Why Brands Need a Full-Funnel Marketing Strategy - and How One Cleaning Brand Grew by Embracing It
Most ecommerce brands are stuck in a dangerous habit: they only market to people who are already ready to buy. They chase bottom-funnel metrics, push hard on ROAS, obsess over last-click attribution, and then wonder why growth flatlines.
The reality is painfully simple: people don’t wake up wanting your product. You have to guide them there.
And the brands winning right now - especially on Amazon - understand that the customer journey is a psychological staircase, not a single step.
At Zeal Agency, this philosophy sits at the heart of how we grow premium, brand-conscious ecommerce businesses. We focus on intent-driven optimisation and build strategies that carry shoppers from “I’m not thinking about this” to “Take my money” with precision.
One of the clearest examples of this is the work we recently completed with a cleaning brand looking to scale their enzyme-based product line. They weren’t struggling because the product was poor. They were struggling because they were only showing up at the bottom of the funnel - in a crowded category where trust, differentiation and education matter more than any discount.
Here’s why the full funnel matters, and how we used it to unlock profitable growth for them.
The Marketing Funnel Is a Psychological Model
Every customer moves through five recognisable stages:
Unaware – They’re not thinking about the problem.
Problem Aware – They’ve noticed an issue (odours, stains, ineffective cleaning, products not working).
Solution Aware – They understand the type of product that could help (enzyme cleaners, eco-friendly formulas, problem-specific solutions).
Product Aware – They’re comparing brands.
Most Aware – They’re ready to buy.
Most brands operate almost entirely in stages 4–5.
The full-funnel approach unlocks stages 1–3 - and this is where scalable, defensible growth actually happens.
Different Platforms Monetise Different Mindsets
To understand why the funnel matters, you must understand the psychology of each platform:
Meta creates desire. It interrupts the scroll, shows people an emotional transformation, and seeds the idea of needing something.
Google captures intent. People tell Google their problem in real time: “best odour remover”, “enzyme cleaner vs bleach”.
Amazon converts that intent. Amazon is where they choose a product and want speed, trust and convenience.
So, the question isn’t “Which platform converts?”
They all do.
The real question is: “Which mindset are you converting?”
The Problem: They Were Only Competing at the Bottom of the Funnel
When the brand came to us, they were:
relying on high-intent Amazon traffic
investing very little in education
barely visible on Meta
not capturing solution-aware traffic on Google
and struggling to stand out in a category where shoppers don’t understand enzymes or why they matter
Their Amazon listing was strong, but the pipeline feeding it was weak. Traffic quality was inconsistent. Conversion was plateauing. And acquisition costs were creeping up.
Our Approach: Build a Demand Engine, Not Just a Conversion Engine
We rebuilt their funnel from the top down:
1. Build awareness and education on Meta
We ran education-first ads explaining:
why traditional cleaners mask odours
what enzymes do
how the science works
real household use cases (pets, carpets, bins, sofas)
before/after transformations
This moved thousands of people from “Unaware” → “Problem Aware.”
2. Capture intent on Google
We layered paid search around:
“enzyme cleaner UK”
“remove pet odour permanently”
“eco-friendly stain remover”
“pet smell won’t go away”
This moved people from “Problem Aware” → “Solution Aware.”
3. Optimise Amazon to convert
We rebuilt their PDPs using our behavioural-science-led COSMO framework:
simplified science
visual proof
emotional reassurance
mobile-first design
friction removal
clear comparison between enzyme vs non-enzyme cleaners
This moved people from “Solution Aware” → “Most Aware.”
4. Create a feedback loop across all channels
Meta built demand.
Google captured it.
Amazon converted it.
And as we fed more people into the top of the funnel, Amazon’s organic ranking improved - lowering TACoS and improving margin.
The Result: Higher Quality Traffic, Lower Acquisition Costs, Faster Growth
Within months:
Amazon conversion increased
Google CPCs became more efficient
Meta warmed up new audiences at scale
Buyer education improved across every channel
The category became less competitive because the brand secured its own demand
The brand moved from fighting for bottom-funnel scraps to owning the journey.
And that is the power of the full-funnel approach.
The Bottom Line for Ecommerce Brands
If you only market to shoppers who are already ready to buy, you’re renting growth.
Anyone can outbid you.
Anyone can undercut you.
And you’ll always feel like scaling requires more and more media spend.
When you operate across the full funnel:
your acquisition costs fall
your conversion rate rises
your category becomes less competitive
and your business becomes more resilient
This is the model we use at Zeal Agency.
It’s how we turn clicks into customers, and customers into loyalists.
And it’s how brands - including our cleaning client - grow sustainably, profitably and with far less volatility.
If you’d like to explore what a full-funnel strategy could look like for your brand, we can walk you through it.
