How to Increase Conversions from Influencer Marketing?

Paid support for influencer materials should not be the only method to improve conversions. It’s a shortcut. A retargeting campaign to an ineffective group from an ineffective video only deepens the problem. Boosting weak content increases reach but does not improve purchase intent. Retargeting people who did not engage at all results in worse CPA and wastes the budget. So how to increase conversions from influencer marketing?

Top, Middle, and Bottom Funnel – Theory vs. Practice

TOF/MOF/BOF is a useful, albeit simplified framework. Top of Funnel (TOF) – creators build interest and trust through storytelling, unboxings, reviews, challenges. Middle of Funnel (MOF) involves educational content, product demos, comparisons, discount codes — retargeting the creators’ viewers. Bottom of Funnel (BOF) involves direct CTAs, affiliate links, dedicated landing pages — paid campaigns retargeting users who interacted with the creator’s materials. That’s the theory.

The TOF/MOF/BOF theory originates from the classic marketing and sales concept from the 19th-20th century (the so-called AIDA model), which has been adapted for digital marketing needs. As a framework for strategic thinking and media planning, it is useful and helps match format and message to the audience’s intent, justify budget allocation (e.g., cheaper CPM on TOF, higher CPC/CPA on BOF), or match KPIs to the type. Certainly, people do not always move linearly through the stages; purchase paths are complex and multichannel.

Thus, one can say that TOF (top) is for people who know nothing about you yet, and the goal is interest and reach. MOF (middle) is for those who have already seen your brand, and the goal is to build interest and intent. BOF (bottom) is for those close to conversion (purchase, sign-up), and the goal is to drive action.

Critics of such funnel division point out that rigid boundaries ignore multichannel and repetitive interactions – a user may purchase at the first contact or return multiple times. It is also a convenient sales language that facilitates budget accounting but does not necessarily reflect real customer paths. Finally, it highlights masking low efficiency, especially when campaigns are poorly designed: high spending on the upper funnel without retargeting and measurement mechanisms can be a way to hide low ROAS.

Sales Regardless of Position

Facebook and Instagram provide power: a large user base, good retargeting (reaching those who have already seen the content). On TikTok, there is high engagement and effectiveness for quickly generating attention, especially in younger groups. In the middle funnel, tutorials are used, in the lower funnel boosted creator posts and ads with CTAs.

Practical recommendations that always appear in such cases are to use reels/stories, short videos, challenges for the upper funnel, while in the middle and lower, they rely on ads showing the product. There is also a recommendation that the upper funnel only makes sense if it leads to effective support for actions in the lower funnel.

The truth is, however, that most marketing budgets must generate sales, and storytelling without a conversion mechanism is a luxury for brands with large budgets and long-term image goals. The upper funnel without a measurable impact can serve as an alibi for burning budgets. The halo effect and cross-channel uplift are real influence mechanisms – reach should be designed to increase conversions within a specific window, not just “build awareness.”

The funnel does not have to mean a division into “stories” vs. “sales” — each stage should have measurable sales goals. The upper funnel should not be just aimless content: communication in the upper funnel should be created to generate conversion signals (e.g., sign-ups, product clicks, search increases).

In particular, small and medium brands should prefer sales at every stage, including the upper funnel – short videos with CTAs, promo codes, social storefronts on the client’s domain, not just reach. Measuring effects in the upper funnel can be difficult, especially isolating that effect; therefore, aimless content without effective measurement easily hides inefficiency.

How to Change the Language from ‘Reach’ to ‘Impact’?

Traditional creative TV campaigns chasing awards have given way to influencers with large reach, and there is still a lack of evidence of sales impact. Instead of measuring likes, one should move towards measuring sales, brand search increases, CTR, conversions, and other ‘performance’ indicators. Every used ‘asset’ must have a measurable signal: a unique promo code, dedicated landing page, or event tracking (micro-conversions).

When is it worth shifting the budget from influencers to paid social? If influencers do not generate traffic and other forms of engagement or sales despite promo tests and optimization – it is worth considering switching to paid media. This is also a solution if you do not have the resources and capabilities to execute performance collaborations or need quick, scalable sales with low risk. What do you gain? Full control over creation, targeting, easy A/B testing, immediate measurement, and scaling.

When is it worth sticking with influencers? When the product requires education and trust, especially in beauty, supplements, premium industries. An influencer can shorten the decision path. Also, when you have creators with documented conversion or engagement cases with a niche audience. And of course, when you can implement hybrid models: fee+commission. Then you gain authenticity, provide social proof, lay the foundation for virals, access niche communities while maintaining sales efficiency.

Therefore, choose creators with a history of conversions (case studies) and an engaged, converting audience.
It’s also worth taking care of the redirect location. A dedicated influencer landing page (with sales efficiency measurement) gives full control over the message, easy tracking, funnel sealing, and the ability to capture micro-conversions (see our article: on automatic LPs in e-commerce, so-called Social Storefronts).

Product and category pages will be sufficient for people with strong intent and will also lead to conversions, although dedicated LPs affect funnel sealing / prevent traffic loss. On the other hand, a collection page or dynamic catalog allows for offer personalization and showing products they viewed (the aforementioned Social Storefronts combine these 2 types under one roof – dedicated influencer LP and dynamic catalog).

Conclusions

The traditional division of upper/middle/lower funnel (TOF/MOF/BOF) is a useful framework, but only if each stage has designed sales mechanisms and measurability. When the upper funnel is solely storytelling without CTA, retargeting, and tests – it becomes a convenient excuse for hiding poor efficiency. For most brands, a full sales funnel is more practical, where even actions in the upper part are designed with short-term conversion and measurable impact in mind.

Let’s also stop treating influencers as a black box, enforce measurability, hybrid models, proper landing places from such actions, and integrations with retargeting activities – then reach will cease to be just “pretty numbers” and become a real source of sales.