Marketing Funnel
A model of the stages people pass through from awareness to a chosen conversion.
A marketing funnel groups the journey from discovering a problem or product to taking a desired action. SaaS teams often model awareness, consideration, evaluation, and purchase, with separate steps for signup and activation. The funnel makes transitions visible so a team can investigate where progress stalls.
Example: A payroll SaaS tracks visits to educational content, visits to its product pages, demo requests, qualified evaluations, and signed accounts. If demos are plentiful but few fit the target customer, improving the first-stage message may matter more than adding more demo-booking buttons.
Watch out: The funnel is a useful analytical model, but buyers do not always move through it in a straight line. People return, compare alternatives, involve colleagues, and switch devices. Define each stage using observable criteria and preserve cohort timing when measuring conversion. For products where customer activity attracts the next customers, also consider growth loops; a funnel describes progression, while a loop describes repeatable reinvestment of an output.
Further reading: MicroConf: landing your first 100 SaaS customers.
Related: TOFU, viral loop.