Funnel
The decision this page enables: which part of the customer journey you’re measuring right now — and whether you need the stage-level playbook or the cross-team Lead-to-Revenue / PLG view.
What the A→C→R funnel is
Section titled “What the A→C→R funnel is”Marketing’s funnel is a measurement lens, not a org chart. It groups metrics into three stages:
| Stage | Question it answers | Typical owner | Primary systems |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acquisition | Who arrives, from where, at what cost? | Marketing | GA4, ad platforms, SEO tools |
| Conversion | Who becomes a customer (or qualified handoff)? | Marketing + Sales (hybrid) | Product analytics, CRM, billing |
| Retention | Who stays, expands, and refers? | Marketing + CS | Product analytics, ESP, CS platform |
A→C→R is shorthand for Acquisition → Conversion → Retention. It’s the same three buckets most growth teams use — but this section defines them for instrumentation and review, not for campaign naming.
Upstream, your stack must be wired before these numbers mean anything. See Martech Stack & Automation for collection, storage, and identity. Downstream, Sales and CS extend the funnel past Marketing’s conversion boundary.
The full funnel with team boundaries
Section titled “The full funnel with team boundaries”Marketing owns the top. Sales owns the middle (in sales-led and hybrid motions). Customer Success owns post-sale retention and expansion. The diagram below shows where each function’s accountability starts and ends — and where handoffs must be measured explicitly.
flowchart TD
subgraph ACQ["ACQUISITION — Marketing"]
v1[Visit / impression] --> v2[Session / click]
v2 --> v3[Lead or signup]
end
subgraph CONV["CONVERSION — Marketing + Sales"]
v3 --> c1[Activate / qualify]
c1 --> c2{Motion?}
c2 -->|PLG / self-serve| c3[Paid customer]
c2 -->|Sales-led / hybrid| c4[MQL]
c4 --> h{{"MQL → SQL handoff<br/>SLA + reason codes"}}
h -->|Accepted| c5[SQL → Opportunity]
h -->|Rejected| n[Nurture loop]
n --> v3
c5 --> c6[Closed-won]
end
subgraph RET["RETENTION — Marketing + CS"]
c3 --> r1[Onboard / first value]
c6 --> r1
r1 --> r2[Engaged / habitual use]
r2 --> r3[Renew / expand]
r3 --> r4[Advocate / refer]
r4 -.-> v1
end
Read it left to right, top to bottom. Acquisition feeds Conversion; Conversion feeds Retention. The nurture loop and advocate referral arrow are deliberate — funnels that only flow forward lie about where pipeline actually comes from.
Lead-to-Revenue and PLG: two motions, one A→C→R rollup
Section titled “Lead-to-Revenue and PLG: two motions, one A→C→R rollup”The library models two go-to-market motions on the Library overview:
- Lead-to-Revenue funnel (sales-led) — Awareness → MQL → SQL → Closed-won → CS expansion. Marketing’s Conversion stage overlaps the MQL→SQL handoff; Retention begins at Closed-won onboarding.
- PLG funnel (product-led) — Discovery → Signup → Activation → PQL → Monetization. Marketing’s Acquisition covers discovery and signup; Conversion is activation and self-serve paid; Retention is engagement and expansion in-product.
Both motions roll up to the same A→C→R measurement lens. The difference is where the conversion boundary sits and which events are canonical.
| A→C→R stage | Sales-led primary events | PLG primary events |
|---|---|---|
| Acquisition | Sessions, leads, MQL volume | Installs, signups, traffic by channel |
| Conversion | MQL→SQL, win rate, CAC | Activation rate, trial→paid, PQL→paid |
| Retention | NRR, churn, expansion | D30/D90 retention, upgrade rate, referral |
When you run hybrid GTM, do not merge the motions into one stretched funnel. Run parallel stage definitions and reconcile at the account level. See PLG vs Sales-Led Measurement for PQL/PQA vs MQL/SQL vocabulary, SLAs, and dashboard design.
Marketing-to-Sales handoff map
Section titled “Marketing-to-Sales handoff map”The handoff is the highest-leakage, highest-argument stage in most B2B funnels. Measure it as its own micro-funnel — not as a footnote on the MQL dashboard.
| Step | Event (canonical) | Owner | Metric | Healthy range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. MQL created | mql_created in CRM | Marketing | MQL volume by source | Trend vs. plan |
| 2. MQL reviewed | First SDR touch logged | Sales / SDR | Time-to-first-touch | ≤4 business hours |
| 3. Accept / reject | sql_accepted or mql_rejected + reason | Sales | MQL→SQL acceptance rate | 25–40% |
| 4. Discovery held | Meeting completed | AE | SQL→opportunity | 60–80% |
| 5. Recycle | Rejected MQL enters nurture | Marketing | Re-MQL rate within 90 days | Track; no universal target |
Rules that keep the map honest:
- Every rejection requires a reason code (bad fit, no budget, no show, competitor, timing).
