Bottom-of-Funnel Marketing

Everyone who's spent any time working in advertising is familiar with the sales funnel — or in the case of eCommerce, the conversion funnel. Said funnel is typically broken into three to four levels, each requiring its own marketing approach:

• At the top, you have the awakening phase.  Customers may be familiar with your business or brand, but haven't taken any direct action towards converting. 
• Next up is the thinking phase. This is the middle of the funnel, and the point at which a potential customer has started considering making a purchase. 

Finally, there's the conversion phase. This is the point at which a prospect is on the very cusp of making a purchase. Consequently, it's absolutely crucial that your bottom of the funnel marketing strategy sticks the landing. But what exactly does that mean?

What is Bottom of the Funnel Marketing?

Bottom of the funnel (BOFU) marketing is a catch-all term to refer to the strategies and tactics eCommerce brands use to capture leads who are on the verge of making a purchase. BOFU content can take several different forms: 

• Reviews and customer testimonials. 
• Video tutorials. 
• Case studies, white papers, or use case briefs. 
• Comparisons with competing products or services. 
• Specific information about a product's features or characteristics. 
• Content aimed at addressing pain points or concerns.

Why Are Bottom of the Funnel Campaigns Important?

BOFU marketing targets a high-value audience with proven purchase intent. It's aimed at getting that audience over the final hurdles between prospect and customer. An investment into the bottom of the funnel is an investment in conversion rate optimization, and arguably also plays a role in customer retention. 

The bottom of the funnel is also the last chance you have to make a positive impression on your prospects. If you somehow fail to rope them in here, there's a good chance that they'll never return. 

A helpful analogy would be to picture a fishing boat. If that boat doesn't have a means of pulling in its net, then it hardly matters how wide the net is or how many fish it ensnares. There's no way to actually catch anything intentionally — what few catches that boat does secure are likely entirely by accident.

How to Increase Bottom of the Funnel Conversions

There are a few different tactics your business can use to improve conversions at the bottom of the funnel, including: 

• Provide detailed product comparisons focused on your unique selling points and the advantages your products have over those of your competitors. 
• Offer promotional codes, discounts, or special offers. 
• Implement an abandoned cart email flow in an effort to recapture lost leads. 
• Optimize everything about the purchase process, including product detail pages, checkout, shipping, and returns. Purchasing from your store should be as streamlined and painless as possible. 
• Allow customers to leave reviews on your product pages. Thank people for positive reviews and make every effort to rectify negative reviews. 
• If relevant, consider offering customers a demo or free trial of your product. 
• Create highly-personalized content for each specific product you're trying to market. How-to articles and tutorials are especially useful. The more your customers know about how a product works, the better. 
• Find a way to dispel customer doubts and inspire confidence in your products. Reviews aside, this could come in the form of customer consultations, augmented reality fitting rooms, free shipping and a generous return policy, etc. 
• Leverage an on-page [AI Chatbot] to respond to customer queries, questions, and concerns.