Sales Funnel to Optimize Your Business Process
In the world of sales and marketing, a funnel is one of the most important tools for a business to understand and utilize. A funnel can greatly influence the overall marketing and sales performance of your company. In this article, we will explain
the components of a marketing and sales funnel,
the process of making one,
and also look at examples of successful sales funnels in action.
This guide is suitable for both beginners and experts, as no prior knowledge is required to understand the concepts we explore.
Funnels are foundational and creating a strong foundation will always help you in the long run.
Without a funnel you shooting without a target.
A properly implemented sales funnel can allow you to further automate your marketing strategy and to scale your business to increased profits.
Who doesn’t want that…
What is a Sales Funnel?
The definition is fairly simple, but many do get confused about the exact nature of a sales funnel. A sales funnel, sometimes called a 'revenue funnel' or 'sales process,' is the journey a business guides a potential customer through to make a sale.
The complexity and depth of this process are dependent on how the company manages its funnel.
Even if you are not aware of a funnel in your strategy, you will still have some sort of process resembling a funnel.
It will just be far shorter for those who are not keenly aware of the specifics.
This because at its core a sales funnel contains the simple process of:
making the customer aware of the product
sparking their interest by offering a solution
and finally leading them to decide whether to buy.
It can help to imagine a sales funnel like a real-life funnel from for example a supermarket. People walking on the street see the supermarket sign (awareness), some of them walk in (a solution to their problem), and another portion of those that walk in buy something. The inevitability of a funnel is that the amount of potential customers decreases with each step until the final purchasing step. Nobody gets a 100% conversion rate.
In the end it all boils down to this:
The Sales Funnel is a multi-step process that shifts prospective visitors into buyers.
Here’s a overview of some of the most famous funnels used in the world of marketing and sales:
How to Make a Funnel
There are many ways that you can go about creating your own sales funnel. We will go through some of the essential steps you can take to start your own sales funnel. You can then expand the sales funnel from this solid foundation.
1. Awareness Stage
The first part of all sales funnels is the awareness stage. This is where an onlooker gets a first glimpse at what you have to offer them.
People are busy, and their attention spans are short. You need to grab their attention in a way that speaks to them and piques their interest.
Your social media presence and the landing page of your website are usually the first impression that a potential customer would get.
While it’s hard to push through all the noise on social media being consistent and engaging with others is the best way to start building your community.
With social media, slow and steady will work better than fast en chaotic. Slow gives you the time to build deep meaningful relationships with your first users, who will in term become your backbone.
Then there’s the landing page. You should work on your landing page so that it is designed exceptionally well and tells the story of your business in a concise, yet engaging manner.
The best landing pages will also give customers the opportunity to sign up for a list or enter a free subscription. This will allow you to garner an initial list of potential customers which can be used later in the process.
The awareness stage is all about grabbing attention, and the best way to do this is by perfecting your landing page.
2. Pre-Selling
The next step is to start pre-selling to your potential customers. It should be easy for your customers to purchase your product/service.
The pre-selling stage is where you provide an initial offer to them.
Your main product should be the focus in this stage; however, you should also be focusing on how it can tie into additional products/services that you offer.
The pre-selling part is about giving your potential customers a clear opportunity to purchase your main offering.
Pre-Selling starts the moment a customer becomes aware of you. Everything leading up to the moment they buy something, is pre-selling.
3. Upselling
All customers who are about to buy, or who have recently bought should be offered an upgrade on that service.
It is important to upsell in a way that engages the customer and makes them consider the upgrade. This could be in the form of a time-limited discount that forces them to act.
If a customer buys one product from you they may be inclined to purchase an upgrade. Don’t assume that people already know what they want to buy. You should create an enticing offer that adds real and more value to what the customer has already bought or is about to buy.
4. Downsizing Option
On the other hand, a downsized option is just as important as an upselling option. A customer may be willing to purchase your main product, but they may lack the funds at a given time. This would mean that they do not end up purchasing even though they had a firm interest.
A downsizing option helps to mitigate this by offering a lower cost product that could appeal to the customer’s needs and be affordable for them. It is crucial to have a cheaper option available.
Long term these customers might increase their own revenue which will give them the option to buy a higher priced product in the future.
Today’s can't might be tomorrow's can.
5. Keep the Funnel Flowing
Your sales funnel shouldn’t end with the acquisition of new customers. It is important to check up on new and old customers with friendly emails where they can rate the service/product that has been delivered.
This can allow you to improve as well as creating a line of communication for future business. Additionally, you can create a rewards program that offers special discounts and deals to customers.
Remember, these are targeted customers that have already purchased something from you. They are likely to be interested in further purchases that can provide solutions for them.
Sales Funnel Software
The use of Sales Funnel software can help to take the complexity out of trying to understand each separate component of the sales funnel. They can help you to build in-depth sales funnels and manage them easily and intuitively.
