This article is based on the webinar “How to build a profitable marketing funnel” featuring Remco from Doublesmart. Watch the full webinar here for practical examples and real-world cases.
What is a B2B marketing funnel?
A B2B marketing funnel is the journey a potential business customer takes, from first introduction to purchase and beyond. Unlike B2C marketing, this journey in B2B is often more complex and longer. Multiple decision-makers are involved, purchase amounts are higher, and the consideration phase can last months.
The most well-known model for mapping this customer journey is the See Think Do Care model, developed by Google evangelist Avinash Kaushik. This model divides the customer journey into four phases, each with its own characteristics and marketing opportunities.
The See Think Do Care model explained
The See Think Do Care model distinguishes four phases in the customer journey:
See phase: This is your broadest audience. People who might eventually be interested in your product or service, but currently show no buying intent. Think of someone reading a general article about logistics optimisation, without actively searching for a solution.
Think phase: In this phase, your target audience compares different solutions. They search for terms like “benefits of electric forklift” or “forklift brands comparison”. There’s interest, but no immediate purchase intent.
Do phase: Now things get serious. Your prospect is actively looking to make a purchase with search terms like “buy forklift” or “forklift hire near me”. Purchase intent is high and the decision is approaching.
Care phase: These are your existing customers. People who have already bought from you and whom you want to retain, keep satisfied, and encourage to make repeat purchases.
Why the traditional funnel approach costs money
The conventional approach is to start at the top. Create lots of reach, pour as many people as possible into the funnel, and work them downwards. The problem? This approach is often expensive and inefficient.
Imagine a lemon. If you only focus on Performance marketing in the Do phase, you’re squeezing that lemon. Fine for short-term results. But once the lemon is empty, you have nothing left. Conversely: if you only focus on Branding in the See phase, you let the fruit grow but never pick it.
The solution lies in the sequence. By starting at the bottom of the funnel and working your way up step by step, you build a profitable foundation that can finance the rest of your marketing activities.
The bottom-up approach: start with Care
The Care phase offers the highest ROI of your entire marketing funnel in virtually every situation. Yet this phase often receives little attention, because marketing is traditionally seen as “acquiring new customers”.
This is a missed opportunity. Existing customers already know you, already trust you, and have already bought from you. The threshold for a new purchase is much lower than with a cold lead.
Practical example: An existing customer of a forklift company visits the website and views pages about autonomous mobile robots, a product they don’t yet purchase. With website visitor identification like Leadinfo offers, the account manager can immediately reach out with a relevant offer. No cold acquisition, but warm follow-up with a customer who already has trust.
Customer Lifetime Value as your compass
In the Care phase, everything revolves around Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). This isn’t the total revenue a customer generates, but the total gross margin over the entire customer relationship.
A calculation example: a customer who buys once with €150 gross margin has a CLV of €150. The same customer who buys six times with €100 margin per purchase has a CLV of €600. That second customer is four times more valuable, even though the first purchase is smaller.
Therefore, don’t focus your marketing budget blindly on new first-time buyers. Also invest in increasing CLV with existing customers.
Effective channels in the Care phase
Which marketing channels work best for existing customers?
- Account-based marketing via website visitor identification: see which pages your customers visit and proactively follow up
- Customer lists in social media for targeted retargeting to your existing customer base
- Email marketing with personalised offers and relevant content
- Relationship gifts that strengthen the bond and create top-of-mind awareness
The Care phase only works if your customer satisfaction is high. Is it low? Then customers won’t return, no matter how good your marketing is. Therefore, invest first in service and customer experience before scaling up the Care phase.
Step 2: Optimise the Do phase
Only when your Care phase is in order do you focus on the Do phase. These are prospects who are considering a purchase today or tomorrow. They compare on price, seek reliability, and want to see social proof.
Keyword research as your starting point
Thorough keyword research provides insight into the search behaviour of purchase-ready prospects. Look for search terms with high purchase intent:
- [product] + buy
- [product] + hire
- [product] + [location]
- [brand] + [product]
These search terms often have two to three words and a relatively high cost per click in Google Ads. That’s logical: competition is higher because purchase intent is also higher.
Making the calculations
Before investing budget, make your calculations complete. Many marketers focus only on traffic, but forget conversion rate and sales value.
Example:
- Cost per click: €2
- Conversion rate: 1%
- Average order value: €500
This means: 100 visitors = €200 advertising costs = 1 conversion = €500 revenue = €300 gross result.
Want to double your revenue? Buying twice as much traffic isn’t always the smartest route. Perhaps it’s more effective to increase your conversion rate from 1% to 2%. Or increase your average order value through upselling.
Turnover rate of your marketing budget
An important concept in the Do phase is the turnover rate of your marketing budget. The money you spend on advertising today comes back to your bank account relatively quickly in this phase. Depending on your market, this can be days to weeks.
