A customer requires between 5 and 8 interaction moments before making a purchase. The customer journey is made up of several moments, and each customer's trip is unique.
As a result, it's critical to reply appropriately with your communication so that potential customers receive the appropriate information at the appropriate moment. The marketing and sales funnel refers to the steps that lead to a transaction.
You must have your marketing funnel — the process of turning a visitor or browser into a paying customer – in order if you want your business' sales process to work as smoothly as possible. Isn’t it?
Some business owners dislike the phrase "marketing funnel" because they believe it is too mechanical or simplistic to represent the lead-nurturing process that leads to a transaction.
However, let us see its impact on conversion and then you can surely decide whether a marketing funnel will work for your business or not and how to create a marketing funnel strategy for your organization.
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Conversion and marketing funnels are interlinked. The conversion which is connected with the marketing funnel is basically based on the AIDA Model. And here is a mention of the model in detail:
Let us talk about them, in detail:
A huge number of visitors choose to visit a site through various marketing channels at the start of the process. Where are they coming from, you might wonder? What was your click-through rate (CTR) if you used an advertisement? Which material is reaching the most people if it's done through a piece of content? How many people stayed on your website after finding you through organic search to learn more about your product or service? Use your data to figure out which targeting strategies are effective and which aren't, and you'll save money in the long run.
The website's purpose at this point is to stimulate the visitor's attention and keep them engaged. Create a quantifiable conversion piece, such as a real-time message with a discount or a piece of high-value content in exchange for an email, to start getting a sense of who is interested and who isn't.
Once visitors have reached this stage, it's time to nourish and grow them, as well as address any other issues they may be experiencing. One approach to achieve this is to send a series of nurture emails with informative and valuable content that not only shows your skills but also reframes the customer's perspective so that they may benefit from them.
You can develop a nurturing stream to retouch new prospects while continuing to engage and educate existing leads with marketing automation software.
At this point, you want the customers in your funnel to buy or convert on the event you've created. Only a small fraction of prospects will go to this point, and not all of them will act. You have a better probability of closing a sale if you can guide and nurture more leads to this stage. If the customer does not act now, not all is lost.
Making tailored remarketing advertisements or personally reaching out to them to find out why they were turned off is one strategy to win them back. Learn everything you can about those who take action versus those who don't. This will help you understand how to encourage prospects in the last step, how to overcome obstacles, and how to optimize your conversion funnel so it performs at its best.
Let us talk about the stages in detail that can help you create an effective marketing funnel which in turn leads to conversions.
There are two widely accepted models when it comes to the marketing funnel. Here we are discussing both of them in detail. One of the models is AIDA which we discussed in the beginning of this blog. And the second one is discussed here.
When it comes to deciding what to buy, no matter what kind of purchase we're making or how much money we're planning to spend, we all take the same path. This buying process, or phases, was first established by John Dewey in 1910, and it's still the foundation of understanding consumer behavior and marketing funnel construction today, more than a century later.
The first model, which we are going to talk about has five steps or stages in total:
This can also be compared to the 1st level of the AIDA model, which is awareness.
It's understandable that if a person doesn't identify that she has a need that must be met, she won't buy anything. These requirements, however, might range from easily solvable challenges to problems with no clear solutions.
Buyer needs at the problem/need recognition stage – top of the funnel (TOFU) – varies depending on the type of business.
If you run a consulting firm, for example, your clients are already aware that they are experiencing issues in your service area, such as a high cost per lead (if you work in marketing) or disorganized spending (if you work in accounting).
Expert Tip to help you succeed with the top level of your marketing funnel: Writing content on "TOFU themes" that can attract a lot of traffic to your site is one approach to test your funnel (and into your funnel).
Recognizing a problem or need is the first step in conducting a search for additional information. Depending on the magnitude and scope of the transaction, different tactics are utilized to obtain information.
According to Pardot, 70% of buyers use Google at least twice during their search to learn more about their problems, possible solutions, relevant businesses, and so on.
For recommendations, many people use social media and forums. They aren't seeking promotional content at this point; they want to learn more about potential solutions for their problem. Do some keyword research to determine what types of content you should be producing for the middle of the funnel (MOFU) – you can find out which search keywords in your niche receive a lot of traffic and generate content to match those inquiries.
Potential clients begin comparing the options discussed in your post as a result of their information search — or sometimes concurrently with it. The amount of time invested in this stage varies depending on the type of purchase being considered. If you manage an accounting firm, your customers are probably comparing multiple service providers at this point. They may require tools such as pricing guides (to determine ballpark charges), how to assess the landscape of accounting services (e.g., whether to engage a single accountant, an agency, etc. ), or how to select an accountant.
If you own a marketing services company, you could write on how to pick a marketing agency, price advice, if a company should contract or hire in-house, and so on. The examples above are non-promotional instructional material resources we've prepared for our readers who are thinking about employing marketing firms — in other words, who are in the midst of the funnel (MOFU).
