What is a ToFu, MoFu, BoFu sales funnel?
In a ToFu, MoFu, BoFu sales funnel, “ToFu” means top of funnel, “BoFu” is the middle, and “BoFu” is the bottom. A sales funnel is a process in marketing that involves tracking your leads as they go through the various stages of the user’s journey until a conversion takes place.
There are five different stages of the typical user’s journey in marketing, including:
-
Awareness
The user learns about your brand and the products or services you offer. In this beginning stage, you can start to nurture leads by building relationships with users so they are more likely to move through more stages of the funnel.
-
Interest
The user has connected with your brand and what you offer and wants to keep learning more about your offerings. You can provide videos, product guides, and other information to satisfy this need.
-
Consideration
The user is considering purchasing your product or service and is going over their pain points and deciding if they really want or need it. You can show the value of your products or services through infographics, testimonials, and more.
-
Decision
The user recognizes the value of the products or services and decides to make a purchase.
-
Retention
Once a conversion happens, you want to retain those customers and keep them going in and out of the sales funnel. You can motivate them to be repeat customers by offering them special discounts or offering a loyalty program.
Victorious SEO Agency explains, “Building a successful sales funnel starts with putting yourself in your customers’ shoes.” In other words, nurturing your leads and understanding the customers’ perspective in each stage of the sales funnel can benefit your business.
In this post, we’ll discuss ToFu, MoFu, and BoFu in the sales funnel and the role each level plays in the funnel.
ToFu
The top of the funnel refers to the awareness stage. According to Victorious, “ToFu content should educate. Search intent here is purely informational.” Prospective customers are looking for a solution to their problem by querying in a search engine.
You want to propose the solution to their problem, which starts with answering their questions. For example, if the user searches for “sustainable ways to lose weight”, you can provide a blog on your website on 5 Sustainable Ways to Lose Weight.
You can discover what your target audience is searching for using keyword research. This can be done on a search engine marketing tool such as SEMrush. SEMrush allows you to explore different keywords and their variations, see their search volume and the difficulty to rank for them in search engines. Using this information, you can select keywords and long-tail keywords with high search volume and lower keyword difficulty to identify the best topic ideas to answer users’ questions.
MoFu
The middle of the funnel refers to the consideration stage. Victorious explains that, “Prospective customers are looking for more detailed information about potential solutions. They’re learning about different brands and considering the pros and cons of different offerings. This search intent is called commercial investigation.” MoFu is your opportunity to stand out amongst competitors as the solution to the consumers’ problem.
You can continue to provide information to guide prospective customers into making a decision. Because your goal is turning leads into conversions, you’ll want to make sure the information you’re providing addresses potential pain points your customers have.
When creating MoFu content, use the specific long-tail keywords you found in your topic research. You can create content such as buyer guides, case studies, newsletters, long form blog articles, and ebooks that keep the consumer informed and answer questions they may have during this stage.
MoFu is a significant stage of the sales funnel, as you want to convince your leads to move closer to a conversion. The more focused you are during this stage of the customer perspective, the more likely you are to convince them to move on to BoFu.
BoFu
The bottom of the funnel refers to the decision stage. The customers are trying to finalize a decision about converting. In this stage, you want to continue explaining your product or service’s value and why your brand is the best for it, and introduce an offer they can’t refuse.
Because people in this stage already have information about your brand and what you offer, you can start crafting a sales pitch in BoFu.
BoFu content should dig into the details of what makes your offering unique, and outline where you beat competitors. This can be achieved through product features with comparisons to competitor offerings, demo videos, free trials, giveaways and coupons, and user-generated content (reviews\testimonials\social media posts).
When the funnel is done successfully, BoFu leads to a conversion. Although you’ve achieved your goal, you still need to ensure customer retention. Strive to add customers to your community and stay in contact with them to build brand loyalty.
Final Thoughts
According to LucidChart, “Research shows that companies who do lead nurturing well see 50% more sales-ready leads, and those leads make 47% larger purchases.” Consumers respond well to lead nurturing in the ToFu, MoFu, BoFu sales funnel approach. The funnel helps build relationships by tailoring to the wants and needs of the consumer.
The ToFu, MoFu, BoFu sales funnel lifecycle requires a proactive approach and a commitment to understanding customer search intent during each stage. However, it can pay dividends in the form of high-quality leads, more conversions, and increased business.
