Top Funnel and Harvard Business Review
How to Create an Online marketing and sales funnel
Making an online sales and marketing funnel is essential for any business hoping to prosper within the digital age. Through creating a funnel you will be able to ensure that your website is designed to convert as well as that marketing campaigns are targeted at the correct group of customers.
An effective sales funnel an approach that guides potential customers from the moment they first become aware of your service or product up to buying. The term funnel is used because at each stage of the process, you lose people who aren't able to move to the next stage.
There are four crucial phases to the online sale funnel
In the case of awareness, this is when prospective customers learn about your service or product. They might see an ad or blog post, or receive an email marketing campaign. Top funnel and harvard business review.
Inquiry: Now that they are aware of your product it is essential that they are interested in the product. This is why you need to provide additional information about the product you are offering and the benefits it can bring to them.
In this moment the potential buyers are in a position to make a decision about whether or not to buy your product. They might compare you to other providers, read reviews or research pricing options.
Action Final step: They take actions and purchase your product.
What is a Sales and Marketing Funnel?
Sales funnels are an approach that helps a person go from their initial understanding of a product or service through the purchase decision. The sales funnel is comprised consisting of a number of steps that are created to guide potential customers through the process of making a decision, from initial contact to post-purchase follow-up.
The goal of any good sales funnel should be to turn as many leads into paying customers as possible. By taking potential customers through a sequence of steps, and ensuring that every step is optimized for conversion, companies can boost their overall conversion rate and increase the number of sales generated by your online marketing efforts.
The stages of a typical sales funnel include:
1. Awareness: Customers become aware of the service or product via advertising, word-of mouth, or other marketing efforts.
2. Consideration: The customer starts contemplating whether or not an item or service is right for them. Then, they begin looking into the options available.
3. Decision: The customer decides whether or not to purchase the product or service and makes their final decision.
4. Follow-up: The purchaser receives their purchase and may be contacted for post-purchase follow-up (such as surveys to gauge customer satisfaction or upsell/cross-sell promotions).
The benefits of having A Marketing and Sales Funnel
The benefits of having a sales and marketing funnel are many, but the most important one is that it allows you to use a structured approach to turn prospects into customers. It also allows you to monitor your progress so that you can fine-tune your marketing and sales efforts for maximum impact.
Another key benefit is that a sales and marketing funnel gives you a way to segment your prospects so that you can target them with messages.For example, if you have a sense that a certain set of potential customers is attracted to a certain product, you can direct your marketing efforts at them in order to increase the chance of selling.
Finally, a sales and marketing funnel may also aid in saving time and money by automating certain processes involved in the sales process. For example, if you've got an list of email addresses of potential customers You can make use of autoresponders to send them automated messages with discounts or other special deals on your products or services. This will help increase sales without having to put into additional hours of work. Top funnel and harvard business review.
How to Build an Online Sales and Marketing Funnel
To develop an online sales and marketing funnel, you must to understand what a funnel is and how it works. A funnel is a process which takes someone from a first awareness of your product or service to becoming a customer who is paying for it. The idea is that , at each stage of the funnel, you are providing more information and worth to the client that eventually lead to a sale.
Step 1: Create a Lead Magnet
An lead magnet can be described as an offer to opt-in that you utilize to create leads for your company. The purpose of an offer to get your site users to exchange their contact information with you so that you can follow up with them and offer them your products or services.
There are many different types of lead magnets are possible to design, but one of the main things is to ensure that the lead magnet you choose to use is something your target customers actually desires and is able to deliver on its promises.
One of the easiest methods of creating leads is to offer discounts on your goods or services. For example, if youre the web design expert, you could offer a discount on your web design services to those who sign on to your mailing list.
Another popular type of lead magnet is an eBook or PDF guides. This could be a guide on how you can start an organization or shed weight, tips for saving money and so on. Basically, anything that would provide value to your target viewers.
You could also create an outline, workbook, cheat sheet, or other type of printable resource that could be helpful to your target group of readers.
Another popular type of lead magnet is an online course or video-based training series. This kind of lead magnet is ideal because it lets you show off your expertise and build trust with your viewers at the same time.
Step 2: Design an landing page
A landing page is a webpage that a person can arrive at or get to. In marketing terms the term "landing page" refers to a standalone web page, designed specifically for the purpose of advertising or marketing. It is distinct from your homepage in that it has been created to trigger a specific step from your visitors known as a conversion.
Conversions can take a variety of forms, including signing up for a mailing list, signing up for a trial offer and making a purchase or complete a contact form. The aim on your website's page for landing is getting your customers to take this step and there are certain elements that will help encourage them to do so.
Your landing page should contain:
- A compelling and original headline
- A form for visitors to complete
- A strong call-to-action (CTA) that encourages conversions
- Videos or images that help are designed to reinforce your message. aspects of your product or service
- A simple design that is easy to navigate .
- The ability to track conversions
Step 3. Create an Email Autoresponder Series
After you've created your landing page and gathered leads, its time to build an email autoresponder series that can turn the leads into buyers.
The sequence of emails you send to your autoresponders should consist of 3-5 emails that begin with a welcome message and goes through every stage of your marketing and sales funnel.
At every stage of the funnel, you must be providing your customers with relevant content that can help them get closer to becoming a customer. When they reach the end of your email autoresponder sequence, they must feel confident that the product you offer is what they need and theyre looking to buy.
Here's a brief overview of what each email from your autoresponder series is expected to accomplish:
Email 1: The Welcome Email The first message in your autoresponder collection should consist of a welcoming announcement from your side to your subscribers. This is also a great opportunity to begin building trust by introducing yourself and providing an overview of what they can expect from your emails.
Second Email: Your Problem Email The second email of your autoresponder series time to be more specific with regards to the problem that your service or product solves. This is the moment when you can really begin to engage your readers by explaining the problems they are currently facing.
Email 3 A Solution-oriented Email 3rd email, its time to introduce your solution which is where you talk about your product or service in more detail. This is also when you begin to go into the more in-depth details of the way in which your product or service works and why its the most effective solution to your client's issue.
Email 4: Social proof emails. In this email, you want to give proof of social connections that proves the reasons why your product is the best solution for your client's needs. This could be in the form of testimonials, case studies, or even reviews from clients who have tried the product.
Email 5: The Call-to-Action Email The last email in your autoresponder set-up should include strong and compelling call-to-action (CTA) that entices your readers to act and buy your product or service. This could come in the form of a discount coupon or limited-time offer or trial periods of free.
Step 4: Use Your Lead Magnet to Market Your Lead
Now that you've designed your lead magnet as well as your landing page, it's time to promote your product.
The most effective method to market your lead magnet by using the two-step method first, bring traffic to a landing page where users can sign-up for your offer, and second you follow up with an array of emails following the sign-up.
To bring traffic to your squeeze page, you can use a variety of strategies, including paid advertisements and social media, email marketing and even physical marketing tools like posters or cards.
After someone has signed up for your lead magnet, it's essential to follow up to them by sending them a series of emails. Through these messages, you'll provide additional information about your product or service, establish trust with your customers, and eventually make a sales pitch.
With a little effort it is easy to create the online sales and marketing funnel that will allow you to close more sales and grow your company. Top funnel and harvard business review.
Conclusion
You now know how to design an online marketing and sales funnel, you're ready to put your knowledge into action. Remember, the goal is to draw in potential customers, then convert them to leads, and keep those leads in the loop until they become customers. By following the guidelines in this guide, you'll be well on your way to reaching online sale success.