What Are The Components Of A Successful Sales Funnel?
Introduction
The idea behind a sales funnel is to keep your prospects moving through the funnel and stepping closer and closer to becoming customers. By using a series of stages that each have a certain action, you’ll be able to move your prospects from one stage to the next, eliminating any objections they may have.
What are the Components of a Successful Sales Funnel?
1) Landing Page
The first impression is often the most lasting impression, and the first step of a sales process is your landing page. Think about it. Had you been browsing for a new mattress, would you have visited the information about it in the next sentence? Probably not. You get a really good first impression with a well-designed landing page that gives your prospects the details they need to make an informed decision. When you see an opportunity to create a better first impression and build towards a sale, take advantage of it.
2) Free e-book/ guide
Include some sort of complementary e-book or guide as part of your funnel that shows you’re serious about learning more about your potential customer. Many successful salespeople have created eBooks and guides to help others learn more about their products and use them as part of their sales funnel. A guide that’s actually worth the download and read can go a long way towards helping to establish credibility and trust with a potential customer.
3) Contact page
Most salespeople use one of two contact pages: the contact form or an email. You’ll have to decide which is best for you, but one of them should be part of your funnel. Whether you’re building an email list or using a form on your site, take advantage of every opportunity to build trust with your prospect by asking for their information. When they give it to you, make sure you don’t abuse it and keep it up-to-date.
4) Unsolicited email outreach
Like the Customer Lifetime Value concept, Unsolicited Email Outreach- and demand generation- are two concepts that are completely intertwined. The more you have that your prospects have asked for, the more value you add to their funnel. A good general practice is to offer a free report or guide with your initial offer of help to maximize ROI. This can be as simple as sharing a free guide on your site as an additional benefit of becoming part of your funnel, or it can be more complex, like offering a free guide in exchange for an email address.
5) Scripted video sales page
Selling a product in the form of a video is one of the most effective ways to generate leads, and it can be very time consuming and costly to produce. But it’s one of the most successful forms of selling online. No matter what your product is or what it does, you should have a sales page that includes a script that builds trust, then provides value and makes them an offer.
6) Product Page On Your Website
Your website is not just for entertaining visitors who want to buy something from you. Your site should include information about your company, your products and services, and the various ways you can help them out. When you do have a sales funnel, your product page should include links to each of the other pages in your funnel.
7) Social media Outreach/ content marketing
In today’s media-saturated world, it’s important for a business to be as visible as possible. Don’t just put up an “About Us” page on your website and hope that visitors come looking for you. Some of the most successful businesses are using social media and outreach to their prospects (like blogging or commenting on other people’s blog posts). There are lots of different ways to do this- from simple encouragement from blog posts to more complex ones like Facebook groups or secret groups. Whatever you do, don’t forget to make sure that you’re making yourself visible and relevant to your prospects.
8) Email Marketing
Again, the 7-step funnel concept is circular and continues on from each stage of your funnel. If you’re asking for leads via email, then use the same principle by periodically putting important updates in your newsletters so your prospects know about new products or services that can be of value to them.
9) Videos/ Podcasts/ Blogs/ etc…
Although a script won’t work for every product or service, it can be very effective for things like videos and podcasts. You can use a script to draw viewers in, then the personality and passion of your video will be evident in how you speak about it. If you’re selling a book or other product, use a script in your video to draw viewers in and then give them the facts about what you’d like them to know about your product.
10) Create an irresistible offer
One of the most important things you can do is make sure that your offer is irresistible. For example, if you offer someone free shipping, make sure that it’s free for you, too- there’s no point in waiting until it’s too late to add that incentive. Except for something as simple as free shipping, try to come up with something unique and special for each person you’re helping out. That’s one of the reasons why a lot of sales funnels are round: it’s because you don’t want to force your product on them and make them feel like you think they’re an idiot if they don’t buy it.
11) Free video webinar
Videos seem to be all the rage these days, and rightly so. Videos are a great way to inform people about what you do and how you can help them out. One of the best ways to do this is with a sales funnel that includes a free webinar that provides information that helps your prospects understand how you can help them reach their goals. A free webinar is also available to enroll people into your email list, increasing the chances they will purchase something from your website later on.
A properly designed sales funnel should be designed to move the prospect from one stage in the sales process to another. The goal is to take a prospect who is not yet ready to buy, and turn them into that next sale who will become a loyal customer before they even know what hit them.