How a Sales Funnel Can Transform Your Online Marketing

Sales funnels are powerful tools used to help businesses attract and convert their customers online. The premise is simple: drive traffic to your website (either through advertising, social media or word of mouth), provide an incentive to visitors to provide their contact information, and continue communication with them in order to promote the actions that are meaningful and profitable to your business.

Even if you are unfamiliar with sales funnels, chances are you have been a part of one before. Have you ever visited a website and were tempted with an additional percentage off your first purchase just by providing your email address? Or has a company offered to provide you with the top secrets or best practices for something relevant to your business, asking for your email address to send the information to you? These are both examples of sales funnels and we’re sure that you’ve seen how effective they can be.

The first step in any lead generation system is the lead magnet, or what will draw customers to your site. This can be something such as an offer, deal or unique product or service that is advertised either through digital advertising, social media posts or email marketing. The most important element is that this magnet should solve a problem that your audience is facing, drawing your prospects into the sales funnel.

Once potential customers are enticed with your lead magnet, they arrive at a landing page which then triggers a series of events to guide customers through the process to drive conversions and profitable actions. The conversions can be defined as anything meaningful for your business goals: online sales, newsletter sign-ups, or booking an appointment. This conversion is the goal of the sales funnel.

After reaching the landing page, customers are presented with an opportunity, typically, to submit their email address. Once a customer enters their email address, one of two paths can be triggered. A completed journey path (including a thank you), or an incomplete journey path (started but not complete). If a customer completes the desired conversion, their information can then be directly imported into a CRM (or customer relationship management) platform or another database. This automation helps to streamline the customer communication and build brand loyalty and repeat business.

If a customer abandons the sales funnel or does not complete the desired conversion, an email marketing campaign is triggered to maintain communication with the consumer and encourage them to complete the action. The most effective way to achieve this is to use the Soap Opera Sequence of email marketing, outlined here:Following this template of email communications will draw consumers who abandoned the funnel back to the process and increase the likelihood that they will end up completing the desired action due to the implied urgency of the sequence. In order to make the best use out of the sales funnel, we recommend automating these email communications using an email marketing partner such as MailChimp or Constant Contact.

When looking for a lead generating service, there are a few key elements that you should look for. The first is whether the platform is designed for the actions that you want customers, or potential customers, to take. For example, a retail site will have different desired consumer actions than a doctor’s office or law firm. The second is the platform’s ability to integrate with other systems that your company is currently utilizing such as email marketing, CRM platforms, and web systems.

There are many different platforms out there that provide a do-it-yourself approach to creating sales funnels, like ClickFunnels and Leadpages. These platforms make it simple and efficient to develop automated and effective sales funnels. However, there are limitations to what they can achieve. These platforms require a monthly subscription payment and are limited in the level of customization when it comes to system integrations and options for the funnel triggers.

If you have tried these platforms in the past and are looking for a more tailored approach, or if you have specific business goals in mind, we are here to help. Our sales funnel experts are available to discuss custom solutions and to help build a one-of-a-kind platform that will help achieve your business goals and one that you will have ownership of. These are designed with your consumers’ behaviors in mind and based on what will increase the efficacy of your marketing efforts. Contact us today to learn more!