The marketing funnel is essential to optimize your business’ sales process. You need to have the right tools in order to overcome obstacles and reach clients efficiently in a competitive market. You might consider designing a process for marketing that guides customers through a process to help them make a purchase decision.
What is a Marketing Funnel and How Does It Work?
A marketing funnel, as highlighted by Clickfunnels, is a way to break down the customer journey. It starts with awareness, when the customer learns about you and ends with purchase of the product. Marketing funnels often include follow-ups after the purchase to ensure that customers are satisfied.
Marketing funnels have many benefits
Funnels have a number of benefits. They simplify customer journeys. This allows you to map each step in the decision-making process of your potential clients. This allows you to measure what steps your clients plan to take at each stage.
A marketing funnel can be applied to any type of business model. You can use it to capture customer interactions. A marketing funnel is useful for delivering the results you desire, whether you are looking to drive traffic to your store or increase sales online. This powerful tool will help you connect with customers at different stages.
A marketing funnel will allow you to measure your progress. A funnel will show you where your customers are most likely to be found and what their closing rates are. This information can be useful in formulating your strategy. If you lose clients in the third stage, for example, you might work to correct the problem.
Stages of a Marketing Funnel
What are the stages that you should use to build a marketing funnel? Depending on the market, some funnels have five stages while others may have seven. The funnel should not be rigid, but flexible enough to allow for changes as new information is collected. These are the levels of the funnel that should be used in customer acquisition campaigns.
- Awareness
Awareness is the first stage in a marketing funnel. This is the stage where people who have specific problems learn about your brand, product, or company. Awareness can happen in different ways, including:
- Medium article
- Listening to podcasts in which the host gives your business a shoutout
- Searching for something online? Find your website
- You can watch a YouTube video about you company or your product
No matter what method they use, they will discover that your brand exists. If they are interested enough in the information, they will be clients or customers immediately.
You must continue to seek out the rest and make sure that interest in your product is turned into awareness. Your product can solve problems for people. This stage is where you need to share the information with as many people as possible. Marketing skills are essential here. Let influencers showcase your products by partnering with you. Make sure your brand is active on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
- Interest
The second stage of your funnel is interest. This stage is where your target customers are interested in your brand. They are eager to find out more. They will likely refine their searches and enter a keyword that is related to your brand in the search text. At this stage, your goal is to rank for the keywords they are targeting.
Be the expert and tell them what you’re interested in. This optimization stage would prioritize SEO skills as it will allow your brand to be among the top recommendations when customers search for specific keywords. However, getting them to read your content does not suffice. Action calls should be integrated into your content to get them following you.
- Take into account
The third stage is called Consideration. This stage is where your prospects are able to identify their problem and the solution. They also understand how you can help them. But it’s not over yet. There are many options available to them, so it’s important to make your brand stand out among the rest. Let them know why they should choose your brand. You should be the first to search for modifier keywords like “top”, “best”, or “vs” within your niche.
You should also create a nurture sequence to explain why your prospects need your brand. You can share your ideas with them or teach them something about your products. They will be more likely to make a decision if you can demonstrate the product’s value.
Many businesses rely on email to stay in touch with their prospects. However, there are other options. Free consultation calls are possible if your business is in the services industry. You could offer a webinar to your prospects for complicated products. All questions that potential customers may have will be answered and you will be able to convince them that you are the right brand.
- Conversion
Conversion is the fourth stage of marketing funnels. This is when prospects are convinced that your product solves their problem. You just need to give them the last compelling reason to click “buy”. You have many options to convince them to buy.
Use urgency in your messaging. Remind them gently if the product is out of stock. Make sure they have a seamless checkout and offer discounts. A pleasant shopping experience will encourage your prospects to make quick decisions.
You can also add upsells to the conversion stage. You can sell add-ons for products that your customers have purchased. Apple asks customers if they are interested in AppleCare when they buy a MacBook. That’s upselling.
Nonlinear Funnels
This is a straight-line funnel that follows a set of stages. The marketing funnel can be used in many different ways. The stages at which leads enter the funnel are different, so the majority of the stages will not apply. Customers who are referred by your business to buy will skip the first three stages.
People can now easily access information about brands and products thanks to technological advancements. Customers can research brands and find out which ones address their issues best.
You can plug any leaks in your marketing funnel
There is no perfect marketing funnel. There is no way to prevent funnels from leaking. However, there are a few things you can do to minimize the damage. Some people won’t buy the funnel, while others may not be interested. Some leakage is to be expected.
You should be concerned about excessive leakage. This happens when a funnel stage is larger than the next. This means that many people are entering one stage but not the next. A funnel provides an easy-to-diagnose method that can help you determine the stage where you have leakages. If your funnel is leaking, there are many ways to fix it.
- Retargeting
You can still reach the remaining 995 people by sending out an email to 1000 people with only 50 replies. Retargeting allows you to reach people after they leave your website. This gives you the chance to convince them to come back and to reconsider their purchase. You can use a JavaScript script (a “pixel”) to install cookies on websites. The cookie can be used to display ads to the user. Popular platforms like Quora, Facebook, Google and Facebook offer pixels.
- Chat Live Support
People will often leave your website if they are unable to find the answers they need. Although they might be able to read through a few pages to clarify their questions, if there is no way to get immediate answers they will leave your website and go to a website with live support. This problem can be solved by live chat. You can also use the interaction to persuade the visitor to purchase your products.
- Final thoughts
It’s high time your company had a marketing funnel. You can start with a basic funnel and identify growth opportunities. Then, fix any issues. The funnel can be expanded to include Advocacy, Retention and other stages. Instead of focusing on acquiring new customers, focus on building loyalty. This means that you will need to adapt your products to meet the market’s needs.
Have you ever created a marketing funnel yourself? We would love to hear about your experiences and any advice you have for someone who is just starting out. Let’s talk if you haven’t yet built a funnel.