Looking around in 2023, we need to ask whether the concept of the funnel still applies in the digital age. Although it is a neat analogy or system to classify or organize the traditional buying process, we see that rather than a linear ‘funnel,’ buyers exist in a ‘cloud.’ People start to interact and engage but, essentially, the momentum builds until they are willing to take a buying action.
Customers increasingly conduct their own research, on their own terms; experiencing a brand (and likely its competitors) on a number of platforms or channels of their choosing — so the phases that make up the traditional concept of the marketing funnel are overly simplistic in today’s world.
