How do you start a sales funnel for beginners?
Regardless of what you sell, the transition of potential customers to purchase does not occur immediately.
Instead, the sales process gradually unfolds (the sales funnel): warm up your prospects to the idea of spending your hard-earned money on your products and prime them for future purchases.
Unfortunately, in today's climate of low trust and fierce competition, this is not an easy task.
If you've ever sold a product or service, you already know how frustrating and painful it can be to create a truly valuable offer only to have it disappear into a wasteland of failure.
The pain is magnified when you have money for marketing and advertising with virtually no return on investment (ROI).
Fair warning: this article is long. This, of course, is only true in a matter as powerful as a sales funnel.
To help you, we've combined everything into one template and a 10-point checklist that you can get here-think of it as your quick track cheat sheet for a winning sales funnel …
Sales Funnel Template Guide: 10 Steps
Download the sales funnel template and a 10-point checklist
What is a sales funnel?
Answering the question “ What is a sales funnel?"not an easy take (which is why we wrote an entire article on this topic). By simplified definition …
Sales funnel
What is a sales funnel? Sales funnel (marketing funnel) - a marketing concept, the principle of distributing customers through the stages of the sales process from the first contact to the completion of the transaction.
This concept is also known by other names: Sales Pipeline, Sales Funnel, Customer Funnel, Marketing Funnel.
The goal of the sales funnel . Providing control of all communication levels and predicting events in the sales process with varying accuracy.
The Goal Of The Sales Funnel:
ensuring quality control of communication with clients;
ensuring visibility of the parameters of the entire communication process;
administrative influence on management, thereby managing the communication stages;
ability to plan management work;
ability to plan marketing activities.
With the help of the sales funnel, you can draw conclusions about the quality of management and the need to step up efforts at each stage of sales. If the total number of buyers is not large enough, measures should be taken to attract more potential buyers. If at one stage of the sale there is a significant, unjustified narrowing of the sales funnel, this means that the previous phase of the sale. the quantity and quality of management is insufficient, the sales process is not optimal and needs to be reviewed.
The sales funnel is a graph made in the form of an inverted pyramid: the upper wide part shows how many customers are at the initial stage of the sales process (express interests, negotiate, etc.), and the lower part shows how many customers have already been taken under the contract. Several conclusions can be drawn from this table, which serve as a basis for more detailed analysis or management actions, for example:
how many clients do you need to enter into the required number of contracts?
Based on these statistics, you can get the appropriate ratings;
How many customers are eliminated at each stage, or what proportion of customers move on to the next stage?
Sales management is the process of changing the status of a customer and moving the customer to the next level of the sales funnel. This process consists of a number of steps. At each stage, the number of sales manager contacts decreases: most potential buyers pass through the first stage of the sales funnel, through the second - the same number or less, the manager directly has a desire to buy no more than through the penultimate one.
One sales funnel is an almost universal sales management tool and allows you to solve a much wider range of tasks than indicated above (for example, sales forecast, sales plan, etc.).) to build it, however, it is necessary to implement a technology in the company that allows you to collect statistics gradually. If we talk about marketing support for sales, the sales funnel is a universal tool for planning, for example, the number of contacts at each stage of sales and the required amount of advertising materials.
The history of the term and the essence of the term sales funnel. The basis of the idea of the ability to influence the purchase was introduced into the sale of behavioral psychology (English behavior, behavior). From this point of view, human behavior can be expressed by the formula "situational reaction". Factors outside of a person, as well as factors within him, determine the situation in which a particular reaction of a person is possible. Thus, a person is a mechanism whose behavior can be controlled with a sufficient number of stimuli.
The same psychological science implies that a person under the influence of internal and external factors is able to consistently experience conscious states:
Therefore, to achieve a favorable situation at each stage, it is enough to adapt the external factors that contribute to the transition of a person from one state to another and the final state of satisfaction.
In 1896, one of the first hierarchical communication models was proposed by Elias St. Elmo Lewis. Elmo Lewis formulated the slogan " attracting attention, maintaining interest, creating desire."He writes that he took advantage of this idea after reading about the psychology of William James. Later, he added a fourth term: "get action."
