How do you get a new customer?
It looks simple, but the real answer is multi-touch. Ads help, sure—but most buyers move through several moments of discovery, research, and comparison before they ever click “buy.”
It’s easy to assume your latest promotion created the sale. Sometimes that’s true, but you’ll convert far more consistently when you understand how people buy and design every step to guide them forward.
One of the keys to running a successful business is understanding the customer buying process. Even when you sell something a person wants or needs, you still have to earn the right to make the sale.
Leaning on the core ideas behind a customer conversion funnel lets you intentionally move people from first touch to purchase—and beyond.
Do this well and you’ll increase conversion rates, average order value, and ultimately profit.
There’s a lot online about conversion funnels, and you’ll see different labels for similar stages.
Regardless of the terminology, here’s a simple way to visualize the journey:
These are the steps most buyers take before they purchase. We’ll refer back to this as we go.
Below, we’ll walk through each stage in detail, show variations you can use, and add practical examples you can plug into your own funnel.
We’ll also highlight simple marketing moves you can adopt today to get more customers and drive more sales.
If the conversion funnel is new to you, this guide covers the essentials you need to start strong.
Create brand awareness
The first stage is awareness: getting in front of people who don’t know you yet and making a memorable first impression.
Your goal is simple—be discoverable wherever your ideal customers are already looking. Most journeys begin with a search query, a social scroll, a short video, or a recommendation.
Search is still the biggest driver. Improve your SEO so your pages surface for the problems you solve—not just your brand name. Prioritize helpful, original content that answers real questions, and make sure your pages load fast and are easy to use on mobile.
When your pages rank higher, your organic traffic grows. That compounding visibility is why businesses invest in optimizing content, site structure, and technical SEO.
But your website isn’t the only awareness engine. Social platforms now double as discovery and shopping channels.
Social commerce has gone mainstream and shortens the path from discovery to purchase. Even if a buyer doesn’t complete the order in-app, what they see on social heavily influences what they Google next.
Focus your energy on the one to three platforms where your audience actually spends time (for many brands that’s Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or Facebook). Post consistently, show the product in use, answer questions in the comments, and encourage user-generated content.
Paid social can accelerate reach. Meta’s ad platform lets you run targeted campaigns across Facebook and Instagram from one place; use it for prospecting (broad interest/lookalike audiences) and retargeting (people who viewed products or added to cart).
Budget matters, but so does fit. Local flyers for a new pizza shop can still drive awareness, yet they won’t scale most online businesses. Instead, prioritize channels that can deliver qualified traffic—people likely to become customers.
Bottom line: quality over quantity. The right impressions from the right people beat raw reach every time. SEO and social—done thoughtfully—give you both.
Generate interest
Once someone knows you exist, your next job is to turn curiosity into genuine interest.
Your content is the engine here. Publish pages that explain what you do, why it’s different, and who it’s for. Pair that with a homepage that answers three questions immediately: Who is this for? What value will I get? What should I do next?
You’ll also need your website to do the heavy lifting. Learn how to design a homepage that converts here.
Your site should anticipate questions and remove friction. Here’s a simple example from SERVPRO:
SERVPRO is a cleanup and restoration brand.
Someone dealing with mold might search “mold remediation near me.” Strong SEO helps SERVPRO appear for those terms—that’s awareness.
Now you need to build interest. Their homepage quickly shows the full scope of services so visitors can self-select into what they need:
- Water damage
- Fire damage
- Mold remediation
- Storm damage
- Commercial services
A homeowner with mold clicks through to the mold service page to learn more.
SERVPRO provides detailed information about mold restoration:
Beyond the service page, they link to practical resources—mold tips, odor removal, and guidance on black mold. That mix of services plus education builds trust and keeps visitors engaged.
This is your blueprint: publish accurate, useful content that answers real questions, demonstrates expertise, and points to a clear next step.
Make a blog (or resource hub) the backbone of your SEO and education. Use it for how-tos, comparisons, checklists, and stories from customers. Internally link from those posts to your product and service pages.
