The sales funnel is a powerful tool for businesses to understand the journey of their potential customers. It is a visual representation of the different stages that customers go through from the moment they become aware of your product or service to the moment they make a purchase (or don't). The top of the funnel (TOFU) is where potential customers first become aware of your brand and interact with it for the first time. As potential customers move through the funnel, they evaluate your offer based on their level of interest.
The first stage of the sales funnel is called the “knowledge level”, because it is where people first become aware of your product or service. Potential customers may find out about you through your advertising, social media and even word of mouth. The middle and lower stages of the sales funnel are where you should pay the most attention to, since these are the prospects who have gone from awareness to interest. At this point, potential customers will move from the knowledge phase to the interest phase.
You can use this opportunity to share educational content about your offer via email. As potential customers move into the decision phase, you'll want to offer anything that might lead them to make a purchasing decision, such as a product demo, an extended free trial, or a special discount. In the action phase, you'll get new customers or discover why potential customers aren't interested in buying. For new customers, focus on education, engagement and product retention.
For potential customers who haven't made any purchases, create a series of emails to contact them every few months. Potential customers enter the funnel at different stages. It can be because they have seen your advertising or heard about you through word of mouth. It can also happen because they have followed their own education and have intervened in search of interest or consideration.
All your potential customers should receive consistent, friendly emails and contacts at all stages of the sales funnel so that you can provide personalized attention for today's most popular prospects. Even if you've never sat down to formally create a marketing funnel, you probably already have one without knowing it. If you lose a lot of conversions after the testing phase, you may need to update your onboarding process so that people understand how to use the tool or even adjust the top of the funnel so as not to attract people outside your target audience. There is a heated debate in the world of marketing and sales about who exactly owns the funnel. An increasingly common practice among marketing, sales and customer service and experience managers is to turn the funnel into a customer experience funnel. This funnel describes the process of turning customers into promoters, which in turn drives marketing by boosting awareness and lead generation. It is important to note that there is no single agreed version of the funnel; some have many stages, while others have few, with different names and actions taken by the company and consumer for each of them.
Prospecting and marketing are all the things you do to get people to the first stage of your sales funnel. In fact, CEB reports that B2B customers go through 57 percent of the funnel on their own before meeting with a sales representative. Sales and marketing automation software can plug those gaps in sales funnels and turn near-accidents into sales. Discuss sales ownership, explain how the funnel can be reversed to create more leads, and explore nonlinear approaches to the funnel.
