Middle of the funnel (MoFU) is a term used in digital marketing to refer to the steps taken in converting a customer from an inactive state – where they are not actively in contact or interested in a brand or its services or products – to a point where they start to actively consider working with the brand. MoFU is usually contrasted with top of the funnel (ToFU) and bottom of the funnel (BoFU) steps, which describe the very first interaction with a customer and the final steps of conversion, respectively.
What’s in the middle of the funnel?
Once customers interact with a brand through the ToFU stage, they enter the MoFU, which is the middle portion between identifying and engaging audiences and getting them to take a desired action. All customer journeys begin with the ToFU, bringing in new prospects and leads, and then progress through the MoFU before finally reaching the BoFU, where official purchase decisions are made.
At the MoFU, customers start to consider a brand and its products or services in relation to their own needs, and it’s here that customer relationships can be developed into more meaningful ones, as well as nurturing leads into paying customers. The MoFU is very much the customer's journey, i.e., the steps they take to move from being just aware of a brand, to actively considering purchasing its products and services.
MoFU activities
As customers progress through the MoFU, brands and marketers will use various methods and tactics to prompt further consideration, such as by sending promotional emails, running targeted social media campaigns, and providing educational blog posts or webinars about the brand and its products.
It’s important that each customer is approached differently based on where they currently are in the MoFU, and the kind of offer they need to move closer to a BoFU point of view. For example, if a customer has recently become interested in a brand, then more general messages about the brand and product would likely be the best approach, versus providing discount codes to customers that have already browsed and interacted with product pages.
General guidelines and best practices
Below are some general guidelines and best practices to keep in mind when working with MoFU activities.
Become a Sales & Marketing Rainmaker
Learn valuable skills to win more customers, grow your business, and increase your profits.
• Understand your audience before taking actions. It’s important to have a good understanding of your customers, their typical behaviour and interaction with your brand, and the kinds of offers they’ll respond best to.
• Use segmentation of your customer base to personalise content and communications.
• Utilise the customer journey to tailor content. Different customers will have different reactions depending on how far down the funnel they are, so tailor content and communications accordingly.
• Foster meaningful customer relationships. Customer relationships at the MoFU should focus on providing customers with useful and relevant content, rather than just trying to push them to conversion.
• Utilise A/B testing. As you experiment with different tactics for your MoFU activities and customer segments, it’s important to use A/B testing to gain insights into the performance of each approach.
• Monitor the results of your campaigns and continuously evaluate and optimise. Measurement is key to understanding customer behaviours, and so tracking and evaluating the results of your campaigns and activities is essential.
Conclusion
The middle of the funnel is a critical stage in the customer journey, as it breaks down the barrier between customer awareness and purchase consideration. MoFU is the stage where customer relationships can be developed, leads nurtured, and customers moved closer to the end of the funnel. A customer’s journey through the MoFU can require the use of different tactics, such as emails, social media, and webinars, and should be tailored according to who the customer is and where they are in the journey. By understanding the customer and their behaviours, while also making use of A/B testing and performance tracking and evaluation, marketers can strive to optimising customer journeys and increase conversion rates.