We’ve talked top and we’ve talked middle, and now comes the part of the marketing funnel that makes you all the money – the bottom of the funnel. Every customer who purchases from you gets to the bottom of the funnel at a different pace, but they’re coming through the funnel nonetheless. 

If this is your first time joining us on the marketing funnel journey, we do recommend that you hop on over to our other two blogs about the top and the middle of the marketing funnel before you dive into this blog…. because it won’t make a lot of sense without the other information. But if you’ve been along this ride with us from the beginning — thank you for being here, we’re so excited to finish this journey with you. 

Welcome to the Bottom

The bottom of the marketing funnel (BOFU) is where people solidify their decision to purchase from you. Whether your customer has gone through the funnel in one day, one week, or one month, they have to go through all the stages to some degree in order to purchase, even if they go through them quickly. They have to discover your business in TOFU, learn more about it in MOFU, and decide that you’re the place to shop in BOFU. 

The bottom of the funnel really is all about that decision-making. At the top and middle of the funnel, you were using the same platforms in different ways to entice people to shop with you. The bottom of the funnel isn’t that different. You’re sharing more detailed information and having more contact with people in order to convince them to shop with you on your website, on social, or through ads. 

Content and Channels

Content marketing at the bottom of the funnel could look something like live chats on websites, a blog that explains your product versus the competition, any kind of freebie or demo that you offer the customer before they purchase, retargeting ads on social media that bring a customer back to your site, and even things like coupons that push the customer to purchase. Emails, SMS pushes, and notifications from social also help with this process. 

It’s the final step and then after all of that work and nurturing, bang. You have an order. 

So now what? 

Keep in Contact

If you’ve been around the block a few times, you’ve probably heard somebody tell you that it’s more expensive to acquire a new customer than to nurture a current customer.  And nine times out of then, that’s true. It took us three blogs to explain how to get somebody to discover your business and purchase from you — how to bring them to the entire funnel. But once you have that relationship with them you’d be an *absolute idiot* to drop them and let that relationship die. It was a lot of work to get them there. So much content. So much time. So much money. So don’t drop the ball and forget about the relationship. One of the most important parts of the funnel happens after the purchase. The buzzword here is customer retention. 

Say it three times fast. Customer retention. Customer retention. Customer retention. 

Retention Strategies

Customer retention is the active way that you promote a continuing relationship between you and your customers after they have purchased.

One of the main ways that you can continue to develop relationships with customers after they have purchased is by setting up a post-purchase email flow. This email flow nurtures the relationship and often even up-sells customers to help them make a second purchase sometime down the road. The post-purchase flow doesn’t have to be 100 emails long. In fact, that would be ridiculous and people would unsubscribe like crazy. Instead, create a handful of high-quality emails in your purchase flow that will help your customers remember who you are and want to purchase from you again.

Loyalty programs are also another popular retention strategy. Really anything that you can do to create brand advocacy and have your customers share about your brand by word of mouth or social media post is great. Loyalty programs are not for every company, but if you have a product that works with a loyalty program structure it’s definitely something to consider if you want to incentivize people to continue shopping with you. 

Social media is a really great place to do this. We love sharing great customer-generated content, tagging our customers when we share that content, and interacting with them in comments on our own posts and on their posts. Content from your customers, sometimes called user-generated content (UGC) is a win for lots of reasons. Firstly, it’s content that you did not have to pay to create, and with customer permission, you can share that content on social media. Secondly, user-generated content is a great way to add brand loyalty and social proof to your company. People who haven’t purchased from you may see this content on your page or on a purchaser’s page and enter into the brand funnel themselves. 

There are so many ways to promote great customer retention, and it’s up to you to find ways that work for your business specifically. Not every strategy you try in the marketing funnel or in a customer retention plan is going to work, and that’s okay. It doesn’t make you bad at marketing. It just tells you more about your customers and what works for them and what doesn’t work for them. When you can create a more curated experience for your customer, the more likely they will be to stay with your business for a long time.