Latest / The Marketing Funnel Podcast with Fexingo: Awareness, Interest, Decision, and Action Stages / How the Marketing Funnel Fails Without a Feedback Loop
Transcript
- Lucas: Let me start with a number that's been rattling around in my head. According to a Bain & Company study from a few years back, increasing customer retention rates by just five percent can increase profits anywhere from twenty-five to ninety-five percent. And yet, if you look at most marketing funnels — including the classic AIDA model we talk about on this show — there's no stage for what happens after the purchase. Luna: Right, because the classic funnel ends at 'Action'. You buy, you're done. But in reality, that's where the relationship starts. Lucas: Exactly. And I think that's a blind spot that a lot of companies still have in 2026. So today, I want to argue that the marketing funnel is incomplete without a fifth stage — let's call it 'Advocacy' or 'Feedback Loop'. And I want to use two very different companies to make the case: Peloton and Slack. Luna: Before we dive in — and I don't want to interrupt the flow — but this topic actually connects to something I've been thinking about. If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used in your own work, honestly, if today's episode is worth a coffee to you, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's the smallest ask, and it keeps this show ad-free. Lucas: Yeah, I appreciate that. And it's true — listener support is what lets us stay independent. So, back to the funnel. Let's start with Peloton. Luna: Peloton is interesting because their hardware is expensive — a bike plus subscription is a serious commitment. So their funnel has to be really strong at the top to generate awareness, but what made them explode was the community after purchase. Lucas: Right. Peloton didn't just sell a bike; they sold a live-class experience with instructors who build personal connections. And that created a feedback loop: riders feel part of something, they share their stats on social media, they invite friends to take classes. That's advocacy happening organically. In fact, Peloton's referral program — where existing members could give a friend a free month of the app — drove a significant chunk of their subscriber growth in the early years. Luna: But isn't that just a referral program? That's not really a new stage in the funnel — it's a tactic. Lucas: I'd argue it's more than a tactic. Because Peloton designed the entire post-purchase experience to generate advocacy. The leaderboard, the shoutouts, the hashtags — those aren't accidental. They're structural. And the result is that their customer acquisition cost drops over time because existing customers do the top of funnel work for them. Luna: So you're saying the feedback loop isn't just about getting feedback to improve the product — it's about turning customers into marketers. Lucas: Exactly. And that's where Slack comes in. Slack's growth was famously viral in the B2B space. A lot of that came from their product-led growth model — teams adopt it bottom-up — but the key was that after a team started using Slack, they'd invite other teams inside their company, and then external partners. It was a self-sustaining loop. Luna: But Slack also had a very deliberate feedback mechanism. They had a high-touch customer success team that would reach out to new teams, gather feedback, and turn that into product improvements. And they published their net promoter score publicly for a while. Lucas: Right. Slack's NPS was famously one of the highest in SaaS — around seventy or more at its peak. And they used that feedback loop not just to measure satisfaction, but to identify advocates. They had a formal ambassador program where power users got early access to features and a direct line to product teams. That created a sense of ownership. Luna: But let's play devil's advocate. Not every company can build a community like Peloton or Slack. What about a low-engagement product like, say, a toothbrush? How do you build a feedback loop there? Lucas: That's a fair challenge. But even there, you can create a loop. Quip, the electric toothbrush company, did it by selling a subscription for brush heads. Every three months, you get a refill — and that touchpoint is an opportunity to ask for feedback, to upsell, to ask for a referral. The key is finding a recurring interaction that isn't just transactional. Luna: So the feedback loop stage isn't necessarily about the product itself — it's about the ongoing relationship. And that means the marketing funnel shouldn't end at purchase; it should become a cycle. Lucas: Exactly. The linear funnel is a lie. What actually happens is a loop: Awareness leads to Interest, then Decision, then Action, then Advocacy — and Advocacy feeds back into Awareness for new customers. That's the model I think more marketers should adopt. Luna: But there's a risk here. If you force advocacy — like those cringey 'share this with five friends to unlock a discount' campaigns — you can damage trust. Your advocates have to be genuine. Lucas: Absolutely. The worst thing you can do is treat advocacy as a transaction. 'Give us a five-star review and get ten percent off' — that's not advocacy; that's a bribe. And customers see through it. Real advocacy comes from delight, not incentives. That's why I think the feedback loop has to start with listening, not asking for favors. Luna: So if you're a marketer listening today, what's the one takeaway? Should they restructure their entire funnel? Lucas: I'd say start small. Map your current funnel and identify where the handoff from 'Action' to 'Advocacy' happens — or doesn't. Then create one mechanism to close the loop. It could be a post-purchase survey with a personal follow-up, a community space like a Slack group or a subreddit, or a referral program that rewards sharing but doesn't feel like a bribe. Measure not just acquisition cost, but customer lifetime value and referral rate. Over time, you'll see the loop start to spin. Luna: And if it doesn't spin? Lucas: Then you probably have a product problem, not a marketing problem. And that's actually the most honest feedback loop of all.