A sales funnel, also known as a shopping funnel, is a visual representation of the customer journey, depicting the sales process from awareness to action. It is a marketing strategy designed to convert potential customers into long-term customers through five stages. A sales funnel consists of several steps, commonly referred to as the top, center, and bottom of the funnel, although these may vary depending on the company's sales model. The “funnel” metaphor implies that you will start with a large audience of potential buyers that will eventually narrow down to a smaller group of highly segmented, high-value customers.
A sales funnel is a marketing concept that traces the journey that a customer goes through when making any type of purchase. The model uses a funnel as an analogy, since a large number of potential customers can start at the top of the sales process. However, only a fraction of these people end up making a purchase. The stages in a sales funnel typically include the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel, depending on the company's sales model.
A sales funnel helps marketers understand a customer's buying process and, at the same time, identify what phase of this journey the customer is in. All your potential customers receive consistent, friendly emails and contacts at all stages of the sales funnel, so you can book your personalized attention for today's most popular prospects. However, if you target your target audience where they are (and where they feel comfortable interacting with your brand), you can get them to enter your funnel on their terms and direct them to where you want them to be. Not only can this help you further develop your own sales funnel, but it will also allow you to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors' supply and make the necessary improvements to your own offering.
By now, we've made it quite clear that your ultimate goal is to unite each of your “mini-funnels” to create a single global sales funnel. Sales funnel leakage often occurs if marketers are unable to keep prospects and potential customers engaged with your company and its offerings through relevant and interesting content and outreach. Investing in Funnel Builder is a proven long-term strategy for converting your unique visitor into a customer. At the highest levels, break-even offers (i.e., you won't intentionally make a profit from the sale, but you'll make profits as they pass through your funnel), can be used to keep the customer engaged and ready to move forward. On the contrary, those funnels with gaps will cause potential customers to abandon the sales process, like water flowing through a strainer.
Those who watch this sales-focused content have been pre-qualified (through your bait offer), which means they should be interested in the premium product or service you're offering for them right now. Most companies, whether online or conventional, use this model to guide their B2C marketing efforts at every stage of the sales funnel. It is likely that many of your competitors have already created a sales funnel or a marketing funnel, which generates engagement and sales based on the exact type of customer you want to attract with your own funnels. Understanding your funnel can help you find the gaps in the funnel, the places where potential customers leave and never convert.
