Full Funnel Marketing: Why CRM Needs to Consider the Entire Funnel

You Don't Start at the End of the Sales Funnel

Full Funnel Marketing isn't new for performance and brand teams. But for CRM departments—often focused deep in the funnel with conversion, loyalty, and retention—it's still a methodology rarely used to its full potential.

The result is often short-term campaigns: “10% discount for members”, “Book now”. These work for customers already ready to buy, but it's a small group—often less than 5% of the target market. To create long-term growth, CRM must also learn to work with the entire funnel.

Full Funnel Marketing for CRM Can Be Used in Two Contexts

1. Recruiting brand-new customers, where we start in channels like advertising and the web to create touchpoints that lead customers to share their details. 

2. Cross-selling to existing customers, where CRM data is used to build awareness and consideration before presenting a new offer.

The Three Stages of the Sales Funnel

To work effectively with Full Funnel Marketing, we need to understand the three main phases of the customer journey. Each stage signals different customer needs, motivations, and receptivity to various types of messaging.

• Awareness: This is when the customer doesn't yet have a clear need or hasn't connected your brand to their need. The goal is to generate attention and inspiration – to spark curiosity and establish the first contact.

• Consideration: In this phase, the customer has recognized their need and starts actively exploring solutions. The goal is to explain, build trust, and show why your offering is relevant.

• Conversion: When the customer is ready to act, clarity, security, and simplicity are needed. The goal is to get the customer to take the final step and become a customer, or make additional purchases as an existing customer.

The customer has different needs at each stage of the sales funnel.

Adapting both content and CTAs (Call to Actions) to these phases is crucial. Skipping steps or using the wrong type of communication risks losing the customer—either by moving too quickly or not assisting them through their decision-making process.

How to Communicate in Different Stages

A common mistake in CRM is sending the same message at all stages. But customer needs change dramatically along the journey—therefore, communication and CTAs must be adjusted.

Awareness: Discovery and Inspiration

• Goal: Make the customer aware of the need and that you can be relevant.

• Communication: Inspiring, need-triggering, often more emotional than rational. Highlight problems, opportunities, or trends.

• Examples: Articles, checklists, inspiration, storytelling, “did you know” content in emails or push notifications. Ads for reach.

• KPIs: Reach, impressions, ad recall, open rates, video views, time on page.

• Common Mistake: Measuring awareness on conversion.

What types of CTAs are recommended for awareness?

Here, we want to lower the threshold as much as possible. The customer shouldn't have to make big decisions, just start engaging. CTAs should be soft, inspiring, and inviting.

Examples of CTAs

• Learn more

• Discover how...

• See the inspiration here

• Explore our guide library

• Watch the video

• Get tips

Why: CTAs should spark curiosity without requiring commitment. Here, the goal is engagement and reach, not sales.

DO: Use soft CTAs like “Learn more”, “Discover how...”, “Get inspired”. 
DON’T: Ask the customer to buy or sign up immediately. Hard CTAs early create friction.

Consideration: Explain the Value

• Goal: Help the customer understand why your offer is the best and build trust. 

• Communication: More rational and explanatory, yet still engaging. Comparisons, guides, and knowledge sharing are needed here.

• Examples: Guides, self-assessments, case stories, product comparisons, personalized landing pages. Chatbots can be used to gather more data and provide advice.

• KPIs: CTR, repeat visitors, downloads, form completions, web engagement.

• Common Mistake: Skipping consideration altogether and jumping directly from awareness to conversion.

Which Types of CTAs Are Recommended for Consideration?

Here, the customer is actively weighing their options. CTAs should invite more knowledge, interaction, and a deeper relationship.

Examples of CTAs

• Download the guide

• See customer case

• Compare options

• Try it yourself” (e.g. calculator, quiz, self-test)

• Sign up for our webinar

• Talk to an expert

Why: The customer is ready to invest more time and energy. CTAs should give value while gathering more data and building trust.

DO: Use CTAs that deepen the relationship: “Download the guide”, “See case studies”, “Compare options”.

DON’T: Just continue with general inspiration. Here, the customer wants the next step—more knowledge, not fluff.

Conversion: Create Confidence and Simplicity

• Goal: Remove friction and guide the customer to make a decision. 

• Communication: Concrete offers, personalization, clear CTAs. Confidence through transparency and social proof (reviews, cases). 

• Examples: Quote via email, SMS reminders, personalized offers, retargeting flows, telemarketing. 

• KPIs: Conversion rate, sales, CPA, lead-to-sale. 

• Common Mistake: Using the same hard sales pitch on all customers, even those not ready.

What Types of CTAs Are Recommended for Conversion? 
Here, the customer has all the information they need. CTAs should therefore be clear, action-oriented, and reassuring.

Examples of CTAs

• Buy now

• Book today

• Get your quote

• Start your subscription

• Apply now

• Unlock the discount

• Renew here

Why: CTAs should signal simplicity and clarity—no more detours, just action. Here, the focus is on conversion.

DO: Use clear, action-oriented CTAs like “Buy now”, “Book today”, “Get your quote”. 
DON’T: Bring in too much inspiration or explanatory content here—it can create uncertainty instead of driving closure.

Signals and Behavior Data—The Key to Steering Communication

A crucial prerequisite for succeeding with full funnel is to capture signals from all channels. Without that, we don't know where the customer is in the funnel—and it becomes impossible to direct communication accurately. 

Examples

• We send an awareness email with inspiring content. If the customer clicks, visits the landing page, and engages, it’s a clear signal they're ready for consideration. The next step in communication should be more explanatory and guiding. 

• A customer who opens several emails but never clicks remains likely still in awareness—and needs more inspiration, not a sales pitch. 

• A customer who adds a product to the cart but doesn’t purchase is already in conversion and should be nudged with reminders and incentives.

For This to Work, the CRM Organization Must...

• Integrate data from all channels—email, SMS, web, app, advertising. 

• Build logic for funnel classification—so that customer behaviors determine which part of the funnel they belong to. 

• Automate the next step—so that every signal leads to the right type of communication.

This combination of behavioral data and automation makes full funnel in CRM truly possible. 

How to Measure Correctly 

Full Funnel Marketing often fails due to wrong KPIs. A classic mistake is trying to measure awareness activities on conversion. If it doesn’t lead to immediate sales, the conclusion is the effort failed—which is incorrect. 

The right approach is to set unique KPIs for each stage:

Customer Journey: Goals for each channel, audience, and KPIs

By measuring this way, it's clear where the bottleneck in the funnel is—and which stage needs reinforcement. 

Finally

Full Funnel Marketing isn't about CRM becoming a performance team. It's about CRM taking responsibility for the entire customer journey—both when recruiting new customers and cross-selling to existing ones.

This requires CRM departments to learn to adapt communication and CTAs to each funnel stage, capture signals from customer behaviors to guide the next communication, set the right KPIs for each part, and collaborate more closely with performance and brand to create a unified experience.

When CRM begins working full funnel seriously, emails, SMS, and triggers can become tools that not only drive short-term conversion but also build long-term growth and loyalty.