Funnel

Funnel (also called a conversion funnel or sales funnel) is the staged path someone follows from discovering your brand to completing a goal — like buying, booking, or signing up. At the top many people enter; at the bottom fewer complete the action.

Typical stages go from awareness to interest, consideration, and conversion. In e-commerce, that might look like visit → product page → cart → checkout → purchase. Each drop-off is a leak. The spend that produces one buyer at the bottom is customer acquisition cost. Tools like landing pages, microsites, clear CTAs, and good UX exist to keep people moving down without friction.

A real-life example of a funnel

Think of a real funnel in a kitchen: a wide mouth, a narrow spout. Online, ads or search bring a wide mouth of visitors; only some become leads, and fewer become customers. Mapping the funnel shows where people leave — for example at cart abandonment — so you know what to fix first.