July 27, 2021

How to Create Bottom of the Funnel (BoFu) Content That Converts

Kevin King
Kevin King

The bottom of the funnel (BoFu) is an exciting place to be for you and your prospects. It’s the home stretch: Your BoFu prospects have researched their problem, answered their initial questions, and weighed different types of solutions. They’re on the verge of making a buying decision and your product is still in the running — but it’s not a done deal yet.

These high-quality prospects are also speeding to the bottom of your competitors’ sales funnels. In this final stage of the buyer’s journey, your job is to build confidence in your product, address remaining concerns, and make it easy to say “yes” to your company. One of the best ways to do that is to create excellent bottom of the funnel content. 

We’ll explain what BoFu content is and isn’t, how it works with your top- and middle-funnel content, and give you examples and tips to create high-converting BoFu pieces. 

What is bottom of the funnel content (BoFu content)?

Bottom of the funnel content is all about giving your highly qualified leads the final bit of information, encouragement, or validation they need to arrive at their purchase decision. It’s built to maximize conversions and help sales teams make the sale, most often using a product-focused approach. 

BoFu content typically dives deep into details like product costs, features, use cases, reviews, and success stories. In other words, it should show prospective customers exactly how your product or service fits positively into their lives and helps them reach their goals. 

In practice, BoFu content encompasses a variety of different formats. Here are some common examples of bottom-funnel content (which we’ll explore later): 

  • Customer reviews and testimonials
  • Case studies 
  • Uses cases (landing pages, customer stories, etc.)
  • Pricing pages
  • Competitor comparisons (product roundups, “vs.” content, etc.)
  • Video demos or tutorials
  • White papers

Here’s another way to think about it: If it makes you nervous, it’s probably bottom-funnel content. 

Bottom-funnel content marketing goes after a much smaller audience of high-value, high-intent leads who are ready to compare options one last time and then convert (or grab the right decision-maker). 

So, it isn’t the time to be vague or indirect about your product’s value or impact. That can be nerve-wracking for your team, especially if your competitors currently have lower prices, more features, or more eye-catching results. (Think: Those case studies with headlines like, “SaaS Startup Enables Their Client To Increase Sales by 2500% in a Single Day!”) 

However, it’s that same honest, straightforward approach to creating BoFu content that will ultimately help your team convert more leads. 

Bottom-of-funnel content vs. Top- and middle-funnel content

If you’re here, you know that when and where a prospective buyer enters your sales funnel has a huge impact on the types of content you should deliver to them. We can divide the sales and marketing funnel into three distinct stages: 

  • Top of the funnel (ToFu) or the Awareness stage: Your audience is problem aware. They’ve realized there’s an issue and are now looking for educational resources and tools to understand it. 
  • Middle of the funnel (MoFu) or the Consideration stage: Your audience is solution aware. They’re learning about the different options to solve their problem. 
  • Bottom of the funnel (BoFu) or the Decision stage: Your audience is product aware. They’re deciding which product or service is best suited to their problem.

Here’s a handy way to visualize the funnel: 

Stages of the funnel diagram showcasing ToFu, MoFu, and BoFu content queries

Each stage plays a critical role in your lead generation, nurturing, and conversion efforts as buyers’ needs change. Below, we’ll break down ToFu and MoFu content and how they set up your BoFu content for success.  

Top of the funnel content types

ToFu content speaks to a wider audience and uses broader topics to open up the funnel and increase the total number of leads. Businesses commonly focus on their ideal customer’s pain points to generate attention-grabbing ToFu ideas. 

  • Blog posts and articles
  • How-to guides
  • Infographics 
  • Checklists 
  • E-books 
  • Webinars 
  • Videos 
  • Podcasts
  • Social media posts
  • Email newsletters 

Middle of the funnel content types 

MoFu content helps narrow down the number of solutions your potential customers are considering and ushers them through the funnel. It differentiates your product from competitors’ and typically offers a deeper look at the problem and the pros and cons of each solution. As a result, MoFu and BoFu content can look similar. 

  • White papers
  • Case studies
  • Product overviews (webinars, videos, demos, etc.)
  • Competitor comparisons (product roundups, “vs.” content, etc.)

What your prospects are searching for based on their funnel stage 

One of the best ways to understand the difference between ToFu, MoFu, and BoFu content? Think about what your audience is typing into Google at each stage of the funnel and what they’re expecting to find. For instance, imagine you run an expense tracking software startup called Moola. Somewhere in the world, you have a prospect with a New Year’s resolution to improve their financial health. Here’s what they might search for: 

  • ToFu keyword examples: “how to spend less money” or “tips to save money fast” 
  • MoFu keyword examples: “best way to budget and track expenses” or “best budgeting app 2022” 
  • BoFu keyword examples: “Moola vs. Mint vs. YNAB” or “Moola software review” or “Moola app cost”

In this example, we can clearly see how the search terms reflect the transition from problem awareness, to solution awareness, to product awareness. 

