👋 Hey, it’s Sundar! Welcome to experiMENTAL: a weekly newsletter on B2C Marketing & data science how-to guides, frameworks, and stories from 15 years including early Uber.

The current marketing “funnel”

Across all marketing, the journey of a customer is always referred to as a funnel. But, why do we call it that? Turns out we’re using a concept from 1898 when E. St. Elmo Lewis created the AIDA model.

The AIDA model made a lot of sense at the time (and still does to a large degree) as it shows the journey of a customer through their relationship with the product:

1. Aware of a product

2. Interested in a product

3. Desires the product

4. Takes an action

But back then, for each product, the number of options and competitors were a lot more limited. How many different cars could you purchase back then? How many different toasters and ovens and products could you truly buy?

Also, the complexity of journeys has increased significantly. Let’s take a travel company for example. A company like Booking.com has customers that purchase 1-2x a year. But there are also many different competitors:

• Kayak

• Trivago

• Priceline

• Hotels.com

• Direct hotels

• Google search

• Travel agencies

The AIDA doesn’t capture that often consumers go from awareness to interest to forgetting about the company back to awareness then jumping immediately to desire and then finally 1-2x a year they take an action.

At Uber, we quickly realized the same thing as traditional funnels failed to capture how our customers actually moved through the journey sometimes skipping stages entirely.

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Why the funnel metaphor doesn’t work

Here’s the actual definition of a funnel:

The definition of a funnel is “a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening.” You use a funnel to guide something into a smaller container.

“Hmmm that seems reasonable. We want to guide our users through a funnel too”. WRONG.

If a 100 people knew about your product you’d want 100 of them to buy.

You actually don’t want a funnel. You want a cylinder.

Instead, you know that only 5 of the 100 will buy and so you’ve created this inverted pyramid and then said “Hey okay let’s call this a funnel”. Fine, if that helps you sleep at night.

The second reason the funnel is a bad analogy is because a funnel works because of gravity. There’s a natural force that pulls things through. That doesn’t happen in a business funnel. You can’t just pull people through. Nor can you push them.

So, what’s a better analogy?

Buckle up, we’re about to take a drive.

Highway to the danger zone

I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s a better analogy than a funnel. So, I wrote down everything I could think of:

• "The customer journey is a complex network more than a linear path”

• “Customers can leave then come back whenever they want”

• “Sometimes it’s straightforward sometimes it’s loops”

• “Customers need help on this journey”

Then, I remembered my post on How Uber segments 161M+ customers.

Hmm..cars.. roads..networks… journeys… OMG 🤯 

Marketing is a highway! I wanna ride it all night long… (thanks Rascal Flatts).

It just all makes sense to me, but let me break down the analogy even more:

1. The destination matters → If a customer has zero interest in your destination, they will never get on the highway. It doesn’t matter how hard you try.

2. A highway is the FASTEST way → It’s not the only way. The goal of Marketing is to find the path of least resistance in getting to the destination.

3. Design matters → The highways in DC were first built in the 1950s. 70 years later, DC is the 2nd worst traffic area in the US. If the highway doesn’t keep up and evolve, customers will have a terrible experience. A traffic jam.

4. Distractions and worse… → Okay a bit cryptic but the reality is there are distractions and worse on a highway. The same thing is true about marketing with competition, substitutes, etc. In a funnel, you’re effectively in a vacuum which is unrealistic of the world.

5. Guide customers → Signs on highways are there to guide customers and also to set expectations. “DC is 115 miles away” is there to not only you ensure you’re going the right way but also to let you know how much of the journey is left. The same can be said of Marketing. If customers look at an ad then land on a website where the signage is confusing they will think they’re going the wrong way. They’ll go off the highway.

6. Customers get off and on → Customers must be able to choose their own journey and that means giving them opportunities to get off and back on. From a marketing perspective that means staying top of mind at the right time and being constantly mentally available but most importantly when it’s time for purchase.

   

7. The analogy is extendable → This one is for fun but think about… roadmaps, traffic, journey… it’s all road themed! Why would we use a funnel… so silly.

To make sure I wasn’t being completely unreasonable, I even drew out a comparison table to see if the analogy held:

To me, it does, but I always welcome challenges to my frameworks. Please let me know where this analogy breaks down by replying to the email!

When you’re designing your marketing you really should think of it as a highway and answer these basic questions:

1. How does a customer get on? What are the entry points?

2. How long is the journey?

3. How can I guide customers? What type of signage do you need to make sure a customer doesn’t get lost?

4. How does a customer get off? What are the exit points?

When you capture the intricacies of your customer’s journey, you’ll build a better customer journey.

Wrapping up

We’re overusing and I’m OVER using the term Marketing funnel. It doesn’t capture the nuance for customers.

Instead, think of Marketing as a highway:

1. Design matters

2. Destination matters

3. A highway is the FASTEST way

4. Highways have distractions and more

5. You need to guide customers

6. Customers get off and on

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