A conversion funnel (also called a sales funnel or marketing funnel) is a metaphor used in ecommerce marketing to describe the customer journey prior to making a purchase of a product or service. Typically, businesses categorize the levels of the funnel as follows, from the top (largest group) to the bottom (smallest group) of the funnel: the awareness stage, the interest stage, the desire stage, and the action stage. As a group of potential customers moves through the funnel, it becomes smaller and smaller. When optimizing your conversion funnel, the ultimate goal is to get more of your target audience through the action stage.