What are Sales Funnel? – And how to use it like a boss !!

A sales funnel visual represents the customer journey that depicts the sales process right from awareness to action. Also known as purchase funnel or marketing funnel, it is a marketing term for potential customers’ journey.

There are several steps to a sales funnel, usually referred to as the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel. These steps are generally based on the company’s sales model. 

The sales funnel can help entrepreneurs track their prospects as they move closer to becoming potential customers. By utilising this approach, businesses can easily optimise their sales and marketing efforts to grow beyond horizons. 

Still thinking about what are sales funnel and how to create them? Here’s a comprehensive guide that will walk you through the significant aspects of this marketing tool. Without further ado, let’s get started. 

Detailed description of sales funnel

Before jumping into the process, it is essential to understand the definition of sales funnel clearly. This marketing approach mainly describes the steps a prospect takes to become your customer. 

The key objective of creating a sales funnel is to move people through the different stages of the sales process until they are ready to buy your products or services. It consists of three parts: top, middle, and bottom. 

• The top of the sales funnel is the marketing technique that draws the attention of prospects to your business. It could be anything like an advertisement or the landing page of your website.
• The middle part consists of your sales process before the actual sale. It mainly refers to the stage of the sales funnel that focuses on the customers’ engagement to identify high-quality leads.
• The bottom of the sales funnel is the final purchase. It is when leads are making the final decision to purchase your products or services. Long story short, the bottom of the funnel is where you convert prospects into potential customers.

Stages of sales funnel

While checking out what are sales funnel, one must know that there are four different sales funnel stages. These allow businesses know about the prospect’s mindset. You must adopt different approaches at each stage to get the maximum benefits. 

The four stages included in the images of sales funnel are awareness, interest, decision, and action. 

1. Awareness

The first stage comes into the role when a person first becomes aware of your product or service. They might either develop awareness by learning about your brand on social media or by encountering your advertising.

If the timing is accurate, the prospect might become a customer by tapping on a link and purchasing your product or service. However, it’s more likely that you will have to convince the prospect to visit your store or website by sending an email or discount offer.

2. Interest

At this stage, the prospect has already learned about your company and decided to evaluate your brand on the level of interest. The second stage of the sales funnel requires you to publish enticing content that educates the prospects and compels them to make a purchase.

However, remember that your content should not be too pushy as it might turn off the prospect, impacting your sales badly. Try to publish the content that demonstrates your expertise while helping them make an informed decision.

3. Decision

Before learning how to create a sales funnel, it is essential to understand the third and the most crucial stage. The prospect is convinced with your product and is ready to buy the same. But he might consider several options or compare your products with the competitors before making the final decision.

At this stage, you have to make the best offer, like an added discount or free shipping, or anything in between, to fascinate him. Whatever the offer you will make, make sure it is irresistible and insists the prospect move forward to make a purchase. Sales pages, phone conversions, or webinars can help turn the lead into a customer.

4. Action

That’s the final stage of the game. The deal is not completed with the payment as your objective is to add the prospect to your company’s ecosystem. Although the sale is complete, the process continues.

Focus on customers’ retention to make several purchases in the future. Ask them to provide feedback, offer after-purchase support, or invite them to sign up for your newsletter to earn their loyalty.

How to create a sales funnel?

So, now you are well aware of what are sales funnel and its stages. It’s time to unwrap the step-by-step guide to create an effective sales funnel for converting prospects to customers.

There are several ways to build a sales funnel, and they usually vary from one business to another. Carry out the steps mentioned below to create a sales funnel for your business.

Step 1: Evaluate your audience’s behaviour

The audience is the building block of your sales funnel. The more you know about your prospect, the more effective your sales funnel will become. Remember that you are not targeting “everybody.” Businesses should create a sales funnel only for those who are a good fit for their products and services.

Start analysing where they click or when they scroll, or how much time they spend on a specific page. All these details will help you understand the prospect’s persona.

Step 2: Draw prospects’ attention

Now, since you have understood your prospects, it’s time to capture their attention. Here, you need to put your content before the target audience to lure them. 

Always take the organic route and post tons of blogs, articles, social media posts, and other forms of content across all platforms. Do not forget to add infographics, videos, and images. If budget is not the constraint, run a few ads to get their attention.

Step 3: Create a landing page

It is the essential step of how to create a sales funnel process. Your content or ads will have to take your prospects somewhere, and that place is the landing page of your website.

Create a page with a ‘can’t miss the offer’ to attract the prospect. You need to focus on capturing leads at this stage instead of pushing the sale. An appropriate landing page will take the visitor to the next step; hence, you should add a bold call to action to give them further direction.

Step 4: Run an email drip campaign

The next step is to market to your prospects through emails. Offer them something valuable, like an e-book or whitepaper with informative content. But here’s a catch. It is good to send emails to your leads but not too frequently as it seems too pushy and might turn off the prospect. Hence, one or two emails per week are enough.

Use the best sales funnel softwares to create a compelling and practical sales funnel for your business.

Step 5: Nurture the prospect

Now that your lead has shown some interest in your mail, it’s time to educate him about your products or services. Stay in touch with them regularly and make sure your content addresses their fundamental needs and overcomes any potential objections.

Step 6: Close the deal

Close the deal with an eye-popping offer that inspires your prospect to act. It could be anything like a free trial of your product, a unique discount code, free shipping, or anything challenging to ignore.

Step 7: Keep the process going

This step concludes how to create sales funnel. No matter what the final decision of your prospect is, you should continue the communication and relation-building process. Think about the long run and keep the process going until you convert your lead into a customer. 

Best practices to optimise your sales funnel

There is a myriad of ways to optimise your sales funnel. Here’s a quick rundown of the essential tips that small businesses and entrepreneurs should use to reap the maximum benefits of this marketing approach.

• We talked about running ads to capture the audience’s attention. Now, do not run just one ad as it makes no sense. You need to invest in around 6-10 ads to entice the prospect.
• Always conduct an A/B test on your landing pages to check their performance. It might be time-consuming. Nevertheless it will allow you to reach more people and convert leads more reliably.
• Pay attention to the results and check whether your strategy is working out or not. If one technique doesn’t work, try something else.
• A/B test your offer to check whether the offer you have made is practically sound or not. These little things can make a massive difference in your revenue.

Conclusion

That’s all about what are sales funnel. We hope our guide will offer you in-depth insight into this marketing tool so you utilise it correctly for your business growth. Whether you have a brick-and-mortar business or online brand, creating a sales funnel is essential if you want to attract your prospects and convert them into customers.

A complete knowledge of your sales funnel is mandatory to understand your customers’ journey, to evaluate the gaps in the process, and invest in the most effective strategies.