Sarah
Many customers have a somewhat developed relationship with a brand or a business before purchasing from them. For example, they might have seen the business’s ads, social media, or blog posts, or they might have signed up for a weekly email newsletter. Maybe they’ve even visited the website and taken a look at products and prices.
The customer’s process as they become more familiar with your brand is called the customer journey, and using a sales funnel can help you guide them along this journey. A great sales funnel enables you to build trust with potential customers and repeatedly exposes them to your brand/products/services to move them along the path to making a purchase.
Steps of a Sales Funnel
Each stage of the sales funnel helps bring customers closer to buying. It’s called a “funnel” because the first stage (at the top of the funnel) is meant to attract many prospects, many of whom will never make a purchase. As potential customers pass through each stage of the funnel, they get closer to the bottom (narrow end) of the funnel when they finally make a purchase. Outlined below are the four essential steps to consider when creating a sales funnel.
Awareness
The awareness stage of the sales funnel is when people first learn about your business or your products and services. This often happens right around the time that they discover they have a problem that needs solving. This stage is about ensuring your brand’s name appears in a search or is remembered and thought of as a potential solution. Your business should be proactive at this stage with consistent posting on social media and your blog, as well as advertising.
Interest
During this stage, a prospect has not yet decided on your “genre” of solution, but they are actively looking for something. They are interested in finding a solution and might be considering you as an option. This is a stage in which your business’s visibility is especially important. You want to stand out from your competitors when you pop up in search results alongside them.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial in this stage. You should also consider what competitive advantage you have over similar businesses and how you show that through the value you offer (informative and helpful blogs, webinars, podcasts, unique product features, etc.)
Decision
The decision stage is where the website deep-diving and product comparison happens. Potential customers will likely compare price points, product features, packaging options, and brand image/identity. In this sales funnel stage, you should focus on perfecting things like sales pages, product descriptions, email marketing, and calls.
Action
The customer has decided to buy from you. Be sure to encourage action with Call to Action (CTA) buttons and reminders on your web pages, emails, social media posts, etc. This doesn’t have to be the end of the road–in fact, it shouldn’t be. Keeping in contact with customers ensures a good customer experience and keeps your name fresh in their minds when they need to make another purchase.
Tips for Creating Your Own Sales Funnel
To create a functional sales funnel from start to finish, you need to understand who your target audience is, including their geographic location, common characteristics and interests, demographics, and pain points. To do this, you need to do market research and gather data on current customers. The more you know about your target audience, the more efficient sales funnel you can create, which means a higher percentage of people who enter it will make a purchase.
In terms of technical aspects like SEO, blogs, email campaigns, ads, web pages, and other content, one of the best choices you can make for your business is to pay for SEO copywriting services or sales copywriters. Content has a significant impact on a sales funnel’s interest and decision stages and keeping up to date on things like social media posts, blog content, and email newsletters is essential. Regularly updating your website and product descriptions is also a must.
Finally, it’s essential to provide value beyond just your product or service. In other words, it’s okay to launch some promotional email drips to leads, but you should also be providing them with fun newsletters, informational articles related to your industry, webinars, or entertaining social media posts.
The best sales funnels combine promotional material with free value to make a balance that shows customers you understand their position, you know what you’re doing, and you’re there to help them solve their problems. In addition, providing expectation-free value to prospects builds trust, which is one of the most valuable things you can have.
Why Do Sales Funnels Matter So Much?
Sales funnels bring in revenue. Every salesperson knows that making sales isn’t an easy-breezy walk in the park, but a well-oiled sales funnel can drastically improve the chances of a prospect making a purchase. In the process of creating a sales funnel, you will also likely learn some valuable information about your customers and their preferences that can help you make needed changes to your products and services.
Follow the tips above to get started creating an effective sales funnel for your business. Remember to conduct plenty of research on your target audience, stay consistent with content and marketing materials, and consider making a space in your budget to get all of the benefits of content writing services.
