Do you know that about 96% of website visitors aren’t there to make immediate purchases. But that doesn’t mean they’ll never make a purchase. It simply means they’re in the first stage of a sales funnel, and businesses need to ensure they stay there and continue moving forward, no matter how long it takes to get to the end.
Here’s how it all works.
What Is A Sales Funnel?
A sales funnel, also known as a purchase funnel, is a marketing concept. It visually represents a customer’s entire journey and the sales process starting from awareness to action.
The idea behind the funnel itself—also referred to as a revenue funnel or marketing funnel—is that the pool of potential customers starts big but typically narrows down to a smaller group. This means that while many people may start their sales journey by showing interest in your product or service, very few make actual purchases by the end.
There are several reasons building and implementing a sales funnel is critical for businesses.
Why Is It Important for Your Business?
The sales funnel is an important and highly valued concept in the business world for several reasons. Here’s why your business needs it.
It Helps You Settle on A Marketing Strategy for Your Business
The sales funnel can help you figure out which business model or marketing tools would work best for your business. This essentially helps you save resources by investing in the most effective strategies that guarantee success.
It Tells You How to Relate to Your Customers
The sales funnel can help dictate the language you use for your client. Whether describing a product, producing content, or simply having a conversation with a client, the sales funnel will tell you which stage the customer is at in their journey. Once you’ve identified the stage, you can modify your tone accordingly or create well-direct content, and so on.
It Can Boost Sales
With a more effective marketing strategy and better communication with your customers, you should be able to generate more sales. You’ll do this by driving the potential customers toward the Action section more effectively. And over time, once you know the sales funnel inside out, you will be able to systematically steer more customers toward the desired sales outcome.
It Can Help You Compete Better
If you’re new in the industry, a properly implemented sales funnel is what can set you apart from other new companies. Most beginner entrepreneurs lack a clear sense of direction, which is exactly what a sales funnel can help you with. Understanding how the sales funnel works allows you to easily set up all your great ideas for execution.
It Helps You Improve Other Areas of Your Business
No business model is perfect from the beginning. Some models may work for certain businesses and completely fail for others. But a sales funnel is a great way to improve your business model continuously to ensure success over the long term. It helps you identify where you lack and make necessary changes.
How Does It Work—Understanding the Four Stages
From the moment a potential customer hears about your product or service to when they finally make a purchase, they pass through several sales funnel stages. Needless to say, the journey may differ for every prospective customer, even in the same sales cycle.
There is no limit to the stages in the sales funnel—a business can add as many stages as they prefer depending on their business model strategy. However, there are four common and essential stages you’ll see in every sales funnel:
1. Awareness
The first stage is, of course, awareness. This is when a prospect first becomes aware of your product or service. This awareness could come from advertising or referrals, your social media reach, or SEO efforts.
If the timing works, the prospect could immediately buy your product and reach the last stage; however, mostly, this isn’t the case. Most prospects go through several sales funnel stages before making a purchase.
2. Interest
The interest stage is when a potential customer has come across your company and product and is evaluating it to see if they’re interested.
To ensure they pass on from this stage to the next, it’s important to take careful steps like educating and informing them properly. But at the same time, you can’t be too salesy. You have to be genuine in helping them make the best choice.
3. Decision
This is one of the most crucial make-or-break stages where the potential customers are seriously considering options before making their purchases. There will be comparing prices and features before choosing the best option.
At this stage, you could help them with the best offers like discount codes, bonus products, and free shipping—anything that will compel them to decide to buy your product.
4. Action
This is, of course, the final stage when the prospect turns into a customer. There could, of course, be a different outcome—their action could be “not buying” the product. In either case, the process won’t stop.
If they leave without a purchase, you’d have to figure out what made them turn away. You’ll need to focus on customer retention if they do buy something.
Steps for Building A Powerful Sale Funnel
Developing and implementing a powerful sales funnel may seem difficult at first, but there’s a whole process to it. Here are the steps you’ll need to take:
Step 1: Observe and Analyze Target Audience’s Behavior
Step 2: Grab Their Attention
Step 3: Develop A Landing Page with A Bold CTA
Step 4: Create an Email Campaign
Step 5: Stay in Touch with Your Customers
This may seem a little overwhelming initially, but it doesn’t have to be too complex. You can get a sales funnel digital marketing agency on board to help you out. In fact, our team at X Times More can help you out with your sales funnel marketing. As one of the best digital marketing companies, we know what it takes to help you succeed in competitive industries.
Get in touch with us, and let’s discuss this further.