What is a Sales Funnel?

A sales funnel is a potential customer's process when they want to buy your product or service. Potential customers will move through each stage until they finally get to the phase where they perform closing actions like making a purchase, signing a contract, etc. At the beginning phases (the top of the sales funnel), there will most likely be a lot of people, but that number reduces as they go down the funnel. For example, let’s say you posted an ad on Instagram promoting a sale you’re running. The number of people who see the ad will be less than those who click. And even fewer people will add items to their cart, and a fraction of those will buy the product. It is very normal for the number of leads to drop as they get deeper into your funnel. But the good news is that:

There are ways to boost the percentages in each phase.

Leads who have traveled down your funnel are a lot easier to win back as clients. The closer they are to the end of the funnel, the better they are for retargeting.

Funnels help you mimic the customer’s journey and identify where they are and what they need at each stage of the journey. And thanks to automation, your sales funnel can help you personalize their journey to address their concerns at each stage and to fit your messaging and offer to match their interests, trust, and knowledge of your product.

Before we proceed, it may be helpful to understand the different stages of a funnel. The scenario above might be useful to do just that.

• Going back to the example we used earlier, the phase where your potential customers see and take notice of your ad is called the awareness stage.

• Then they show interest by performing the next call-to-action (interest stage)

• Now that their interest is piqued, they research your product or service to decide whether they should go ahead and make a purchase from you (consideration stage)

• Many potential customers, even after doing some research, might not purchase immediately. But they have the intention of buying. This is the intent stage.

• The last stage of the funnel is the purchase.

Introduction

What happens when they don’t buy immediately?

If you sell any product or service online, you probably already know that for the views and website visitors you get on your ads and web pages, you’ll only get a tiny fraction of them to become a lead or a buyer. The sales funnel is one of the most powerful ways businesses use to get more highly qualified leads (even if their view count or number of page visitors remains the same). In this blog post, we’ll clarify some common misconceptions about sales funnels and discuss the major things you need to know about funnels as a business owner.

Common Sales Funnel Mistakes

The following are some of the most common and costly mistakes businesses make in the creation and management of their funnels.

The Offer

The solution (product/service) you offer should align with the stage your target audience is. Here are a few offer-related mistakes small businesses often make.

Having a Weak Offer

It is often said that, a good product (potentially) sells itself. No matter how good the hype around a product is, if the product doesn’t offer a great solution to the underlying issue the customer is trying to solve, its demand will die out in the long run. Having a really good offer is one of the most important parts of a creating a high converting funnel that will help you get recurring sales.

• While you don’t need to wait till your product is perfect, make sure that you beta test it, receive feedback regularly, and update your offer accordingly.

• Check for errors. Conduct edits and checks on your product or service. Get the opinions of others as well (hopefully an expert or your target audience).

• Have a clear value proposition. Define the problem you want to solve, and for whom and make sure your product or service does just that. Also make sure to communicate it to your audience clearly.

Gathering The Wrong Leads

As most business owners realize, not everyone is fit to be a customer. Every business has a defined target base that it serves. And failing to position your sales funnel to match your target audience’s interests, headspace, pain points, and behaviors, might cost your business a lot more than it should. Here are a few of the most common mistakes businesses make along these lines:

Not being clear on who their customer avatar or target audience is: When businesses are not clear on who they serve and how their customer behaves, they become more susceptible to making messaging and targeting mistakes, ultimately dooming their sales funnel even from the start.

Poorly qualified leads: this mistake is more common with businesses that have mid-ticket offers. For example, some businesses rush the funnel process for fear that they will lose potential customers at the top or the middle of the funnel.

Neglecting mobile users: most people use their mobile devices most of the time. However, it is fairly common for businesses to make the mistake of optimizing their entire sales funnel solely for desktop use. In some cases, this may cause the business’s website to look and feel a bit clunky

Ignoring customer feedback : Sales funnels make it easy to gather feedback from leads in different stages of the customer journey, so it can be a missed opportunity to increase your conversions and win their loyalty.

Messaging and Design Tripwires

Sometimes the copy, layout, or user-friendliness of your sales funnel might miss the mark. The user experience of your sales funnel when done right has the potential to accelerate the number of clicks and conversions you get. Here are a few notes to consider:

• Do your best to make sure that all integrations work seamlessly with each other

• Make sure to use clear Calls to Action. Optimize each CTA frequently

• Make sure that the words, images, and elements you use are appropriate for the stage the customer is in. Avoid using generic words personalize the copy when possible and make it cohesive

• Make sure that your sales cycle and funnel aren’t longer or more complex than necessary

• Test, test, then optimize. One huge mistake small businesses make is failing to test and optimize their copy, links, angles, and more. Conducting these analyses helps pinpoint what works, and makes it easier to replicate wins in the future.

Sales Funnel Drop-Off Points And What To Do About Them

As we established earlier, most people entering your sales funnel never reach the purchase stage. There are several points in the sales funnel where leads are most likely to drop off, but the normal percentage may vary from industry to industry. A few factors that may influence the percentage of sales funnel drop-offs are as follows. Customers might not complete the transaction because:

• They got distracted

• They believe your offer is not a fit for them at that time

• They are having issues with the user experience. Eg. The landing page feels glitchy

• They have unanswered questions or concerns or are confused

What can you do about your sales funnel drop-off rates?

While drop-offs are generally expected in sales funnels, the extent to which they fall can be worked on. Businesses that closely monitor their sales funnel may start to notice patterns that trigger leads to leave the funnel abruptly. The following tips can help slow down the drop-off rate of a business’s sales funnel.

• Pay attention. Check your funnel’s drop-off rates. It may help to look around to find out what your industry standard is. You can also find out more by looking at your funnel’s performance in past months and by comparing (if you have multiple similar funnels)

• Make It Simple. Don’t ask your leads to take more steps or answer more questions than necessary. Don’t ask them to submit the same information multiple times. Use social login and integrate tools that can simplify or speed up the process whenever possible

• Split test to discover what your leads respond well to

Other Strategies For Improving Your Sales Funnel

Use remarketing. Make sure you have the right tags and software to capture those leads that drop off the sales funnel. When you do, you can reach out to them. They are known to have a click-through rate (CTR) “that's 10 times higher than regular display ads”

• Set clear goals for each stage of your sales funnel

• Create FOMO. let there be a sense of urgency, and once in a while scarcity. If the offer is exclusive, promote it as such. You may also include limited-time bonuses to get them to act immediately. This reduces the likelihood of them dropping off due to procrastination

• Use testimonials, and case studies to quickly overcome the doubt that may otherwise cause some leads to drop off the sales funnel

• Integrating videos is very effective in sales funnels. Include one or two, especially in the early phases of the customer’s journey

• Your email marketing strategy can be very beneficial to skyrocketing your sales funnel conversions

Conclusion

A business’s sales funnel can be very beneficial to its lead generation, qualification, and sales. It can also be very useful in customer relationship management since it reveals the pain points and thought processes of the clients at each stage. Knowing how to use this powerful tool can be game-changing. This blog post highlights some tips and strategies a business can use to boost its funnel’s conversions. You’ll also find sales funnel mistakes to look out for. We also discussed what the drop-off rate is, when it’s seen as normal, and how to reduce it in your business. With the strategies mentioned above, you can potentially boost your business’s sales without sacrificing the quality of leads your business needs.