By Erin Eady, Digital Director at Wrapped Agency
Digital marketing has never been short of data. We can see which channels drive traffic, which campaigns generate enquiries and which interactions lead to conversions. But with all this information available, are we necessarily getting a better understanding of what influences customers to choose one brand over another?
In my experience, it’s easy to become focused on where a conversion happens, rather than everything that contributed to making it happen.
The reality is that customer behaviour is rarely straightforward. People discover brands through different platforms, revisit decisions, seek recommendations and interact with businesses multiple times before taking action. Each of these interactions can play a role in shaping their perception and influencing their eventual decision.
Yet much of how we plan, manage and report on digital marketing is still organised around individual channels.
And that’s where I think there’s an opportunity to rethink how we approach digital strategy. Not by abandoning the frameworks and metrics we rely on, but by taking a more connected view of how they work together.
The funnel still matters, but the journey isn’t always linear
The traditional marketing funnel remains an important strategic framework. It helps us understand where customers are in their decision-making process, identify opportunities and deliver relevant messages at the right time.
But while the funnel provides structure for marketers, customers don’t necessarily follow it in a predictable sequence.
Someone researching a financial service might discover a brand through social media, explore its website, compare competitors through Google, ask an AI tool for recommendations and return weeks later after speaking to a colleague.
They may move between awareness and consideration several times before making a decision.
This is particularly relevant to digital marketing in healthcare, financial services, fintech and property, where decisions often involve significant research, comparison and consideration. A patient choosing a healthcare provider might explore treatment information, read reviews and seek professional advice before making an enquiry. Someone considering a financial product may compare providers, research risks and return several times before applying. Property buyers can move between search engines, property portals, social media and developer websites over many months. Understanding these different touchpoints helps brands develop digital marketing strategies that build confidence throughout the decision-making process, rather than focusing solely on the final conversion.
For charities, supporter journeys can be equally complex, with people moving between social media, fundraising campaigns, charity websites and email communications before deciding to donate, volunteer or become long-term supporters.
The point isn’t that the funnel has become irrelevant. Far from it. It’s that we need to recognise the difference between the framework we use to plan marketing and the reality of how customers experience it.
A successful digital strategy should account for both.
Are we giving too much credit to the final click?
As digital marketers, we’re under constant pressure to demonstrate performance. And understandably so. Businesses need to know where their investment is going and what it’s delivering.
But when we assess success primarily through individual channel metrics, we risk overlooking the wider contribution of our marketing activity.
Take a customer who discovers a brand through an organic social post, reads several articles, explores the website and eventually converts through a paid search advert.
Depending on the attribution model being used, that final interaction might receive much of the credit.
Yet the earlier touchpoints may have been instrumental in building the awareness, familiarity and confidence that made the conversion possible.
This doesn’t mean channel-level reporting is wrong. It’s essential for understanding performance and making informed decisions.
But attribution is only one part of the picture. Knowing where someone converted isn’t always the same as understanding why.
And that distinction matters when we’re deciding where to invest our marketing budgets.
Brand and performance shouldn’t be competing priorities
There’s often a tension between activity designed to generate immediate results and investment in longer-term brand growth.
With marketing budgets under scrutiny, it’s easy to understand why businesses prioritise activity that can demonstrate a direct and measurable return.
But focusing exclusively on short-term conversions can come at the expense of building future demand.
Brand-building activity helps establish recognition, credibility and preference. Performance marketing helps capture demand and turn interest into measurable outcomes.
Both have an important role to play.
A strong brand can make performance campaigns more effective because potential customers already recognise or trust the business. Equally, performance insights can help inform wider brand and content strategies by revealing what audiences are searching for and responding to.
The challenge isn’t choosing between brand and performance. It’s understanding how they complement one another and investing accordingly.
Connecting the dots across digital marketing
If customers don’t experience brands through isolated channels, our marketing strategies shouldn’t operate that way either.
That doesn’t mean being present on every platform or investing in every emerging technology. It means understanding where your audience spends their time, what influences their decisions and how your marketing activity works together throughout that journey.
For senior Marketing leaders, this starts with asking a few important questions.
Are our brand and performance objectives aligned? Are we delivering a consistent experience across the channels that matter? And are we measuring success in a way that reflects the contribution of the wider marketing strategy, rather than just individual campaigns?
It also means looking beyond dashboards. Customer feedback, audience research and an understanding of the full decision-making process can provide valuable context that performance data alone may not capture.
At Wrapped, this connected approach is central to how we think about digital. Bringing together strategy, creative, content and performance allows us to consider not just how individual channels perform, but how they contribute to wider business objectives.
Thinking beyond the individual channel
As customer behaviour continues to evolve, so too must the way we approach digital strategy. That doesn’t mean constantly reinventing our marketing plans or chasing every new platform. It means making sure the activity we’re investing in works together to support the entire customer journey.
For marketing leaders, I think this requires a shift in perspective. Rather than simply asking which channels are delivering the strongest results, we should also be questioning how those channels influence one another, where we’re building demand and whether we’re creating the right conditions for customers to convert.
Because the channel that delivers the conversion isn’t always the one that created the opportunity.
And if we’re only measuring where customers finish their journey, how confident can we be that we’re investing in everything that got them there?
