Sections that make up a sales funnel
Although there are different types of sales funnels and some add or remove specific segments, we can define a core of steps that are constantly repeated in any style of funnel that we are interested in.
The stages of the sales funnel are mainly divided into 5 main sections, each of which provides vital information to ensure that our process and business model fulfill functions that add value and improve the expected results.
In the same way, it will also help us identify the weak points on which we should focus our efforts to minimize the loss of potential clients or agreements.
The phases of a sales funnel can be broken down into:
Contact: At this stage we seek to identify and attract customers or potential users using all the tools available to us (content, traditional marketing, customer-oriented creatives…). The goal is to seek user interaction and potentially obtain contact details.
Prospect (Lead): This is one of the crucial steps to reduce costs in our funnel strategy. It is about determining from all the information obtained in the previous step the classification of users based on the potential interest that they show in what we are offering them, in this way we can ignore those that probably will not end up converting and, thus, save means.
Opportunity: Another very important phase in which many companies fail, in this segment of the funnel, we must apply patience and wait for users to show some interest in the information or products that we are offering them. In this way we will be able to screen even more the base of potential clients that we are building.
Qualification: At this point, we must be able to guide each user to the specific product or service to which they are most likely to convert. We can obtain this information by asking the user with surveys, calls, commercial visits or any other information gathering technique.
Closing: The last step must be executed with great care, since an error at this point can mean ruining all the previous effort. Here we must start the conversion process (which in many cases seeks a sale), but we must do it subtly and without forcing the potential client too much, otherwise we could cause the transaction to be cancelled.
How to create a sales funnel step by step?
Now that you know everything related to sales funnels, we are going to explain step by step how to create one so that you can apply it to your business.
For the practical case, we are going to explain how to make a conversion funnel, which is usually the most common and most used in digital marketing and the one that usually offers the best results in a short period of time.
To begin with, what we should do is analyze the sales process or approach to the user that has been implemented in our business, to know exactly what aspects we must attack when formalizing and building our funnel.
Once we have a global and clear vision of the process, we must focus all our efforts on determining the profile of our potential client and our Buyer Persona. To develop an effective funnel we must know exactly who our products or services are aimed at, otherwise we will be trying to capture the attention of incorrect users.
When we have everything defined, we must create a landing page that attracts the attention of our target audience. This landing must be accompanied by their respective CTA (Call to action) to get the user to carry out the desired actions and we can guide them through the entire process that we are configuring.
In addition, we will have to create high-value content (LEAD MAGNETS) that we will offer to users in exchange for their data with which to later carry out email marketing campaigns.
It is very important that the funnel focuses on obtaining the contact information of our potential clients, in this way we will be obtaining future conversion opportunities through email or calls, so do not waste the opportunity to ask the user for their contact information in exchange for an offer, benefit or Lead Magnet in the form of high-value content.
Likewise, in the conversion phase, and in order to close the sale, it is important to generate an irresistible offer, generate shortages with limited places or deadlines to cause a sense of urgency. Try to use sales and persuasion tools to get users to become customers.