An effective sales funnel is often the difference between a successful business and a failing one. One company might have a superior product, but this may not be enough when competing with a sophisticated funnel. The sales funnel is a list of steps that takes a person from an initial introduction to a brand through to a sale. When you can create a funnel quickly you can increase conversions and start optimizing each step of the process. So how can you develop a sales funnel that converts?
Study Your Ideal Audience
You can avoid wasting time and money by analyzing your ideal audience. With a customer group in mind, you can create a marketing campaign that is direct and specific. If you already have sales and website visits, your analytics tool will detail the type of people buying your products. Alternatively, you can look at your closest competitors, using tools like SimilarWeb to study who they attract.
Build a Landing Page
A landing page lets you promote your products without distractions. The ideal landing page will limit the options available to a visitor, focusing on the offer. A visitor will usually have the option of progressing into your sales funnel or leaving the page. Other distractions will almost always reduce the conversion rate. In the early stages of an interaction, you can offer more flexibility as people need time to get familiar with a brand.
Create an Email Sequence
An email sequence lets you set up multiple messages that move subscribers through the funnel. A person signs up to your email list knowing little about your business. Over the course of an email sequence, they learn about your company, gain useful content, and start to trust you. A quality email sequence can drastically improve your conversion rate as subscribers have been primed over an extended period.
Create General Industry Content
General industry content is developed to raise awareness in consumers. A prospect may have little knowledge of your business or the industry, but they have started to build some awareness. Your content can teach these people more about the industry and leave them wanting to know more. This type of content might involve posting on social media, an introductory video on YouTube, or a broad blog post.
Offer Related Content to Your Product
Getting many people to invest in your products will usually involve more focused content. The general content helped gain some initial interest, but your focused articles and videos added more depth. This approach is not as necessary in industries where the products are low-cost and self-explanatory. However, offering focused content can still help build long-term relationships with customers. For this stage, you could create detailed blog posts, start a podcast, and design infographics.
Design a Converting Offer
After building interest and awareness in prospects, it is time to make an offer. The best offers are usually able to differentiate themselves from the marketplace, offering something unique or engaging. Information products can be designed around a unique mechanism that might be hard to replicate. General products, though, may face many closely related competitors, so you could offer an affordable price, free shipping, attractive designs, and other enticing options.
Make Recurring Sales
Selling an existing customer additional products is easier than finding new customers. Therefore, when you have secured a sale, you want to have a sales funnel that encourages more purchases. You could have an entire product range that would interest a customer, a related item, or a product that becomes a recurring purchase. Follow up with customers over email and social media, ensuring you stay fresh in their minds. Additional incentives, such as loyalty programs and discounts, can also help secure extra sales.
Many businesses are overly focused on their products, so they don’t develop a system for finding prospects and convincing them to buy. Factors like word of mouth are useful, but they won’t help build a sustainable enterprise. Designing a sales funnel that moves audiences towards a sale is crucial for building an online business. When you have created your first funnel, you can start analyzing and testing results, making small improvements that, ultimately, help your business make more sales.
