The Evolution of Marketing Funnels

Marketing funnels have been around for over a century, becoming beasts of AI, automation and at time, questionably ethical practices.

Funnels have turned from simple direct-response campaigns, into today's complex multi-layered systems.

Few realise this, but the marketing funnel concept wasn't created by some guru in the 90s - it dates back to 1898 when E. St. Elmo Lewis developed the AIDA model (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action).

Despite all the advances in tech, this simple approach still serves marketers well when they simplify.

The challenge today isn't that we need more complex funnels - it's that we've overengineered what worked perfectly well in its simpler form.

Think about it. Every element we've added to our marketing - endless upsell pages, complex email sequences, behavioural triggers - they all tie back to these four fundamental stages. The problem is that many of us have been chasing complexity as a strategy, when simplicity is what converts.

In my agency years, I watched clients implement bloated, complicated funnels that looked impressive on paper but failed to deliver results. The ones who succeeded did so by stripping away unnecessary elements and focusing on what truly matters - human connection with clear messaging, that guides prospects through these four stages without confusion.

We need to bring the HUMAN back into the funnel and simplify everything. 

The thoughts of taking ourselves out of the funnel, allowing the robots to do all the work, will hurt in the long run.

Ask yourself today, what's one marketing element you've simplified in your business that brought better results? Has removing complexity ever improved your conversion rates?