Conversion funnel
The sequence of stages a prospect moves through from first contact with a brand to purchase and then retention. Each stage filters out a fraction of prospects. Funnel analysis identifies the bottlenecks where prospects are lost.
In practice
A typical B2B funnel runs: website visit, inbound lead, sales qualification, demo, proposal, negotiation, signature. Average conversion rates vary by sector: lead to demo 30-50%; demo to proposal 60-70%; proposal to signature 20-40%. Improving a single bottleneck can multiply revenue without any increase in acquisition spend.