Marketing Funnel For Mobile Apps: What You Need To Know

Many, if not all, traditional marketers are familiar with the concept of the marketing or sales funnel. It’s a model that was originally developed in 1898 by Elias St. Elmo, and it breaks down the various stages of a customer’s journey with a particular product or company. There are four stages that make up the traditional funnel: awareness, interest, desire and action. While these have evolved over time to reflect modern markets, these stages are still considered the rule of thumb.

But as marketing efforts have shifted to focus on digital and mobile efforts, the original marketing funnel concept has had to shift as well. The mobile marketing funnel represents the new customer journey, which is much less simple and has become more complex and individualized.

The end goal may not have changed with the shift to digital and mobile properties — advertisers and marketers are still looking to get potential leads to convert and take desired action. But the journey to get there is vastly different than it once was. Mobile marketers can utilize many tactics to help develop awareness for their product or brand. Content marketing, social media and paid ads are some of the most popular and effective tactics to help begin developing this initial relationship with consumers.

In the modern and mobile consideration phase, consumers will look for trust signals that indicate your product or platform is right for them. With sites like Yelp along with app store ratings and reviews, there are a multitude of ways that consumers can gather information to make an educated decision about whether or not to continue through their customer journey.

While the conversion stage was typically the end point in the traditional marketing funnel, it is merely the mid-point when it comes to the mobile marketing funnel. This is the stage where your leads take action, whether it be an app download, registering for an account, or signing up to attend a webinar — the conversion stage is when your lead becomes your customer.

Once the conversion stage is completed, mobile marketers shift their efforts into developing a relationship with customers and retaining them to be lifetime users. Some actions that mobile marketers take during these stages are personalized in-app messaging, push notifications, personalized SMS messages offering exclusive deals or discounts, and product updates that provide a true value.

By truly understanding the strategies and tactics of the mobile marketing funnel, brands and companies have the opportunity to remain competitive in markets than tend to be highly saturated. They have access to powerful channels to reach their potential customers — while it is not a one-size-fits-all system, every mobile marketer can take away key ideas from the mobile marketing funnel.

The team at CleverTap put together this guide on the stages and tactics of the mobile app marketing funnel, and ways that marketers can capitalize on each.