Ever heard the term "Sales Funnel" and have no idea what it is? In this article, we discuss what a sales funnel is and the basics on how to set one up.
A sales funnel is arguably one of the most important parts of any internet marketing strategy. You could have done everything else right with your internet marketing strategy, however if you haven't created a great sales funnel that works as it should, your entire marketing effort could be wasted. Its important to understand your consumers entire buying cycle, so that you see what the process they undertake as they go through your funnel. This article focuses on helping you understand the buying cycle, plus we discuss the most common sales funnels and how to use them for your own website.
What is a Sales Funnel?
Sales funnels aren't complicated things, however they can be a little confusing the first time you come across them, or to anyone who is new to internet marketing.
Basically a sales funnel is simply the process that a consumer goes through to buy a product or service from you. The reason that it is called a “funnel” is that everything is geared to steering, guiding or funneling them down a path that ultimately leads to them choosing to make a purchase at the end.
The Sales Process
To understand a sales funnel, you need to understand the sales process, which is basically the framework of the funnel.
Awareness
The first step in the sales process is the awareness phase. Remember, every sale that you make is essentially solving a problem for the consumer. Your customer, the consumer, is looking for a solution to their problem, and you need to be there to provide the best solution for them. So, the first step in the process is making them aware of the solution you can offer. You don't have to worry about the problem, as they have already recognised they have it, and know why they are looking for a solution. Suppose someone identifies a problem they have, gets online and opens up their preferred search engine, and types in “super warm sleeping bags”. They are obviously looking for a sleeping bag that is going to keep them warm, even on the coldest nights. Now you know that they are looking for a sleeping bag, and you happen to have exactly the sort of sleeping bag they would be interested in, then you can entice them to come and check out your range of sleeping bags. All you need to do is to get them to see your listing in their search engines results, and have an listing title that speaks to them. In this case it could be something as simple as "Sleeping Bags for Extremely Cold Weather".
Interest
Now you move onto the next stage in the process. Now you have their interest, they want to know what you have to say about your sleeping bags, and they want to find out whether or not you really do have the best solution to their problem. That is, do you really have the best sleeping bag for extremely cold weather? You only have their interest for a very short time. They are not yet convinced by your sleeping bag offerings, they are still just a casual visitor and could abandon your site at any moment.
It is your job to build that interest before they go elsewhere.
So, for example, if they get to your landing page, and you have a number of sleeping bags with something like a temperate rating featured on each one, they are most likely going to take a closer look. They might also take a closer look if you had a blog post titled “How to Choose the Perfect Cold Weather Sleeping Bag,” or even one titled: “10 Ways to Make Cold Weather Sleeping Bags out of Normal Everyday Sleeping Bags.” People love lists of ways to solve their problems.
Evaluation
Next, they will enter the evaluation phase of the sales funnel. This stage is where they not only compare your product against what they were looking for in the first place, they also compare it to other products from your competitors as well. Using the above sleeping bag example, a visitor to your website might see them and just proceed to checkout and buy, however it is more likely they will just as easily ask themselves “What if I can get a lower price somewhere else?” Imagine if you had some way to convince them that they won't be able to get a lower price anywhere else. This would drastically turn the odds of a sale in your favour. The hard part here is to actually convince them. Just stating “You won‟t find a lower price anywhere else!” is probably not going to do convince them. People are a little more switched on than to believe something like that when it comes to advertising. You are going to have to get creative in how to do this.
Decision
The next thing that will happen is your website visitor is going to make a decision. They will essentially decide one thing, whether you have succeeded in convincing them to buy your product or not. If you have done a good job and convinced them that your product will solve their problem, then they will most likely buy your product or service. If you haven't succeeded in convincing them, they will go elsewhere. Making that decision depends upon what you have presented to them with in the evaluation stage. This includes a comprehensive product page that details your product and demonstrates HOW your product will solve their problem. It includes great quality pictures that provides enough detail to help them feel like they have seen enough of the product to know what it really looks and feels like. It also includes great descriptive text as content that reinforces the solution to their problem. If you have made good on your sales pitch, they will make the buying decision in your favour.
When it comes to a great sales funnel however, them saying “no” doesn't have to be the final decision. For example, you could have a pop-up when they close the browser window, or an abandoned cart email that offers them a discount if they come back and complete the purchase.
Purchase
Once they have decided to buy, you need to make the checkout and purchase as easy for them as possible. They are committed to buy, but that doesn't mean that they can't change their mind and back out before handing over their hard earned money.
For example, think about purchases that you have backed out on. Just one example: if you start a checkout process on something that seems like a really good deal only to find out that the seller is charging an over inflated shipping cost, you're probably going to abandon that cart and back out. In addition to making it as easy as possible for the buyer to complete the transaction, this would be an excellent time for you to get their email address if you haven't done so already. This will allow you to send them emails on future products, services, deals that you might be running, or informational content about an upcoming event or product launch. They have demonstrated that they are comfortable buying from you, so it's the best time to ask for their email address.
