The sales funnel has changed: from linear path to infinite cycle on social media

For decades, the sales funnel was the compass for any marketing strategy: first you built awareness, then came consideration, and finally, conversion. A neat, step-by-step path that worked in environments where communication between brands and consumers was one-directional.

But the digital world – and especially social media platforms – changed the rules of the game. Today, the customer journey is no longer a straight line but an endless loop with infinite variations, where emotion, repetition and social interactions matter more than logic.

The traditional sales funnel: a quick recap

The classic marketing funnel is split into three main stages:

1. Awareness:

The moment when users first learn about a brand or product. Measured through KPIs like views, impressions, reach, awareness lift or ad recall.

2. Consideration:

When users start showing interest, comparing and analysing alternatives. Metrics here included watch time, view-through rate, brand lift, brand searches.

3. Conversion:

The final step: the purchase or desired action. Measured through leads, website sales, in-store purchases, sign-ups, completed payments.

This model worked well for traditional campaigns and in more static digital environments (search engines, banners, email marketing). But on social media, the experience is radically different.

Why the linear funnel no longer works on social media

On TikTok, Instagram or YouTube Shorts, the consumer no longer follows a step-by-step order. The journey is messy, emotional and cyclical:

• You get hooked mid-scroll without actively looking for anything.

• You see a brand video, forget about it, and days later it pops up again.

• Suddenly, the name rings a bell – “this brand seems familiar”.

• Later, someone posts a review or unboxing that sparks your interest.

• The next day, you spot the product in a physical shop and connect it to what you saw.

• You mention it to a friend, share it in a chat, or Google it.

• Maybe you don’t buy it right away, but your perception of the brand has already shifted.

There is no straight line. Each user experiences a unique journey, full of detours, repetitions and micro-moments.

From funnel to cycle: the new customer journey

The user journey on social media looks much more like an endless cycle than a narrowing funnel. The stages haven’t disappeared, but they’re shuffled, repeated and chaotic. The new funnel can be represented as follows.

1. They discover something

Sometimes thanks to SEO, sometimes thanks to the algorithm, or simply because a friend shared your video. The key here isn’t just appearing, but grabbing attention instantly.

2. They stay if they connect

The golden metric is retention rate. If your video hooks viewers and keeps them watching, you’ll have more chances of showing up again in their feed.

3. They interact if you spark emotion

Likes, comments, saves, shares. Each interaction isn’t just a KPI; it’s an emotional bridge that ensures your content will reappear.

4. They look for social proof

Testimonials, reviews, unboxings, user comments. External validation outweighs rational brand arguments.

5. They buy if it’s easy

When everything else is done well, purchase feels natural: a click on your link, a seamless checkout, or even an offline purchase after spotting your product in-store.

6. They participate if you invite them

The cycle doesn’t end with purchase. Consumers become creators: they share experiences, post reviews, generate UGC (user generated content). That content restarts the cycle for new users.

From awareness to advocacy, everything can happen within a single video or across multiple scattered interactions.

Emotional conversion: the true driver on social media

On social media, before the purchase comes the emotional conversion. A user who interacts with your content has already taken a crucial step: they’ve decided you’re worth their time in the middle of an endless feed. That micro-action can trigger much more:

• You’ll reappear in their timeline.

• They might mention your content to a friend.

• That friend will look up your profile.

• The algorithm will start showing you to that new person too.

• Someone else will share your video in a WhatsApp group.

• A sister will see the product in Sephora, remember it from TikTok and buy it.

And you’ll never know that this purchase started with a simple like weeks before. In this context, emotional influence is just as much business as direct sales.

How to measure in the new funnel

One of the biggest shifts is that traditional KPIs are no longer enough. Measuring just clicks or direct conversions misses 80% of the value generated on social media. The key metrics in this new funnel are:

Key Metrics	Details
Repeat views	How often the same person comes back to your content.
Retention rate	Percentage of the video watched – a direct indicator of true interest.
Keywords you rank for	How people are finding you, inside and outside the platform.
Active community growth	Not just followers, but recurring engagement.
User generated content	Reviews, mentions, duets, reactions.
Private conversations (DMs)	The ultimate sign of genuine interest.
External social signals	Google searches, in-store visits, forum mentions.

Measurement is no longer just quantitative but also qualitative. The goal is to understand how content sparks a cycle of interactions that eventually, directly or indirectly, drive revenue.

Content strategy: covering all stages (in disorder)

Even though the journey isn’t linear, when creating content you need to cover all stages, because you never know at which moment you’ll hook the user:

Stages	Content
Discovery	Quick, creative pieces designed to grab attention in three seconds.
Retention	Storytelling, humour, or engaging formats that increase watch time.
Interaction	CTAs, questions, trends that invite participation.
Validation	Testimonials, UGC, comparisons, unboxings.
Conversion	How-to guides, clear promotions, easy purchase links.
Participation	Challenges, duets, community dynamics that encourage users to create more content about your brand.

Often, a single video may serve several purposes: entertain, validate, and even convert. What matters is thinking in terms of the cyclical journey, not the linear funnel.

Deloitte’s framework: effective measurement

Deloitte has shared frameworks for measuring within this new journey. The key is integrating metrics across the full cycle:

Cycle	Relevant metrics
Top of Funnel (Discovery)	Views, impressions, awareness lift.
Middle of Funnel (Interaction/Research)	Retention, watch time, brand searches, engagement.
Bottom of Funnel (Conversion/Action)	Leads, checkouts, in-store sales.
Post-Purchase (Participation)	UGC, recommendations, reviews, active community.

The challenge lies in connecting these data points to view the full cycle, not just the final purchase.

Practical example of the cycle in action

Imagine you launch a new cosmetics line:

1. You post a creative video with an eye-catching transition.

2. A user watches, saves it, then scrolls past.

3. Three days later, the algorithm shows them another funny video from your brand.

4. They share it with a friend on WhatsApp.

5. The friend searches for reviews on TikTok and finds an unboxing from another user.

6. At the weekend, they visit Sephora, spot the product, and test it.

7. One of them buys it and posts their own review.

8. That video restarts the cycle for hundreds of new users.

What began as “awareness” content ended up driving conversion + UGC + repetition of the cycle.

The funnel isn’t dead, but it has transformed. It’s no longer a narrowing pathway but an infinite loop of discovery, emotion, validation and participation. To succeed in this new scenario you need two things:

• Great content: able to capture attention, spark emotion, retain viewers and ease the purchase.

• Realistic measurement: recognising that value lies not just in CTRs or direct sales, but in the whole cycle that drives conversations, communities and indirect purchases.

Nothing new if you truly understand the channel, but a radical shift if you’re still measuring TikTok like it’s Google Ads. Influence, emotion and retention are business too and on social media, that business doesn’t follow a funnel: it follows a loop.