An Introduction to Sales Funnels
Many people come to us once they have launched a traffic building campaign and ask us why they are not getting the business they expected from the campaign. In almost all the cases the issue is not with the traffic building campaign but with the information you are delivering your visitors once they get to your website.
This is why it is important to develop a sales funnel on your website. A sales funnel is much different from a top or side navigation. A sales funnel is located in the top banner of your website and focuses on the core reason why you want people to come to your website. Once that is clear in your top banner, you lead your visitor to the next page you want them to see to help solidify the ultimate goal you have for the visitor.
Some websites have a 2 step funnel, some have a 3 step funnel and some will have a 4 step funnel. Just keep in mind that the less steps you have the more likely you are to have them achieve that ultimate goal.
About Sales Funnels
Let’s look at how sales funnels work.
Here are the main questions you need to answer:
- Who is your perfect website visitor?
- What product or service is most conducive to attracting their business?
- What imagery, and call to action can you place in the top banner to persuade the visitor to learn more?
- Once on the sales page what offer can you make to persuade them to complete the goal of the sales funnel?
- What further information can you offer the visitor once they have clicked through to your ‘sales page’?
- How do you want the visitor to contact you?
An Existing Example
You are a hair stylist from Toronto Canada named Anton. Your company sells services. Hence, when someone comes to your website your ultimate goal is to convince them to either call or email you with a request to schedule an appointment.
Now how can we make that happen?
Here is what I would do.
1. What is your Visitor’s Profile? - Who is the type of person I want to attract? Are they male? Female? 50+? A teenager? Does income matter?
a. In this case I am Anton the hairstylist. I know that my typical clientele are 70% female, 30% male, they pay more than $50 for a haircut which means I appeal to someone that cares more about themselves than the person that goes to the corner shop and pays $10.
Great! I have my profile now!
2. Home Page Planning – How do I persuade my new visitor to stay on my site when they first visit?
a. I would put myself in the visitors position and try to answer that question. The top banner is the first thing someone will look at when coming to the site. So I want to make sure that it speaks to my visitor. Based upon my answer to number 1 I have decided the following will go in my top banner;
i. Images of attractive hair styles, which is mostly of woman.
ii. I will have a tagline that speaks to the visitor. No more than 8 words. “Schedule an Appointment Online and Receive A Complimentary Hair Product” or “See Some Of The Most Trendy Looks Today.” The first call to action is value based, and the second is based more on quality of work.
iii. I will then place a small button on the top banner that says, “Get Started” or “Learn More”
3. Create the Inside Page – When someone clicks on the “Get Started” button, what can we show them to get them to complete our goal?
a. At this point we need to reconfirm our original message at the top of the page. We also may introduce an offer. (if we haven’t already) How about “Schedule an Appointment Today and Receive Complimentary Hair Product” or “Mention this offer and receive 10% off your first visit.”
b. We are also going to show images of some trendy hairstyles of people we have done work for. It will be our best work and will do well in promoting the person to complete our goal.
c. We will also show a map and hours of operation for our Toronto, Canada based location.
You don’t have to offer a special but making someone feel special will help.
4. Finishing off the Sales Funnel – How do you want the person to contact you? We usually suggest giving them options and a final tagline include it near the area that you have placed your final tagline to close the deal. Place this at the bottom of your page. The bottom Anton’s page is going to have a the following:
a. “Schedule an Appointment Today and Receive Complimentary Hair Product”
b. A small form – Name, Email, Phone Number, Comments (or a schedule program if I have one) that when filled out submits to my email address
c. A phone number
Hurray! We have now created a One Step Sales Funnel!
on
This is a concise interpretation of the process with a unique view on the subject. Nice job!
on
Bianca, you are on to something about people being lazy.
The human brain thinks in 3’s. That’s why phone numbers are broken up into digits of 3’s, etc. Have you ever tried memorizing a number from Europe or Asia? 01145925503993…
1,2,3, Go! That’s how you need to think.
When people are on a website, they want to be comfortable and want the right not to have to think. If they have to dig for information, you are in trouble. If you don’t direct them like a 6 year old, you are in trouble.If you don’t give them exactly what they are looking for in 5 seconds, they are gone!
This is why news stories are done in sound bites. That’s how people are conditioned. A picture is worth a thousand words… that’s why pictures have impact. A good, thought-provoking image on your story will give context, perspective and most importantly, a summary of the whole idea of the message you are trying to relay.
One last thing…Bullet points.
What do you tend to remember, a full page of 4 point legaleze text with very few paragraph breaks, or thought provoking statements in bullet points?
Isaac
on
Exactly Steve. Sales funnel development is actually one of the most important things to think out for your website design concept.
I recommend everyone do this planning first before moving forward with it. Also just read a nice thoughtful article on this blog that relates to this post: https://www.techwyse.com/blog/website-design/www-thought-process-for-building-websites/
on
A lot of good things are being told.
Its about business and not just having a website placeholder. Every website owner must keep this in mind, otherwise there is no purpose with the website then just being online.
on
Fascinating and very timely information! Nice narration too!!
Results driven sales funnels reap rewards to business websites. Knowing the sea is the best way to sail smoothly, similarly mapping out your clientel helps you to devise and build a targeted sales funnel.
Fiona
on
That indeed was informative! It’s no easy task to design a funnel that delivers. A well designed sales funnel should convert a lazy visitor to a loyal customer who will have a long standing association with the business. This entails a great deal of planning and careful calculation. Your guidelines are sure to be of great value to online businesses and marketers.