Vary formats to keep people engaged—articles, FAQs, short videos, infographics, and downloadable guides. The goal is the same: help first, sell second.
Finally, invite interested visitors to subscribe. Offer a useful incentive (a checklist, template, or discount), then nurture with helpful emails that answer objections and highlight outcomes.
Consideration
Consideration looks a lot like interest, but now prospects are actively weighing options. Your job is to make choosing you feel obvious.
People compare cost, quality, convenience, risk, and support. They’ll read reviews, skim comparisons, and look for proof you can deliver.
Think of this as the “desire” phase—show why your solution is the best fit for them. Bring your unique value proposition to the front and center on product, pricing, and feature pages.
Useful tactics at this stage include clear pricing, side-by-side comparisons, customer stories with outcomes, guarantees or free trials, fast shipping/returns details, and prominent trust signals (payment options, security, certifications).
They’ll compare every detail before they buy. Equip them with everything they need to say “yes.”
You can find more ideas for guiding people through the evaluation stage here: evaluation stage.
Implementing these tactics increases the odds prospects reach the next step—and it also makes your offers easier to understand.
Finalize the sale
Quick recap: first, they discovered your brand. Then they learned what you offer. Next, they weighed options and moved toward choosing you.
Wanting to buy isn’t the same as buying. Plenty of people start checkout and never finish—usually because of friction you can control.
Imagine a shopper adds an item to cart on your ecommerce site.
Great start—but the order isn’t won until payment clears. To reduce drop-off, get familiar with the most common reasons for shopping cart abandonment:
In practice, the biggest culprits are usually unexpected costs (shipping, taxes, fees), forced account creation, slow delivery estimates, long or confusing checkout flows, weak trust signals, and limited payment options.
Address them head-on. Show full costs early, offer guest checkout, keep forms short (auto-fill and address lookup help), display delivery dates and return policies, and include modern payments like digital wallets alongside cards.
Then optimize relentlessly.
Focus on elements like:
- Page and form design (clean layout, minimal fields)
- Images (real-life usage, zoom, and clarity)
- CTA buttons (clear copy and visibility)
- Color and contrast (readability and accessibility)
- Number of steps (progress indicator and guest option)
- Value proposition reminders (benefits, guarantees, shipping)
Use experimentation to find what works. Run A/B tests to compare variations, and pair results with behavior data (session recordings, heatmaps) to spot friction quickly.
Small copy changes—especially on CTAs, delivery messaging, and trust language—can move the needle more than you think.
Retain your customers
Most funnel diagrams stop at “purchase.” In reality, your best growth comes from what happens next.
Yes, the top of the funnel is widest and people fall out at every stage. That’s normal—nobody converts 100% of visitors.
But you don’t want the funnel to narrow after the first order. Keep customers engaged so they return, spend more, and refer others.
Think of the funnel as a loop that compounds value over time:
After the first purchase, nurture the relationship. Send a helpful onboarding or post-purchase series, ask for feedback, and make support easy to reach.
Offer subscriptions or easy reorders for consumables, personalized recommendations based on past behavior, and a simple loyalty program that rewards repeat business.
Don’t forget referrals. A straightforward give-$X/get-$X program can turn happy customers into a steady stream of new ones.
When customers lapse, use win-back campaigns with timely reminders, fresh offers, or new product highlights to bring them back.
Conclusion
The conversion funnel is a classic for a reason—it mirrors how people actually buy.
Labels vary, but the core ideas are consistent. Understand each stage and you’ll know where to focus to grow revenue without guesswork.
Start with awareness by being easy to find and genuinely helpful. Turn that attention into interest with clear, useful content.
During consideration, highlight your value in plain language, remove doubt with proof, and make choosing you feel safe and simple.
At checkout, eliminate friction and reassure buyers right when it matters most.
And after the sale, keep the relationship alive—because retention is where growth compounds.
Use these fundamentals to build (or fix) your funnel, then keep iterating as you learn more about your customers.