In 1911, A. F. Sheldon lists in The Art of Selling" the four states that arise in the mind of the buyer when selling, " and then adds: "Although these four mental states are quite sufficient for selling, two additional ones should be added for the purposes of creating a business, namely trust and satisfaction. "Together with the previous four steps, they are called "sequential steps in the purchase and sale process.""Thus, Sheldon was the first to define the next fundamental approach to marketing: the last stage of marketing communications-achieving customer satisfaction.
In 1911, Ralph Starr Butler, in his book Advertising, Selling and Credits, described the same model, but instead of the mental state of a person, he described the phases of the seller's actions that led to the desired result, and unequivocally called the final "action" "sale". And the fourth, the last stage, the author called "belief, confidence in the correctness of the action" ("belief"). So he became the first to adapt the communication model to the sales practice.
In 1916, the psychologist G. F. Adams points out in the preface to his book Advertising and Its Mental Laws that "the behavior of the moment is represented everywhere" and notes that the psychological state of "sensation, attention, association, association, memory, appearance (feeling) and Action" should be taken into account in advertising and sales.
In 1921, CP Russell, in an article, proposed the acronym AIDA (advertising model), according to which the following scene names were established:
Attention-Attention;
Interest-Interest;
Desire-Desire;
Action-Action.
In 1926, in his book Bond Salesmanship, he redefined this concept. The location of the AIDA concept. In. Tousend the new funnel defines the levels. Since then, the sales funnel has received many similar names, and this term has become one of the main concepts in marketing.
Psychology assumes that not all people who go through successive stages of consciousness change can perform an action (purchase) and get the final satisfaction. External and internal factors can often dramatically worsen the situation, and a person's satisfaction does not come, even if the seller influences the buyer and encourages the transition of the person at each stage.
One of the factors that change the situation and make it impossible to achieve a result is the loss of information during communication, which is described in psychology as a "communication funnel". This term in psychology describes the process of interpersonal communication, as a result of which there are losses and distortions of information, leading to misunderstandings and lack of communication.
On the other hand, psychology considers the sale of goods and services as a justification and reason for communication, which takes place on the basis of the laws of communication and taking into account the problems described by the term " communication funnel ".
In 1959, F. Arthur Peterson published, in terms of sales, for the first time Visual of the Funnel in Selling Pharmaceutical, "Detailing" and sales training. Peterson identified four stages of the sale:
The initial stage is to attract attention;
The adaptation phase - awakening of interest;
To illustrate (explain) the phase-to form a desire;
The selection stage is to take action.
Arthur Peterson believed that in order to achieve a sale, you need to achieve results at every stage. Describing the meaning of the movement from the general to the special, the author noted: "This can be compared to the movement of matter through a funnel or a V-shaped percolator."He called this movement a 'funnel' (funnel of progression). Later, the image of the "funnel" was used to illustrate the distribution of potential customers by levels of communication (sales) and to explain the impossibility of guaranteed achievement of results for all potential buyers.
A sales funnel is a marketing strategy designed to turn cold potential customers into long-term customers by guiding them through five stages. The "funnel" metaphor means that you start with a large audience of potential buyers, which is eventually limited to a smaller group of targeted, high-quality customers.
The end goal is not a sale, at least not one sale. Instead, the goal is to create recurring customers with lifelong value.
If you divide the buyer's trip into smaller steps (i.e. levels), you can be more precise about how and when to submit offers.
For a small business owner, you can only start with one or two products. For a large B2B company, you may have a variety of offers that promote lead generation and promote new leads through a sales cycle, sales pipeline, or sales team.
Suddenly, everything can seem complicated. for the sake of brevity …
When you order a hamburger, you will be asked if you want to add cheese. Order chicken nuggets and you'll be asked if you want French fries with it. Order a combo meal and you'll have a chance to make it big or "supersize"."This is a sales funnel.
Then think about McDonald's new mobile app and its product-specific loyalty programs, such as McCafe Rewards:
Every sentence is actually a set of proposals to increase the size of the purchase and promotion of future purchases.
During the big picture, the sales funnel is usually divided into three parts:
Top of the sales funnel (Tofu): target audience
Center of the Sales Funnel (CoFu): Potential customers
bottom of the sales funnel (BoFu): new and existing customers
Don't let the top of the funnel, the center of the funnel, and the bottom of the funnel confuse you. Later, we'll unpack Aida, and then reveal the five stages that really matter!