Common Types of Sales Funnels
Every one of the following sales funnels is a little different in its structure and purpose, however each of them can be great if you use them the right way. You just need to learn the processes and which products work for that particular process so that you can use it to maximum effect.
You should be able to understand the concepts on how to set up the funnel by the time you finish each section, what the purpose of that funnel is, and how you use it to sell your own products and services.
The Email Opt-in Funnel
The email opt-in funnel is the simplest of all of the funnels we are going to discuss. This funnel is simply to ask for the consumers email address.
You simply need three basic ingredients to create this funnel.
The first is some kind of landing page that will allow people to submit their email. Ideally, you just want them to be able to submit their email and be done. If you make the form too long or complex, there is a high probability they will change their mind. By sticking to say, a first name and email, you are going to increase your chances of the consumer completing the form.
The second component that you will need to create is a thank you page that they will be sent to immediately after they submit the form on the landing page.
Finally, you are going to need to set up an email auto responder to get them to verify their email so you know it's valid.
The Webinar Funnel
This sales funnel is to get people to sign up for a webinar. The webinar itself can be the product in this instance, because you can charge attendees a fee to be part of the webinar, however the webinar can also be a chance for you to entice the attendees to purchase another product or service you offer.
In addition, there is a market for the auto webinar, where they pay a membership fee or a nominal individual download fee for previous webinars.
To set up this funnel, you need a webinar registration page, followed immediately after with a thank you page.
Then, you will need to send a series of three to five followup emails to remind them of the upcoming webinar or remind them that they have webinars to download.
You need to make sure that your webinars are relevant and of significant value to your subscribers. If it's information they are looking for, provide more information than you think they will expect. Content is always king.
Finally, you send them either to the live webinar area, or the auto webinar area. Assuming you have a product, you would then send them to the product order page.
The Product Launch Funnel
This type of funnel is pretty simple in its concept, although some effort has to go into it for it to be a success. It essentially consists of several product launch videos.
The reason that this funnel is used when a business is launching something new is that it offers something people can get excited about. For example, suppose that you had discovered the secret to eternal youth and you had an eBook explaining how people could live forever. You would use this type of funnel to launch that product. That example is unrealistic of course, but you understand the point. As for how to set this funnel up, you simply need a series of product launch videos as part of a sales page that explains the product thoroughly. You can do these videos through whiteboard presentations or with you on camera. However you produce the videos not really important, but videos have been proven time and time again to definitely be the best way to launch a product.
The Tripwire Funnel
The tripwire funnel is sort of like fishing. You set up the bait, which is usually something offered for free, and then get them to move to the “tripwire” page, where there will be an offer for something that they can buy. It isn't bait and switch exactly, or at least it shouldn't be, because you actually want to give them the free thing you initially promised. It is more like bait and offer. Its a good idea to have the offer seen to be a must have to compliment the free item you have just given them. For example: you might be offering them an ebook on an introduction to internet marketing, and your offer might be the advanced internet marketing ebook with the essential checklist used by thousands of successful marketers. What you will need for this funnel is a page where they get something for free, most often by entering their email address. You need to ensure that the free thing is something your audience is going to think is worth giving up their email address for.
Second, you need to take them to the page where you will offer them something even better that costs money. This is called the tripwire page. From there you want to take them to the offer page. If they refuse the offer then you can take them to the downsell page, where you can offer more incentive to purchase, such as lowering the price. If all this fails, you take them to the last ditch effort one time offer page where they won't get this deal again.
The Membership Funnel
The membership funnel is pretty simple, depending upon what the membership is that you are wanting to set up. For example, if it is a paid membership, then you may have to expand your sales funnel to include offer pages, downsell pages and the like. But if you are simply offering a free membership and plan on selling to them later, then all you need are two pages. The first is your membership registration page, where they will enter their information and become a member. Obviously, you will want to verify their email before you take them to your second page. A link from their email should take them to the members area, where you can deliver whatever benefits you offered to get them to join.
Upselling & Cross-Selling
Something else to be aware of when it comes to sales funnels is that you want to be making use of upsell pages as well as down sell pages. If someone buys a product, they might be interested in buying a better or more expensive one. Also, use cross selling whenever possible by offering related products that they might find useful. This can be with "Other Items Purchased With This Product" carousel at the bottom of a product page, or a related product option in the checkout process.
Conclusion
Now that you have a basic understanding of sales funnels, and you have seen some of the common ones in action, you can build your own funnels to whatever specifications you need. Sales funnels work, as long as you use them correctly, and the ones listed here can be the foundation for your own internet marketing.
Comments