From Funnel to Signals: Break Siloes With the Five-Pillar Framework | MarTech

"Today's customer journeys look less like funnels and more like works from Jackson Pollock; splashes of touchpoints across dozens of channels. Digital transformation has "fractured consumer journeys into unpredictable, nonlinear patterns," per Boston Consulting Group's research, and AI is accelerating this complexity at breakneck speed. Here's the take: The real opportunity isn't in controlling the journey. It's about consistently and authentically showing up where your customers already are."

"The traditional marketing funnel assumes customers move predictably from awareness to consideration to purchase. It's an assumption that makes presentations cleaner and attribution models simpler. But it's also completely removed from reality. MarTech's analysis reveals that 73% of retail shoppers now use multiple channels throughout their journey. Not sequentially. Simultaneously. Customers are researching on TikTok while traveling to your competitor's store, checking G2 reviews while your salesperson is mid-pitch, and asking ChatGPT for recommendations while your landing page loads."

"The lines between channels are increasingly blurring. Social media, traditionally a brand channel, is increasingly vital to search. 46% of Gen Z and 35% of Millennials now prefer searching on social media. This is an important deviation from search engines as social search is push-based. Algorithms surface relevant content before users even know they need it. It's the difference between going to the library with a specific book in mind versus walking into a store and discovering a book you didn't know exis"

Customer journeys have become fragmented and nonlinear, resembling dispersed splashes of touchpoints across many channels. Digital transformation and AI are accelerating complexity, making journeys unpredictable. Most shoppers use multiple channels simultaneously for research and decision-making, employing cognitive offloading to spread the mental load across sources. Social platforms are shifting toward discovery and search, with large shares of Gen Z and Millennials preferring social search. Algorithms increasingly surface relevant content proactively, creating push-based discovery. The strategic opportunity lies in reliably and authentically appearing across the varied touchpoints where customers already are rather than attempting to control their path.

Read at MarTech