Cheat Sheet: Three bold and effective marketing funnels for D2C brands

It is time to reinvent the traditional linear funnel. What we need is a new way to devise customer journeys. Most brands spend on only ad-linked performance campaigns. However, a lot of them are rather boring, repetitive and highly predictable. Awareness campaigns are few and far - most don't have the money for it. This article has three funnels that will help move the needle.

Funnel 1: Traditional 2.0 - Rewarding Actions + Use Content (Limited Play) - Early stage

This model takes the engagement a few notches higher by deploying a very basic reward + referral scheme and used very limited content play. The central framework is built on providing instant reward and gratification.

Funnel 2: Content First Play (Still basic with a bit of tech and automation play) - A bit more mature stage

This model relies on specific landing pages from different channels. Here we deploy a live chat early on. Reward point logic remains true as in the Traditional 2.0 model. What we do differently is that we generate a lot more product + scientific level content to reduce friction. Also, we just enter the gamification stage via a quiz - this helps us drive more time on page, contextual product views and because we capture more data here - we are able to run stronger drip campaigns. (A topic for another blog, maybe). This model allows for more sustainable growth in the mid-long run and encourages tribe building as the brand grows.

Funnel 3: Strong Growth with High Investment (Website as a product - Increasing DAUs, Time on Page + Social Validation) - Mature Stage

This is product thinking - not for most early-stage brands - but the ones who can do something like this will be able to drive immense brand equity and nurture multiple revenue lines. Here we build a (non-complex) gaming engine - which drives the content and community growth. This fuels the commerce funnel - thereby leading to higher conversion, lower CAC, very strong consumer attributes and an always-on commerce funnel. This is the big game, and very few will be ready for it - but if you are an ambitious brand in the D2C space, then it is worth thinking like this and maybe start to build for it.

I understand that this might be a bit complex. Print it out. Sit with your current funnel designers and see what can be implemented and what is possible to leave out. I have intentionally not touched upon product cross-sell, upsell, assuming that most brands reading this article have that bit sorted. Also, you can get tools like WebEngage, MoEngage, Clevertap and others to build your own recipes. But first, you need to design your own unique funnel movement.

As usual, if you find any value in this article, then do like, share and comment. You can connect with me on twitter. See you around!