This blog was updated on March 12, 2024.
Marketing funnels are linear, but customer journeys are not. Research and discovery happen across multiple channels at once. For example, a customer might scan product reviews on their phone, see an online ad for a similar product, then visit a brand’s website to learn more about it. Reaching and converting customers at scale requires a marketing strategy that considers the entire shopping journey. This article discusses what full-funnel marketing is, how it works, and how to build a best-in-class full-funnel marketing strategy on Amazon.
What is Full-Funnel Marketing on Amazon?
Full-funnel marketing involves targeting customers at every stage of the purchasing process. The goal of full-funnel marketing is to maximize sales and customer retention by delivering relevant messages and content to potential buyers in as many places as possible. Full-funnel marketing on Amazon involves three main stages:
Top-of-funnel (TOFU): In this stage, the goal is to increase brand awareness and attract potential customers to your products.
Brand awareness refers to a customer’s familiarity with a brand, including its name, messaging, tone and style of communication, values, culture, and of course, products and/or services. Brand awareness begins with consumer research and involves drawing customers in and helping them to both recognize and remember your brand.
The goal of brand awareness is to keep your brand at the top of people’s minds as they make their way to purchase. Brands want to be one step ahead of consumers wherever they are. This could be on TV (linear and streaming), online, in digital advertising, in audio ads, in social media, in content marketing and more.
With 84% of online product searches beginning on digital channels other than a brand’s owned website, these touch points are becoming increasingly important. With brand awareness, your goal is to stay at the top of customer’s minds so that when it’s time to buy, they’re thinking of you.
Building brand awareness at the top of the funnel involves a variety of tactics, including paid advertising (e.g., Amazon Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands), organic search optimization, and social media marketing. TOFU metrics often measure:
- unique reach
- completion rate
- click-through rate (CTR)
Middle-of-funnel (MOFU): Here, the focus is on nurturing potential customers and guiding them toward making a purchase.
The idea behind consideration marketing is to increase the chances of consumers considering a brand and their products when making a purchase. Marketing messages are designed to address a consumer pain point, emphasize an interest or answer a consumer question. At this stage, consumers are trying to understand a brand and what sets it apart from other similar brands. Brands educate and inform consumers during the consideration phase, helping them understand how their product or solution fits their needs.
For example, a positive customer review, a customer testimonial, a case study, or a webinar could all be mid funnel consideration marketing solutions. Sponsored Brands and Video and Display Ads through Amazon DSP are solutions for this phase. These ad products help to create touch points where consumers may be actively researching and browsing products to make a purchase.
Building consideration in the middle of the funnel involves retargeting ads, email marketing, and offering product recommendations based on the customer’s browsing and purchase history. MOFU metrics help demonstrate when consumers have a greater likelihood to purchase. These benchmarks often measure:
- detail page views
- new-to-brand percentage
- branded search index
Bottom-of-funnel (BOFU): In the final stage, the goal is to convert potential customers into actual buyers.
The purpose of the conversion phase is to persuade customers to buy a product or service by convincing them that the brand they have chosen is the right fit for them or that it meets their needs. Also known as the “decision” or “purchase” phase, this stage is a chance to invest in a marketing strategy that will help your brand stand out in your category and distinguish you from the competition.
This is where a detailed website product page is essential, as well as an outstanding customer service experience to instill confidence in the buying decision. The conversion stage is a relatively straightforward funnel stage to measure, since you can track which ad clicks directly leads to a purchase. It is important to note, however, that the customer interactions in the preceding two stages have a direct impact on whether or not customers convert.
Increasing conversions through bottom funnel marketing is achieved through promotions and discounts, providing product-specific information and reviews, and ensuring a seamless checkout process. BOFU metrics measure:
- return on advertising spend (ROAS)
- advertising cost of sales (ACOS)
- customer acquisition cost (CAC)
- orders or units sold
Build a Full-Funnel Amazon Marketing Strategy in Five Steps
Customers encounter many touchpoints on their path to purchase. Amazon Ads is uniquely positioned to reach audiences wherever they are. The following steps will help you build an Amazon marketing strategy targeting customers at every stage of the funnel.
- Make Sure Your Products Retail Ready
Amazon recommends starting with the bottom of the funnel and working your way upward when building a full-funnel strategy. Before you pay to promote a product, ensure your product detail page includes all the necessary information a customer needs to make a purchase. This includes optimized Titles and Descriptions, high-resolution images and videos, A+ content, and customer reviews. Pro tip: Compare your product detail pages to similar top-selling products to find ways to enhance your listings and improve conversions. - Reach Shoppers Who are Most Likely to Purchase
Once you’ve optimized your product detail pages for conversion, start experimenting with tactics to help drive purchases. Sponsored Products ads reach shoppers using branded search terms indicating high intent or remarketing to audiences who have viewed your product detail page using Sponsored Display. Pro tip: Remarketing to customers who have viewed your product detail pages is a great way to boost conversions. Consider remarketing following key buying events like Prime Day and the holiday season (when your product detail pages may have seen increased page views). - Stand Out in Your Category
Once your products are retail ready and optimized for conversion, it’s time to leverage ads that help you own your digital aisle. Sponsored Display product targeting is a powerful way to reach shoppers browsing relevant categories, similar products, or complimentary items. Pro tip: Advertising on your own product detail pages is a clever way to help make shoppers aware of new product launches. - Promote Your Brand StoryAfter you own your aisle, Amazon recommends increasing consideration with video and display ads through Amazon DSP and Sponsored Brands. Consider bidding on broader shopping queries and reaching in-market audiences to find customers that may be interested in your product. Pro tip: Sponsored Brands is a great way to drive traffic to your Store, where customers can learn more about your brand’s story and products.
- Expand Your Reach
The final step to a full-funnel marketing campaign is building awareness. Amazon DSP is the most powerful way to scale your reach across multiple channels without sacrificing relevance. Available to brands in any industry, Amazon DSP can help you meet new and existing customers where they are, make metrics-based decisions, and achieve key advertising objectives with programmatic display, video, and audio ads. Pro tip: Consider combining audio and Streaming TV ads to reach audiences beyond the screen and at home.
Channel Key Takeaway
A full-funnel marketing strategy on Amazon can help you reach more customers, build brand loyalty, and ultimately drive sales. This approach will produce compounding effects that lead to stronger results in every stage of the funnel. If full-funnel marketing is new to you, start with a modified full-funnel strategy and work your way up to a comprehensive strategy. Full-funnel marketing on Amazon takes more work than simple bottom-of-the-funnel advertising, but it is well worth the effort in the long run.
