The secrets to building a strong sales funnel

Sales funnels are essential, regardless of whether your company has a physical location or operates entirely online. Their primary objective is to guide potential customers through the steps of sales until they are ready to purchase. That being said, how do you go about establishing a sales funnel that works? And what are tricks that could make it even more effective? We at DigitalDot, an experienced PPC agency in NYC, have made it our business to explain this and much more. With that in mind, stay tuned for some of the tops, not-so-well-kept secrets to building a strong sales funnel!

Sales funnel – the definition

Before we’ve built a sales funnel, how about we define what it is? Essentially, it is a representation of the steps a prospect goes through before actually becoming your customer. There are three components to it:

• The top of the sales funnel is to attract potential customers through, for example, storefront or landing page advertising.
• The middle – refers to all processes in the funnel that take place before the sale.
• The bottom of the funnel – represents the actual purchase.

A customer’s position in the sales funnel matters and might range from having never heard of your company to being an avid evangelist for your products and/or services.

Sales funnel stages

As mentioned, a prospect’s position in the sales funnel is highly significant. Before they become a paying customer, they will surely go through various funnel stages or four of them in total. Each of the four phases corresponds to a particular state of mind on the part of the hopefully soon-to-be customer and calls for a unique approach. The abbreviation AIDA stands for awareness, interest, decision, and action, and can help you remember these stages more quickly.

Stage 1 – Awareness

In this stage, a potential customer learns about your business for the first time. They may become familiar with your brand through exposure to ads, performing a deep dive on social media, or through word-of-mouth. They may have also stumbled upon your company via a Google search that resulted in your website after seeing one of your ads or reading your blog entry.

If the moment is correct, the prospect may become a client who buys your goods after clicking on a link. It’s more probable that you’ll have to persuade them to visit your physical location, browse your website, or get in touch with you by phone or email before that happens.

Stage 2 – Interest

This is when the prospect has gained enough familiarity with your business, brand, and services…enough for them to realize the possible value it holds to them. At this point, you must post unique content that isn’t overly aggressive or demanding. After all, the purpose isn’t to turn off the prospects but rather to convert them. To keep the leads interested, your content should ooze facts and knowledge. But not only that! It should convince them that you are a reliable company that they are ready to put their trust and money in.

Stage 3 – Decision

At this point, the potential customer is considering all the options before making up their mind about a sale. Now is when they will weigh all the pros and cons to make an informed decision.

Take it from the expert digital marketing agency NYC; this is the perfect opportunity to make an offer that the prospect cannot resist. Examples of good incentives include free delivery, a discount voucher, or a free service/product they get as a result of placing the order.

Stage 4 – Action

And that brings us to the final stage of the sales funnel – action. When a lead performs a specific activity or completes a purchase, they officially transform into a customer, thus joining your company’s sphere. Nevertheless, even though the transaction has been made, the work never ends. Keeping a customer around for future purchases should be your end goal. That said, practice follow-up communication with your new customers by expressing gratitude for the purchase, requesting feedback, and providing post-purchase assistance. For ultimate satisfaction, you may even set up a rewards program.

The secrets to building a strong sales funnel that is bound to bring results

Now that we have explained its significance, it’s time we talked about the secrets to building a strong sales funnel. After all, the future of your business may very well depend on it!

#1 Focus on the landing page

More often than not, a landing page is where prospects will first get familiar with your brand, products, and services. They might stumble upon it in a variety of ways. For instance, that might be through clicking on an ad they’ve seen on social media or downloading an e-book.

This is your ideal opportunity to pique leads’ interest. With that in mind, it’s your job to create a landing page that clearly describes your company and highlights the goods you sell. It should preferably include a lead magnet – a way to collect their contact information that will, in the future, help you communicate with them more quickly and, possibly, help you convert them in the long run.

#2 Provide value

You cannot expect potential customers to leave you their contact information without getting something in return. For them to contribute to your business, you must first contribute to them. In other words, it is necessary for you to provide particular value to the visitors, whether that’s in the form of helpful knowledge, free content, or something else entirely.

#3 Nurture your leads

For example, having an email address of a prospect won’t do you any good if you don’t put it to good use. To keep the leads interested, it’s recommended that you stay in touch with them by providing them with weekly content updates that further educate them about your products or services. Of course, knowing your limits is essential, as too much of everything, information included, will only dissuade them from making the ultimate purchase.

#4 Close the sale… and repeat

The ultimate goal of the sales funnel is closing the deal. As social media marketing NYC professionals have already mentioned, you can achieve this by offering something to prospects they cannot say no to. But that’s not the end of it. Once the purchase has been made, ideally, the customer will be satisfied enough to return to you…time and time again. Essentially, there aren’t any secrets to building a strong sales funnel. There is nothing to hide. The results will depend on nothing but your effort. The greater the effort to attract potential customers and retain them, the higher your chance of making it in the business world.