Conversion Funnel and Adobe Tools
Today’s post is going to be different from my typical post where I explain how to solve for something or I explain my point of view. I will just list the Adobe tools based on a particular order, the order defined by the conversion funnel. It is just a reference, a mental map of tools, and very personal.
Conversion Funnel
I am sure you are all familiar with the typical sales or conversion funnel. There are many ways to show it, and it differs between business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C). In the B2B world, Marketo will be at the center of most marketing activities.
In this post, though, I will explain a B2C case, as I am more familiar with it. This is a typical B2C conversion funnel:
| Initial | Full word |
|---|---|
| A | Awareness |
| I | Interest |
| D | Desire |
| A | Action |
And it is a funnel because, as you go from top to bottom, there are fewer people in each section.
Let’s go step by step and identify what Adobe tools I believe belong to each one.
Top of the Funnel: Awareness
At the top of the funnel we find the awareness state. I like the definition of this stage that I found on this post:
This is where potential customers first become aware of your brand or product. They might not be actively looking to buy anything yet, but you want to make them aware of your existence and pique their interest.
Since you know nothing about them and they do not know your company, you have to fish them outside of your properties. Your options with Adobe tools are:
| Adobe Advertising | This tool has had multiple names, but the idea is always the same: place paid ads on different platforms, such as search, media, and social. Remember, you need to tell the rest of the world that you exist. |
| Adobe Audience Manager | If you still have this tool and are ingesting third-party data, you can create segments of these cookies and share them with demand-side platforms. |
| Adobe Campaign | This is a bit of an edge case, but if you have the rights to use a list of email addresses of non-customers, you could send them an email. I would not use Adobe Journey Optimizer (AJO) for this. |
| Adobe Experience Manager | You may be wondering why I am including AEM here, when a potential customer has not even visited your website. The reason is that your marketing content needs to be attractive to search engines (SEO), and now generative AI too, so that they promote your content. |
Middle of the Funnel: Interest & Desire
Now you have piqued the interest of a potential buyer. They have found you somewhere in the wild Internet and they have clicked a link that takes them to your website. Now it is your opportunity to show that you are their best option.
The difference between these two steps is subtle, and many combine them into one step. However, you could say that interest is just curiosity and research, while desire shows an appetite to buy your products or services.
At this stage, you can use these Adobe products:
| Adobe Experience Manager | This is the sweet spot for AEM. Successful online businesses need a steady flow of new content to show visitors. This content needs to show exactly what the potential buyer is looking for. Such a large volume of content requires a tool that helps you manage it. |
| Adobe Analytics Customer Journey Analytics |
After landing on your website, you can start tracking your visitors to understand what they want, what they do not like, the issues they are having, and a bit about who they are. |
| Adobe Target | You should be running A/B tests on landing pages to see which version resonates the most, and personalization based on information that you have about the visitor: location, language, previous pages, traffic source... |
| Real-Time Customer Data Platform | The moment a new ECID is sent to the Adobe Experience Platform (AEP), a prospect profile is created. You can use it to create segments. |
| Adobe Campaign Adobe Journey Optimizer |
In some cases, the prospect may provide you with an email address, for example, if they sign up for a newsletter. This is gold, and you can use it to send them tailored marketing material. |
Bottom of the funnel: Action
You will also see this stage named conversion. This is when the customer finally opens their wallet and buys your products or services. I know that there are some cases where the action is not necessarily paying for something, but the tools needed to manage it remain mostly the same.
This is my selection:
| Adobe Experience Manager | You still need some web pages to manage the conversion. |
| Adobe Commerce | This is the sweet spot for this tool, where you manage the catalog, payment, shipping, and anything else related to the final sale. |
| Adobe Analytics Customer Journey Analytics |
Again, you want to track and measure what is happening, to identify trends or issues with the conversion. You want to make sure that the process is as frictionless as possible. Besides, you want to report on how much money you are making and attribute this revenue to the traffic source. |
| Adobe Campaign Adobe Journey Optimizer |
If the prospect drops out at the last minute, you should encourage them to come back, which is usually called a *cart abandonment* campaign. If the prospect converts and becomes a customer, you will need to send them a welcome email or updates related to the purchase. |
Retention
So, someone has taken the action that you wanted. Congratulations!
However, is that the end? Absolutely not! Now you have to keep making this customer happy and, in the future, when they want to buy similar products or services again, they buy from you. And here you have an ace up your sleeve: you already know who they are and what they like. You can, and should, be using this information to your advantage.
All your Adobe tools are there to support you:
| Adobe Experience Manager | Create new content that your customers will love. |
| Adobe Commerce | Be ready for any up-sell or cross-sell, and have offers available. |
| Adobe Analytics Customer Journey Analytics |
Understand what your customers want. |
| Adobe Campaign Adobe Journey Optimizer |
Keep your customer informed until the service or product is delivered. Then, make sure they know what you are doing and what new things you are working on. |
| Adobe Target | Personalize the content of the website or app, knowing what this customer likes or wants. |
And this is my list. What is yours?