How to Attract New Customers Using the Full YouTube Funnel?

Updated in July 2025

YouTube allows brands to engage audiences across the full customer journey, from initial awareness to consideration and conversion. With the right mix of formats, data, and creative strategy, it supports demand generation at scale.

In this article, we look at how to use the full YouTube funnel in practice, focusing on formats, tools, and creative approaches to attract new customers and achieve marketing goals at every stage of the interaction.

How to Use YouTube for Different Marketing Goals

With more than 2.7 billion monthly active users worldwide, YouTube is a scalable channel for engaging potential customers across the entire path to purchase — from first exposure to final action.

Advertisers typically work across three key funnel stages:

• Awareness
• Consideration
• Decision

Activating campaigns at each stage allows brands to support users throughout the decision-making journey. Focusing on only one stage often leads to missed opportunities, either by limiting reach at the top of the funnel or failing to convert existing demand.

The effectiveness of a full-funnel approach is supported by data:

• +28% in conversions driven by branded video formats
• +9% average increase in conversions among advertisers using multiple CPM-based brand formats simultaneously

How to Adapt Campaigns for Different Goals

Advertiser profile	Focus on brand awareness	Focus on efficiency or action
Media plans	Spending on CPM and offline TV	CPA formats with a focus on conversion tracking
Main KPIs	Coverage and CPM	Conversions and CPA
Funnel transformation	Start moving down the funnel using Video Action campaigns	Start moving up the funnel using outreach campaigns (VRC)

Video Trends on YouTube

1. Streaming and CTV

YouTube viewing on connected TVs continues to grow globally. Around 2.85 billion users worldwide watch YouTube on TV screens each month, making CTV a key extension for reaching audiences across multiple devices.

One of the most valuable segments is Light TV Viewers (ages 20–40) — users who actively consume content on large screens but spend less than an hour a day watching traditional TV.

2. Short-form video (Shorts)

YouTube Shorts are gaining momentum at scale. For advertisers, this format offers a fast, engaging way to deliver short, vertical messages that capture attention and fit naturally into mobile viewing behavior.

3. Video commerce

YouTube plays a direct role in purchase decisions. Around 70% of viewers say they have bought a product after seeing it on YouTube, highlighting the platform’s impact beyond awareness.

Recommendations for Effective Video Advertising

To get the most out of video campaigns, it is important to connect different formats across every stage of audience interaction. In practice, this means taking a more integrated approach:

• Plan campaigns using Reach Planner and Performance Planner to align scale and outcomes
• Combine CPM-based reach formats with CPA-driven action formats within a single strategy
• Support performance with clear calls to action, related videos, and product feeds
• Use optimized targeting to go beyond manually selected audiences and unlock incremental reach
• Adjust bidding strategies to improve relevance and overall efficiency
• Reinforce Video Action campaigns with Discovery formats to capture additional intent
• Track impact through Unique Reach reports and data-driven attribution

Creatives: The ABCD Framework

• A — Attention: capture attention in the first seconds
• B — Branding: introduce the brand early in the video
• C — Connection: sustain interest through pacing, characters, and visual variety
• D — Direction: clearly guide the user toward the next action

Following the ABCD principles can increase short-term sales by up to 30% and drive a 17% lift in long-term brand loyalty, making it a proven framework for both performance and brand impact.

Optimizing Short-Form Video

• Shoot in vertical format and use multiple visual elements
• Lead with emotion to set the tone from the first frame
• Get to the core message immediately without delaying the main idea

Audio Advertising

Audio formats play a strong role in building brand awareness:

• 87% of audio campaigns increase ad recall
• 81% drive awareness uplift

This makes audio especially effective for users who listen to content without actively watching the screen.

How to Measure Performance

To understand campaign impact and plan budgets with confidence:

• Monitor key conversion types in Google Ads (CTC, EVC, VTC)
• Use tracking links to measure in-app actions more accurately
• Maintain a clean, scalable account structure
• Rely on data-driven attribution rather than last-click models

Key Takeaways

A comprehensive YouTube strategy enables brands to engage customers across the entire journey — from first exposure to conversion. To drive results:

• Combine multiple ad formats across the funnel
• Adapt creatives to each placement and viewing context
• Measure performance consistently and with precision

YouTube is more than a video platform. It is a business tool designed to deliver measurable impact.