The Marketing Funnel Has Turned Into a Swirl

For years, marketers have leaned on the funnel as the trusty way to explain how people buy. Awareness at the top, consideration in the middle, and conversion at the bottom. Neat, linear, and easy to map.

The reality? Buying decisions today don’t look like that.

Whether you’re selling to consumers or to businesses, people don’t move neatly down stages anymore. They swirl. They loop. They dip in and out.

The funnel hasn’t disappeared. It’s just changed shape.

Why Linear Funnels Don’t Hold Up

In B2B especially, the old “step one → step two → step three” doesn’t match how people research and commit.

Most buyers now do the majority of their research before they ever talk to sales. Gartner estimates that B2B buyers spend only 17% of the buying journey meeting with potential suppliers. The rest is independent research, discussions with colleagues, and peer recommendations.

On top of that, the average buying decision now involves multiple stakeholders and 20+ touchpoints across weeks or months. That’s a lot of swirling before anyone is ready to sign.

Consumer Behaviour Shapes Professional Behaviour

Think about how you buy in your personal life.

You don’t watch one preview before choosing a Netflix show. You scroll reviews, check Rotten Tomatoes, maybe ask a friend.

You don’t buy a new couch from the first shop you walk into. You compare brands, browse online, and probably read more reviews than you’d like to admit.

And that same behaviour comes with us into the workplace. If we’re this thorough choosing a piece of furniture, we’re definitely going to be thorough choosing software, consultants, or services that impact an entire organisation.

The 7-11-4 Rule

Google research suggests buyers need around 7 hours of interaction, across 11 touchpoints, in 4 different formats before they commit.

In a swirl, this makes sense. The order doesn’t matter. Someone might find you through a webinar first, then a case study, then your website, then a LinkedIn post. Each piece builds time, touchpoints and trust until the choice feels safe.

So, What Does This Mean for Your Funnel?

If buying behaviour is so “erratic”, is there any point in mapping a funnel? Yes.

Designing a funnel is still worthwhile. It helps you identify the right stories and assets for each stage, so wherever someone “swirls in” they get what they need. But the difference is you’re not building a single slide down to purchase, you’re designing for loops.

Practical takeaways:

• Every asset should stand alone and reinforce your bigger story.
  

• Mid-funnel is where belief is built, invest here, not just at the attention grabbing top.
  

• Mix your formats: case studies, webinars, videos, blogs, demos. People rarely stick with one medium.
  

• Recycle and repurpose content. Buyers will circle back more than once.
  

The funnel is still useful, but it’s not a straight line. It’s a swirl of interactions where consistency and credibility carry more weight than order.

Want to Go Deeper?

If your marketing funnel isn't designed for the swirl, you may need a better system behind it.

My 12-week HubSpot Strategy & Implementation Program helps scaling B2B teams build the visibility, automation and nurture paths that meet buyers wherever they are in the journey, and make sure none of them fall through the cracks. Let's talk about what that looks like for your business.

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