At a certain level, this funnel happens even if you don't have intentional sales funnel levels. With a boilerplate approach-especially if you're expanding an online business - you dramatically increase the number of customers you generate.
The key to an effective sales funnel: Participate and add value to your potential customers at every stage of the sales funnel.
No matter how simple or complex, the fact is that sales funnels work when they are built on certain universal principles. The point is the point:
87% of consumers prefer to do business with suppliers who provide valuable content at all stages of the purchase process
63% of consumers should hear a company's value promise 3-5 times before trusting these claims
47% make bigger purchases than incorrect prospects
next to the top, middle, and bottom, sales funnels are traditionally structured around the four levels of the sales funnel, known by the acronym …
AIDA sales funnel: consciousness. Interest. Desire. Action
This model of AIDA was in the late 19th century. Centuries from advertising and sales Pioneer Elias St. Elmo Lewis is developing. And since then, it has become the basis of almost every successful advertising and marketing campaign.
Why is it so successful?
AIDA guides potential customers through the emotional journey of buying — and executes the purchase decision from the first attraction to the action.
1. Consciousness
Sometimes referred to as" attention, " the first stage of a sales funnel is when a brand attracts the attention of new audience members through marketing content and/or a valuable underlying offering.
2. Interest
Here, the brand will begin to build deeper relationships with its prospects and become more involved in its goals and / or issues. This way, you can start providing advance solutions that will allow you to make "quick profits" — and participate more.
3. Desire
Consumers who reach this third level of the sales funnel are convinced that they really have a big problem to solve. In addition, you come up with the idea of making a purchase to solve this problem. At this point, the brand is showing how your premium offer can be useful.
4. Action
At the final stage of the sales funnel, stakeholders choose to purchase (or not purchase) a premium product or premium service of the brand. You need to increase the value of your offer — as well as the disadvantages of not making a purchase.
These stages of the sales funnel describe the overall process that we all go through, as well as some general action steps that you must take to keep your prospects in the funnel moving.
Depending on what you're selling and who your target audience is, you'll want to adjust each stage of your sales funnel accordingly.
(Yes, you can have absolutely more than one funnel in place at any given time. This will become a little clearer.)
AIDA is a good starting point, but there is a better way …
Sales Funnel Stages Explained: 5 Stages to Fill Your Sales Pipeline
Although in appearance and structure, our approach-based on the work of Russell Brunson-differs from the usual AIDA sales funnel model:
The main difference is that stakeholders actively engage with them at every stage of the process.
While AIDA has a company Giving, Giving, Giving until the prospect turns, the Brunson funnel has involved both parties in the process of giving and accepting. This version causes smaller conversions from the target consumer on their way to purchase.
It is called a value guide, and its steps directly reflect the sales funnel.:
We could even say that each stage of the Sales sequence (bait, Frontend, etc.) contains a "mini-bunker" in itself. Let's see how we can achieve this.
Knows Your OfferPre Stage: Knows Your Offer)
First, you want to define everything you offer your customers as they move through their funnel, from the bait to the backend.
Before you delve into each section, consider the entire sales funnel in its entirety, taking into account the final goals.
This step in front of the stage is crucial to success. If you don't know what you're offering your customers in different locations, you don't have a good reason to move on.
Five levels of the sales funnel: template
Download this five-level template (along with a 10-step checklist)
You also want to determine how to connect each subsequent offer in your funnel. The idea is to use your lower-tier offerings to prepare customers for the full use of the next product or service.
Remember how: "OK, you've experienced great success with product A-now let's update that success by introducing Product B into the mix.”
(If "product B" is not built on "product A", your customers may not have much reason to move on to the next stage of the sales funnel.)
While your customers will naturally gradually experience their entire sales funnel, they should have a clear plan for how and why they go through it on their way to their most valuable offer.
Transport stage 1. Transport
Not all traffic is the same: focus on how your target audience enters your sales funnel.
This precursor is a kind of" controlled consciousness " in which you want to be deliberate about who you put in your funnel, which in turn allows you to avoid bad prospects.
