Shout it from the rooftops, the funnel is dead! At least, that’s what inbound marketing folks have been telling us for the past several years. Each time the funnel nearly-dies, some suspiciously similar shaped diagram clambers to take its place. Chicken Little just might be on to something this time, though, as Hubspot unveiled their new “flywheel” at the Inbound conference earlier this month (Buyer, 2018).
Even if you aren’t as Hubspot-hyped as I am, if you spend time in digital marketing circles you are probably at least somewhat familiar with the Hubspot inbound philosophy and the concept of customer delight. Check out this resource for a quick refresher. The old Hubspot model of a buyer’s journey that moves from Attract, Convert, Close, to Delight is out the window and replaced with a diagram that looks similar to a donut chart with Attract, Engage, and Delight encircling the customer in the middle.
The flywheel is a natural extension of the inbound concept of customer delight because the basic concept of both is that the customer is in the center of everything that we do (Buyer, 2018). Instead of relegating customer delight to something that happens at the end of the sales process, the flywheel conveys that Attract, Engage, and Delight are cyclical and in an infinite rotation (Buyer, 2018). It makes sense, right? Brands should prioritize the customer experience at every touchpoint; not really groundbreaking. Except that for many brands, it is.
When Hubspot rocked the marketing world 10 years ago with their inbound philosophy, they started an explosion of content marketing (Kniahynyckyj, 2018). Which is great — unless you’re trying to get people to take notice of YOUR brand. The internet has become as crowded with content as a Walmart parking lot on Black Friday, and consumers are getting better and better at simply ignoring it (Kniahynyckyj, 2018). What resonates with people now is hearing positive things about a brand from other customers, family, and friends (Kniahynyckyj, 2018). That’s where the flywheel comes in because it’s really hard to create product evangelists if your customer experience is abysmal. (See, I told you this could be groundbreaking for some brands!)
Where the flywheel really breaks with its triangular predecessors, though, is in the way it encourages an integrated approach to marketing communications. Bold statement, right? Let me explain. By placing the customer at the center of flywheel, Hubspot assumes that customers can jump in and out of a buyer’s journey in a variety of different places; this makes the consistency across media and executions even more important because potential customers might not interact with a brand’s media in the “right” order or in the right way. Still not convinced? Connecting across media is also more important in the world of the flywheel. Consumers are more persuaded by reviews and testimonials, so brands absolutely need to make those easier to find. Connecting across media makes it easier for consumers to find the information they are looking for, and that’s pretty delightful.
A delightful customer experience at every stage of the buyer’s journey could be an essential piece of brand image and positioning for many companies. With so many consumers looking to user-generated content and personal recommendations to inform their purchases, brand image and customer delight are two sides of the same, very important, coin. After all, the customer’s experience helps shape how they view the brand, and how they view the brand helps shape how they talk about the brand online and with their family and friends.
What do you think? Will the funnel stay dead this time, or will it rise like a Zombie from the grave to reign anew until someone else invents a “definitely-not-a-funnel” inverted pyramid diagram to represent the sales and marketing process? Let me know in the comments.
References:
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/12-new-realities-of-inbound-marketing/269227/
https://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/from-funnel-to-flywheel-turning-customers-into-promoters-02118390
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