For years, sales and marketing has been obsessed with the marketing funnel.
We’ve all seen it, we’ve all used it, anyone that’s worked in sales has it etched on their brain, and to be fair, it still matters, but the idea that conversion is the end goal is now only half the story.
Think about how you buy today – before you fill in a form, email or call, you’ve probably watched videos, read reviews, compared competitors, asked AI, and got opinions from social media. By the time you even get to consideration, you’re often making a decision that’s been shaped by a growing number of touchpoints, many of which were probably not actually controlled by the company itself.
That’s why we need to start thinking less about a funnel and more about a sandglass (we’re in Southwold, of course it involves sand).
The top half is the bit everyone knows:
Awareness > Research > Consideration > Conversion
But if that’s where your strategy stops, you’re missing the part that’s becoming more valuable every year. Once someone becomes a customer, another journey begins:
Adoption > Retention > Expansion > Advocacy
Those touchpoints aren’t customer service anymore, they’re marketing, which means the best marketing now happens after the sale.
For years, I’ve heard businesses tell me, “most of our work comes from word of mouth” and that’s still the best place to be, the difference now is that word of mouth isn’t something you just hope for, you can actually influence it. Advocacy is no longer just a personal referral, it’s reviews, LinkedIn posts, TikToks, Reddit threads, testimonials, case studies and the information AI pulls together when someone asks, “Who’s the best company for…?”
That’s why, when we’re mapping customer journeys with clients, we don’t stop at conversion, we spend just as much time planning what happens after. What does onboarding look and feel like? When do you check in? How do you create moments worth talking about? When is the perfect time to ask for the review, the recommendation, or the second purchase?
The businesses that will grow over the next few years won’t just be the ones with the best marketing funnels, they’ll be the ones who design the whole journey, because conversion isn’t where your marketing ends anymore.