This makes the Do phase attractive for financial stakeholders: ROI is directly measurable and payback time is short.
Effective channels in the Do phase
- Google Ads Search on purchase-oriented search terms
- Google Shopping for product-focused searches
- Social remarketing to website visitors who already showed interest
- Search engine optimisation (SEO) on transactional search terms
- Marketplaces like Amazon for certain product categories
Recognising the ceiling
At some point, you’ll reach a ceiling in the Do phase. You’re 100% visible on all relevant search terms, your conversion rate is optimised, and further growth becomes increasingly expensive. This is the moment to look at the next phase.
Step 3: Fill in the Think phase
The Think phase contains prospects who are orienting themselves. They compare solutions, weigh pros and cons, and want to know what others think.
Recognise Think search terms
Think search terms are often more informational in nature:
- [product] + compare
- [product] + benefits
- [product] + brands
- What is the best [product] for [application]?
These search terms often have a lower conversion rate to direct sales. Prospects in the Think phase won’t convert today, but perhaps in weeks or months.
Distinctive capability
Success in the Think phase depends on two factors: visibility and distinctive capability. You need to be found and stand out among competitors.
What do you distinguish yourself on?
- The most user-friendly (think Apple)
- The fastest (think Ferrari)
- The most personal (think Starbucks)
- The smartest / thought leader in your market segment
Many B2B companies choose thought leadership: sharing expertise through content, so prospects come to see you as the authority in your field.
Collecting soft conversions
Because prospects in the Think phase don’t buy directly, you focus on soft conversions:
- Whitepaper downloads
- Webinar registrations
- Newsletter sign-ups
- Case study requests
This fills your remarketing lists and collects contact details for further nurturing.
Effective channels in the Think phase
- Lookalike audiences in social media based on your existing customers
- Google Ads on informational search terms
- SEO content that answers comparison questions
- Retargeting to website visitors with informational content
Step 4: The See phase as the final layer
The See phase is the broadest layer of your funnel. Here you reach people who aren’t actively searching and may not yet know they have a need. Search behaviour is latent or even absent.
Slow ROI
Profitability in the See phase takes the longest to materialise. People you reach here won’t convert today and often not next month either. This makes it difficult to demonstrate ROI and justify budget in the boardroom.
Yet this phase is essential for sustainable growth. Without inflow at the top of the funnel, your pipeline will dry up over time.
Building brand preference
The goal of the See phase is to create brand preference. When someone eventually enters the Think or Do phase, you want your brand to be the first that comes to mind.
This requires repetition. Think of brands like Amazon or Apple: through consistent visibility, they’re top-of-mind when consumers need something.
Always-on and campaign peaks
An effective See strategy combines always-on campaigns with periodic peaks. Think of a travel agency: a base campaign always runs, but in January (when many people book holidays) budgets are scaled up.
Effective channels in the See phase
- Social media prospecting with broad targeting
- Content marketing via blogs, videos, and podcasts
- Display advertising for broad reach
- TV, radio, and print for certain target audiences and budgets
Explaining the See phase to stakeholders
A common challenge is selling See activities to directors or financial stakeholders. Direct sales are minimal and ROI is hard to measure.
The solution: don’t evaluate the See phase on sales, but on KPIs that fit this phase. Think of reach, brand awareness, and engagement. Make the See phase part of your total marketing budget and explain that this phase feeds the funnel for future conversions.
The complete picture: from Care to See
By building the marketing funnel from the bottom up, you create a profitable foundation that enables growth:
- Care phase: Maximise the value of existing customers. Higher CLV, more repeat purchases, strong word-of-mouth.
- Do phase: Harvest the fruits from purchase-ready prospects. High turnover rate, measurable ROI, direct conversions.
- Think phase: Build your shortlist position. Collect contact details, fill remarketing lists, distinguish yourself from competitors.
- See phase: Feed the top of your funnel. Create brand awareness and ensure continuous inflow.
How website visitor identification strengthens your funnel
A powerful tool in this approach is website visitor identification. With tools like Leadinfo, you can see which companies visit your website, even if they don’t fill in a form.
This helps in every phase of the funnel:
- Care phase: Recognise existing customers viewing new product pages
- Do phase: Identify purchase-ready prospects for warm acquisition
- Think phase: Track orienting visitors and retarget them with relevant content
By linking website visitor data to your CRM, sales immediately gains insight into which accounts are warm and which deserve action.
Conclusion: marketing as a profitable investment
You don’t build a profitable B2B marketing funnel by pouring as many people as possible in at the top. You build it by starting at the bottom, where ROI is highest, and working your way up step by step.
Start with your existing customers in the Care phase. Optimise your Do phase for purchase-ready prospects. Build distinctive capability in the Think phase. And feed the top of your funnel in the See phase, only once the bottom is running profitably.
This way, you turn marketing from a cost centre into a profitable investment.