Understanding the relationship between search intent and funnel stage is an important step toward delivering the right content at the right time. It’ll also help you optimize your content for Google and other search engines so it shows up in the top spot when your leads search relevant keywords. 

Put a team of experienced SEO content experts in your corner.

Ten Speed will help you create new content, and fix existing content so you can start generating reliable revenue from your blog.

Simply book a call now to see if we're a good fit. 

5 Bottom of the funnel content examples that generates the most conversions for companies

As we mentioned earlier, BoFu content comes in many shapes and sizes. It’s part sales pitch, part marketing piece. 

Below, we’ve gathered BoFu content examples from real companies to showcase some of the highest-converting formats you can use. Experiment with these content types to nudge your interested leads toward their purchase decision. 

1. Comparison content: Challenge competitors directly with “vs.” content

Comparison content pits your product head to head with your competitors. It does the research legwork for your customers, providing them with the objective facts and presenting the good and the bad about both your offerings. They’re typically presented as landing pages with charts and tables, or blogs with infographics.

Companies build content that targets keyword searches around their own product, but they also go after keywords associated with their competitors. In the example below, Clickup created BoFu content to target people searching “Airtable alternative” or “Airtable vs. Clickup.” 

bottom funnel alternative example screenshot
Example SERP screenshot for "airtable alternative"
Clickup’s landing page with their BoFu product comparison table.
Clickup’s landing page with their product comparison table.

By tackling these comparison questions directly, you earn your BoFu audience’s attention and build credibility right when they’re narrowing down their choices. The point isn’t to beat your industry competitors in every product area — it’s to speak to your buyer persona’s challenges the best. 

2. Alternative roundups: Stand out from the crowd 

Where “vs.” content is a focused one-to-one comparison, a roundup features as many competitors as you like. It’s your opportunity to set the scene and distinguish yourself from the crowd. Givebutter’s Compare page provides a truly standout example of this: 

Givebutter’s G2 alternative screenshot
Givebutter’s G2 alternative screenshot

Not only do they aggregate software reviews from an unbiased source like G2, but they also offer a detailed table with their own reviews of their top competition. 

Givebutter's alternative page screenshot
Givebutter's alternative page screenshot
Pro Tip: Finding keywords that match the bottom of the funnel in the "vs." or "alternatives" space is relatively simple. In addition to using tools like Ahrefs or Google search auto-populate these queries, we highly recommend talking to your customers and sales reps to identify more BoFu opportunities.

For example: Often JTBD-focused how-to topics that might not come to you intuitively can act as some of the best bottom-funnel content for your particular prospects.

3. Pricing pages: Yep, tell them what it costs

Pricing pages don’t always come to mind when content marketers are brainstorming BoFu content, but it’s a great place to start if you want to increase conversions. Done right, your pricing page can become a highly effective sales page. It should speak to each of your unique audience segments and help them move past analysis paralysis. Here’s an example from Mailchimp

Mailchimp's pricing page screenshot
Mailchimp's pricing page screenshot

It should address objections and fears, like “How much will this really cost?” “Can you upgrade or downgrade at any time?” “Is there a penalty for canceling?” Another good tool for spurring BoFu leads into action is an interactive calculator, like the one Mailchimp offers: 

Mailchimp's pricing calculator screenshot
Mailchimp's pricing calculator screenshot

4. Case studies: Highlight the real-world business impact 

We can’t say it enough. Case studies, customer reviews, and testimonials — i.e., real-world examples — are some of the best-performing pieces of content across the entire customer journey. Case studies richly illustrate your audience’s problem and show exactly how your customers are finding success with your product. They offer social proof and build trust at a crucial moment. 

At the heart of it, case studies are simply stories. However, you should back up these narratives with hard data and concrete metrics as much as possible. See how we highlighted organic traffic and lead growth in our recent case study:

Ten Speed's Visible.vc case study screenshot
Ten Speed's Visible.vc case study screenshot

Who you choose to feature and interview is an important piece of the puzzle. A great case study subject will represent your ideal buyer and have a strong relationship with your company. You can also leverage social proof and earn trust by featuring a direct quote from your clients, like we did below.

Customer quote for Ten Speed

5. White papers/E-books: Prove your topical authority

The line between white papers and e-books can get a little blurry, but in general, we’re talking about long-form content that examines a problem, shares deep research, and makes a persuasive case for your solution. 

These types of reports are perfect for BoFu prospects who are still validating the impact of products like yours. They demonstrate your authority on the topic and build credibility at this crucial stage.

HubSpot invests heavily in this type of BoFu content and provides endless examples of how to do it right: 

HubSpot's BoFu content screenshot
HubSpot's BoFu content screenshot

Client ROI from 14 pieces of BoFu and MoFu content for a D2C SaaS company

We routinely help our clients build MoFu and BoFu content early on because it's often scalable, can be used across multiple distribution channels, and allows you to control the narrative about your product relative to the competition.

