A sales funnel, simply put, is a type of marketing strategy that is designed to help you understand how to improve your sales. The reason for the name is because when a sales funnel is depicted as a diagram, it resembles an actual funnel. Let’s take a closer look at the top 7 tips for creating the right sales funnel.
#1: Focus on your landing page
No matter what type of sales funnel you create, your landing page should be one of (if not the first!) most important sections. It’s the first impression of your website that people see once they click on it. First impressions are everything with websites, and the wrong impression could leave people clicking “x” before even considering making a purchase.
#2: Create a focus based on your website niche
No two sales funnels are alike and this is because every website has different needs. A sales funnel for your book blog which doubles as a sales page for your self-published works is going to differ greatly from a sales funnel for an online store aimed at professional car repair shops. Before you start plotting out your sales funnel, you will want to consider every factor of your website niche and how it would fit into your plan.
#3: Don’t feel that it is set in stone
A finished sales funnel is only as good as its results. If you’ve created a sales funnel for your page but you find that the layers of your marketing plan aren’t working out as well as you’d hoped, it’s okay to scrap things and start over; or even just move a few things around to see what works best.
#4: Know how sales funnels works
The top of the funnel–the widest point–should represent the strategies aimed at potential customers, while the bottom of the funnel–the most narrow point–should represent strategies aimed at committed/repeat customers.
#5: Think outside the box for the bottom end of your sales funnel
It might not be too difficult to hook in a potential customer for at least one purchase. But the lower end of the funnel–those committed or repeat customers–are just as important as one-off sales. You may need to think outside of the box for these committed customers in order to keep them returning. Memberships and other offers exclusive to repeat-customers are two popular sales funnel strategies for that end.
#6: Don’t forget to include awareness
Awareness is a vital part of any sales funnel, regardless of what type of website you run–but it’s also something that many people forget. Awareness incorporates the broad subject of exactly how people learn about your website. The most common type of awareness in the current online world is social media, so be sure to keep this in mind.
#7: Start with the lowest point
Whether you’re experienced with creating sales funnels or it’s your first time, it’s always best to start with the “end,” or the bottom of the funnel. The reason for this is simple: working backwards can help you develop the methods by which you hope to eventually obtain these committed customers.
