The SaaS Marketing Funnel Explained

The stages of a customer's journey of buying a product or service is represented by the SaaS marketing funnel.
The funnel is divided into 3 sections: 

1. TOFU (Top of Funnel)

2. MOFU (Middle of Funnel) 

3. BOFU (Bottom of Funnel) 

Usually, it comprises four basic states and a bonus one: 

1. Awareness

2. Consideration

3. Decision

4. Retention

5. An extension of Advocacy

This further drives happy customers to become strong promoters.

During the Awareness phase, the prospect is introduced to the new brand as they are searching for solutions rather than products. 
This is where TOFU content lives which includes blog posts, social media, and helpful resources that educate without selling. The Consideration phase is the moment a potential client starts weighing options. Here, content should bring trust with the clients through webinars, comparison pages, or thought leadership articles. 

This is MOFU, where value and credibility are important factors in this funnel stage. At the Decision phase, buyers have increased confidence to make a decision. 

BOFU pulls buyers by removing any lingering doubts they may have. In the Retention phase, closeness is maintained by regular reinforcements and rewarding behaviors.

There are many ways to help your customers out with onboarding guides, hands-on training, and regular updates to the product that prove your ongoing commitment to the development of the product. The final and bonus phase, advocacy would be transforming the very loyal users into brand advocates, through user testimonials, brand communities, referral programs.

Beyond producing content for each step, the sequence of it matters. Planning your content in a sequential manner leads users step-by-step through the right message at the right time. This turns random content into a seamless experience of trust which generates conversions.

Awareness Stage – Earning Attention

The goal is to get noticed and to build trust without selling directly. Most people in this stage probably haven't yet heard of the product. 

They're looking for solutions hence, you must provide content to educate and engage. Examples include social posts, insightful newsletters, blog posts ranking for common questions, or interactive quizzes that help users identify their own pain points.

Your content needs to start solving a real problem for the buyer which will help give you that early engagement.
Strategies To Follow:

• Answer questions your customers are already Googling by putting your value first.

• To get listed in a wider search pool, use SEO titles that are based on questions.

• When people are aware of the problem, use TOFU keywords to make the search visible.

• For lead segmentation, try interactivity with AI-powered quizzes or small surveys.

• Social, communities, or newsletters is where your audience hangs out, be sure to be present on all the platforms.

Metrics to monitor:

• Website traffic: Do people find and share your content?

• Engagement: Do they bounce, share, read, or scroll? Track click-throughs, shares, and time on page.

• Growth by channel: Which platform: social media, email, or SEO is producing the most awareness?

• Trial sign-ups/newsletter subs: Gauge early signs of interest before a purchase is made.

Metrics show you what’s working. To determine which content is effective and which channels attract the most qualified viewers, monitor traffic, engagement, and sign-ups. Making a good first impression and increasing visibility are facilitated by properly packaging awareness content.

Real SaaS Brand Example:

ResumAI

An interactive AI tool that provides job seekers with personalized resumes quickly to help them stand out and be noticed.
Content Type: Landing page
Why it fits the stage: The landing page directly addresses a pain point- job searching and instantly provides value for top-of-funnel traffic and utility based content.

Consideration Stage : Nurturing and Educating

Once someone recognizes a problem, now all they are left with is what they are going to do about it. This is the consideration stage, where your content stops attracting and starts helping your potential buyers weed out all the options. At this stage users are comparing tools, comparing settings, and trying to figure out which product is the best fit for them. 

This is your opportunity to provide clarity, proof, and guidance. In this stage, case studies, webinars, comparison pages, and whitepapers do the heavy lifting.  The goal is to answer questions that are more specific, solution focused questions, and put your product in context.
Strategies To Follow:

• Make "alternative to" or comparison pages that highlight the unique features of your product.

• Make your case studies narrative by presenting the client as the protagonist.

• Divide up your leads according to their behaviour or intentions. 

• Provide a "Use Case Explorer" so that potential customers can search for content that is pertinent to them by industry or role.

• Go deeper with your content by answering product categories, and not just general pain points.

Metrics to Monitor:

• Activation rate: Do users enter your product for the first time in a meaningful way?

• Time to value: How soon do they notice results or realise the advantages of your product?

• Onboarding completion rate: Do users stay on your site long enough to become proficient with it?

You can determine whether your content is actually assisting users in getting started and maintaining engagement by monitoring activation, time to value, and onboarding completion. In the consideration stage, trust is everything. The more you educate and guide with content that is aligned to their questions, the closer to saying ‘yes’ these prospects will progress.

Real SaaS Brand Example:

SocLeads

A platform offering detailed blog posts, feature guides, and comparisons to help users choose the right social lead generation tools.

Content type: User Reviews

Why it fits the stage: The user reviews builds trust and encourages further engagement that fits the consideration stage when users assess different tools.

Decision Stage : Driving Conversions

By the time prospects enter the decision stage, they will have already given plenty of thought about their available options and your job is to make it easy, low risk, and obvious to them to choose you. This is converting trust to behavior. By this point, it is all really about clear, compelling, headline-grabbing, authoritative, and trustworthy content. 