There are many types of sales funnel software out there, and they all have specific features which will be suited to different businesses.
A modern sales funnel will contain a huge amount of data. This data will need to be managed somehow. The use of software can help to store and optimize this data. It can help you manage every step and take out the stress of needing to manually check performance.
A good software can help to quickly identify high and low performing parts of the sales funnel so that efficient prioritization can be enabled. This will help to run your business more smoothly and cut out wasted time and labor.
One of the best sales funnels management tools is designed by Funnelytics.
Funnelytics allows valuable insights to be gained and it is easy to get used to even for novices. It can help your company to better understand the role of a sales funnel and it features live tracking and key performance metrics.
It is a simple drag and drop system that utilizes mapping to intuitively show your entire sales funnel. Feel free to check out our take on Funnelytics here.
Sales Funnel Examples
In case you needed some inspiration, we have collated a number of excellent sales funnel examples that really showcase the power of this marketing too.
Apple’s Sales Funnel
Many people are familiar with Apple who are one of the leaders in the phone and computer industry. They have an excellent sales funnel strategy which has contributed to their huge growth.
Apple's sales funnel is a masterclass in turning interest into loyalty. They start with awareness, using product launches and media events to generate buzz.
This progresses to interest, where marketing showcases product features and the unique Apple ecosystem.
At the consideration stage, Apple Stores allow hands-on experiences, while online tools help with product evaluations.
To foster intent, Apple offers financing, trade-in deals, and promotions.
The purchase phase is streamlined, with trained staff assisting in-store and a simple online checkout process.
Post-purchase, Apple ensures loyalty/advocacy by integrating customers into their ecosystem, offering excellent service, and fostering a sense of community. This approach not only attracts but also retains customers, turning them into brand advocates.
Netflix Sales Funnel
Another well known company is Netflix.
Netflix's sales funnel effectively converts viewers into dedicated subscribers. They kick off with awareness through digital ads, social media, and buzz from their original content.
This leads to interest, driven by exclusive shows and the allure of ad-free viewing.
During the consideration phase, potential subscribers explore Netflix's vast content library and user-friendly interface.
To nurture intent, Netflix offers a free trial, letting users experience the service firsthand.
The purchase step is streamlined with easy sign-up and immediate content access.
Finally, to ensure loyalty/advocacy, Netflix delivers regular content updates, personalized suggestions, and a consistent cross-device experience. This strategy effectively turns casual viewers into loyal advocates of the platform.
Imaginary Example Sales Funnel
Above we’ve presented two funnel examples. The bold parts indicate a step in a funnel. Let’s dive into our imagination and create a funnel from scratch. Imagine that a company specialises in producing dog toys. They could create a Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or TikTok page that posts funny and captivating images/videos related to dogs.
Creating this type of content has a higher level of it being shared and people becoming familiar with your brand. As time goes on you’ll naturally start to get more and more followers. This is not an overnight process, but a process which mostly works for those that stay consistent. Consistency is 🔑.
Eventually you’ll build up some followers. Yes, it usually starts slow because nobody wants to be amongst the first few followers. But keep at it, it’s all part of the game.
This is a great time to pull people to a landing page. Don’t spam your page, but make sure people know that there is more valuable information on your website. You could then use the page to collect an email address that offers exclusive tips and offers to dog owners.
This would give you an initial list of targeted leads that could progress further down the funnel. Initially, you could email useful and high-quality content that provides real value to your target audience.
This is the warming up phase. Also known as the foreplay of marketing.
Once they are warm enough you could then offer an initial 25% discount for all first-time customers and then provide free delivery when they arrive on the product page. Offer things that will turn them into a customer.
You are more likely to convert leads if they are already impressed by the value you can provide for them.
The role of a sales funnel is to ‘warm’ up potential customers and turn them into marketable sales that can become repeat buyers of your product. No onlooker wants to be directly sold to. They want businesses to sell them an authentic story and to be able to directly provide a solution with their product.
A sales funnel requires a lot of time and patience to find the right combination that works best with your specific product and target demographic.
Conclusion
The sales funnel can be a powerful marketing tool when harnessed correctly. These examples will have given you an idea on how sales funnels are all around us.
The type of funnel and its implementation are largely dependent on the company and will differ according to the size and industry that your company is in.
Sales Funnels often take some time to tweak and tailor, before they are optimized to start delivering real results for you.
Since we’re visual creatures, using a visual funnel will make it a lot easier to see what you want people to do.
The process of turning an onlooker into a buyer is an art itself. It requires a nuanced understanding of buyer psychology. A sales funnel is merely the process that taps into this business-consumer relationship in order to maximize the effectiveness of the overall marketing strategy.
Want to dive into the tool we use to make our funnels visual? Click here