This stage of the process then involves optimizing the ads, content, and partner sources that you use to direct traffic to your funnel. Reflection:
Where your quality prospects depend on the internet" "
What social networks and / or content do you interact
with what free or cheaper offers make you start working with a new brand
Needless to say, if you don't know how to get brand new customers interested in your lowest-level offerings, there's no way you can get them interested in your big-ticket products or services.
However, by meeting your target audience where you are (and where you feel comfortable with your brand), you can get them to enter your funnel on your terms — and get them on track to where you want them to be.
BaitStage 2. Baits
The lead magnet is offered either for free or at a very low price for the prospect.
Some clarifications here …
While the "bait" is the level of the entire sales funnel, each "mini-funnel" requires using a low-risk offer to hook your potential customers and get them to keep participating.
At the lower levels of value leaders, there may be information in the form of free content, webinars, a course delivered as an email sequence, or product templates. At higher levels, break-even offers-that is, they intentionally don't make a profit on the sale, but make a profit when they go through their funnel — can be used to keep the customer moving and moving forward.
If you give something away for free right now, you have prepared the recipient to make a more valuable purchase at some point in the near future — real money should be earned here. You can even work at a loss for bait offers until the next stages in your funnel are ready to be sold at a profit.
You can also filter out the ones that you don't include in your bait offer. After all, those who aren't interested in their low-risk offerings probably won't buy their items with a big ticket.
Front-End Offer 3 Days. Front End Offer
A low-cost, low-risk offering that adds value to new customers and allows them to solve problems on a surface level with minimal investment.
Once your potential customers have included you with your bait offer, you want to send them directly to the landing page or the Squeeze page where your "aligned" premium offer is displayed. (You can-and should-simultaneously track offers via email; a practice known as "funnel stacking."”)
That's where the stakes for your business get a little higher …
Those who see this sales-focused content have been pre-qualified (through their bait offer), which means they should be interested in the premium product or premium service that you have for you at the moment.
That is, if you are able to hold your attention and effectively communicate the true value of your offer. You can do this by optimizing the various elements of your Squeeze page …
Copy the Squeeze Page
Copying-that is, the words themselves-should quickly communicate the value of your offer and get your audience to take immediate action.
This can be done by following the following checklist on how to create a copy of the Squeeze page:
Let your brand identity pass (be a comparable character)
Customize the message for your audience
shorten sentences and paragraphs, but provide more depth
Write on or in section 6. Grade Level Reading
Use bulleted or numbered lists
Add a subtitle or image every 200-300 words
In short, talk directly to your target audience — and don't overcomplicate your message.
MIG Soap's 14 Day Challenge Shines on All These Fronts:
The easier it is for your audience to recognize the value of your offer, the more likely it is that it will consume you.
Squeeze Page-Images and video
words are the foundation of your squeeze page. However, the content can take different forms:
Background video showing what your brand is all about”
A demo (or explanatory video showing your product in action
An interview with a current or previous customer in which they discuss their positive experience with your product or service
The approach you take depends largely on the level of value leader you are currently targeting.
For example, if you want to attract a new prospect for a pre-offer, you want to quickly introduce it to your brand and discuss the "quick profit" it can expect.
Generally, this video content should be short and in a nutshell to maximize the chances that your new prospects will watch it in its entirety. VideoMastery.com ' s-the hero of the video is only two minutes and fifteen seconds long:
Evidence-video-that is, mini-cases) - later on the same site - even shorter. All in less than a minute:
On the other hand, if you are aiming for the ultimate sale of a more expensive product, you may decide to go the Longform way with your video content.
The reason is that those who are close to a more expensive purchase want as much information as they can give you, and are most likely willing to stick with it long enough to be convinced of it.
Squeeze-Social Proof Page
Social proof can-and should-be used to reinforce the claims you made on your Squeeze Page.
Customize this content according to the level of the value guide you are targeting. Basically, this means that the customer comment you use matches the submitted offer — and is specific to the target audience's use case.
LadyBoss Labs offers many types of social proof on its Squeeze page, open with short reviews and logos to show authority. …
... and Adding direct confirmations along with real Social-Media-Posts later to your customers:
Generalized social proof about your brand can help attract new potential customers. However, you need to use certain anecdotes from successful customers if you want to get big sales further in the funnel.
Squeeze Page-Call to Action
No matter what you offer on a particular Squeeze page, it must be crystal clear what your audience needs to do to get it.
