What’s a funnel got to do with it?

A funnel is just the journey a customer takes from not knowing you exist to paying you money. That's it. Today’s Bright Objects, we’re going to explain it clearly. 

Embrace funnels, and you could add $2m in revenue in less than 18 months, as Stu Lees did. Read on to understand how. 

The moment a marketer mentions funnels, something happens in the room. That look that says “really?”. Lips purse. There's a quiet internal voice: here comes the part where they tell me I need to spend more money on something I don't understand.

Fair enough. Funnels have been weaponised by bad marketers for years. But funnels are one of the most useful frameworks in business, and you should know how they work, even if you leave the marketing to specialists. 

Most companies (probably including yours) are leaving serious money on the table because no one has ever explained it clearly.

This week on Slideshow with Dave Hayward, I talked through exactly this with Stu Lees, one of New Zealand's leading marketing advisors. I know I say this virtually every episode, but this is a great, strategic conversation with unexpected depth and emotion for a business podcast. Stu is a great bloke, and bloody smart. 

Everything, as it turns out.
Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio said it plainly:
"We are not thinking machines that feel, we are feeling machines that think."

Your customers decide emotionally first, then recruit their brain to justify it. Your funnel has three layers: two emotional, one rational.

Emotions are the true driver of almost every purchase

The top of the funnel earns attention through emotion: a frustration your customer already feels, a fear they carry, or an outcome they want. As Stu puts it:

"You won't capture people with logic at the top of the funnel. It's too boring."

The middle builds the rational case: proof, comparisons, how it works, why it makes sense. This is where most businesses go completely dark.

The bottom is emotional again. The feeling of making the right call.

Here's what most people also miss: it can take anywhere from six to sixty touchpoints before someone buys.

I did not mistype that: I said anywhere from six to sixty touchpoints. That's the table stakes in an era of high-frequency, low-fidelity communication.

Your funnel is the system that delivers those touches, in the right order, without burning the relationship. "People don't buy from ads," Stu told me. "They buy from relationships."

40,000 people can't be wrong

Stu spent 18 months running marketing for a San Francisco tech startup. They emailed 40,000 people a week: pure value, no pitch. Only when someone hit clear engagement signals did they move to the rational middle layer.

Two salespeople. No cold calling. $2 million in 18 months. A 45% newsletter open rate on 9,000 warm prospects.

At Europa, we've seen the same logic hold. One client has closed four pieces of business through multi-touch funnel marketing. Average deal: above $45,000.

What are you missing?

Until next time, Dave