Post by lizaseo11 on Nov 9, 2024 6:29:24 GMT
Each customer goes through a series of stages of the sales funnel, starting from the moment of meeting the seller and up to the purchase. This is a flexible tool for online business promotion , which is actively used in both B2C and B2B sectors.
A sales funnel will help not only to track, but also to correctly adjust the entire process until the deal is concluded. It also allows you to study the conversion at each stage. Let's consider how such a mechanism works and what stages it includes.
What is a sales funnel?
Sales Funnel Stages
The term "funnel" itself has been used for many years. The American marketer Elias St. Elmo Lewis was the first to use this concept in 1898. The sales funnel is also called a mental or consumer funnel. It is the basis of the generally accepted principle of trade, as well as the process of making a decision to buy a certain product or order a service. The sales funnel is a segment of the customer's journey from the moment of acquaintance to the purchase itself.
The funnel includes a number of successive stages. The features of the product, as well as the conduct of activities, will have a direct impact on the buyer's behavior in the funnel.
Sales Funnel Stages According to AIDA
According to the generally accepted model of consumer behavior called AIDA, it is possible not only to understand, but also to structure the behavior of buyers directly in the funnel. This is what helps to increase the number of clients. Such a model may be suitable for a business, but the stages themselves will depend largely on its specifics.
According to the generally accepted AIDA model, the sales funnel consists of the following stages:
awareness or awareness - at this stage, a person learns about the existence of a company. This is possible thanks to advertising, a link in a search engine, etc.;
interest or interest - arises when viewing a catalog, website, terms of purchase, delivery;
desire – desire – the stage at which a product is added to the cart and the desire to purchase already arises;
action – this is the action itself, which could be placing an order, making a call, or subscribing to a newsletter.
At each stage, the number of people will decrease. Visually, it resembles a funnel, hence the name. For example, about 10,500 people visited the site. It would be great if everyone went further and made a purchase, but this is not always the case. Only 50% of potential buyers will be interested in such an offer, the other half will definitely not like something: delivery terms, site design, assortment, etc. Products from only 2,400 people will end up in the basket, but about 300 people will actually make a purchase. At the moment of transition from one stage to another, microconversions are performed - certain user actions, for example, viewing a page, going to a certain product. Task number one is to leave as many people as possible at each stage, so it is worth considering online website promotion , purchase terms, user-friendly interface and other important points.
What are the specifics of a sales funnel for online stores?
The funnel will include the shopify website design following stages: visiting the site, choosing a specific product or service, adding it to the cart, and completing the purchase. It will be easy to understand these steps if you consider the example of a purchase in an online bicycle store:
Awareness: Victor wants to buy his son a bike for his birthday. He visits the selected page of a specialized bike shop 5 days in advance.
Interest: Victor saw an ad with a special offer – when buying a bike, you can get a bell and wings as a gift. His son will definitely like such a gift, so the father goes to the children's bikes section and starts choosing a suitable model.
Desire: Victor knows how tall Maxim is and his requirements for the bike. He looks at the payment and delivery terms and puts the blue bike with front shock absorber and rim brakes in the basket.
Action: Victor completes the order, makes payment and waits for the package.
This picture really describes the standard sales funnel that is formed when purchasing in an online store.
Sales Funnel in CRM System
The CRM system is in demand among many companies, as it helps to control and plan work, while clearly displaying each step of the relationship with the client. To understand when exactly clients leave, it is necessary to compare the data available in the CRM with all stages of the sales funnel.
In the funnel, you will see the number of completed or cancelled deals, the profit from a particular deal, as well as the conversion rate (the ratio of open deals to the number of real sales). You can also track the amount of time spent on meetings and telephone conversations.
In a CRM system, a sales funnel may look like this:
initial contact (via email, website, phone);
sending special offers to the client;
coordination of issues that arise;
conclusion of a deal;
payment for goods or services.
Another example of a funnel:
the client was taken from a "cold" database;
the first contact occurs (letter, phone call);
a certain interest is formed;
the necessary negotiations are being carried out;
an agreement is concluded;
the purchase is paid for.
If you set up CRM correctly, you can detail each step of communication with clients, collect and group data, generate a visual report and build a funnel step by step. The system allows you to get a detailed report for the required period of time, taking into account the amount of sales, the number of applications, the region.
