Reviews
Part of Marketing funnels: ten steps to define customer states, handoffs, economics and data
What a serious marketing funnels checklist covers
Marketing funnels checklist for 2027 reviews scope, customer states, offers, handoffs, capacity, economics, measurement, testing, privacy, and governance.
What to take away
- Mark each requirement pass, fail, unknown, or not applicable and attach evidence plus an owner.
- Stop review when material data, claims, privacy, customer safety, or delivery capacity remain unresolved.
- The single most important gate is measurement reproducibility. If counts do not reproduce, no later number holds.
- Repeat the checklist after material product, policy, channel, tracking, or ownership changes.
A serious marketing funnels checklist covers a defined customer and decision, reproducible data, and downstream outcomes. Each item carries evidence, an owner, corrections, accepted risk, and a review date.
Scope and customer model
The W3C's accessibility planning and management guide covers policy, responsibility, resources, evaluation, and monitoring. Apply qualified review to customer-facing experiences.
| Check and pass criteria | Fail or unknown |
|---|---|
| Scope fields: customer, product, outcome, decision, owner, period, and boundary are stated | Any field unstated |
| Research: triggers, questions, alternatives, proof needs, barriers, exits, and returns are covered | A path lacks evidence |
| States: each state has an entity, eligibility rule, entry event, sequence, time window, exclusion, owner, and next state | No entry rule or owner |
| Structure: open, closed, branching, online, offline, person, account, session, opportunity, order, and cohort choices are explicit | Structure implied |
Offers and operations
The ICO's direct-marketing planning guidance calls for clarity about the information used, the marketing activity, responsibility, lawful basis, accuracy, retention, and additional channel rules. Confirm duties under US state privacy laws such as the CCPA and CPRA, CAN-SPAM, the TCPA, and Canada's CASL. Prices in an offer come from the pricing strategy, not from a conversion target.
| Check and pass criteria | Fail or unknown |
|---|---|
| Offer links: customer questions connect with promises, proof, qualification, offers, and next actions | A question maps to no promise |
| Claims review: claims, endorsements, prices, urgency, privacy, accessibility, and vulnerable audiences get qualified review | Claim lacks support |
| Operating rules: routing, consent, qualification, deduplication, service levels, acceptance, rejection, retry, escalation, and feedback are tested | Rule untested |
| Delivery chain: capacity, inventory, fulfillment, onboarding, billing, support, returns, recovery, and exit are included | No capacity figure |
Economics and measurement
| Check and pass criteria | Fail or unknown |
|---|---|
| Economics: volume, progress, value, margin, cost, effort, time, capacity, and downside scenarios are modeled | Scenario missing |
| Tracking: events, identity, sources, attribution, consent effects, definitions, exclusions, and correction rules are documented | Definition missing |
| Reconciliation: known journeys reconcile with operational systems across devices, campaigns, purchases, cancellations, refunds, and offline handoffs | No reconciliation |
| Statistics: counts, eligible denominators, rates, time to progress, cohort maturity, mix, uncertainty, and data quality appear together | No denominator |
Testing and governance
| Check and pass criteria | Fail or unknown |
|---|---|
| Test design: hypotheses, assignment, comparison, primary outcomes, guardrails, sample needs, durations, and stop rules are predefined | No stop rule |
| Harm limits: customer harm, complaints, returns, accessibility, service load, margin, and retention constrain local optimization | Not monitored |
| Change control: definitions, forecasts, changes, access, approvals, incidents, and accepted risks have owners and history | No owner |
| Review outcome: reviews lead to a documented action, further research, maintained decision, or retirement | Commentary only |
Stop the campaign review when a material count cannot be reproduced, a claim lacks suitable support, protected data is exposed, customer harm is plausible, or delivery capacity is unknown. Resolve the highest-consequence gap before using the funnel to increase volume.
Release gates
| Gate | Required proof | Block when |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Population, state, time, owner | The decision is ambiguous |
| Delivery | Claims, routing, capacity, recovery | A material promise may fail |
| Measurement | Events, identity, formula, reconciliation | Counts do not reproduce |
| Governance | Privacy, access, review, incident plan | Exposure lacks an owner |
Print this checklist for release review.
How to log a gate result
The W3C Privacy Principles statement gives web-system designers shared privacy concepts and warns against shifting privacy work to individuals. Apply it to marketing funnels checklist, then review the governing law and configuration.
The CISA software acquisition fact sheet adds supplier and vulnerability questions. Treat them as background, not local approval.
Log each gate on one line: name, date, reviewer, decision, evidence, owner, release consequence. Pass means every item passed or is not applicable with a reason. Unknown needs an owner and a due date. Fail needs an owner, a fix date, and a release consequence.
Worked example. Scope gate, fail. Cart events exclude guest checkouts, so the population is ambiguous. Owner: lifecycle analyst. Evidence: tracking spec v4. Release consequence: hold the volume increase until counts reproduce.
A gate result is read against the marketing funnels benchmarks the team already agreed to.
Common questions
What does unknown mean on this checklist?
The reviewer lacks enough evidence to decide. Record the investigation, owner, due date, and release consequence.
Can not applicable be left blank?
No. State why it does not apply, who accepted that judgment, and what change would make it relevant.
When should the checklist be repeated?
Repeat it after material changes and at the review cadence set for the funnel's risk, volume, and decision importance.
