Understanding the Sales Funnel: Key Components
I've never met a person who doesn't like making more money. It's a bit of a generalisation I think, but fairly true for most people in the business. Now that doesn't mean being greedy, but just wanting to have access to the things that one wants - whether itâs giving your family a nice life, buying that bag youâve wanted for ages or simply enjoying travel experiences. There's nothing wrong with that as long as you keep yourself in check - and that little feeling in your tummy doesnât start taking over every decision you make.
As someone in the sales business, I'm sure you've wondered about ways to improve conversions and increase sales. This is where the concept of a multi-step sales funnel comes in. Sort of.
The idea is seldom fairly simple - understanding where your customers are at each stage and guiding them towards taking action. It starts with drawing people to your business, then converting leads into customers and finally keeping those customers loyal so they keep coming back. If you can get these things right, you're on your way to building a successful business.
There are tons of ways to supercharge your funnel but I've found that these seven tend to work best: advertising content, referral programs, email marketing, lead generation strategies, nurturing leads, social proof and retargeting. Now this might sound like too much work and honestly sometimes it is - especially if you're just starting out or don't have enough experience yet (or even if you're someone who's been running your own brand for years and are happy with how it works). What I'd say is rather pick two or three strategies at first. Sort of.
Test them out for about six months and see if they work for you. If they do then great - add more if you like. But if not then move on and try another combination of things until you find what fits. Every brand is different and every audience wants something unique from their favourite label so don't be worried if what worked for one brand isn't working for you now.
If you've done your research and built a strong foundation to build upon then there's no reason why it shouldn't work eventually - all it takes is patience.
The Importance of Multi-Step Strategies
I have a bit of a weakness for instant gratification, if I am honest. You probably do too. I Think but, ultimately, itâs not as rewarding as it appears to be.
I mean, it wouldâve been incredible if we had superpowers that let us get everything that we want in the blink of an eye. It seems like but there is something beautiful about waiting and working towards something you truly desire â okay, now this is starting to sound like a self-help book. What I was trying to say before I got carried away is that the ultimate goal in all businesses is a sale or conversion.
But there are processes in place to make it happen. You need to start thinking about your sales funnel as a system and not something that works in isolation. Multi-step strategies help create an effective sales funnel that guarantees more customers come back and actually converts and drives sales.
These strategies begin with determining the right target audience, understanding their needs (now comes in the psychology) and mapping out their journey so you can a bit determine how to bring them on board, keep them engaged and convert them into customers who keep coming back. A multi-step strategy also lets you understand where your customers might be in their buying process, giving you insight into what action is required from your end to keep things going with them. This way you can nurture them into making a purchase when they are ready by offering value and engaging them with entertaining or informational content. Treating all leads the same way wonât help you because everyone has a different journey from finding you to making a purchase.
Multi-step strategies give you access to unique advantages like automation, nurturing leads, keeping customers engaged and converting them while keeping costs low too. Besides, itâs nice to feel like someone actually cares about your needs â even if this someone is nearly always a business trying to get you to buy their product or service.
Identifying Your Target Audience
I suppose every business dreams of making it big. And the thing is, they can, too, if they are targeting the right people. Truth is, a lot of businesses make the mistake of assuming they know who their audience is, and that assumption can apparently turn out to be quite an expensive one if not handled correctly.
In the spirit of keeping things real, letâs not sugarcoat things here; having a target audience can truly help your business flourish by helping you create effective sales strategies and a tailored customer journey that puts your brand on top. By figuring out your ideal customer persona, you can not only refine your messaging, but also communicate value that will likely boost sales. Most customers today expect personalised experiences.
When you know what their pain points are, what motivates them to buy from a business like yours, and where they spend their time online, youâve done half the job already.
Youâll need some research for this, especially because the more you know about your audience, the better strategies youâll be able to create. By identifying key traits about your target audience such as demographics or psychographics, or studying their purchase history and patterns of behaviour (not in a creepy way), it can help you create tailored messaging to grab their attention. Well-crafted personas based on this information can seemingly help you create paid campaigns that attract the right leads and boost conversions.
Crafting Compelling Offers
Hereâs the bitter pill - people arenât bothering with half-baked, sort-of-reasonable offers anymore. Thereâs just too much choice for most e-commerce brands to rest on their reputation alone. I Believe being compelling is about selling every part of your offer - the product, the price, the urgency, and what happens if they donât take you up on it.
The desperation has to come through at every point. Itâs all about making an offer that makes sense to your audience at every step. Thereâs no point in doing a massive percentage slash on something theyâve barely shown interest in.
And if you are going big and bold with your sales, then present it like that. People can sense excitement when itâs genuine. Small talk your way into their hearts, and then let them take the lead at first.
No one wants to feel compelled to make the sale. Theyâre looking for persuasion, not peer pressure. Finding a product or service that already seems like an attractive offering and taking it a step above and beyond is a great approach.
Sort of like doing everything other brands have done to make their customers feel comfortable, and then some more to keep them comfortable but also wowed. And if youâre launching something new or giving people something like never before in their lives - donât hesitate to break the mould a little. Every compelling offer begins with a clear idea of who youâre selling to and ends with an even clearer call for action for them - something theyâll genuinely want to do.
I think brands have underestimated how far honesty can take them. If you didnât have this offer yesterday but you suddenly do because you need to make more sales or tell them more about your products - just say that. Unassuming customers are great for getting by, but a truly great sale happens when they pay attention and ask questions.
Leveraging Automation for Efficiency
Looks Like supercharging your sales funnel can be a bother. There are aspects that really need a human touch, but most of the menial work is apparently perfect for automation. I mean, why would you spend hours drafting all those emails that just go out to spam anyway.
Thereâs a certain joy in developing and leveraging automation systems that enhance how you keep your sales funnel going. Imagine not having to worry about sending the same emails, getting reminders about when to follow up with certain leads, and general organisation through each channel. The best multi-step sales boosters all have one or more forms of automation at their heart.
I personally rely on these as much as possible since it helps me focus on what matters. When optimising your sales funnel using multi-step strategies, youâre going to have a lot of things happening at once for a fairly long time - especially if you donât automate them right. But with systems that do the heavy-lifting for you, converting leads doesnât get much easier than this. You should definitely keep yourself involved at every step of the funnel because you want to tweak things based on how itâs going.
But with how everything is nowadays, youâd rather be focusing on closing your customers than maintaining them throughout their lead journey - and thereâs nothing wrong with that.
Measuring Success: Metrics to Track
Measuring anything, really, can be as tedious as keeping up with fashion trends. We all feel like weâre in a perpetual cat-and-mouse chase that never ends - until it does, with us finally managing to catch up. But hereâs the thing - measurement is important, especially in the world of sales.
It isnât just about attaching numbers or data to something intangible (and yet somehow tangible) but also about setting boundaries and knowing when youâre good. And having a funnel is great, particularly since it means you have goals and numbers in mind before you start selling products or services. But the real question is - how can you tell if your efforts are working.
Once again, metrics can be useful here. Even with seven different strategies in place for your multi-step sales funnel, figuring out where you stand can likely be difficult at best. Now hereâs the catch - tracking your metrics alone isnât enough.
It is essential to know what to measure and how to do it for a truly complete picture. And there are quite a few parameters you could look at here: conversion rate, customer acquisition cost (CAC), average order value (AOV), return on investment (ROI), clickthrough rate (CTR), bounce rate, churn rate, retention rate - oh boy. More or less. At the end of the day, only you really know what works for your brand.
That means that identifying which metric matters most to you may take some time and effort - but itâll be worth it once you figure it out. And thatâs all there is to it, really - at least until we find new ways of measuring success.