All About BOFU: 6 Things You Need to Know About Bottom-Funnel Content

If you’re trying to develop a successful content strategy, then you probably spend a fair amount of time thinking about how you can use content to draw in new visitors. But what about the people who are familiar with your brand, know what you sell and just need that one final push?

That’s where BOFU content comes in. If you master it, you’ll be able to give your visitors what they want and boost sales in the process. Want to learn how to master BOFU content? These are the six key things you need to know.

1. It’s Designed to Sell

To understand the purpose of BOFU content, you first need to understand each basic stage of the marketing funnel (or the buyer’s journey, depending on who you ask):

Awareness: In the first stage, buyers are aware that they have a problem, but they’re not sure how they can or should go about fixing it.
Interest and decision: In this stage, buyers consider the different solutions they have to choose from, take a closer interest in a few of them and start to think about making a decision.
Action: In the third and final stage, buyers are ready to take action in order to solve their problem.

Those stages are often referred to with the acronyms TOFU (for top of funnel), MOFU (for middle of funnel) and BOFU (for bottom of funnel):

Experienced content marketers will create different types of content for each stage of the funnel. As we explained in our list of 10 ideas for creating better content, TOFU content is designed to attract new visitors who are unfamiliar with your brand, MOFU content is designed to get them more interested in your product and view it as a viable option, and BOFU content is designed to give them the final push they need to become a customer.

In other words, BOFU content is at its best when it’s used to generate sales, not to introduce new products or cover broad topics.

2. It’s Aimed at Knowledgeable Readers

Since BOFU content is intended to be consumed by visitors who are ready to make a purchase, that means it’s also geared toward readers who know a thing or two about the topic at hand. So, it’s important to consider that when creating BOFU content.

If you don’t, you run the risk of frustrating visitors who are tired of reading about the basics and just want to solve their problem once and for all.

For instance, if you’re writing a BOFU article about specialty auto parts, there’s no need to go over the history of the modern car. Similarly, if you’re creating BOFU content about enterprise-grade cybersecurity software, don’t bother explaining what hacking is and why it’s bad.

The assumption is that your audience has already done their research on those fundamental concepts and is ready to pull the trigger on a purchase, so you might as well save their time (and yours!) by getting to the point.

3. It’s Ideal for In-Depth Information

Part of the fun of creating BOFU content is that it’s the perfect place to share all the in-depth information that might otherwise be considered too technical, lengthy or intimidating.

Need some ideas? Not a problem—all of the following are excellent candidates for BOFU content:

Product comparisons with detailed explanations of each one’s specifications, advantages and drawbacks.
Industry research and analysis that takes a data-based approach.
Ebooks, templates, case studies and other forms of downloadable content (psst: our Ultimate SEO Audit Template is a prime example of this type of long-form content).
Product tutorials that cover the nuts and bolts of how to make your product perform best.
Customer success stories that allow real customers to share their positive experience with your product or service.
Webinars and courses designed to help attendees and students strengthen their skills and enhance their knowledge on a particular topic that’s relevant to your brand.

Suffice it to say that when it comes to BOFU content, the more in-depth, the better.

4. It’s Built for Conversions

Earlier, we explained why BOFU content is designed to generate sales. That’s still true, but keep in mind that it can also be used to effectively drive conversions, even if they don’t necessarily involve a transaction.

For example, you can tailor your BOFU content to encourage visitors to:

sign up for an email newsletter;
download an app;
give you their contact information;
request a consultation;
start a free trial;
register to attend an event;
schedule a demo;
make a phone call; or
create an account.

So if you’re trying to create BOFU content but don’t know how else you can convince visitors to make a purchase, you might be able to find inspiration by aiming to drive other types of conversions instead.

5. It’s Your Chance to Solve Users’ Problems

If you work closely with any marketers (or are a marketer yourself), then you’re undoubtedly used to hearing about customers’ “pain points.” But when it comes to BOFU content in particular, pain points are anything but a buzzword.

That’s because out of all three content types, BOFU is by far the best for addressing users’ problems head on and offering them a solution in the form of your product or service.

You can put yourself in a reader’s shoes to fully understand why. For instance, let’s say you’re considering buying a new dishwasher. You’ve looked up lists of the best dishwasher brands and models, you’ve narrowed them down based on energy efficiency, and you’ve finally found one that looks promising.

So, you Google the name of the dishwasher, and you come across a page on the site of the brand that sells it. It’s a detailed product spec rundown, complete with a high-quality video demonstration and a convincing comparison to a competitor. You’re sold, so you scroll up and down the page looking for a link to purchase it.

However, you can’t find such a link anywhere, and you don’t want to spend time combing through the brand’s entire product catalog looking for the dishwasher. Now, you need to choose between the frustrating option of finding the dishwasher on your own and the disappointing option of giving up entirely.

That scenario demonstrates why it’s crucial to approach BOFU content with the goal of addressing users’ pain points: They’ve done the research, and they’ve become convinced of what they want to do—now, it’s up to you to make it easy for them.

To ensure that you do, don’t be afraid to talk up your products a little more than usual, and always include easy-to-find links that readers can use to purchase the product or service they’re after.

6. It’s Only Part of the Story

Remember, BOFU content only represents content for one part of the funnel—there’s also TOFU, MOFU and all the content that’s designed to keep visitors coming back even after they’ve become customers.

So while you can (and should) optimize your BOFU content as much as possible, be sure to give TOFU and MOFU content some love too. Think of it this way: your site’s visitors are all at different parts of the buying process, so you need to meet them where they are.

Use Bottom-Funnel Content to Get on Top of Your Game

BOFU content may be aimed at buyers in the last stage of the funnel, but it should be far from an afterthought.

In fact, if you give BOFU content the attention it deserves and go the extra mile to help visitors become customers, then both your content strategy and your bottom line are sure to benefit.

Image credits

Nivo Digital / June 2020