The hardest part of running a business is attracting new customers and keeping them around for the long-run.
But this doesn’t have to be the case.
If you have a well-oiled sales funnel that pushes potential buyers through the sales process without them even realizing it, attracting new customers can actually be easy (and fun).
According to
research by Salesforce, 68% of businesses haven’t even attempted to put a sales funnel in place, while further results showed that 79% of marketing leads never turn into sales. That’s a huge number of customers that are potentially lost forever.
This is why it’s so important to create a successful sales funnel that captures, engages and, most importantly, converts new buyers. If you’ve already got a sales funnel set up but it’s not quite performing as well as you hoped, this post is for you.
Let’s dig in and get your sales funnel in top-notch condition.
1. Add Calls-to-Action
In
one study of 200 small business websites, results showed that a whopping 70% of websites didn’t have a clear call-to-action (CTA) for anything on the homepage. This means that simply adding a CTA to your site will instantly put you ahead of the competition.
But more than that, CTAs show potential customers what you want them to do next and act as portals to the next steps of your sales funnel.
Do you want people to sign up for your newsletter? Add a sign-up button to your site.
Do you want people to check out a sale you’re currently running? Make sure you have a link that clearly states you want them to do that.
It might be obvious to you want prospective buyers should be doing on your site, but it’s not always obvious to them.
Think about it:
If you don’t tell a website visitor that you want them to sign up to your newsletter, how will they know to do that?
The simple answer is they won’t, and that could lose you a whole lot of custom.
2. Personalize What You Can
Research by Infosys shows that 31% of consumers wish their shopping experience was more personalized than it already is. Further research backs this up, with Segment’s
State of Personalization Report showing that just 22% of shoppers are satisfied with the levels of personalization they get at the moment.
This means that a lot of businesses are failing to create individual experiences for their prospective buyers who might then go elsewhere to get their wants and needs met.
You can personalize simple things like addressing your customers by using their first names in emails, but you can also personalize your sales funnel in other ways.
You might consider:
- Segmenting your mailing list subscribers depending on the kind of information they want to get from you
- Sharing similar products to the ones prospective buyers have been browsing (like Amazon does with it’s “you might like…” section)
- Creating specific landing pages, email sequences, and offers for customers who are interested in different products and services
3. Get Your Emails Up and Running
Once a prospective buyer shows interest in what you’re selling, it’s important that you stay in touch with them so they don’t forget about you.
Not everyone will buy from you on their first visit to your site (in fact,
98% of visitors won’t won’t make a purchase), so it’s important that you keep your brand fresh in their minds so that when they are ready to buy, you’re the first business they go to.
The best way to do this is to create a powerful email welcome sequence that nurtures potential buyers and takes them from website visitor to customer. In fact, leads nurtured in this way make
47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads.
But how do you make sure you email nurture sequence is doing its job?
The best automated emails (a.k.a. The ones the nurture through to conversion) include:
- Information about your business and how it can help solve the subscriber’s problem
- An unprecedented amount of value (link out to blog posts, videos, and other engaging content that shows your expertise and builds authority)
- A special “welcome” offer for new subscribers (when someone has bought from you once, they’re more likely to buy from you again)
4. Incorporate Social Proof
Social proof is a psychological tactic that taps into the idea that people want what other people have, and it can be used to boost conversions in your sales funnel by addressing objections potential customers might have.
The great thing is you can incorporate social proof at any point throughout the sales funnel to give potential buyers that extra push they might need.
It can come in the form of:
- Testimonials from happy customers on your landing pages
- Case studies in your email welcome sequence
- Social media content that drives people to your website in the first place
Your Sales Funnel is So Important
Without a sales funnel, you won’t know where customers need an extra push to get them off the fence. Without this information, you’ll potentially lose out on a whole load of customers who simply don’t know what you can offer them or how to make it to the next stage of the buying process.
But, with just a few simple tweaks, you can create a powerful sales funnel that continues to convert customers long after you’ve implemented it.
Meet The Author: Scott Miraglia
Scott is the CEO of Elevation Marketing. He is a balanced risk-taker with nearly three decades of experience starting and growing advertising and marketing agencies. His business acumen is matched with a drive to build creative teams that thrive in open, collaborative work environments. Scott seeks out the best creative individuals, not only to provide quality service to clients, but to also help shape the future direction of Elevation Marketing. He remains dedicated to helping his talented teams develop unique and effective integrated marketing programs that help employees realize their full potential while serving up impressive business wins for clients.