[dowskitest]

"Your funnel has a hole in it."

Hopefully it has two ... a big one at the top and a small one at the bottom.

The funnel metaphor has always thrown me off. IRL I don't pour stuff into a funnel and expect less than 100% of what I've poured in to come out the other side.

Why has funnel become a synonym for filter?

[1123581321]

It's more that without the wide mouth at the top, the narrow pipe at the bottom would miss a lot of fluid. But yes, it's really more a sieve.

[ishansharma]

Maybe marketers see the ideal situation where every visitor will be converted. A big Maybe though!

[ahoyhere]

I wrote that headline, and I'm acutely aware that a funnel has TWO holes in it. :)

Why do we use the word "funnel" then? Why write "Your funnel has a hole in it" even if you're thinking "Well, duh, it actually already has two holes"?

Here's why:

1. Funnel is the term of art. Like it or not, that's the word people use.

2. It's evocative and it's signaling -- "This is for me, I talk about my sales funnel"

3. Normal people don't think "sales funnel has two holes." Even though they use the word funnel, they really just envision a triangle. Just like when you say the word "chairman" or "cupboard," you don't think "That person is special because he owns the chair and doesn't sit on the floor like the rest of us" or "That's a piece of wood where you place your cups." The "hole in it" evokes more an image of a boat or a bucket, things dribbling through where they shouldn't.

Et voila. Your funnel has a hole in it. As a headline, it works beautifully.