What exactly are sales funnels?

A sales funnel is a graphical illustration of your prospect’s trajectory from initial contact with your business to the final transaction or purchase. It assists your marketing team in determining if they should pursue or change the marketing strategy owing to a decline in the funnel.

As the name suggests, Sales Funnel exactly works like a funnel with the widest stages at the top and narrowing stages following below. So every segment of the funnel moves potential leads forward and removes those who are not a better match for your products and services.

A sales funnel is a term used to depict the stages of the customer journey, which may be divided into three categories: top, middle, and bottom which may change according to the sales models of businesses. Missing a sale after consistent content creation, numerous pitches and client interactions is more than just painful. This is common. But, it will be less common in the presence of an excellent sales management funnel.

Why learn about Sales Funnel?

The sales funnel plays an essential role in helping you identify the reasons why customers are not making a sale. It helps you understand your customer’s purchase journey; enabling you to make the right investments in marketing and social media platforms to create an authentic community of your own. This is just a part of the benefits of implementing sales funnel in your business.

The whole purpose of a sales funnel is to convert your audience into your potential customers. The conversion rate of leads through various platforms is achieved through efficient sales management which takes your audience through a sequence of steps which ultimately help generate leads.

Once you acquire your customer base, a sales funnel encourages them to make references. In addition to the generation of referrals for your business, a sales funnel fastens the process by monitoring and tracking every stage of the sales process and constantly making changes to meet improve conversions.

Also, a sales funnel allows you to narrow down and find your potential audience. Above all, a customer’s preferences are identified and this eases up the conversion process.

So, what are the stages of a Sales Funnel?

Customers move through several phases of your sales funnel from the minute they learn about your product or service till they buy from you (or don’t). That path may differ according to your customers but in the end, they’ll assess it depending on their degree of interest. They will consider the problem they are attempting to address and research to ensure that your service or product is the best answer.

I. Awareness

Initially, your target audience might be facing a problem or an inconvenience and are exploring the solutions to it, which is when they come to discover your brand. Awareness is the stage where your customer must feel confident in your products and services. This is the stage where your audience converts into prospects or your leads.

II. Interest

Now, they move to the next stage, that is interest. After awareness, they tend to evaluate it according to their interest levels. Once they find the product that best suits them, they cross-check with your competitors if you’re offering the best.

III. Decision

In that evaluation and research, if they feel that the product or service you’re offering is the best, they’ll learn about other aspects of the product such as its price, delivery time, packaging and so on.

IV. Action

Every effort you’ve put in for marketing, content creation and so on will come to this stage. If your prospects make a purchase, well and good. But, if they don’t, you can eventually convince them through campaigns or customer reviews.

Build your Sales Funnel With Us!

We at Ioninks provide businesses with the most efficient solutions to construct and run an effective sales process that delivers exceptional results matching your business needs. With an extraordinary sales funnel software, we help businesses automate follow-up emails, set up payment gateways, landing page templates, social media retargeting ads, content offers distribution and many other tools and services to upscale your businesses.

Click here for a complete guide on building a sales funnel!