With the help of CRM, you can ensure effective management of the sales funnel, direct and automate the work of managers. As a result, they send a price list in a timely manner, make a call. This helps the client quickly make a decision and complete the purchase. Another important point is the analysis of reports and results. With the help of the program, it can be done quickly, using tables and graphs.
Sales Funnels for B2B
B2B sales in the context of the sales funnel look different, because their goal is not a specific buyer or his needs, but the needs of the business that he directly owns.
The general scheme is as follows: getting to know the product, choosing the necessary service or product, concluding a contract and closing the deal. In a specific example, the funnel is as follows:
Awareness: A shoe store has decided to expand its product range and work with a new supplier. To store the new product, additional storage space will be needed. In this regard, manager Victoria began searching for a suitable space in terms of area and rental cost.
Interest: After entering information into the search engine, it gave several options. Victoria went to one of the suggested ones and left a request on the site.
Desire: Victoria liked the medium-sized premises and not far from the office. In addition, the price is quite attractive. This choice will allow her to abandon small warehouses and store all her shoes in one.
Action: Conclusion of an agreement on the basis of which the first batch of shoes is placed into storage.
The decision-making algorithm in the B2B segment will be different, so you need to take into account the specifics of doing business. For a wide audience, it will be useful to touch on the problem that your product solves. When a person has already clicked on the ad, it makes sense to demonstrate the functionality of the equipment and technical features. That is, building a sales funnel for the B2B sector has a number of its own features. In the advertising settings, you should take into account not only the list of target queries, but also the decision-making algorithm.
Distinctive features of the sales funnel and business process
The sales chain is a more complex and extensive procedure. This is due to the sub-processes that arise during its construction. An example of such processes is the development of personal projects, as well as commercial proposals. There are 4 key stages that sales consist of:
Leads generation is the formation of the required traffic.
Leads development — bringing a customer to the point of making a purchase.
Leads conversion – conclusion of a deal.
Client fulfillment – provision of products or services.
Each stage involves a number of actions aimed at processing the lead. After the first touch, you need to interest the client again, agree on all issues with him, bring him closer to the purchase and close the deal.
Rules for building a funnel correctly
Depending on the specifics of the business itself, the funnel will be built, it is individual for everyone. But there are a number of general rules that are important to consider:
The way you attract traffic has a direct impact on the stages of the funnel.
The scheme can either coincide with the business process or be completely different. In this case, one stage of the funnel can include several points. For example, the stage of "Order placement" includes entering personal data, delivery conditions.
The transition through the stages must be documented by a specific action on the part of the client.
The buyer moves exclusively down the funnel, approaching the purchase, and not the other way around.
A repeating action is possible at different stages of the funnel, but its goals will differ. For example, a commercial offer to a client can be sent more than once. The first time it will be general information to interest the client, then prices and a product catalog will be needed.
Using these rules, you can build a sales funnel and analyze its stages in the future. With the help of useful content and the right advertising, you can reach your customers much faster. It is easier to promote in the online format if you present your products at a webinar, and then warm up the base with a useful mailing.
Sales Funnel Analysis
It is not enough to simply define the funnel stages - this is only the first step. Next, you need to analyze all the disadvantages of the marketing strategy. This approach will help increase sales and improve the quality of service. It is a detailed analysis that allows you to find the reason for the client's departure. This will help to solve the problem in a timely manner and thus retain your customers.
It is necessary to collect maximum information about the user and display it in the form of a table or graph. Target actions will differ for different types of funnels. It is the funnel that will show the behavior of visitors at each stage. You can also evaluate the conversion. To understand, let's look at an example:
Example #1. Clients rarely visit the site, so there is very little traffic. It is worth checking how the main attraction channels work in the funnel. Perhaps you are simply looking for a client in the wrong place.
Example #2 The customer spends a certain amount of time on the site, looks at the products, but makes no purchase. The reasons for such behavior may be the price, lack of the desired product or trust in the company. To solve the problem, you can create an updated blog, a page with real customer reviews, hold promotions and publish news.
It is easy to analyze information when it is presented in the form of numbers. The key indicator is conversion. It is determined by the number of clients who remain at each stage or as a percentage. At the initial stage, the conversion rate can be calculated using the formula:
Kk = total number of customers who visited the site/total number of those who passed by. The numerator is easy to determine if you divide the number of receipts by the number of visitors. It will also be useful to calculate the number of regular customers.
