Ditch the funnel for real customer loyalty
While 84% of customers say authentic relationships drive their buying decisions, 61% say that most companies treat them as a number.
Customers crave connection more than ever, yet too often feel disconnected from the brands they buy from. The reason is not that customer behaviour has changed. Human decision-making has always been shaped by habits, emotions, social influence, and mental shortcuts. What has changed is the environment. The explosion of media channels, digital touchpoints, and the speed at which customers move between them has exposed the flaws of the linear marketing funnel.
For decades, marketers have relied on simple models of awareness, consideration, conversion, and loyalty to inform their campaign planning. These funnels were always oversimplified.
Today, they are not only inaccurate but also unhelpful. They trap marketers in campaign thinking when what is needed is relationship thinking.
The disconnect? Customers expect both seamless convenience and meaningful connection, yet most brands are still optimizing against outdated funnels and program-centric loyalty models.
Why funnels fail
Funnels suggest customers move step by step toward a decision, but in reality, buying decisions are rarely linear.
Customers circle around, revisiting options, comparing reviews, or seeking opinions before committing. The purchase itself is often the most stressful stage, where the brain scrambles to justify the choice and avoid buyer’s remorse.
Loyalty, on the other hand, does happen in stages, but not the ones shown in a funnel. It is built gradually through the repetition of positive experiences that reduce friction, strengthen trust, and build confidence in a brand.
The problem with funnels is that they measure campaign movement, not human behaviour. They oversimplify the decision process and ignore how loyalty is actually formed. As a result, brands optimize for conversion rather than connection, hitting KPIs but missing the chance to build lasting relationships.
The new rules of loyalty
If funnels do not reflect reality, what does? Loyalty is built and reinforced through everyday interactions, the cumulative moments that either strengthen or weaken a customer’s preference. And in today’s environment, a few rules matter more than ever:
- Experience over offers. Service is now the second-biggest reason customers leave a brand, outranking price. Your loyalty program might offer great rewards, but if your service makes customers feel like a burden, those points will not save the relationship.
- Personalisation isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s expected. Seventy-six percent of customers expect brands to understand their individual needs, but only 49% believe brands actually use their data to help them. The gap between expectation and reality is where loyalty dies.
- Moments matter more than milestones. Real loyalty is not built at the checkout. It is reinforced when you help a customer navigate their first use of a product, proactively solve a problem, or invite them into a community.
- Trust is the new currency. Customers will share data, but only if they see value in return. Transparency and proof of benefit are now non-negotiable.
From theory to practice
Moving from funnels to relationships is not something most brands can solve with a new campaign or a loyalty program refresh. It requires a new way of thinking about customer relationships, backed by a structured CRM approach.
At DEPT®, we guide clients through three phases:
- Discover. We start by exposing the reality of the customer experience. Our Ten Customer Test reconstructs the journeys of real customers to reveal where everyday interactions succeed or break down.
- Define. We then design the relationship strategy, aligning it with both customer value and business growth. Here we use tools like our Relationship Framework, Customer Impact Index, and Orchestration Blueprint to bring clarity and focus.
- Deliver. Finally, we activate the strategy across CRM, marketing, commerce, and service, orchestrating everyday interactions at scale
This is how funnels get replaced with real relationships. And this is how loyalty stops being a campaign KPI and becomes the outcome of CRM done well.
From funnels to everyday interactions
The brands that will win are those that stop chasing funnel stages and start focusing on relationships.
Loyalty is simply an active preference for a brand. It means customers keep coming back to you instead of a competitor, and over time, they become more valuable.
CRM is how you make that happen. It is the discipline of managing customer relationships, orchestrating interactions across every touchpoint, and creating experiences that feel connected and meaningful. Do it well, and loyalty follows as the natural outcome.
Funnels are handy for planning and measurement, but they do not create growth. Relationships do. And loyalty, in the end, is not a stage in a funnel. It is what happens when CRM is done right.
