# Bowtie Funnel / Revenue Architecture

> A Winning by Design model (Jacco van der Kooij): with recurring revenue, the funnel does not end at the close. It mirrors. Acquisition on the left; onboarding, adoption, and expansion on the right as an equally instrumented half. The economic lever sits to the right of the knot.

- Canonical URL: https://www.convios.com/en/methods/bowtie-funnel
- Language version: https://www.convios.com/de/methodik/bowtie-funnel
- Status: Externally proven
- Method library: https://www.convios.com/en/methods — Markdown: https://www.convios.com/en/methods.md

## Problem

Your go-to-market is built toward the close: marketing and sales are fully instrumented, but after the signature a blind spot begins. With recurring revenue, acquisition only amortizes over the customer lifetime, without managing the right side, you lose there what you expensively collected on the left.

## Approach

1. Model the funnel beyond the close: onboarding, adoption, renewal, and expansion as distinct stages with conversion rates.
2. Define a measurable impact goal for each right-side stage, from first impact in onboarding to expansion beyond the original scope.
3. Run marketing, sales, and customer success as one system with shared data and a shared currency.
4. Instrument the transitions: where do customers drop off between close and first value?
5. Direct investment to where the lever sits, with recurring revenue, usually to the right of the knot.

## Example

A typical case: a B2B SaaS celebrates every close but loses a substantial share of new customers within the first year, acquisition costs never amortize. The bowtie analysis exposes the break between contract signature and first experienced value: onboarding has neither an owner nor a metric. The team defines first-impact goals, instruments the right-side stages as rigorously as the sales funnel, and shifts budget from additional acquisition into adoption. New business stays flat, yet revenue grows, through the installed base.

## Limits

The model earns its keep with recurring revenue; for transactional businesses the right side is structurally thin. Instrumenting every stage is demanding and requires a shared data foundation across departmental lines. Elena Verna's loop critique marks the boundary: the bowtie describes an orchestrated process. Where the product itself is the growth engine, the loop perspective fits better.

## Metric

Track conversion rates per bowtie stage plus GRR and NRR and check what share of net new revenue arises to the right of the knot.

## Sources

- Gupta, Lehmann, Stuart: Valuing Customers, Journal of Marketing Research 41(1), 2004 — American Marketing Association / Journal of Marketing Research (Volltext über Columbia Business School), 2004 · academic and scholarly literature · supports the underlying mechanism. Establishes the economic core of the model: a one percent improvement in retention lifts customer value by roughly three to seven percent, while an equally large improvement in acquisition cost lifts it by only 0.02 to 0.32 percent. The leverage therefore sits after the close, not before it. (https://business.columbia.edu/sites/default/files-efs/pubfiles/534/Valuing_Customers--JMR_2003.pdf)
- The Bowtie Standard, Winning by Design (Jacco van der Kooij) — Winning by Design, 2026 · practitioner source · describes the method. Carries the definition and structure of the model: the classic funnel ends where recurring revenue begins, which is why acquisition, onboarding, retention and expansion are run as one continuous data model. (https://winningbydesign.com/resources/research/bowtie-standard/)
- Primary source: Gupta, Lehmann, Stuart: Valuing Customers, Journal of Marketing Research 41(1), 2004 (https://business.columbia.edu/sites/default/files-efs/pubfiles/534/Valuing_Customers--JMR_2003.pdf)

## Related

- Method: [The SPICED Framework](https://www.convios.com/en/methods/spiced-framework)
- Method: [Activation as the Retention Lever](https://www.convios.com/en/methods/activation-as-retention-lever)
- Method: [NRR as the Number One Value Driver](https://www.convios.com/en/methods/nrr-as-value-driver)
- Tool: [Plain](https://www.convios.com/en/toolbox/plain)