Don't beat around the hot porridge here. Make sure that your CTA stands out from all the other elements of your landing page so that interested customers can take the next step as soon as they are ready.
Do not confuse what measures LadyBoss wants to take the visitor to your site …
In some cases, you can even insert a CTA up, down, and in the center of your page. The last thing you want is that your loyal audience won't continue to engage with your brand just because you don't know how to do it.
In The Middle Of The Offer 4 Days. The Average Offer
An increasingly valuable and intensive solution that helps customers solve a deeper problem — and better prepare them for their most valuable product or service.
Now let's get to work.
At each stage of the value ladder, when your prospects reach the bottom of your "mini-funnel", you must make an irresistible offer that will allow you to complete a certain task-and prepare you for the next step of the ladder.
Going back to LadyBoss, his middle sentence is an invitation to " join the club”:
If you've ever thought about average sentences, the question is, …
Upselling-or Downsell?
An Upsell is an offer that costs more than your interface offer; a Downsell costs less. This is an important part of the sales funnel.
Provide an Upsell offer before or immediately after your order is confirmed, which will increase the value of your initial order-and improve the overall experience with your brand.
(And, of course, you can also increase your earnings.)
As a rule, Upsell offers come in the form of:
Selling prices for wholesale orders
Customized version or variation of the original product or service
Offer to extend the subscription period at a reduced price
additional products (cross-sells)
If you end up not logging into Upsell, you should send them a lower-risk offer that will hit them where they are.
Examples are Downsells:
Payment Plan For An Otherwise Expensive Upsell
A Smaller, Smaller, Cheaper Version of the Upsell offer
Limited and preferential trial period for Upsell offer
Either way, the idea is to take full advantage of the opportunity available, while providing the exact value that your potential customers are currently looking for.
E-Mail Marketing
You'll notice that almost all of the examples highlight the user's email address.
This is because email marketing is a critical part of a customer's journey: before, during, and after a purchase.
We don't want to deviate from the topic, especially because email is a detailed tactic. Therefore, we have written in detail about them all at our discretion:
How to create an email list from scratch
Creating successful email marketing campaigns
In The Middle Of The Offer 5 Days. Backend Offer
Your most valuable, intensive, and expensive product or most expensive service that customers can constantly use to solve the ubiquitous problem in their lives.
Meanwhile, we've made it pretty clear that your ultimate goal is to merge each of your "mini funnels" into a parent sales funnel.
The hope is to turn brand new customers into high-quality patrons of your company. As I said, the vast majority of your target audience is simply not ready to engage with your high-quality offer …
Until you get a taste for your products or services with lower levels.
The point is that there is no guarantee that your customers will simply move to the next level of value once they experience everything they have to offer at their current stage. In many cases, your customers are more likely to stick with what they know than risk moving to the next level of service.
(Or you can leave completely after you get everything you have to offer at a certain level of value.)
The focus is on you to convince them that you can get a lot of value from the next higher level of your value leaders.
Note that at this moment of ascent, the client is in a kind of limbo-he has almost reached the full value of the previous step of the ladder, but is not ready to enter the next "mini-funnel" you were preparing for it.
So instead of pushing your higher-value proposition hard, you should just deal with your brand.
Basically, this means that you do your best to continue adding value to you after you purchase a particular product or service.
This may mean,:
Providing personalized content in your favorite format that helps you get the most out of your currently used product or service
Providing high-quality customer service and support-from on-board operation to troubleshooting to the "power usage" guide of your offering
Gradually tap into the added value of your higher-level service-specific to the value set by an individual customer
A community (Facebook group) where you can live and grow
It's simple …
If you can prove that your main concern is to add value to your customers — even after you've already given them your money— you're more likely to trust that your more expensive offer is worth the entry price.
Five levels of the sales funnel: template
Take this five-level template (along with all 10 steps)!
How to create a Sales Funnel: Don't start from scratch
Conducting market research
Many of your competitors have probably already created a sales funnel or marketing funnel that generates engagement and revenue from exactly the type of customer you want to attract with your own funnels.
We do not advocate that you simply copy what your competitors do. However, you want to note how competing brands are working to inspire their audience to make a "big sale" at the end of their sales funnel.
This is where Sales Funnel Hacking comes into play.