Thus, gradually, you can understand how effective each stage of the sales funnel was, but the main thing is to accurately determine - at what time the clients "fall off", why they do not move on and how to retain them. The results obtained will help to draw conclusions, direct Internet marketing in the right direction, develop a new marketing strategy.
How to work with sales funnel stages correctly?
In order for all users to move to each subsequent stage, you need to collect data at each stage, analyze it, and then adapt the marketing strategy to the specific behavior of the target audience. You can try different options, analyze the effectiveness of their work.
Different scenarios of working with a buyer will largely depend on a certain stage of the funnel. If this is the first stage, then it is worth getting the user's contacts - this will help in further work with him. At the second stage, it is important to create a unique offer - this will interest the client, at the third - you need to try to bring him to the conclusion of the transaction and subsequently make the client permanent.
It is important to make the offer in a timely manner. Quite often, you can scare off the client if you offer him too big a discount on the first order or are too pushy. It is necessary to give him time to get acquainted with the goods.
You can competently build work with clients at different stages of the sales funnel. For example, in this way:
The first stage is collecting all contacts (mail, phone, name) and customer data. This is conveniently done using pop-ups. They can be configured so that the client sees and wants to leave their contact information.
At the moment when you need to warm up the client, you need to work on leads using email newsletters or personalized pop-ups, where there will be reminders about all the products viewed.
At the sales stage, we help the client make a decision to buy; a special offer, discount or gift will be decisive in this.
All that remains is to retain the client so that he completes the purchase. And even after that, you should not relax. Then you can please him with bonuses, offer related products, make discounts on new sales. In this way, the client will become regular.
If users visited the site no more than seven days ago, it is necessary to increase the rates on advertising and show the site more often, reminding about yourself and using the appropriate message. For those who visited the site a month ago, it will be useful to remind about the products, describe the advantages.
Work on the funnel should be constant, this is how the number of users will not decrease sharply, and you will reach the required level of income. For each project, you need to define your own evaluation criteria, and they should be sufficiently objective and adequate. You should take into account the complexity of developing a strategy and a sales funnel.
It can be concluded that building a sales funnel has many features that are related to the stage-by-stage nature of making a decision on purchasing and cooperation. Every business owner wants his company to prosper and generate income. This is possible if the sales mechanism works correctly, and all errors are promptly corrected.
A sales funnel will help not only to track, but also to correctly adjust the entire process until the deal is concluded. It also allows you to study the conversion at each stage. Let's consider how such a mechanism works and what stages it includes.
What is a sales funnel?
Sales Funnel Stages
The term "funnel" itself has been used for many years. The American marketer Elias St. Elmo Lewis was the first to use this concept in 1898. The sales funnel is also called a mental or consumer funnel. It is the basis of the generally accepted principle of trade, as well as the process of making a decision to buy a certain product or order a service. The sales funnel is a segment of the customer's journey from the moment of acquaintance to the purchase itself.
The funnel includes a number of successive stages. The features of the product, as well as the conduct of activities, will have a direct impact on the buyer's behavior in the funnel.
Sales Funnel Stages According to AIDA
According to the generally accepted model of consumer behavior called AIDA, it is possible not only to understand, but also to structure the behavior of buyers directly in the funnel. This is what helps to increase the number of clients. Such a model may be suitable for a business, but the stages themselves will depend largely on its specifics.
According to the generally accepted AIDA model, the sales funnel consists of the following stages:
awareness or awareness - at this stage, a person learns about the existence of a company. This is possible thanks to advertising, a link in a search engine, etc.;
interest or interest - arises when viewing a catalog, website, terms of purchase, delivery;
desire – desire – the stage at which a product is added to the cart and the desire to purchase already arises;
action – this is the action itself, which could be placing an order, making a call, or subscribing to a newsletter.
At each stage, the number of people will decrease. Visually, it resembles a funnel, hence the name. For example, about 10,500 people visited the site. It would be great if everyone went further and made a purchase, but this is not always the case. Only 50% of potential buyers will be interested in such an offer, the other half will definitely not like something: delivery terms, site design, assortment, etc. Products from only 2,400 people will end up in the basket, but about 300 people will actually make a purchase. At the moment of transition from one stage to another, microconversions are performed - certain user actions, for example, viewing a page, going to a certain product. Task number one is to leave as many people as possible at each stage, so it is worth considering online website promotion , purchase terms, user-friendly interface and other important points.
