Maximize ROI with Mid‑Funnel Marketing

What is the middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU) stage?

The middle of the funnel (MOFU) refers to the part of the marketing funnel where potential customers are past the awareness stage and are considering making a purchase. At this point, your leads may be evaluating options to determine which product or service will best meet their needs.

As such, your mid-funnel marketing efforts should focus on providing detailed information about your product or service to potential buyers. Mid-marketing funnel tactics should also address any concerns or objections that potential customers may have.

Common mid-funnel marketing tactics include email marketing, lead nurturing, and retargeting ads. These tactics work to nudge mid-funnel leads closer to making a purchase.

How is the middle of the funnel different from other stages?

Your potential customer is in a different state of mind at each phase in the marketing funnel, which requires unique marketing tactics. The middle of the funnel differs from the other stages in several ways, which we'll discuss below.

Top of the marketing funnel vs bottom of the funnel

At the top-of-the-marketing funnel, your focus is on attracting new leads and creating brand awareness with your target audience. Mid-funnel marketing centers on nurturing leads, building relationships, and differentiating your product or solution.

What is bottom-of-the-funnel marketing?

The bottom of the marketing funnel is where potential customers are ready to purchase. The focus for bottom-of-the-funnel leads is to provide the final push they need to make the purchase, such as:

• Special offers
• Discounts
• Testimonials
• Reviews

Customer behavior of mid-funnel leads

Mid-funnel leads are more interested and engaged in your product or service than those at the top. Your mid-funnel leads are more likely to respond to marketing efforts that provide detailed information and address their concerns.

Overall, mid-funnel marketing is instrumental in transforming leads into customers. As such, it requires a different approach compared to the other marketing funnel stages, and a focus on building relationships and providing valuable information.

Got leads stuck in the middle? Here are tactics to help them break out

Being stuck in the middle of the funnel is fun for no one, especially if you're having a hard time bringing your leads up to the next stage.

Fortunately, several innovative tools and tactics can help nudge leads toward making a purchase.

Mid-funnel content marketing

When it comes to moving mid-funnel leads up the sales funnel, content is still king. There are many types of middle-of-funnel marketing content you can use to provide value, deliver content and help mid-funnel leads make the right decision:

1. Case studies are real-life examples of how your product or service helped a customer solve a problem. They demonstrate the value and benefits of your product and can help build trust with potential customers.
2. Product demonstrations show mid-funnel leads how your solution works, its benefits, and unique features. Mid-funnel content can help alleviate doubts or uncertainties about your product.
3. Webinars are live or recorded online events that can establish your brand as a bona fide authority. Most importantly, it can offer mid-funnel leads the opportunity to interact with you and your business.
4. Whitepapers are often lengthy, in-depth reports demonstrating your expertise on a particular topic. Whitepapers can help your qualified leads make more informed decisions.
5. Comparison guides compare your product to your competitors' products, highlighting the differences and benefits of your product. This type of mid-funnel marketing content can help influence leads to choose your product over your competitors.

Email marketing for mid-funnel leads

Email marketing can be an effective way to nurture mid-funnel leads and move them closer to making a purchase. Using email campaigns for mid-funnel leads can open the door to a range of enticing benefits:

1. Nurture and nudge prospects to the final sale. Mid-funnel leads have already expressed interest in your brand, but they may not be ready to purchase yet. Email marketing can help you stay top-of-mind and serve valuable content that moves them closer to making a purchase.
2. Provide a more personalized experience. By segmenting your email list and delivering targeted content to mid-funnel leads, you can tailor your communication and provide a personalized experience. This can help build trust and credibility with your mid-funnel audience.
3. Email marketing is more cost-effective. You can reach a large audience at a minimal cost, making it an affordable way to nurture leads and move them closer to making a purchase.
4. Email marketing is more measurable. Email marketing provides detailed analytics on email performance, including open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. You can use this information to optimize your strategy and drive more desirable results.
5. Increase engagement with targeted emails. By providing valuable, personalized content, you can address the unique needs of your target audience and build relationships.