What Is A Sales Funnel Hacking?
"Funnel hacking is the process of strategically studying your competitors' sales and marketing process, which allows you to model and test in your own sales and marketing processes.”
In other words, you will actually participate in the various stages of your competitors ' sales funnel, and then develop the process to determine how you want to create your own.
How to funnel hack your competitors
1. List your competitors
Their main focus, of course, is on their direct competition. Make a list of all the well-known companies that sell similar products or services to their own.
You also want to consider exploring your indirect competition. Here, you'll look at companies that don't necessarily sell in their niche, but whose audience overlaps with your own.
This way, you can better understand the sales tactics that your target audience can use to take action.
Stay wide as you start. While you end up narrowing your list down to your most successful competitors, you also want to take note of competing companies whose approach isn't as effective as it might be, so that you can avoid the same mistakes.
2. Engage, document, and analyze
You want to not only check out your competitors ' websites, landing pages, marketing platforms, and other marketing content, but also take screenshots and create swipe files. At the same time, be sure to classify these artifacts accordingly.
We recommend creating a separate folder to a back-end interfaces and back-end proposals for each analyzed competitor. You might want to) and a folder of documentation specifically for creative Ad creation, which can be classified based on the type of media on which Creative is represented, further (for example, Google, Facebook, etc.
At this point, you don't necessarily have to deal too far with your various competitors — especially if you need to spend money on your products or services to do so.
You want.so do as many preparatory steps as possible for companies — for example, subscribing to mailing lists, requesting more information, and downloading free content
Once you have accumulated a reliable collection of artifacts, you want to analyze them from different perspectives.
This includes questions about the type of blue print:
What words (copywriting) do you use in your headlines?
What colors do you use in all your content?
Are the buttons above the fold or below the fold?
Do you use videos and images, or just text?
Are you listing benefits or features?
Do they contain social evidence, such as testimonies?
Is there a pop-up window while the intentions of the solution?
Fixed the header area of the site?
Is there a full registration form or opt-out form?
Do the action steps need more than one touch point?
Is the price of your products mentioned (if so, what are your price points?)
How many words are there on the home page?
The idea is to take note of as many different aspects as possible — and understand why your competitors chose this approach.
(It's actually much more important to focus on the" why " behind these questions on a superficial level. Remember that you won't necessarily copy your competition, but you will implement your successful approaches in your own way when you create your own funnels.)
When you find the answers to these questions, document this information in the folders you create.
3. To Evaluate Tracking Strategies
At the aforementioned stage of the sales funnel hacking process, you most likely only saw about 20-30% of your competitors ' sales funnel.
However, we want to know what tools your competitors are using, and determine whether you should use the same tools or not.
To find out, you need to download two add-ons for Google Chrome:
First, look at Ghostery. This extension allows you to view "invisible" web ads and detect trackers, web bugs, pixels, and beacons placed on Facebook, Google, and other web pages that collect information about your Internet activity.
Although this app was designed primarily to stay hidden from trackers, it allows you to identify which trackers and programs are being used by competing companies.
Secondly, the BuiltWith Technology Profiler, which allows you to view the stack of tools on a website, especially on marketing and e-commerce platforms, with a simple click on the icon.
This will start answering traffic and conversion rate questions about your competitors ' strategies, such as:
Do you use a remarketing (also known as re-targeting)?
Do you use Google, Facebook, or other platforms?
Use The Conversion-Rate Tracking Software?
The list of questions you can ask (and find the answer to) is almost inexhaustible.
It is important to note that you will unearth the information that is most important to your business when you start creating your own sales funnels. All of this should go directly into the notes you created in the previous step of the sales funnel hacking process.
4. Use Competitive Intelligence Tools
You also want to know how your competitors get traffic in the first place. This way, you'll know which sources you need to focus on if you want to uncover quality prospects for your own business.
To dig out these game changers, use the following competitive analysis tools:
AdBeat WhatRunsWhere or
These tools will instantly show you the strategies of online advertisers in your industry. You can see everything from the number of days you spent money and completed a particular ad, to the creative content and landing pages you send paid traffic to.
SEMRush
SEMrush focuses on the SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search Engine marketing) side of things and collects information about how your competitors generate traffic.
