Whether you’re a small business or brand, learning how to build a sales funnel from scratch is an essential skill to have. It can help you build brand awareness, increase customer loyalty, and, of course, make more money.
In this blog, I’m going to walk you through each step of the sales funnel process so you can build a profitable funnel for your business.
1. Identify the Target Audience
Before you start building your sales funnel, you need to identify who your target audience is. You can do this by creating a buyer persona, which is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers.
When creating your buyer persona, you should consider factors such as age, gender, location, job title, income, education, and pain points. You should also consider what your ideal customer’s goals are and how your product or service can help them achieve those goals.
2. Create a Buyer Persona
If you don’t know who your ideal customer is, you’re going to have a hard time targeting them.
It’s important to create marketing personas for your potential customers. These personas will help you understand your target audience and tailor your marketing efforts to meet their needs.
To create a persona, start by asking yourself a few questions. What are their demographics? What do they like to do in their free time? What are their pain points? What are their goals?
3. Identify the Buyer’s Journey
The buyer’s journey is the active research process a potential buyer goes through before making a purchase. It’s broken down into three stages: the awareness stage, the consideration stage, and the decision stage.
In the awareness stage, the buyer realizes they have a problem. For example, a buyer in the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey might realize they need a new car because their current car keeps breaking down.
In the consideration stage, the buyer researches the different options that are available to them, or they look for potential solutions to their problem. For example, a buyer in the consideration stage might research different types of car makes and models to determine which one would be the best fit for them.
In the decision stage, the buyer decides which product or service is the best fit for their needs. For example, a buyer in the decision stage might decide to purchase a specific make and model of a car from a specific dealership.
It’s important to create content that speaks to the needs of the buyer in each stage of the buyer’s journey. For example, you might create a blog post to generate awareness about the problem your product solves. Or, you might create an in-depth case study to convince a buyer in the decision stage to purchase from you.
4. Create Content for Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey
The buyer’s journey is the process someone goes through to become aware of, evaluate, and purchase a new product or service. It consists of three stages: awareness, consideration, and decision.
When creating your content, you’ll want to make sure you have content that speaks to people in each of these stages. That way, you can nurture them through the funnel and convert them into customers.
Content for the Awareness Stage: In the awareness stage, people are just becoming aware of their problem and potential solutions. Your content in this stage should be focused on educating them about their problem and providing them with helpful tips and advice.
Content for the Consideration Stage: In the consideration stage, people are evaluating the different solutions to their problem. Your content in this stage should be focused on helping them understand the pros and cons of each solution and why they should choose yours.
Content for the Decision Stage: In the decision stage, people are ready to make a purchase. Your content in this stage should be focused on helping them understand why they should choose your product or service over your competitors. This is also a great time to introduce a referral program with a tool like ReferralCandy, giving new customers an extra incentive to choose your product and share it with others.
5. Use Content Upgrades
Content upgrades are another powerful way to convert website visitors into leads. A content upgrade is an additional piece of content that is offered in exchange for the visitor’s contact information.
The content upgrade should be closely related to the content that the visitor is consuming and should provide additional value. For example, if you are writing a blog post about how to increase website traffic, you could offer a content upgrade in the form of a checklist or worksheet that helps the reader implement the strategies you’ve outlined in the post.
To use content upgrades effectively, you’ll need to create a variety of lead magnets that you can offer on your website. You can create lead magnets in the form of checklists, worksheets, ebooks, whitepapers, webinars, and more. The key is to offer a variety of lead magnets so that you can appeal to a wide range of website visitors.
6. Create a Lead Magnet
A lead magnet is a free, valuable piece of content that you give away in exchange for someone’s contact information. This is often the first step in the sales funnel, and it allows you to capture leads before they are ready to make a purchase.
A lead magnet can be anything from an ebook to a checklist to a webinar. The key is that it provides a lot of value to your audience and is relevant to your business.
For example, if you are a marketing agency, you could create a lead magnet that is a free guide to creating a marketing plan. This would be valuable to your audience and would help to establish your authority in your industry. One of the best strategies right now is to create LinkedIn lead magnet posts, where people have to comment on your post to get the magnet – from there you can nurture them with a HeyReach campaign.
7. Create a Tripwire
A tripwire is a low-cost offer that is made on your thank you page after a visitor has opted in to your email list.
The key to a tripwire is that it is a micro-commitment. It’s a low-cost, high-value offer that is the next step in the sales funnel. It’s not meant to make you a lot of money, but it’s meant to help you build trust and show your new leads that you are the real deal.
This is the perfect time to offer a tripwire because your new lead is in buying mode. They just committed to giving you their email address, and they are more likely to commit to spending money with you.
8. Create an Email Autoresponder
An email autoresponder is an email sequence that is triggered when someone signs up for your email list. It’s a great way to introduce new leads to your brand and build trust.
Your email autoresponder should be a series of 3-5 emails that are spaced out over a week or two. In these emails, you should introduce yourself, explain what your brand is all about, and share some valuable content with your new leads.
You can also use your email autoresponder to introduce your lead magnet and your core offer.
9. Create a Sales Page
Now that you have a landing page to capture leads, you need a sales page to convert those leads into customers.
Your sales page should include more detailed information about your product or service and be designed to make a compelling case for why people should buy from you.
With the right design and copywriting, your sales page can help you close the deal and turn leads into customers.
Be sure to include a clear call-to-action (CTA) at the bottom of your sales page that directs people to a checkout page where they can make a purchase.
10. Create a Retargeting Ad
The people who visit your sales funnel but don’t convert are still warm leads. They’ve shown interest in your business and what you have to offer, so you don’t want to let them slip through the cracks.
That’s where retargeting comes in. A retargeting ad is a type of online ad that will display to people who have already visited your website. This is a great way to get in front of people who have visited your sales funnel but didn’t make a purchase.
You can create retargeting ads on a variety of platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Google. Make sure your retargeting ad is eye-catching and includes a strong call-to-action that encourages people to come back to your sales funnel and make a purchase.
11. Create a Sales Funnel for Each Product
If your business has multiple products, it’s a good idea to create a separate sales funnel for each one. This will help you to tailor your messaging and content to the specific needs and pain points of your target audience for each product.
When you create a sales funnel for each product, you can also segment your email list based on the products your leads are interested in. This will help you to deliver targeted content and offers to each segment of your audience, which can help you to increase your conversion rates and sales.
Conclusion
We hope this article has given you a good understanding of how to build a sales funnel. We encourage you to put these techniques into practice — and don’t be afraid to try new strategies based on the tips above.
To learn more, check out our tips for creating a high-converting landing page next.
