Attention, visitor, lead, conversation, appointment, customer. AI belongs at the joins, not in the middle of a slide.
Every business has the same six stages between attention and revenue. What differs is where the customers fall out.
The six stages
- Attention — the ad, the post, the search result
- Visitor — the page they land on
- Lead — the moment they identify themselves
- Conversation — the first real exchange
- Appointment — the committed next step
- Customer — the decision
AI belongs at the transitions
Between visitor and lead: an assistant that answers the hesitation nobody fills in a form to ask. Between lead and conversation: an instant response instead of a queue. Between conversation and appointment: qualification and booking without a scheduling email chain.
Instrument before you optimise
You cannot fix a journey you can't see. Track the count at each stage. The biggest drop is your project. Everything else is a preference.