Latest / The Marketing Funnel Podcast with Fexingo: Awareness, Interest, Decision, and Action Stages / How Kia Engineered a Marketing Funnel for the EV9
Transcript
- Lucas: So a few months back I was driving through Utah and I saw this billboard for the Kia EV9 — and it wasn't the usual EV messaging. No mention of range, no charging times. The headline was basically 'Seven seats, 5,000 pounds towing.' I remember thinking, that's a different funnel entirely. Luna: Yeah, they're not selling a Tesla competitor. They're selling a family-hauler that happens to be electric. That's a very different awareness play. Lucas: Exactly. And it got me looking at how Kia structured the entire marketing funnel for the EV9 — from that broad, non ev aware top of funnel all the way to post-purchase loyalty. This is episode 119, and I want to walk through each stage with actual numbers. First, the awareness stage: Kia spent roughly $80 million on U.S. advertising for the EV9 in the first half of 2026. Luna: That's a lot for a single model from a non-luxury brand. Were they targeting EV intenders or mainstream SUV buyers? Lucas: Mostly the latter. Their internal research showed that only 12 percent of U.S. car shoppers were actively considering an EV at the time of launch. So they needed to expand the pool. They ran TV spots during NFL games, but the creative didn't lead with 'zero emissions.' It led with the third-row legroom and towing capacity — attributes that matter to any SUV buyer. The result was a 35 percent lift in unaided brand awareness for the EV9 within six months, according to a YouGov survey. Luna: And we should mention that this is a marketing podcast, so if these kinds of breakdowns are useful to you, we keep the show ad-free by listener support. You can find that at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo — no pressure, just a way to keep the conversations going without sponsors. Lucas: Yeah, exactly. Appreciate that. So from awareness, let's move to interest. Kia used a pretty clever middle-funnel tactic: they partnered with outdoor gear companies like Thule and Yakima to show the EV9 with roof boxes and bike racks in lifestyle photography. That's not just showing the car — it's showing a use case. They also created a microsite where you could virtually pack for a family road trip, selecting luggage and gear, and it would calculate how much space you had left. Luna: That's smart because it makes the interest stage interactive. It's not just 'here are the specs'; it's 'here's how this fits your life.' And that bridges into the decision stage, right? Because once someone's interested, they need a reason to choose the EV9 over, say, a Hyundai Ioniq 9 or a Rivian R1S. Lucas: Right. And Kia's decision-stage play was the test drive — but not the typical 'come to the dealership and we'll hand you the keys.' They launched a program called 'EV9 at Home' where a product specialist brings the car to your house for an overnight test drive. No dealership pressure. They did 15,000 of these in Q1 2026, and the conversion rate from test drive to purchase was 22 percent — versus the industry average of about 8 percent for a standard dealership test drive. Luna: Wow. So taking the friction out of the test drive alone tripled the conversion rate. That's a huge lift just from changing how the decision stage is executed. Lucas: Exactly. And they layered on a referral program: existing EV9 owners could give a friend a code for a free overnight loan. The referring owner got a $200 charging credit, the friend got a $500 discount. That program drove 18 percent of all new EV9 sales in Q2. So they turned the decision stage into a social proof engine. Luna: That's a great example of using the action stage — the purchase — to feed back into the top of the funnel. But what about after the purchase? Most car brands neglect the post-purchase funnel. Lucas: Kia didn't. They designed a loyalty loop using over-the-air software updates. Every EV9 gets a free update every quarter — not just bug fixes, but feature additions. In March, they pushed an update that improved the one-pedal driving regen algorithm based on driver data. That got a 73 percent installation rate, and they tracked that updated owners were 40 percent more likely to recommend the car to a friend. So the post-purchase experience drives referrals, which loops back to the decision stage. Luna: So the whole funnel is connected: awareness creates interest, interest leads to the at-home test drive, purchase is the action, and then over-the-air updates turn owners into advocates who generate new awareness. That's a closed loop. Lucas: Right. And the numbers back it up. Kia sold 28,000 EV9s in the U.S. in the first six months of 2026 — that's about 4,600 a month, which is impressive for a three-row EV priced around $60,000. And the funnel metrics show that the at-home test drive and referral program were the biggest drivers. Without those, they'd probably be at half that volume. Luna: One thing I'm curious about: how did they measure awareness lift specifically? Was it just surveys, or did they have a real-time metric? Lucas: They combined YouGov BrandIndex tracking — which shows weekly awareness scores — with Google Search volume for 'EV9' versus competitors. They also used a tool called EV Pulse, which tracks how many non ev shoppers search for a specific model. That's probably the most interesting metric: among people who had never searched for an EV before, the EV9 became the fourth most-searched EV model by April. That's the awareness stage working. Luna: So they're pulling people into the EV category, not just fighting over existing EV buyers. That's a fundamentally different strategy from most automakers, who just target people who already know they want an electric car. Lucas: Exactly. And it's risky because you're spending a lot of money on people who might not buy an EV at all. But Kia bet that if they could get a mainstream SUV buyer to try the EV9 — through the at-home test drive — the product itself would convert them. And the data suggests it worked. Luna: Is there a downside? I mean, if you're a mainstream buyer who's not interested in EVs, and you see a billboard about towing capacity, you might show up for the test drive, love the car, but then realize you can't charge at home. Doesn't that create a bottleneck at the decision stage? Lucas: It does. And Kia acknowledged that in their Q1 earnings call. They said the biggest objection in the at-home test drive was home charging — about 40 percent of participants said they didn't have a Level 2 charger or a landlord who'd allow installation. So Kia started including a free Level 2 charger with the car, plus installation credit up to $600. That removed the objection and lifted conversion by another 5 percentage points. Luna: So they listened to the data and adjusted the funnel. That's the ideal: you build a funnel, measure where people drop off, and then fix that stage. In this case, they fixed it with a hardware incentive. Lucas: Exactly. And the other thing they did was partner with a company called Qmerit to pre-qualify homes. When someone books an at-home test drive, Kia asks for their address and runs a quick check on whether the home can support Level 2 charging. If it can't, they offer a portable Level 1 charger as a stopgap. That way, the test drive experience isn't ruined by a charging anxiety moment. Luna: So the whole funnel is designed to preempt objections before they occur. The awareness stage addresses family needs, the interest stage shows lifestyle fit, the decision stage removes the test drive friction and charging concern, and the action stage starts the loyalty loop. It's a textbook modern marketing funnel, but applied to a very traditional product category. Lucas: It is. And I think the key takeaway is that Kia didn't just copy what Tesla did — which is basically a top of funnel word of mouth and a direct to consumer order page. They built a funnel for people who aren't early adopters. They built it for the family shopping for a minivan who might consider an SUV. Luna: I want to go back to that loyalty loop you mentioned. The over-the-air updates — how do they actually create referrals? I get that people like new features, but is there a specific mechanism? Lucas: Kia created a referral prompt inside the infotainment system. After an update installs, a notification pops up that says something like 'This update was made possible by feedback from drivers like you. Share your experience with a friend and they'll get $500 off.' Then you can text a referral link from the car's interface. They saw a 12 percent click-through rate on that prompt, and about a third of those led to an actual referral test drive. Luna: So the car itself becomes a channel. That's really interesting — it takes the loyalty stage and embeds it in the product experience, not in an email campaign. Lucas: Exactly. And it works because the timing is right: the owner just had a positive experience with the update — the car got better — so they're more willing to recommend it. That's the peak of the loyalty curve. Luna: So if we step back, the whole EV9 funnel is really an example of how to market a product that requires a behavior change — switching from gas to electric. Instead of trying to convince people to care about the environment or technology, Kia sold them on the things they already value: space, utility, convenience. Lucas: Right. And they measured everything against those values. The awareness KPIs were about family SUV consideration, not EV interest. The decision-stage metrics were about test drive conversion and objection removal. And the loyalty loop was about turning a software update into a referral engine. It's a rare case where the funnel stages are all aligned around a single customer insight: 'I want a capable family SUV, and oh, it happens to be electric.' Luna: That single insight is the throughline of the entire funnel. And I think that's what makes this case worth studying — it's not just clever tactics; it's strategic coherence from top to bottom. Lucas: Yeah. And I'll be curious to see whether Kia applies the same playbook to the upcoming EV9 GT version or to the smaller EV3. If they do, they might have a repeatable funnel architecture for the mainstream EV market. Luna: That's a good note to end on. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. Talk next time.