A funnel is really just a way to represent the customer's journey as they move towards the purchase of your product or service. At the top, where the widest point of the funnel, is where a buyer starts their journey, and the bottom, the narrowest part, is where they complete it. Our goal is to funnel prospects into buyers. Moving them from the top to the bottom of the funnel.
The most traditional funnel follows AIDA, awareness, interest, desire, action. At the top is awareness. A prospect has to become aware of two things, their problem and your solution. It's in this stage that your brand is exposed to the prospect alongside competitors. Below awareness, we have interest. At this stage, a consumer beings to explore the products or services available to them. Next comes desire, which we can also call consideration.
It's here that the prospect wants to make a purchase, but it may or may not be with your brand. Finally, action. They're either going to buy or not. They may select your company, another company, or, based on their findings, they may decide they're not making a purchase at all.