What are the specifics of a sales funnel for online stores?
The funnel will include the shopify website design following stages: visiting the site, choosing a specific product or service, adding it to the cart, and completing the purchase. It will be easy to understand these steps if you consider the example of a purchase in an online bicycle store:
Awareness: Victor wants to buy his son a bike for his birthday. He visits the selected page of a specialized bike shop 5 days in advance.
Interest: Victor saw an ad with a special offer – when buying a bike, you can get a bell and wings as a gift. His son will definitely like such a gift, so the father goes to the children's bikes section and starts choosing a suitable model.
Desire: Victor knows how tall Maxim is and his requirements for the bike. He looks at the payment and delivery terms and puts the blue bike with front shock absorber and rim brakes in the basket.
Action: Victor completes the order, makes payment and waits for the package.
This picture really describes the standard sales funnel that is formed when purchasing in an online store.
Sales Funnel in CRM System
The CRM system is in demand among many companies, as it helps to control and plan work, while clearly displaying each step of the relationship with the client. To understand when exactly clients leave, it is necessary to compare the data available in the CRM with all stages of the sales funnel.
In the funnel, you will see the number of completed or cancelled deals, the profit from a particular deal, as well as the conversion rate (the ratio of open deals to the number of real sales). You can also track the amount of time spent on meetings and telephone conversations.
In a CRM system, a sales funnel may look like this:
initial contact (via email, website, phone);
sending special offers to the client;
coordination of issues that arise;
conclusion of a deal;
payment for goods or services.
Another example of a funnel:
the client was taken from a "cold" database;
the first contact occurs (letter, phone call);
a certain interest is formed;
the necessary negotiations are being carried out;
an agreement is concluded;
the purchase is paid for.
If you set up CRM correctly, you can detail each step of communication with clients, collect and group data, generate a visual report and build a funnel step by step. The system allows you to get a detailed report for the required period of time, taking into account the amount of sales, the number of applications, the region.
With the help of CRM, you can ensure effective management of the sales funnel, direct and automate the work of managers. As a result, they send a price list in a timely manner, make a call. This helps the client quickly make a decision and complete the purchase. Another important point is the analysis of reports and results. With the help of the program, it can be done quickly, using tables and graphs.
Sales Funnels for B2B
B2B sales in the context of the sales funnel look different, because their goal is not a specific buyer or his needs, but the needs of the business that he directly owns.
The general scheme is as follows: getting to know the product, choosing the necessary service or product, concluding a contract and closing the deal. In a specific example, the funnel is as follows:
Awareness: A shoe store has decided to expand its product range and work with a new supplier. To store the new product, additional storage space will be needed. In this regard, manager Victoria began searching for a suitable space in terms of area and rental cost.
Interest: After entering information into the search engine, it gave several options. Victoria went to one of the suggested ones and left a request on the site.
Desire: Victoria liked the medium-sized premises and not far from the office. In addition, the price is quite attractive. This choice will allow her to abandon small warehouses and store all her shoes in one.
Action: Conclusion of an agreement on the basis of which the first batch of shoes is placed into storage.
The decision-making algorithm in the B2B segment will be different, so you need to take into account the specifics of doing business. For a wide audience, it will be useful to touch on the problem that your product solves. When a person has already clicked on the ad, it makes sense to demonstrate the functionality of the equipment and technical features. That is, building a sales funnel for the B2B sector has a number of its own features. In the advertising settings, you should take into account not only the list of target queries, but also the decision-making algorithm.
Distinctive features of the sales funnel and business process
The sales chain is a more complex and extensive procedure. This is due to the sub-processes that arise during its construction. An example of such processes is the development of personal projects, as well as commercial proposals. There are 4 key stages that sales consist of:
Leads generation is the formation of the required traffic.
Leads development — bringing a customer to the point of making a purchase.
Leads conversion – conclusion of a deal.
Client fulfillment – provision of products or services.
Each stage involves a number of actions aimed at processing the lead. After the first touch, you need to interest the client again, agree on all issues with him, bring him closer to the purchase and close the deal.
Rules for building a funnel correctly
Depending on the specifics of the business itself, the funnel will be built, it is individual for everyone. But there are a number of general rules that are important to consider:
The way you attract traffic has a direct impact on the stages of the funnel.
