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You may have better quality products and services than your competitors, but still, you won’t be able to outperform them in terms of sales figures if you aren’t fully aware of the marketing funnel.
Marketing funnels are currently one of the hottest topics in the marketing and business world. In this article, we are going to narrow down the complexity of marketing funnels, and we will cover everything you should know about creating a marketing funnel.
So without further ado, let’s explore what a marketing funnel is and how it works. By the end of this guide, you will be able to create a marketing funnel that works for your business.
Let’s begin by addressing the big question here.
What is a Marketing Funnel?
A marketing funnel is a hypothetical representation of a roadmap of customer journeys laid out by brands to find out the interaction between customers and the brand.
Businesses employ various tools and techniques to acquire customers. The marketing funnel helps in finding a better strategy for companies to gain more conversions.
This roadmap of the customer journey usually consists of various channels like blogs, social media posts, influencers, etc. It describes every step of which how a potential buyer turns into a loyal customer.
Let’s take a look at an example of a hypothetical sales funnel.
It may seem so simple, but there are some complexities. Customers find you through different channels, sometimes through blog posts, user reviews, or social media posts. You can’t be so sure which works best unless you identify where your customers are coming from.
If you are selling motorcycle gadgets, you may get higher leads from Instagram and other social media platforms. Depending on the product you are selling and the niche market, customers will find you through different channels
The next thing is customers may have different needs. You have to identify their needs and promote your product accordingly.
Thirdly, your customers will have a different level of knowledge about your product, brand, or service. Some may be looking for alternatives, whereas some may not even know the existence of your product.
So you have to keep them informed about your presence and give proper reasons why they should buy your products or services.
Now that you are aware of the basics of a marketing funnel let’s get into detail.
What are The Different Stages of a Marketing Funnel?
As said earlier, a marketing funnel is a roadmap of the customer journey of interacting with your brand. There are different stages of this roadmap of the customer journey. People often think that sale is the end of the marketing funnel. Well, sale numbers are important in marketing, but the post-sale experience is also as important.
Following are the five basic stages of a marketing funnel.
- Awareness
- Interest
- Evaluation
- Conversion
- Loyalty
You may find different wordings for stages of a marketing funnel on the internet, but the concept is the same. This is the functional framework for a marketing funnel, though not every customer will go through all the stages.
1. Awareness
This stage is the very first interaction point in which a potential buyer finds out about the existence of your product or service.
Customers identify the existence of your product through various channels, like blog posts, social media posts, organic search results, and so on. But before that, a customer should identify the need for the product.
How can you purchase a solution if you don’t know you have a problem? The problem creates a demand and the product is the solution. Simple Economics!
So at the awareness stage, customers recognize a problem that creates a need for the product. When the emptor is looking for solutions, he will use different channels, and one of them will lead him to you.
2. Interest
At this stage, a customer will be aware of your product and will be looking for more information and reviews. The degree of research will depend on the product or service you are offering.
If you have a restaurant business, then maybe a simple google review will do the job. But if you are selling something like furniture, the research part will be more intense. The customer will look for user reviews, organic search results, blog posts, and more.
A customer at this stage is looking for information, so a blog post that explains the key features of your product can be helpful. You can also promote use case related articles on your website.
Here is a list of SEO tips to optimize your blog posts for search engines.
3. Evaluation
This stage of a marketing funnel is very crucial. It is in this stage, your customer will look for alternatives for your product. If you don’t have a better marketing plan than your competitors, you may lose your customers.
At this stage, customers are looking for reasons why they should buy your product. You have to give them exactly what they want.
There are various techniques you can rely on. You can try different SEO strategies, email marketing, affiliate marketing, and so on.
If you are depending on content marketing, you should dominate search results for modifier keywords like best, top, etc.
4. Conversion
This is the actual purchase stage in which a customer purchases your product. It is the natural conclusion of the preceding three stages to come to the purchase stage.
A customer identifies your product, evaluates alternatives, and chooses what’s best for them. You can offer a free trial, discount coupons, money-back guarantee to push your customers down the sales funnel.
Now they’re pulling out their wallets to complete the purchase.
This may look like the end of it, but trust me; it’s not! Getting a potential buyer to become a customer is a big step, but retaining them as loyal customers is even greater. Also, you have to take care of post-sale queries and offer assistance if needed.
Else, they may end up posting negative reviews about your product which will end up losing potential buyers in the future.
5. Loyalty
This stage is not the end, but it is the means for building good relationships with your customers. When you pay attention to the post-purchase behavior of your customers and take the necessary actions to keep them satisfied, they will keep coming back.
In this way, you can turn them into loyal customers; they may even recommend your products to friends and family. You can also offer rewards and discounts to your loyal customers.
So these are the various stages of a customer journey through a sales funnel. Now let’s see how a sales funnel works.
How Does a Marketing Funnel Work?
Do you ever fill your car’s oil reservoir with a funnel without spilling the oil over the engine? It is the same principle here too. You want your potential buyers to move down the funnel and convert them into loyal customers.
You may be wondering why it is called a funnel and why it can’t be a pipe, tube, or anything hollow that has a clear passage. Well, as this graphical representation of a roadmap of the customer journey, interaction will be higher at the top and decrease as it goes down.
Consider this example:
1000 potential buyers read your blog >> 500 people subscribe to your newsletter >> 10 made a purchase.
Out of 1000 people who read your blog, only 10 reached all the way down to conversion.
So, interaction will be higher at the awareness stage, but only a few will make it to the bottom and be your loyal customers. Things will get harder and harder as it reaches down, but you keep pushing them down the funnel with proper marketing strategies.
How to Create a Marketing Funnel to Skyrocket Your Sales?
Now you know what a marketing funnel is, how it works, and the stages it goes through. Here are some techniques to create a powerful sales funnel for your business.
Identify your customer
It is important to identify your potential customers and create a user persona for your business. Identify where they are coming from, what they are looking for, and how they can be converted into your customers.
Find suitable channels
You should offer different ways for your customers to reach your product. There are multiple channels; find what’s best for you and give more attention to the best possible way. Your marketing strategies will go in vain if you promote your products or services on the wrong channels.
Find your niche market, then employ promotional strategies accordingly. Also, don’t depend on a single channel; use multiple channels for promoting products but give more focus to what brings more customers.
Employ various marketing strategies
There are different marketing strategies for promoting your business. Choosing the right strategy depends upon what you sell and to whom you sell. You can employ popular marketing strategies like content marketing, affiliate marketing, webinars, etc.
Use pop-up forms and newsletters to get contact details of your customers, you can then do email marketing or direct marketing.
Offer discounts and rewards
You can offer discounts, conduct festive sales, create upsells, and more. Furthermore, you could offer trial periods, money-back guarantees, and other offers that make purchasing from you a no-brainer.
Provide post-sale assistance
Providing post-sale assistance can make a big difference to the post-purchase customer experience. Also, it can build your brand trust and worthiness so that you can reach out to more customers.
Attend the post-sale queries of your customers, provide technical support if needed and generate positive feedback from your customers.
The above-mentioned are some of the techniques you can use to create a powerful marketing funnel for your business. You can also use any sales funnel-building software like ClickFunnels to automate your marketing activities.
Summing up
A marketing funnel is a hypothetical representation of the customer journey. It helps you build better strategies for promoting your products and gaining more loyal customers for your business.
The purpose of this article is to help you understand about marketing funnel and how it affects your business. If you find this article to be informative, share your thoughts in the comments.
