8 Profitable Tips on Creating a Sales Funnel That Converts

Those wanting to increase company revenues should look into creating a sales funnel. With it, you’ll improve lead quality, sales volume, and customer satisfaction.

Don’t have a sales funnel? Make it your top priority.

Here’s the plan:

We’re getting into how you can build and maximize your sales funnel. You’ll learn a variety of helpful tips and tricks to boost its conversion rate. And, a couple of resources that’ll make using sales funnel easier.

Let’s not waste time, here are the things you need to do, today.

Sales Funnel 101: What Is It? What’s the Process?

A sales funnel is the concept of how people become your customers. You can visualize the sales funnel as the name implies: a funnel. At the top, you have generic leads and the bottom is someone ready to buy.

The four stages of a sales funnel (from top to bottom) are:

• Awareness
• Interest
• Consideration
• Decision

Let’s break these down…

Awareness

The person (lead) is in a discovery phase where they’re learning about the industry and what it offers. A person may use an online search, ask for recommendations, or notice an advertisement.

It’s at this moment you attune the prospect to your presence.

Interest

The person is now interested in learning more about what you have to offer. They’re in the mode where they’ll visit your site or click on an ad. Or even listen to what you say on social media channels.

The person may also compare what you offer to competitors. They aren’t quite sure what they want — but they know they want something.

Consideration

The person is now serious in their decision to go with your brand. But, they have questions and need confirmations. They’ll browse your site, dig around, and see if it aligns to their wants, needs, and beliefs.

Decision

The final stage is when the lead dives in and decides you’re the one. They’re ready to enter the sales page and going through checkout. Given you don’t scare them away, you’ll likely close the lead.

Remember This

Keep the stages in mind while you’re building the sales funnel as it dictates who you’re targeting. And, what techniques you’ll deploy to send people through.

Now, let’s get into the good stuff — building and optimizing your sales funnel.

Creating a Sales Funnel: How It’s Done and the Conversion Tactics That’ll Net You Sales

There are several ways to go about creating a sales funnel. The easiest way is by using software tools. Compare leadpages vs clickfunnels and opt for one of those, or choose another option.

There’s no point in reinventing the wheel.

These lead generation tools have extensive templates for building sales funnels. You’ll also get plenty of documentation for their setup and usage.

The gist of its setup is this:

• Create a landing page
• Include a pop-up for an email list
• Attach a thank you page at its end

This setup is about as barebones as you can get with a sales funnel. Yet, this setup is very powerful — don’t discount its simplicity.

Let’s focus on getting things rolling…

Plan the Parts

Get the answer to these questions:

• Who is your intended audience?
• Who are your ideal leads?
• What is the outcome of the funnel?

Getting the “big picture” refines who and where you’ll attract. Having an “end game” refines how and what you’ll promote. Last, you’ll have an idea of how you’ll nurture the person once they’ve completed the sales funnel.

Example:

I want to target retro gamers on gaming forums or Reddit boards. The ideal customer is someone in their 30’s, nostalgic, and earning $30k+ a year. The outcome is generating sales for my retro gaming controller.

Attract the Right Leads

Two points:

• Go where they are
• Connect with the community

Where they are could be any number of online platforms. Do a Google search using your primary keywords and pull out a couple of contenders. Then, become part of the community so you know their lingo, likes, and dislikes.

How will you engage them?

• Interesting topic from your website
• Participating in discussions
• Sharing and promoting others
• Running advertisements and contests

This is no different than social media marketing — because that’s what it is!

Build Out Your Authority

While all the lead attraction is going on, you need to build out your presence and authority. This gets done, as you can guess, through content and interaction.

How do you build authority? Try:

• Blogs
• Videos
• Ads
• Influencers
• Q&A
• Livestreaming
• Podcasts

… the whole content marketing angle you should do already.

Measure Response and Qualify Leads

Let’s divert a second for what could be the most important step in this thing.

You will refine your lead quality by measuring their response:

1. Drive people to your website
2. Collect information via analytics
3. Use data to refine the top-level of the funnel

Here’s an easy way to see it:

I split test an ad and measure which performed best. Pulling data from the site, I’ll use the prospect’s interaction to update and optimize the ad. I’ll also use this point to add negative limiters to stop low quality leads getting into the funnel.

Create a Lead Magnet (aka The Big Offer)

The lead magnet is usually something you give away to get contact details. Use data to drive your decisions in what you create.

Lead magnets include a:

1. Coupon
2. Ebook
3. Free trial
4. Sample
5. Video series

Outsource the lead magnet creation to a professional. Else, find a middle ground by creating it and having a designer make it look pretty.

Optimize the Landing Page, Pop-up, and Thank You Page

Use copywriting to convince and convert when building the landing page. This also goes for the pop-up message and thank you page.

A few extra tips:

• Include an auto-play video to share the information
• Use storytelling to keep visitors engaged
• Put the opt-in or checkout button a couple of times on the page

Now, begin driving real prospects through the sales funnel and see how they react. Refine the page based on how they respond and via split testing.

Drip On Them

Use their opt-in and subscription to your list to “drip” content. This content should be helpful articles and fun discussions, most times. Then, drip a sales promotion aligned to the content they have enjoyed.

Other ways to drip on leads include:

• An upsell on the thank you page
• A promotion in the first email
• A follow-up phone call

You’ll keep blowing them away with incredible information. They’ll get so much value that they’ll feel compelled to buy the premium offers.

Test, Track, and Optimize Everything

Every touchpoint in the sales funnel has room to improve:

• Finding better traffic sources
• Qualifying better leads
• Improving site copy
• Increasing the offer value
• Refining the followups

Continue split testing everything you do, going with the better of the two. Let data drive your decisions. Or, bring on a CRO expert to scale up your marketing and sales campaigns.

Down, Down, Down the Funnel They Go

Creating a sales funnel is an essential step in improving your sales volume. You’ll not only attract would-be buyers but leave them satisfied with the sale. The experience starts a wonderful relationship — one that’ll make you big money.

What’s the next thing you should focus on to add to the sales funnel?

Tap into the power of email marketing.