The scheme can either coincide with the business process or be completely different. In this case, one stage of the funnel can include several points. For example, the stage of "Order placement" includes entering personal data, delivery conditions.
The transition through the stages must be documented by a specific action on the part of the client.
The buyer moves exclusively down the funnel, approaching the purchase, and not the other way around.
A repeating action is possible at different stages of the funnel, but its goals will differ. For example, a commercial offer to a client can be sent more than once. The first time it will be general information to interest the client, then prices and a product catalog will be needed.
Using these rules, you can build a sales funnel and analyze its stages in the future. With the help of useful content and the right advertising, you can reach your customers much faster. It is easier to promote in the online format if you present your products at a webinar, and then warm up the base with a useful mailing.
Sales Funnel Analysis
It is not enough to simply define the funnel stages - this is only the first step. Next, you need to analyze all the disadvantages of the marketing strategy. This approach will help increase sales and improve the quality of service. It is a detailed analysis that allows you to find the reason for the client's departure. This will help to solve the problem in a timely manner and thus retain your customers.
It is necessary to collect maximum information about the user and display it in the form of a table or graph. Target actions will differ for different types of funnels. It is the funnel that will show the behavior of visitors at each stage. You can also evaluate the conversion. To understand, let's look at an example:
Example #1. Clients rarely visit the site, so there is very little traffic. It is worth checking how the main attraction channels work in the funnel. Perhaps you are simply looking for a client in the wrong place.
Example #2 The customer spends a certain amount of time on the site, looks at the products, but makes no purchase. The reasons for such behavior may be the price, lack of the desired product or trust in the company. To solve the problem, you can create an updated blog, a page with real customer reviews, hold promotions and publish news.
It is easy to analyze information when it is presented in the form of numbers. The key indicator is conversion. It is determined by the number of clients who remain at each stage or as a percentage. At the initial stage, the conversion rate can be calculated using the formula:
Kk = total number of customers who visited the site/total number of those who passed by. The numerator is easy to determine if you divide the number of receipts by the number of visitors. It will also be useful to calculate the number of regular customers.
Thus, gradually, you can understand how effective each stage of the sales funnel was, but the main thing is to accurately determine - at what time the clients "fall off", why they do not move on and how to retain them. The results obtained will help to draw conclusions, direct Internet marketing in the right direction, develop a new marketing strategy.
How to work with sales funnel stages correctly?
In order for all users to move to each subsequent stage, you need to collect data at each stage, analyze it, and then adapt the marketing strategy to the specific behavior of the target audience. You can try different options, analyze the effectiveness of their work.
Different scenarios of working with a buyer will largely depend on a certain stage of the funnel. If this is the first stage, then it is worth getting the user's contacts - this will help in further work with him. At the second stage, it is important to create a unique offer - this will interest the client, at the third - you need to try to bring him to the conclusion of the transaction and subsequently make the client permanent.
It is important to make the offer in a timely manner. Quite often, you can scare off the client if you offer him too big a discount on the first order or are too pushy. It is necessary to give him time to get acquainted with the goods.
You can competently build work with clients at different stages of the sales funnel. For example, in this way:
The first stage is collecting all contacts (mail, phone, name) and customer data. This is conveniently done using pop-ups. They can be configured so that the client sees and wants to leave their contact information.
At the moment when you need to warm up the client, you need to work on leads using email newsletters or personalized pop-ups, where there will be reminders about all the products viewed.
At the sales stage, we help the client make a decision to buy; a special offer, discount or gift will be decisive in this.
All that remains is to retain the client so that he completes the purchase. And even after that, you should not relax. Then you can please him with bonuses, offer related products, make discounts on new sales. In this way, the client will become regular.
If users visited the site no more than seven days ago, it is necessary to increase the rates on advertising and show the site more often, reminding about yourself and using the appropriate message. For those who visited the site a month ago, it will be useful to remind about the products, describe the advantages.
Work on the funnel should be constant, this is how the number of users will not decrease sharply, and you will reach the required level of income. For each project, you need to define your own evaluation criteria, and they should be sufficiently objective and adequate. You should take into account the complexity of developing a strategy and a sales funnel.
It can be concluded that building a sales funnel has many features that are related to the stage-by-stage nature of making a decision on purchasing and cooperation. Every business owner wants his company to prosper and generate income. This is possible if the sales mechanism works correctly, and all errors are promptly corrected.