Most salespeople and marketers are familiar with the ‘sales funnel’. The sales funnel is a model that represents the customer journey: from awareness of your brand to purchase of your product/service. As a business owner, it is important to understand the principles behind the sales funnel to reach your customer base and strategically move them along the journey towards purchase. Businesses should use different platforms, content, and different calls to action at each point along the sales journey.
- Awareness. Top of the funnel. Social media is a good place to spread the word about your brand values, your product/service benefits, and other content that will engage and entice your customers. Don’t push sales here, at the top of the funnel you want people to learn about your brand and convince them to see more. Some good ‘calls to action’ (CTAs) for this part of the funnel and journey include “learn more” and “visit our website”.
- Interest. They heard about you and they were enticed to learn more. Once the potential customer sees your content on social media, hears about it through word of mouth, or learns about your company through earned media (content written about your business that you did not produce yourself), they move to the “interested” stage of the sales funnel. This is where you share more specific information on your website or blog. Remember: tell, don’t sell! Educate the customer on how great your product/service is. Use CTAs like “Sign up for our newsletter”, “Follow us on social media”, “Add to cart” and “Buy now”. This is a good place to employ re-targeting advertising tactics if you are able.
3 & 4. Decision and Action. The customer is deciding to purchase from you. Make the process as seamless and as personalized as possible. Customers want a clean checkout process with automatic and immediate confirmations and tracking information if applicable. Use the customers name in your confirmations.
Don’t forget to follow up! Thank them for their purchase, let them know what they can expect, and ask for reviews. Make them feel like they’re part of a community. For more support, contact your SBDC consultant or fill out the online request for consulting form.