Have you ever poured liquid into a funnel when cooking or baking? This handy kitchen utensil looks like a cone — wide at the top and narrow at the bottom — and helps you target exactly where you want your recipe ingredients to go. When it comes to online marketing, a sales funnel serves a similar purpose and can be just as useful. In fact, it’s pretty much an invaluable tool for any business looking to convert a lead into sale. If we’ve piqued your interest, read on to learn more.
What is a sales funnel?
Simply put, a sales funnel is an online marketing model that helps you visualize the steps your target customer must go through before completing the sale. Think of a real-world funnel and the concept becomes clear. At the top, you have a potential customer visiting your website. Like conversion marketing, the goal is to “convert” this person from a casual viewer of your online site to an actual customer who purchases your products or services.
Potential customers will take the first step into the sales funnel, but not everyone will make it to the end. Interested buyers will continue down the funnel, but with each step of the journey, the crowd will thin. That is okay. As a marketing model, the sales funnel will help you track the steps leading to conversion, so you can see exactly where people are straying from the path.
According to Entrepreneur, most prospects won’t buy from your website at first glance. It takes time and building a relationship with your target customer through several stages before reaching the end of the funnel, and, ultimately, increasing your profits.
Breaking down the steps.
Now that you better understand the definition of a sales funnel and its importance in your social media strategy, let’s break down the steps. Here is an example of a typical online marketing sales funnel with a focus on awareness, interest, decision, and action. Picture the funnel getting narrower with each step.
- Awareness: Potential customers are attracted to your brand through an effective use of engaging social media posts, blogs, videos, ads, giveaways, e-books, and email marketing campaigns.
- Interest: Potential customers grow to know, like and trust your product through valuable content that solves their pain points and establishes your business as a trusted brand and resource.
- Decision: A potential customer puts items into their cart as they continue to browse your website. Customer reviews and testimonials can help in this step.
- Action: A potential customer proceeds to checkout, completes the sale, and is converted to an actual customer.
What happens after conversion?
When a customer exits the sales funnel after conversion, the journey does not have to end. Send a follow up message in the weeks after purchase to help delight your customers, and continue to build a lasting relationship that drives repeat business.
As you can see, a sales funnel can be a highly valuable tool in any online marketing campaign and should not be overlooked. For more information and for help developing a sound social media strategy, contact the pros at Aliya Hammond Consulting.
You’ve probably realized by now that Social Media is no longer an option. In fact, it is a vital and highly successful tool for building a business. Aliya Hammond Consulting is an online Digital Marketing, Training, and Consulting Company headquartered in the greater Philadelphia area. We specialize in Social Media Management and Marketing, Social Media Training, Blog Writing, and Graphic Design Services for small and large businesses, entrepreneurs, and non-profit organizations. If you are looking to improve or increase your online presence, you can rest assured you are in good hands with us. Contact Aliya Hammond Consulting today to find out how we can help your business grow!
