A Purchase Funnel is a consumer focussed marketing model which illustrates customer journey towards the purchase of a product or a service. It is also referred to as Marketing Funnel, Sales Funnel or Customer Funnel.

The theoretical model for this concept was developed by E. St. Elmo Lewis in 1898. His model depicts four stages and is called as the AIDA model –

Awareness – Customer awareness about the existence of the product or service.

Interest – Actively participating in a product group.

Desire – Aspiring to a particular brand or product

Action – Action taken towards purchasing the product

This model has been developed, transformed and modified by marketers to cater to the present scenarios. One of the examples of such transformations is this image below –

In the above model –

• Consumers become aware of the product.
• They have an opinion about the product whether they like it or not.
• They take the product into consideration as per their needs.
• They have a preference for brands for that product.
• They take an action and buy/purchase the product.

Purchase Funnel is a concept used in marketing to guide promotional campaigns to target customers. Apart from tracking consumers journey towards buying a product, Purchase Funnel, also lets the company or organization reach the right customer and influence them. It also guides the consumers towards the product.