What is a sales funnel and why is it important?
If you’re not familiar with marketing, you’re probably wondering what the heck a sales funnel is?
Sales funnels are so important for business owners to understand, which is why I’m going into all the details below.
To start, let’s define sales funnel:
A sales funnel represents the path someone takes from the moment they learn about your business, all the way to becoming a loyal supporter.
The easiest way to describe it is using a graphic (see below):
Now that we know what a sales funnel is, let’s deep dive different areas of the funnel and the best way to market to people in that specific area of the funnel.
Top of Funnel: Awareness – people who have never heard of your business. Simply put, the top of the funnel is new audiences.
Marketing to Top of Funnel: When targeting new audiences you need to introduce your business, share what you have to offer, and what makes your business unique.
Middle of the Funnel: Consideration. After someone has learned of your business and is interested, they move into consideration. In this phase, they may even take a step to follow your social media pages, visit your website, or opt into a freebie or sign up for a discount code.
Marketing to Middle of Funnel: This audience has already shown interest in what you have to offer, but they need an extra push or even further nurturing. The best way to target middle of the funnel is to offer a freebie (if you haven’t already), offer a discount or incentive, provide a raving testimonial or review.
Remember that fun fact I keep sharing? On average, less than 2% of first time website visitors actually take the desired action you want them to. This is exactly what I’m talking about. Now that they’re familiar with your business and trust what you have to offer, they are more willing to take the next step – make a purchase, book a consultation, buy a course, whatever it may be.
Bottom of the Funnel: Purchase & Loyalty. People at the bottom of the funnel have either decided to purchase from your or they haven’t. If they’ve made it this far, there’s a likely chance they are really interested in what you have to offer and hopefully become a purchaser! Congrats!
But wait – the sales funnel isn’t over, yet….
Loyalty is arguably the most important phase in the funnel. Now that someone has become a purchaser, we want them to become loyal. Loyalty refers to those that are repeat customers or refer others to your business.
Marketing to Bottom of the Funnel: People in the bottom of the funnel that have not yet purchased need to be reminded of your business – you want to stay top-of-mind. The same goes for those who have purchased. However, I need to emphasize 2 things:
- Do not spam people. There is a difference between showing up and staying top-of-mind and spamming people, trust me.
- Wait to target people who have already purchased. No one wants to be sold to if they just purchased from you. Give them a bit of time!
The sales funnel is so important to understand because you cannot expect someone who has never heard of your business to buy right away. Marketing is all about the know, like, trust factor. They learn about your business (know), become interested in what you have to offer (like), before they make a purchase (trust).
If you have any questions on what a sales funnel is or how to effectively target different levels of the sales funnel, please reach out and let me know. I’d be happy to answer through a DM on social media, email, or over a free consultation (schedule here).
