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Customer acquisition funnels have been around for longer than you would guess. In fact, people have been using it for longer than they’ve been using paper clips, flashlights and vacuum cleaners. However, the only thing that seems less innovative than a customer acquisition funnel is a paper clip.

Here’s a look at some of the reasons why this model has failed so miserably.

·        It Assumes That Customer Journeys Are Linear

If you look at a traditional marketing funnel, you’d notice that the customer always follows a very linear journey. They enter at a top stage, usually referred to as “awareness”, until they sequentially move through each stage until reaching purchase. There may be slight differences in the stages, but the journey always remains linear.

In reality, customer journeys can never be linear. They can enter from any of the different stages, skip over steps, move up and down between stages or just get stuck at one stage. Trying to map out the customer’s journey as if every customer is the same may be the first and biggest fault of the customer acquisition funnel.

·        The Journey Ends at the Point-of-Purchase

A good brand is one that creates a relationship with their clients; something that buyers would want to come back to. The customer acquisition funnel does not take this into consideration. The buyer’s journey essentially ends as soon as they make a purchase.

If things worked like that, not only would it have a negative effect on the image of the brand, but it will add to the cost of the business as well since it can cost as much as 5 to 10 times more to generate new customers than it does to retain older ones.

·        Failing to Account  for External Influences

Another thing that this model fails to acknowledge is the fact that external factors can have a great influence on the journey of the customer as well as whether they decide to make a purchase or not. Reviews and suggestions from colleagues, peers, social media, etc. need to be accounted for.

As the world has become a lot more connected due to digitization, it has become easier for customers to consult other people as well as experts before making a purchase, and not taking this into consideration can hurt the business.

There are other reasons that the customer acquisition funnel isn’t something to model your business after, but these three points are the main faults to keep in mind. The good thing, however, is that once you recognize the faults of this model and why these don’t work, it is easier to avoid them as you create a model to structure your business around.

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