Developing a Conversion Funnel to Increase Sales

• Written by Michael Bass

If you want a solid marketing campaign that generates positive sales, you should consider using a conversion funnel.  Successful internet marketers often use a conversion funnel.

By learning how to build a conversion funnel, you’ll be able to create a structured campaign that actually converts.

Here is a simple guide for developing a conversion funnel for your next marketing campaign.

What is a Conversion Funnel?

First off, what is a conversion funnel? It’s a structured outline of your method for acquiring new customers and completing a sale. You’re funneling your potential customers through a planned campaign, starting with the acquisition and ending with a sale or inquiry.

The reason for the funnel shape is that the number of prospective customers drops off the further along you go. You can then determine where the largest drop-off occurs and come up with solutions for fixing the leak in the funnel.

For example, you may get 1,000 visitors to reach your landing page. Half of those visitors may follow through with the next action, such as subscribing to your email list. Half of those subscribers may follow the link in your next email. The number trickles down until you reach your final conversion rate.

A standard conversion funnel can be broken down as follows:

• • Attraction

• • Interest

• • Desire

• • Action

You first need to attract potential customers. This is done through your standard marketing channels, such as PPC ads, press releases, social media marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO). From there, you need to capture their interest, such as with a landing page.

You then use desire in your calls to action to get them to move to the next step – completing an action. The intended action is usually a purchase or contacting you to learn more about your offer.

Attracting the Right Customers

The first part of the funnel is attracting potential customers. You need to attract the right customers to boost your conversion rates and make your funnel more effective. There are multiple solutions for this. You can perform market research to learn more about the interests of your prospective customers.

You could also focus on the copy used in your advertisements and marketing. Use long-tail keywords to narrow the focus of your advertisements. Targeting a niche category within your industry is always a good method for attracting the right customers.

Build Interest and Desire

Building interest and desire gets accomplished through landing pages and emails. Your landing pages should build interest in the solution that you’re providing. Your goal should be to gain subscribers. You can include a call to action on your landing page to complete a sale, but include an opt-in form for subscribing.

Some of your visitors may not be interested in making a purchase right away. But, you could still end up getting their email address. This is an essential part of the funnel. You’ll need to create an email marketing campaign for targeting visitors that left without making a purchase.

Send a Follow Up Email

You can attempt to plug the leak in your funnel by sending follow up emails. The opt-in form that you include on your landing page should be separate from your other subscriber lists. Create a follow-up email that you can send to these visitors.

Your follow-up email should build the desire to come back to your website and complete a purchase. You could include an additional offer, discount, or promotional code to entice the visitor back to your website.

Create an Effective Call to Action

The final part of increasing sales through a conversion funnel is to create a killer call to action. Your call to action needs to convert. If you need help creating an effective call to action, use split testing to fine-tune your final message.

Conversion funnels are incredibly effective at increasing the effectiveness of your marketing campaign. It makes it easier to keep your campaign structured and maximize your conversion rates.

You can easily look at each stage of your conversion funnel – advertisement, landing page, email, and sale, to determine which area needs to be optimized. Focus on the areas where your potential customers start to drop-off and then come up with a solution to plug the leak and improve your funnel.

You can develop your own conversion funnel now or for additional internet marketing tips – click on the following link and learn more about my done-for-you system.

 

Image Sources:
Blogtrepreneur. (2016). Image of Sales Funnel. How to boost your website conversion rate. Retrieved from http://www.blogtrepreneur.com/how-to-boost-your-website-conversion-rate/
Google Images. (n.p.). Image of Email. Do I have your permission to send email? Retrieved from https://www.google.com/search?q=images+of+Increasing+Customer+Engagement&client=opera&hs=PMi&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwih3L2GmNrPAhXG5SYKHUF9Bj8Q_AUICCgB&biw=1352&bih=660#q=images%20of%20email&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg%3ACQ4wsdzRNsa_1IjhzphIK4tnBg3bPXySDfjz7YH7u_1B1_17GvoLeqbk3SUcsCtBViKZLiC5r68qbNIyrvJcgQyFQqDKioSCXOmEgri2cGDEX6Z48F-Xb4UKhIJds9fJIN-PPsRJSInwu8Iy2kqEglgfu78HX_1saxHO_1pi9iM3e7ioSCegt6puTdJRyEQOudsCpf8puKhIJwK0FWIpkuIIR4iq99x4fo-EqEgnmvryps0jKuxF8eHl1JsjIZSoSCclyBDIVCoMqEe7hnvwQwzeo&imgrc=ZZz8B_E5Fst_aM%3A
Marketing Matters Inbound. (2015). Featured image: Conversion rate optimization: What is the conversion funnel? Retrieved from https://marketingmattersinbound.com/conversion-websites/conversion-rate-optimization-conversion-funnel/

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