Marketers have used the terms sales funnel and marketing funnel to describe a simple phenomenon: taking the customer to the next logical purchase step.
Many people leave the process, shaping the audience volume like an inverse pyramid with a few at the bottom and plenty at the top. This contrast is best described as the lower and upper funnel, respectively.
The main difference between the upper and lower funnel is that the upper funnel is the stage of the sales process where people become aware of your brand, while the lower funnel is where they get ready to buy. You can move people from the upper funnel to the lower funnel, but it is impossible to move customers back to the uppermost part.
UPPER FUNNEL
Main Department: Marketing
Marketing Strategy: Broad message to gain more exposure and add as many people as possible.
LOWER FUNNEL
Main Department: Sales
Marketing Strategy: Sales and marketing messages are specific to exclude people who aren't likely to buy.
In this article, we will go over 4 key differences between the upper and lower funnel alongside what they imply regarding the best marketing strategies for each. You will also discover the best practices of funnel marketing and whether the marketing and sales funnel are any different.
But first, let's go over what each of these terms entails.
Upper Funnel: A Brief Overview
The upper funnel is often referred to as the "Top of Funnel," which refers to prospective customers just entering the marketing process.
The uppermost stage of a funnel is "awareness," and as long as you have a sales process, customers who have heard about your brand are your upper funnel customers. A sales process, salesperson, and marketing strategist's goal are to move the customer from the upper funnel to the lower funnel. Along the way, the customer must develop positive associations with your brand.
Pros of the upper funnel:
Cons of the upper funnel:
Lower Funnel: A Brief Overview
The lower funnel is the part of the sales process where many top of funnel customers have fallen off. The people who are more qualified for the sale remain. Lower funnel marketing is more direct because the goal is to turn the prospective customer into an actual customer.
The lowest point in the funnel is called the "bottom of the funnel" and is marked by a purchase. A good sales process and an excellent salesperson will move a more significant portion of the upper funnel traffic to the bottom of the funnel.
Pros of the lower funnel:
Cons of the lower funnel:
Upper Funnel vs. Lower Funnel
Now that you know that both the upper and lower funnel are linked, it is easy to see that the two shouldn't be compared for selection purposes. They should instead be compared to make room for a more specific marketing strategy.
You don't get to pick between the upper and lower funnel. You need both. But because the two are different, you need to employ different marketing strategies. The goal of the upper funnel is to be filled. And the goal of the lower funnel is to be emptied.
The funnel is not a container because people must exit from the other end to become paying customers. To keep the revenue flowing, new people must keep entering the funnel (which they do from the upper funnel).
Marketing's goal at the top of the funnel is to gain more exposure and add as many people as possible. On the lower funnel side, marketing and sales get more specific to exclude the people who aren't likely to buy.
How this affects marketing for each:
1. Upper funnel is filled with advertising. Lower funnel is emptied by sales.
While exceptions exist, the upper funnel is often filled with advertising exposure. In some instances, media and organic word of mouth help. But the higher you go in a funnel, the less required direct sales are.
Exposure and visibility are required to fill up the upper funnel. Towards the lower funnel side, the sales team needs to get proactive. Of course, this also depends on the industry and the price tag. The more something costs, the more sophisticated the sales team needs to be. But everything from cars to fine art is sold by an actual human.
How this affects marketing for each:
2. Upper funnel is ethereal. Lower funnel is tangible.
This can be slightly controversial, but as of now, it is harder to get in touch and stay in touch with everyone who knows your brand. Why?
Because tracking metrics and data (despite being advanced enough to keep track) aren't provided to marketers at high resolution. Digital native brands can track their demographics and retarget ads, but Gucci and LV can never know how many people know of their brands. In contrast, lower funnel customers provide their information to salespeople, sign up for newsletters, and even attend launch events. It is just easier to quantify them.
How this affects marketing for each:
3. Upper funnel is organic. Lower funnel is action-oriented.
While you need to produce content and distribute it to expand your funnel's awareness tier, it starts paying dividends on its own without proactive action from your end. This is especially true when your brand has an escape velocity, making it a commonplace cultural phenomenon (even in a small niche).
People can bump into your brand from almost anywhere if you do a good enough job on the upper funnel front. But when it comes to the lower funnel, you must be very intentional with your messaging, attempt to overcome objections, and circumvent doubts to close the sale.
How this affects marketing for each:
4. The loss matters less at the upper funnel stage.
Finally, the most significant difference between the upper and lower funnel is that it doesn't matter when you lose 90% of the upper funnel people, and only 10% go to the mid-funnel.
But even if 1% of your customers move from the bottom funnel to the mid-funnel, you can incur a severe revenue drop. Upper Funnel, therefore has less pressure, while the team dealing with the lower funnel has performance pressure.
How this affects marketing for each:
Final Thoughts
Upper and lower funnels are different; one is meant to spread awareness and shape opinion, and the other is meant to take the shaped opinion and convert it into an actual sale. The strategies toward the top are more publicity oriented, while the ones at the end of the funnel are more action-driven and persuasion oriented.
Not ready to be done learning about sales funnels? Check out these 8 Steps to Build a Sales Funnel for Affiliate Marketing.