TOFU, MOFU and BOFU are shorthand for top-of-funnel, middle-of-funnel and bottom-of-funnel — the three classic stages of a buyer's journey from 'never heard of you' to 'about to buy.' Different stages need different creative, different offers, and have wildly different conversion-rate expectations.
TOFU — top of funnel
- Audience: cold prospecting, broad targeting, lookalikes
- Creative: hook-first, problem-aware, high entertainment value to earn attention
- Offer: low-commitment — quiz, gated content, browsing the catalog
- Goal: introduce the brand + capture some signal Meta can retarget on
MOFU — middle of funnel
- Audience: site visitors who didn't convert, video viewers, engagement-based custom audiences
- Creative: differentiation, social proof, founder POV, comparison
- Offer: free trial, sample, first-purchase discount
- Goal: move prospect toward considering you specifically vs. competitors
BOFU — bottom of funnel
- Audience: cart abandoners, checkout abandoners, recent visitors to a product page
- Creative: testimonials, urgency, free-shipping reminders, specific-product imagery
- Offer: completion-incentive — free shipping if they complete in 24h, 10% off
- Goal: close the loop on already-warm intent
Operator note
Don't run mixed-funnel ad sets in a single CBO — the algorithm will defund the higher-CPA prospecting in favour of cheap retargeting and starve your top of funnel. Either run separate campaigns or use ABO with explicit per-stage budgets.