Live or recorded demos are no longer optional, free trials are expected and informative pricing pages are essential. Walkthroughs, real life case snippets based on relevant and aligned industry challenges, and smart automated onboarding flows can also tip the scales in your favor. Your focus should be on removing friction, answering final doubts, and creating momentum.
Strategies To Follow: 

• Anticipate objections and address them directly in your content, whether pricing, time to get set up, or ROI. 

• Use incentives that put a time pressure on action, whether that is a bonus for an extended trial, or a time limited discount incorporating FOMO. 

• Use mini, niche-relevant case studies that reveal direct relevance to the buyer’s situation. 

• Allow users to “design their onboarding” with checklists, or self-directed setup paths. 

• Be fast and simple where users should never have to look for what you offer, especially regarding pricing or feature availability. 

Metrics to monitor: 

• Conversion rate: how many of your free trial users or demo viewers become paying customers? 

• CTA click-through rate: are people answering calls to "Start Trial or Book Demo" or "Speak with someone"? 

• Price or sign-up page drop-off rate: are potential customers exhibiting hesitancy at the very last minute?

You can identify friction and improve the path to purchase by keeping an eye on conversions, CTA clicks, and drop-off points. Clarity indicates confidence so the easier, smoother, and reassuring your experience, the lesser the chance of prospects second guessing “yes”.

Real SaaS Brand Example:

Dropbox Dash

Dropbox's productivity-focused tool, which offers walkthroughs and demos to streamline team processes and increase productivity.
Content Type: Product Demo
Why it fits the stage: Dash's homepage features a product demo that addresses any barriers to conversion for users who are already interested in a productivity solution.

Retention & Advocacy Stage : Boosting LTV

Where does SaaS growth happen? Getting a customer? Not just that, but keeping them and getting them to advocate for you.

At this point, you want to ensure that users feel supported and are regularly getting value out of your product. That focus demonstrates respect and creates genuine engagement.  This includes dynamic content such as knowledge bases, in-product demonstrations, emails with product updates, short video tutorials, an active community area, and customer success stories. Customers are far more likely to upgrade, renew, and recommend your brand if the journey is enjoyable.

Strategies to Follow:

• To maintain momentum and reduce churn, you need to identify and celebrate your micro-wins.

• Deliver bite-sized contextual lessons once onboarding is complete, and it must be based on what each user actually did.

• Being proactive in keeping frustration down and comfort up, convert common support questions into articles or videos.

• Consider using certifications or acknowledgement from the community, you can establish a user academy to incentivise a user's learning journey.

Metrics to Monitor:

• Churn rate: How many people are dropping off and at what point in their journey?

• CSAT score: Are customers happy with what they get from your product?

• Retention rate: Are users coming back week over week, or month over month?

• Daily/Weekly/Monthly active users: Are people active and engaged over the calendar?

• Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV): How much is each customer worth to the company over time?

You can determine whether your content is retaining users and encouraging them to return by monitoring churn, engagement, and CLTV. A crucial component of your growth engine is content that attracts and turns consumers into advocates. As happy users stick around and loyal users invite friends. That compounding lift comes from great content written after the sale.

Real SaaS Brand Example:

LoopCRM

A streamlined CRM designed as a faster, simpler alternative to complex platforms like HubSpot and Salesforce, helping users decide confidently.
Content Type: Customer success
Why it fits the stage: Its content provides the context to identify themselves as simpler and faster, guiding prospects who are comparing options toward an easy next step.

Creating a Funnel-Aligned Content Engine

Growing a funnel-aligned content engine means getting rid of random placements of blog posts and building a clear system that guides leads. 
Begin by sketching the journey of what questions pop into buyers heads at TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU? 
Use the table below as a quick planning compass:

Tag what you already have by asking, What's the intention? 

1. A blog explaining churn= TOFU. 

2. A feature match-up= MOFU. 

3. A case study= Clear BOFU. 

Then track each piece in a simple sheet. Don't forget to repurpose those contents.  Following that, take that TOFU post, plunge it into a live MOFU webinar, then showcase the best moments into a BOFU case study. You see now how one idea can be taken to three stages. Use this quick checklist to keep the engine running:

1. Describe the questions of the buyer journey. 

2. Connect the stages of the funnel to the content inventory. 

3. Find and close any gaps specific to a stage.

4. Assign distinct KPIs to each stage of the funnel: BOFU monitors conversions, while TOFU tracks traffic.

5. Regularly test, measure, adjust, and repeat.

With these formats, consider including structured data such as FAQ schema, product schema, and video. 

1. For example, use FAQ schema on blog posts to potentially appear in SERP answer boxes. 

2. Use video schema on your webinars and demos to increase the likelihood of videos appearing in snippets. 

This could mean an even better CTR chance, in addition to capturing a featured snippet. This isn't only content marketing, it's smart storytelling that drives real sales.

Wrapping Up

Your content is now a system for producing results because it is aligned to funnel stages. This alignment drives results when attracted to those in the awareness stage, moving them through consideration, and nudging them towards a decision. Each piece of content has a job to do.  Add on retention and advocacy, and it is compounding.

If you’re still guessing where your content fits, stop. Run a content audit, tag your assets on intent, find the gaps, and map each piece to a buyer goal. You will be shocked at how much untapped potential lies in your existing content.

Want to play out this strategy? Find out how Rank Wizards work with SaaS companies to anchor their content strategy according to funnel goals derived from the best moves of your top successful competitors and industry trends.