These include information about search positions (and changes), ads, keywords you are targeting, copy, video ads, backlinks, estimated generated traffic, keyword research, and more.
SimilarWeb
With the help of this tool, based on the traffic, you can check various actions on web sites that you create. SimilarWeb allows you to identify the best link sites as well as the best landing pages when people flow to and from your competitor.
5. Purchases from your main competitors
Once you determine which of your competitors are worth looking at more closely, your next step is to actually deal with you as if you were an interested customer.
(Note: While you may struggle with the idea of giving money to your competitors, the insight you can gather and then implement in your own sales funnels is worth the price of entry.)
That's where you want to get ultra-meticulous in your documentation and analysis.
You don't have to make a first-class purchase, but you want to act as if you do.
This means that once you're almost at the end of your sales funnel, you'll want to make a sales call with them — taking note of everything you're talking about.
Since this is the" big " sale that your competitors are aiming for from the start, you can be sure to leave everything on the table, so to speak. This, in turn, gives you a great opportunity to uncover all the information that you may have overlooked throughout the whole process of hacking the sales funnel.
(Even if you don't have to make that final purchase, it can provide even more information about the true value of your competitors ' products or services. Not only can it help you develop your own sales funnel, but you can also analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors ' offer — and make the necessary improvements to your own offer.)
Ask yourself questions such as …
What specific value or benefit does a particular offer?
What steps do you need to take to get an offer?
What strategies do you use to keep them moving?
How does each subsequent offer relate to the previous and next stages of the sales funnel?
The answers to these questions complement your understanding and allow you to clearly see what you have to offer your customers in your own sales funnel.
1. Domain Name URL and customize your offer
This is pretty clear, but still worth noting …
The domain name and URL that you use for your sales funnel should be representative of your brand and offer.
URL, for example "RobsCompany.com/salesfunnel1" it comes not only as generic, but also as excessively salty. While your customers are smart enough to know when they're selling, there's no reason for them to be open about it.
It sounds like a small detail, but if you adapt your URL to your offering, it will promote the customer-centric nature of your brand-and less distract your target audience from the next step.
We are disciplined in ClickFunnels. Not only for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) benefits of customizing URLs for content, but also for the clarity they bring.
Note the straightforwardness of our own and the few pages we covered above …
https://funnelstackingsecrets.com/start
https://funnelhackerscookbook.com/funnel-recipes
https://go.migsoap.com/14-day-beauty
https://ladyboss.com/labs
2. Make up each stage of the sales funnel relative to: WWWH
When talking about customer-focused sales funnel content, it's important that everything your potential customers see speaks to you on a personal and individual level.
This means using WWWH …
Who is your ideal customer, who do you trust and who should you put on the side to make it happen (current customers)?
What do you want from your product or service? What are you trying to avoid or find a solution to?
Why do you need this? What are the deeper emotional needs and pain you are currently experiencing? Why is the cost less than the benefit?
How can your images, words, and calls to action bring it to life?
Remember: your customers don't want to be sold; they want value.
And they also don't want to put so much effort into solving their problem; they want you to make it easier for them.
3. Address that " catch on”
If you did this above, your potential customers will probably allow themselves to say:
"Well, that sounds too good to be true.”
Your goal is to let you know that your offer is a real business. But that doesn't necessarily mean your offer is always on the table.
You may be offering a time-critical sale or a one-time offer. Or maybe you plan to hire a product or service after a certain time.
However, when you address the "catch" of your current offer, it can give a sense of urgency and make it more likely for you to take immediate action.
Since your customers are likely to be looking for a" catch " anyway, you can also give them one that puts the ball in their place. This way, you will understand that the only thing that stands between you and the offer ... you yourself.
4. Add warranty
To promote the customer-focused and" too good to be true " nature of your sales funnel, you also want to minimize the risk that your prospects have to take when buying.
In fact, you can even go one step further and explain exactly what you risk doing business with your customers. The idea, known as risk reversal, is to make your potential customers feel that they have no reason not to use the offer.
Whether you offer money-back guarantees, Double-Your-Money-Back guarantees, or any other type of risk-free insurance, you'll get your prospects to trust your brand in two ways …
First, you simply have nothing (or very little) to lose and gain a lot of value. Second, confidence in your ability to deliver on your promise will shine-building trust when it matters most.
