A model representing the stages a prospective customer moves through on the way to a purchase — typically visualized as narrowing from a wide top (many people aware of a brand) to a narrow bottom (a smaller number who actually purchase).
Why it matters
The funnel model helps teams diagnose where prospects are dropping off — a strong top of funnel with weak conversion further down points to a different problem than weak awareness in the first place.
In a sentence
"Our funnel shows plenty of traffic at the top, but a steep drop-off between free trial and paid conversion — that's where we're focusing."
Related terms
- Often confused with: The buyer's journey (closely related, but the funnel is typically a marketing/business-side model of stages and volume; the buyer's journey more specifically describes the prospective customer's own experience and mindset at each stage).
- Synonyms: Sales funnel, marketing funnel, conversion funnel.