points at specific pages and specific fixes.
What each stage needs
- Top: discovery through content, ads, and word of mouth
- Middle: evaluation material, comparisons, reviews, Q&A
- Bottom: the offer, checkout ease, and final reassurance
- After: post-purchase experience that refills the top
Frequently asked questions
Is the funnel outdated as a model?
Real journeys loop and skip stages, so the funnel simplifies. It stays useful as a diagnostic frame even when the path isn’t linear.
Where do most ecommerce funnels leak?
Between interest and purchase: the product page and checkout. That’s where doubt, cost surprises, and friction concentrate, and where fixes pay fastest.