Your Sales Funnel Demystified: How To Build One That Improves Your Sales
Let’s talk about your sales funnel.
Did you just cringe a little bit?
Maybe you’ve been putting out marketing materials with no specific strategy. After all, that's what you should be doing, right?
Or maybe you’ve put time and effort into building a specific marketing strategy (also called a sales funnel). But it’s not performing how you hoped it would.
And even if you fall anywhere in between, this blog is for you.
Your sales funnel is a part of your long-game marketing strategy. It’s the thing that nurtures your audience, turning them from cold leads to raving fans.
In fact, according to marketing guru Sarah Turner, 48% of companies say their leads take a long cycle and many influences to nurture them. This means you could miss out on almost half of your leads if you refuse to nurture them through a long-game strategy.
A sales funnel is simultaneously the simplest, and most complex, part of effective marketing.
That’s because, in theory, sales funnels are incredibly simple and straightforward. But in the wild, things can get messy, fast.
Before we dig in, hi! I’m Andraya, a copywriter and marketing strategist for sustainable brands. I specialize in crafting compelling copy that fits seamlessly into your brand’s voice, vision, and values.
I know that building and troubleshooting your sales funnels can feel like consulting a crystal ball. But we’re going to demystify all things sales funnels in this blog.
What Is A Sales Funnel?
The terms “sales funnel” and “customer journey” both refer to the process of taking a prospect from, “I’ve never heard of your brand”, to that prospect buying your high-ticket offers.
Your sales funnel affects every aspect of your business — including what kind of copy you prioritize, when you announce offers, and how you speak to your audience.
If you’ve never been told this before, hear it now: you have a sales funnel whether you intentionally created it or not.
Intentionally creating it is the first step towards reaching your business goals.
In marketing, there’s a saying that the audience is lazy and selfish. Meaning that their attention is finite. Standing out means giving them the information they’re looking for as quickly and clearly as possible.
It also means guiding their journey. You do this by making it easy for them to take the next small step toward your big campaign goal.
In a perfect world, you’d have one funnel per audience. And you'd have separate funnels based on separate products or services.
Spoiler alert: It’s never that simple and there will always be overlap in your sales funnel. Sometimes that overlap is with another funnel. Other times that overlap is with a different offering.
To get us started, the basic framework for a sales funnel has an acronym, AIDAR. It goes like this:
Awareness — Prospects learn your name and engage with content from afar. A good question to ask for this stage is, “What put my product or service on my prospect’s radar?”
Interest — Confirm interest with a small ask in exchange for a free gift. You can ask yourself, “What am I offering the prospect *for free* that interests them?”
Desire — Keep the conversation going and generate desire. You can get clear by asking yourself, “What would nurture the prospect’s desire for my offer?” (Pro tip: Drumming up desire may take time, so it doesn’t need to be a one-and-done strategy.)
Action — Ask them to go one step deeper and purchase the next-level offer. You can ask, “What would compel my lead to take action?”
Returns + Referrals — Keep them coming back for more. Here, you want to consider, “What would keep my customers coming back, either through referring others or repeat shopping?”
As an example, let’s say you have a garden coaching business. You’ve got a low-ticket offer of a monthly gardening membership. Your mid-level offer is 1:1 consultations. And your high-ticket offer is a full-service garden design and installation.
In this example, you'd want to build a sales funnel that takes your prospect from awareness to buying your high-ticket installation.
Your sales funnel should engage with your audience and provide value. And your copy will guide them from their current emotional state to their desired emotional state. By slowly ramping up your ask along the way, you're priming them to buy your high-ticket installation.
But how?
I prefer to provide every client with their very own sales funnel recipe. But there are a few rules that you can use as a starting point.
How To Build A Sales Funnel For Your Offers
Generally, each type of copy is most effective during a certain stage of the sales funnel. For example:
Awareness — LinkedIn Posts, SEO Optimized Blogs + Websites, Word-Of-Mouth, Product/Deal Placement, and Social Media
Interest — Ebook, Quiz, Free Guide, Discount Code, Samples, Opt-Ins, Case Studies, Reviews, Helpful Content, and Trial Periods
Desire — Email sequences, Case Studies, Positive Product Data, Promotions, Limited-Time Offers, Social Proof, and Showcasing Benefits
Action — Landing Pages, Product Descriptions, CTA Buttons, Easy Checkout, Smooth Techincal Performance, and Abandoned Cart Emails
Returns + Referrals — Word-of-mouth, Referral Programs, Group Incentives, and Offers To Repeat Customers
Pro tip: When creating a sales funnel, start with the end in mind. This could mean writing the piece of copy at the end of your funnel, like a sales page, first. Then you can write all the content that comes before your sales page using the same sales arguments.
Putting all of this together for your business is the bones of your marketing strategy. With a curated marketing strategy, you’re likely to get more sales. This is because you’ve taken the time to understand where your audience is, where they’d like to go, and the specific steps they need to take to get there.
Let’s look at a few examples of common sales funnels.
5 Examples of Common Sales Funnels For Online Business Owners
There are a few common sales funnels for online businesses. You might be able to insert these as is in your business with success. Generally, you'll need to think strategically to create the most effective sales funnel for your business.
To help get your mind moving, here are five common sales funnels:
Facebook ad > opt-in > email sequence > landing page
Offer on website > opt-in > free gift + email sequence > landing page
CTA on blog > opt-in > email sequence > landing page
Facebook ad + compelling offer directly to > landing page
Instagram ad > opt-in > email sequence > landing page
The possible combinations of copy throughout your sales page are almost endless. As long as you follow the AIDAR formula, you’re on the right track.
Crafting Your Unique Sales Funnel
There are some questions you can ask yourself to help build an impactful sales funnel. They are:
Awareness — What would my audience find interesting about my niche/offer? What questions do they always have? What can I help them understand?
Interest — What is the lowest barrier to entry for my prospect? What do they find valuable that I can offer for free?
Desire — What does my prospect want? What is their current emotional state? What is their desired emotional state? How does my product or service act as the vehicle between those places?
Action — How does my product or service solve their problems? How does it provide value? What does my prospect need to know before they feel comfortable buying? What’s influencing their buying decision?
Returns + Referrals — What incentives do I need to provide to ensure my customers send me referrals? How can I nurture them along the way to ensure they buy from me again?
Sales funnels are an essential part of your business. But you might feel overwhelmed or uncertain when you think about your sales funnel. After all, you want to nurture your leads and guide them to your big campaign goal. But you're already wearing so many hats.
Sometimes building a sales funnel is best left to a professional, like me.
Building your next sales funnel is something you can outsource to me. I offer personalized recommendations based on your business goals and circumstances. To get those, we can hop on a FREE 30-minute strategy session. You can book yours by following this link.