5. To summarize
If a potential buyer or customer is close to a Point-of-Purchase at each level of their value chapter, two things are all but safe:
So far, they have given them value in their relationship
They've grown in some ways since you first dealt with your brand
When you start to complete a sale, you definitely need to clarify these two points to your potential client.
The goal is reinforcement. At some level, the client knows these things, but may not think about it consciously when you actually make your offer.
But with a little gentle push on your end, you'll be reminded how far you've come — and how much further you can go.
Notice how the 14-day order page of the MIG Soap Challenge combines all the elements in a short form next to the two-step order form:
6. Sequenziere to the right site
The key to successfully caring for consumers through their sales funnel is to get them to take action at every point of contact.
You even want to go so far as to create touch points for your potential customers that you can deal with in your sales funnel. This is where techniques like the two-step Tripwire come into play.
As the name suggests, a two-step Tripwire has consumers who take two steps to complete the entire task. Most often, this two-step process looks like this:
A prospect fills out a contact information form on the first page of your sales funnel (usually in exchange for a free offer)
On the second page, a small ticket offer is shown to the interested person. If you decide to buy, you will not be asked to provide payment information.
In this way, you can implement the "foot in the door" technique, as you gradually ask the prospect for more information after he commits to providing information on a surface level.
You can then meet them with a more valuable offer after you invest a little more in your brand.
Even if the prospect decides not to make a follow-up purchase, you have still collected your contact information and can then send you more applicable offers in the future.
7. Order deliberately offers
It is important to know exactly how each of your "mini-funnels" connects to each other to create a comprehensive sales funnel that covers all levels of your value leaders.
In every "mini-sales funnel", this means providing content and freebies that prepare the customer to get the most out of your core offering at that level. Within your entire sales funnel, this means that those who have passed through the "mini-funnel" are fully prepared to enter the next one.
Basically, you want your customers to feel like they've "reached" the next step of your value leaders once they've reached a certain point with their lower-tier products.
If a follow-up offer has virtually nothing to do with the previous product or service you offer, your audience is likely to hesitate to take the next step with your brand.
8. Tie Bundle, Bumps, Upsells and Downsells
Once the prospect reaches the point where you think she is ready to make a purchase, you should be sure that the offer you are making to her is very relevant to her specific circumstances.
The ideal scenario, of course, is that your prospects simply use your main offer as it is.
If your "typical" offer is not exactly what one customer is looking for ... you need to keep subsequent trades ready to keep you on the right conversion path.
If the prospect doesn't feel ready to buy your average or first-class service, you want to offer a related but low-quality service. It is important to tailor these Downsells to the specific needs of the prospect (as opposed to a more general Downsell for all potential customers who reject your main offer).
On the other hand, if a customer accepts your main offer, you also want to offer an Upsell that is relevant to their needs. It is much more likely that you will accept this follow-up offer if it offers the specific value you want to get from your brand.
9. Social proof including
No matter how valuable your products or services are — and no matter what you have to say about that value, you should definitely provide your claims with evidence from your current customer base.
By throwing social proof into the sales funnel, you're giving your potential customers the proof they need to feel safe.
First, the modern consumer trusts his colleagues more than the brands with which he does business. By providing different types of social proof, potential customers can really understand what they need to get while continuing to engage with their brand.
Social proof can take many different forms:
Short Approvals
Reviews Of The Long Form
Written Case Studies
Video reviews
User-Generated Content
Photos and videos posted on social networks
Logos or " trust"”
Before and after images
numerical reviews and reviews
10. Remember, Exit Intent Offers in your Sales Funnel
As you probably know, most people who click on your landing page will end up leaving without even taking the slightest step forward.
While this can be expected, you shouldn't just accept it without quarreling.
Rather, you should take steps to keep them on your landing page — and, ideally, give your offer a second thought.
Add Exit Intent suggestions to each of your landing pages. This means adding pop-ups, overlays, and other such "add-ons" that will be presented to visitors to your site as soon as it becomes clear that they are ready to go elsewhere.
In these overlays, you can include one-time offers for freebies, Downsells, or other lower-cost offers that may be interested in your more indecisive prospects.
This way, you can make a last-ditch effort to attract these people before they finally leave your site.
