The sales funnel is the transformational tool that turns your website’s visitors into customers. It’s one of the most crucial elements in an effective marketing strategy, and today we’re going to cover how to make a sales funnel, and why it works.
What is a Sales Funnel?
The sales funnel is what captures leads when they come onto your website. Think of it this way: If you have an engaging ad campaign and a visually pleasing website, people will visit. But they have to do more than just visit: they need to engage with your website.
A good place to start assessing your lead-gathering success is to look at your website’s traffic data. If you have a lot of people accessing your website, but significantly fewer becoming customers, then you have a sales funnel problem.
A sales funnel is made up of two key things:
1) Premium Content
First, it offers a piece of premium content in exchange for an email. If you’ve ever pulled up your favorite fast-food website and seen a pop-up window offering a coupon if you enter your email, you’ve seen the start of a sales funnel.
The key to an effective sales funnel is that both parts of the exchange have to be benefitting the customer. The premium content – whether it’s a coupon, eBook, or consultation meeting – should help the customer achieve their goals, and you should also let them know that by entering their email they will receive access to future benefits, like sales or information. As a business, you want to develop a positive relationship with your customers, and sales funnels are a great way to help you do that.
2) Automated Sales & Nurture Emails
After you get the email address, the sales funnel is set up to send emails to that address on an automated schedule. The emails should typically be set to go out at least once a week, and they’re designed to help your lead overcome the obstacles that keep them from buying. These emails can include things like the sustainability features of your product, the benefits of your product, or satisfied customer testimonials.
All of these emails will help them overcome any remaining questions or doubts, and they’ll soon become a customer. But, if they don’t become a customer, client, or student (depending on your organization) by the time they go through your automated sales email sequence, that’s where ongoing nurture emails come in.
Nurturing emails are sent on a weekly, bi-weekly, or sometimes monthly basis, depending on your business model and sales cycle, and they are typically less heavy hitting than the sales email. Nurture emails are designed to keep you top-of-mind. You can use anything from recent blog posts, your youtube videos, relevant quotes, sales reminders, upcoming event announcements, and more as content for your nurture emails.
The Benefits of Sales Funnels
Without the sales funnel, companies have virtually no way to turn website visitors into customers, especially the ones you are still on the fence. With sales funnels, companies have the ability to capture emails, run email sequences, and turn website visitors into customers. Plus, they’re on an automated schedule, which helps ensure no lead is left untouched, while go about your busy day serving your clients. It’s almost like having a sales rep in your back pocket!
Companies need sales funnels because most website visitors aren’t ready to buy on their first visit. It can take between 8 to10 interactions with a brand before a lead will feel confident enough to become a customer. That’s where a sales funnel comes in – your lead emails will build brand familiarity with the customer, and give them the confidence they need to buy.
The sales funnel model is currently helping thousands of businesses increase revenue. Are you ready to become one of them?
Getting Started with Your Sales Funnel
Greenstone Media is here to help you take your marketing strategy to the next level. Our team can help you find the sales funnel content and emailing plan to maximize your customer transformation.
You can check out the full vlog discussing sales funnels here.
Or you can download our Guide to Creating an Effective Sales Funnel eBook to get a full breakdown of how to build your sales funnel.
For more marketing insights that will help you increase revenue and decrease inefficiencies, check out the Greenstone Media Vlog to hear the Greenstone Media team talk about what marketing tips we’ve learned over the years!
