The Hourglass Model: The Sale Starts After Checkout
M2 ·
The hourglass marketing model adds the half the classic funnel leaves out: everything the customer does after they pay. The upper half runs Know → Like → Trust, the waist is the transaction, the lower half runs Repeat → Refer → Advocate — and in the source case study, returning customers come back at close to zero marketing cost.
That is not a retention tactic bolted onto acquisition. It is a different shape for the same journey, and it changes where the money goes.
Key takeaways
- The classic funnel stops at the wallet. AIDA reads the journey as a straight pipe that ends at purchase. The hourglass keeps going for as long as the customer buys and talks.
- The lower half is where the margin is recorded. The source case records repeat purchases returning at close to zero marketing cost, and a referral rate that grows on word-of-mouth.
- Checkout is a waist, not a finish line. The strategic lesson of the case study: the real sale begins after the first order is completed.
The problem: water poured into a leaking pipe
The traditional funnel — Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action — assumes the journey is a straight line that concludes when the customer takes out their wallet. Businesses spend heavily to push people down that pipe, and the customer leaves immediately after paying.
What the source case study documents is the cost of that shape:
- Acquisition gets more expensive every cycle. New customers have to be bought again from scratch, because nothing after the purchase was designed to keep them.
- Lifetime value stays low by construction. A model that ends at checkout cannot produce loyalty it never planned for.
- Advocacy never gets funded. Satisfied customers are left to find each other, when referral is the one channel nobody has to pay media to run.
No amount of top-of-funnel spend fixes a pipe that empties at the bottom.
What matters: two halves and one waist
The hourglass is one journey with three zones. The strategic question is not which zone you like — it is whether all three are being run on purpose.
01 — Upper half: Know → Like → Trust
Pre-purchase. The job here is market education and trust: professional content that answers real questions, and authentic evidence that the claim holds. Note the sequence — trust is the last step before the transaction, not a banner line in the first ad.
02 — The waist: Try & Buy
The conversion point, and the narrowest part of the model for a reason. Optimise the transaction experience, remove payment barriers, and make the warranty or return commitment explicit. Everything above the waist is spent to arrive here; everything below depends on it going smoothly.
03 — Lower half: Repeat → Refer → Advocate
Post-purchase, and the half most plans skip. Investment goes into customer service, personalised recognition programmes, and turning satisfied customers into voluntary media partners. This is where the model's returns are recorded.
AIDA funnel vs the hourglass model
| AIDA funnel | Hourglass model | |
|---|---|---|
| Shape of the journey | A straight pipe | Two halves joined at a narrow waist |
| Where it stops | At purchase | At advocacy — it has no defined end |
| Post-purchase | Not modelled | Repeat → Refer → Advocate, funded explicitly |
| Effect on acquisition cost | New customers bought again each cycle | Returning customers cost close to nothing to market to, per the source case |
| Job of marketing | Fill the top | Keep both halves running |
Case study: where this model comes from
The three zones and the sequence above are drawn from the case study "Hoạch Định Truyền Thông Đa Kênh – Mô Hình Chiến Lược 'Đồng Hồ Cát'" — Strategic Communication Planning: The Hourglass Model — authored by Nguyễn Hải Minh and published through Brands Vietnam. It sets the model against the traditional funnel and records the returns from running the lower half deliberately.
Source & Author Citation
This article is cited and adapted from the original case study "Hoạch định truyền thông – Chiến lược Đồng hồ cát" by Nguyễn Hải Minh.
Original: brandsvietnam.com/congdong/topic/24085 ↗
What it returns
- A wider net margin. The recorded outcome of the case: customers returning to buy with marketing cost close to zero, which widens the margin on every repeat order.
- Word-of-mouth that compounds. The case records a natural referral effect that lets the referral rate grow sustainably rather than be bought each quarter.
- A re-drawn finish line. The documented strategic lesson: the real sale starts after the customer has completed the first order — everything before it is preparation.
The rule: if your plan ends at checkout, you are paying full price for every customer you will ever have.
FAQ
What is the hourglass marketing model?
A communication planning model shaped like an hourglass: an upper half for pre-purchase (Know, Like, Trust), a waist for the transaction itself (Try & Buy), and a lower half for post-purchase (Repeat, Refer, Advocate). It replaces the linear funnel, which stops at checkout.
How is the hourglass model different from the AIDA funnel?
AIDA reads the customer journey as a straight pipe that ends when the customer pays. The hourglass treats checkout as the narrow point in the middle and keeps planning for everything after it — retention, referral and advocacy — which is where the source case study records its returns.
What are the three stages of the hourglass model?
Upper half: Know → Like → Trust, built on market education and credible proof. Waist: Try & Buy, where payment friction and return or warranty terms decide the conversion. Lower half: Repeat → Refer → Advocate, funded through service, personalised recognition and referral mechanics.
Why does the model start the sale after checkout?
Because the first order is the cheapest thing a business has already paid for and the most expensive thing to leave unattended. The strategic lesson recorded in the source case is explicit: the real sale begins once the customer has completed the first order.
When should a company invest in the lower half of the hourglass?
When repeat purchases and referrals are already visible but unplanned for. The source case records the outcome as returning customers coming back at close to zero marketing cost, plus word-of-mouth that grows the referral rate — both of which need service and programme design, not more media spend.
Sources
- Nguyễn Hải Minh · Brands Vietnam — brandsvietnam.com/congdong/topic/24085-Hoach-dinh-truyen-thong-Chien-luoc-Dong-ho-cat
The hourglass is a go-to-market question, not a CRM feature. Tell us where your journey currently stops.
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