Social media marketing for mid-funnel marketing

Although social media marketing is prevalent in every part of the marketing funnel, it can be especially impactful for mid-funnel leads. Here are a few tips and best practices you and your sales team can use to do so:

1. Share informative mid-funnel content on your social media channels that provide value to your mid-funnel leads. Examples of impactful mid-funnel content include blog posts, videos, infographics, and other pieces that address their pain points and interests.
2. Use retargeting ads on social media platforms to reach mid-funnel leads who have already engaged with your brand. Retargeting ads can help keep your brand top-of-mind and remind them of the benefits of your products or services.
3. Leverage social proof, such as customer reviews, testimonials, and case studies. This content can help build trust and credibility to move mid-funnel leads down the sales funnel.
4. Encourage engagement on your social media channels by asking questions, running polls, and responding to comments. It can help build and deepen relationships to move prospects further down your sales funnel.
5. Use social media listening tools to monitor social media conversations related to your brand and industry. Monitoring tools can help you identify and engage high-potential mid-funnel leads.
6. Offer incentives, such as discounts or exclusive offers, to mid-funnel leads who engage with your brand's social media posts. Discounts and exclusive offers are proven to drive results and increase brand loyalty.

Measuring the success of your mid-funnel marketing efforts

Measuring the performance of your mid-funnel marketing efforts isn't a nice to have — it's imperative. Simply put, what gets measured gets done. And what gets measured and fed back is done well.

Here are a few key performance indicators (KPIs) you should use to measure the effectiveness of your mid-funnel marketing.

• The click-through rate (CTR) represents the ratio of clicks to impressions. You can measure the CTR for social media posts, email CTA clicks, and more. In either case, the CTR measures the effectiveness of your content or post.
• Time spent on site is the time a visitor spends on your site during a current session. However, this metric should be combined with conversion rate, bounce rate, and other key metrics to provide insight into user behavior and website performance.
• Engagement rate is a broad metric that measures the level of interaction or involvement a mid-funnel lead has with your social media post, website, or email. While social media engagement rates may include shares, likes, comments, and clicks, website engagement rates may include pages per session, time spent on the site, or bounce rate. In either case, high engagement rates can drive brand loyalty, awareness, and sales.
• Conversion rates provide insight into the effectiveness of your mid-funnel marketing campaign. Higher conversion rates can indicate your marketing campaign is successful.
• Lead quality refers to the likelihood that mid-funnel leads will convert into paying customers. This mid-funnel marketing KPI can be based on behavior, demographics, interests, and other points of interest. A high-quality lead is more likely to engage with your brand or make a purchase.
• Cost per acquisition (CPA) measures the cost of acquiring a new customer or lead. CPA is calculated by dividing the total cost of a marketing campaign by the number of new customers or leads generated by that campaign.
• Customer lifetime value (CLV) estimates the total revenue a business can expect to earn from a customer over the life of the relationship. CLV considers a customer's purchase history, average order value, frequency of purchase, and other factors. This KPI can help you focus on the customers who are most likely to generate the highest revenue over time.

How to track and measure the success of mid-funnel marketing

Unfortunately, measuring success with mid-funnel marketing can be challenging.

Here's why: mid-funnel marketing success can be based on several metrics and activities. Many of these activities are not as tangible as direct response metrics like clicks or conversions.

Because of this, you must take a holistic approach by considering both qualitative and quantitative factors. Here are a few tell-tale metrics and strategies you can use to gauge your success.

1. Lead nurturing is key to measuring success with mid-funnel marketing. Metrics like email campaign open rates, CTR on mid-funnel content, and conversion rates for mid-funnel offers (like demos, trials, or consultations) can help gauge how effective lead nurturing efforts are.
2. Mid-funnel marketing aims to engage prospects and build brand awareness and interest, which means any engagement metric can indicate success. Metrics like time spent on site, pages per session, and social media engagement can be instrumental in determining the health of your sales funnel.
3. A successful mid-funnel marketing strategy should drive prospects toward the bottom of your sales funnel, where leads become paying customers. This means you should pay special attention to deals in the pipeline and the length of the sales cycle. You should also hone in on your conversion rate from mid-funnel leads to closed deals to determine how your mid-funnel marketing is driving sales.
4. Ultimately, the success of mid-funnel marketing can be measured by the ROI that it generates. By tracking the cost of mid-funnel marketing activities —like mid-funnel content creation, lead nurturing, and sales enablement— and comparing it to the revenue generated by closed deals, businesses can calculate the ROI of their mid-funnel marketing efforts.

Mailchimp can help you break leads out of the middle and into success

While many discredit or discount the importance of being in the middle of the funnel, your mid-funnel leads are valuable. These customers may be familiar with your brand but haven't made the leap of faith to purchase.

Although there are many tools available to nudge your mid-funnel leads down the funnel, deciding which tool to use and how to deploy it can pose a unique set of problems.

Fortunately, Mailchimp can help. Mailchimp offers a comprehensive suite of state-of-the-art tools to help you nudge your mid-funnel leads into paying customers.

Whether it's email marketing, content automation, social media campaigns, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, or other solutions, Mailchimp makes your mid-funnel strategy and lead conversion easier and more efficient.