It's also easier to rank on Google for these terms than you might think. You'll naturally have authority in that space related to your industry and your brand's association with that space.

Traffic from MoFu/BoFu pages over 24 months: 

  • 56,180 users across all distribution channels
  • 32,993 users from organic search

Results:

  • $1,010,287.38 in revenue from MoFu and BoFu content
  • 14 SEO-focused posts used across paid, organic, social, email, and CS/sales teams

Industry:

  • D2C health and wellness tech

Best practices for high-quality BoFu content 

Here are some tips and tricks to keep in mind when you’re crafting and distributing BoFu content. 

Be “real” with your BoFu audience

BoFu content is most effective when it’s straightforward and specific. Real examples and objective information goes a long way toward assuaging concerns and making your product feel like the right choice. One tip is to let your happy customers do the talking by promoting user-generated content (UGC).  

Include engaging visuals

There’s a lot of advice on optimizing your written BoFu content, such as using active CTA language, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices, and eye-grabbing headlines. However, don’t forget to think about your visual content marketing strategy for each piece. You can communicate a lot of info quickly (and help prospects remember it) with tools like infographics, charts, GIFs, and short-form videos. 

Use downloadables

Downloadables aren’t just for lead generation. They allow your prospects to easily digest and share resources as they’re talking things through with other decision-makers. Stick to PDFs for the widest accessibility. Here are some examples of valuable BoFu resources: 

  • Guides 
  • White papers 
  • Checklists 
  • Kits 
  • Infographics 
  • Studies and surveys
  • Templates

Keep content up to date 

BoFu content is heavy on the data and real-world examples, so it’s vital that you set a cadence to refresh this type of content. 

Just imagine: A BoFu customer is using your pricing comparison chart, where you say you’ve got the better deal. Your competitor’s product is $150/mo and yours is $130/mo. But that prospect just visited the competitor’s site and saw their most recent price was actually $120/mo. Multiply that by a lot of customers, and you’ve got a credibility problem. 

So, be sure to revisit your blogs, landing pages, and reports and supply the freshest data. There’s another big benefit: Regularly updating your content helps you combat content decay. And 51% of companies say that updating old content has proven the most efficient tactic they implemented. 

Book a call with us to learn how content optimization ramps up conversions for your business. 

Give value

“Value” can mean an in-depth article, original research, a more user-friendly comparison matrix, an insider perspective, and more. It’s hard to go wrong with putting subject matter experts or industry influencers in the spotlight. Not only will this supply your audience with better insights into your product, but it will also give your content a unique identity that your competitors can’t replicate.

Write clear CTAs

In this stage of the buyer journey, you can afford to be direct with your messaging. Most bottom-funnel CTAs center on conversion goals such as free trial signups, demo requests, and purchases. Beyond creating a compelling, urgent call to action (CTA) to begin with, the best thing you can do is test your CTAs. Experiment with your language, special offers, placement, size, and more. 

Also, examine your customer experience from the CTA to the next form or landing page. Is it quick and frictionless? Or does it require several time-consuming steps?

How do you measure the success of your BoFu content? 

There are different ways to track the performance of your BoFu content using sales and marketing metrics. We recommend leaning on the following conversion-based metrics: 

Number of conversions

In the context of BoFu content, a conversion can be any of a variety of actions or events you want your leads to take, including:

  • Clicking a button 
  • Downloading a resource
  • Signing up for a free account 
  • Subscribing to a monthly plan
  • Making their first order

Define these conversion goals and set up event tracking in your site analytics platform as early as possible. That way, you can quickly understand the topics and formats that are truly propelling leads through the funnel. 

Assisted conversions

The Assisted Conversions report in Google Analytics lets you understand the role of every channel and interaction in closing the deal with your bottom-funnel lead. 

Typically, last-touch attribution only gives credit to the final page where the user converted. So, you may not see that your new customer actually read that case study you published last week, and conclude that your case studies aren’t fueling conversions. With assisted conversions, however, you get the full picture. 

Here’s an example report we pulled from Google Analytics: 

assisted conversions google analytics screenshot

Conversion rate 

Finally, you can look at conversion rate. In case you aren’t already familiar with the conversion rate formula, it’s the number of conversions divided by the number of visitors. According to Wordstream, the average landing page conversion rate is 2.35%, and the top 10% convert at 11.45% or higher. 

Improving conversion rate is a mix of adjusting your content strategy (BoFu and earlier), attracting better leads, and solving any user experience (UX) or SEO issues — and we can help. 

Ready to target your audience by optimizing for the bottom of the funnel?

We create SEO content strategies that help you attract more traffic and high-quality leads across all stages of the buyer journey and convert them into meaningful opportunities. Book a call to learn how.

Discover how we can help.

Book a call with us and we’ll learn all about your company and goals.
If there’s a fit, we will put together a proposal for you that highlights your opportunity and includes our strategic recommendations.