- Marketing and Sales agree on the MQL definition in writing — not in a Slack thread from six months ago.
- RevOps reconciles MQL count in CRM vs. marketing automation weekly; investigate gaps above 5%.
Detail on activation, pricing-page conversion, and the MQL→SQL playbook lives on Funnel: Conversion.
Stage summaries — where to drill in
Section titled “Stage summaries — where to drill in”Acquisition
Section titled “Acquisition”Measures: traffic quality, channel mix, cost per lead/signup, UTM hygiene, and whether you’re buying volume or buying intent.
Read when: CAC is rising, a channel “looks good” in the ad platform but not in CRM, or you’re launching paid spend without a tagging standard.
Conversion
Section titled “Conversion”Measures: activation (first value), signup→paid micro-funnel, pricing-page drop-off, and the Marketing→Sales handoff for sales-led demand.
Read when: traffic is fine but revenue isn’t, trial users ghost after day 3, or Sales says “marketing sends junk.”
Retention
Section titled “Retention”Measures: lifecycle engagement, renewal risk signals, expansion triggers, and marketing-influenced churn prevention — distinct from cohort methodology (see Cohort Analysis).
Read when: NRR is flat, paid acquisition is masking churn, or lifecycle email performance disconnected from product usage.
Which funnel page do I read?
Section titled “Which funnel page do I read?”Use this tree before opening every sub-page. It saves a hour of reading the wrong playbook.
flowchart TD
start["What's broken or<br/>what are you building?"]
start --> q1{"Do you know where<br/>users come from?"}
q1 -->|No / untagged traffic| acq["Read Acquisition<br/>UTMs, channel scorecard"]
q1 -->|Yes| q2{"Do they reach<br/>first value / paid?"}
q2 -->|No — signup but no activation| conv["Read Conversion<br/>activation + pricing funnel"]
q2 -->|No — MQL fights with Sales| conv2["Read Conversion<br/>MQL→SQL handoff"]
q2 -->|Yes — customers leave| ret["Read Retention<br/>lifecycle + at-risk triggers"]
start --> q3{"PLG or sales-led<br/>motion unclear?"}
q3 -->|Yes| plg["Read PLG vs Sales-Led<br/>Measurement first"]
q3 -->|No| start
acq --> q4{"Need end-to-end<br/>cross-team view?"}
conv --> q4
conv2 --> q4
ret --> q4
q4 -->|Sales-led| l2r["Library: Lead-to-Revenue funnel"]
q4 -->|Product-led| plg2["Library: PLG funnel"]
Quick routing:
| Symptom | Start here |
|---|---|
| ”Meta says 200 leads; CRM says 80” | Acquisition + Attribution |
| ”Signups up, revenue flat” | Conversion + Place: Logistics |
| ”MQL→SQL acceptance below 20%“ | Conversion + PLG vs Sales-Led |
| ”CAC looks fine but LTV collapsed” | Retention + Cohort Analysis |
| ”Building measurement from scratch” | KPIs & Metrics → this overview → one stage page |
Pages in this chapter
Section titled “Pages in this chapter”| Page | One-line summary |
|---|---|
| Acquisition | Top-of-funnel metrics, UTM conventions, channel quality scorecard |
| Conversion | Activation, pricing-page funnel, MQL→SQL handoff |
| Retention | Lifecycle stage metrics, at-risk triggers, retention health scorecard |
Anti-patterns
Section titled “Anti-patterns”- Optimizing acquisition while activation is broken. Pouring budget into a leaky bucket. Fix Conversion before scaling Acquisition.
- One funnel definition for PLG and sales-led. Stretched definitions destroy forecast credibility. Use parallel funnels in hybrid motions.
- Retention = cohort charts only. Cohort analysis is a method; retention stage metrics are operating signals. You need both, for different meetings.
- Handoff metrics owned by nobody. If MQL→SQL isn’t on a weekly agenda with named owners, it will become a permanent cross-functional grievance.
Cross-links
Section titled “Cross-links”- Analytics & Measurement overview — maturity ladder, product vs marketing analytics, where to start by stage.
- Martech Stack & Automation — instrumentation upstream of every funnel stage.
- ROI / ROAS — CAC, LTV, payback connecting acquisition cost to retention value.
- Sales Analytics & Forecasting — pipeline and win rate downstream of marketing conversion.
- Customer Success: Retention — post-sale programs that marketing influences but CS owns.