The buying decision follows logically from the previous three stages. The potential consumer has identified a problem, researched their options, and chosen which is best for them... They're getting ready to take out their wallets now.
At this stage: BOFU- Content can make your potential buyers feel assured in their decision to buy your product at this stage. Case study content that highlights a prior or present customer's success is extremely powerful, especially when the case studies are related to and reflect the lead. Create client case studies that reflect a variety of customer profiles, verticals, and business sizes, for example.
At this stage, feedback and suggestions are also important. Complaints and criticisms are significant indicators that you need to make improvements or risk losing business to dissatisfied clients.
The sales process does not end when a customer makes a purchase. It's just as essential as what occurs after the sale.
If your new customers are greeted with a comprehensive onboarding process, personalized attention, and all of the resources they need to successfully utilize your product, they'll be more likely to believe they made the right decision. They're also more willing to share their happiness with others through suggestions and product endorsements when they're confident.
If your new customers are dissatisfied with their purchases, they are more likely to ask for refunds, leave unfavorable reviews, and recommend that others in their social circles buy from your competitors.
Apart from delivering a fantastic product, there isn't much information you can create to help promote a nice post-purchase experience. Post-purchase behavior will take care of itself if you have an excellent product that answers a problem.
There are a few things you can do to encourage better post-purchase behavior. You may, for example, provide FAQ content, make customer service more accessible, or ask for feedback on the purchasing process.
Apart from knowing what is marketing funnel strategy, it is important to know about the types of funnels which can help the business to understand the customers better and focus on conversion.
What is the difference between B2B as well as B2C Marketing Funnels?
Most of the B2C customers start and go into the marketing funnel by themselves or some of the small group of people who can be family and friends, nonetheless that is not the case for B2B customers. B2B customers have bigger or cross-departemental buying groups and it might consist of 5 or more individuals on an average.
B2C customers would not choose a company representative to speak for them when it comes to e-commerce platforms, but B2B clients will definitely choose the sales professional which is at the bottom of the funnel.
Experiencing leakages in the Marketing Funnel? Some doable tips to stop it!
Most of the marketing funnels are leaky at some points but there are methods to fix yours. The nature of funnel marketing is such and hence the shape of funnel is formed. The major reason is not that you failed to understand what is marketing funnel, but the fact that some people are not interested in buying or will never buy your products and services. Hence, you can count for a reasonable degree of leakages in your funnel marketing.
Something which needs your attention is “excessive leakage.” and it happens when one of the stages of funnel marketing becomes bigger or larger compared to the next stage of the marketing funnel. And it appears something Like..
If you focus on the image you will find yourself lucky as there are ways to fix these excessive leakages. And it is not difficult to do so, let us not be clueless and find more about it. You have started off well, as you know how a marketing funnel is made and you know that you need to proceed to know about the leakages of the same. We have helped you know what is marketing funnel strategy and now we can help you understand how you can measure the leakages in your funnel marketing:
Before you start to measure the leakages you need to know the four stages of it in terms of numbers and data:
To start measuring the leakages, you need to start measuring them. These figures can be compared month to month. If you detect a significant drop in numbers, you have a problem.
While you may not immediately recognize the problem, these figures make it simple to get started. You can get right in and discover what's causing the problem (e.g., seasonality, a dip in traffic coming from one channel, loss of keyword rankings, etc.). You'll be able to correct it from there.
Let us begin with the process, we can use these two broad strategies across all stages of the marketing funnel:
Assume you've just delivered a ton of bought traffic to your article on "how to wash a car."
These people, much to your surprise, simply read the post and then left. They didn't make a purchase, and they didn't sign up for your free eBook, "9 Tips for a Sparkly Clean Car."
So, it appears like the only thing you're washing is $50... straight down the drain! What if I told you that you had a second chance to convert these people?
That is exactly what retargeting accomplishes.
Retargeting is a type of online advertising that allows you to reach out to users who have abandoned your site. This provides you the chance to urge people to return and reconsider their purchases.
What is the mechanism behind it?
On your website, you can place some JavaScript code (also known as a pixel). This pixel will leave an anonymous cookie in the browser of the visitor. The cookie allows your ad platform to show your ad to the visitor after they leave your site and begin exploring other web pages.
Getting the pixel is simple. Most big ad platforms (Facebook, Google, Quora, and so on) allow you to create a pixel that you can place in your website's <header> area.
Facebook Pixel installation page
The difficult element is deciding what to provide as part of the retargeting. Fortunately, this is also a simple fix with the marketing funnel.
Recognize where your consumers are leaving your funnel and retarget them with an offer tailored to the next stage.
For instance, when there is good traffic on the website however conversion rate is low on the email list, these can be remarketed offering them to join your list. You can choose to take them to your website’s landing page, and offer them to download a free eBook which they might have missed out on in the first go.
You can set up retargeting campaigns at every point of the funnel with a relevant offer for the following stage if you've mastered marketing funnels and retargeting.
People might depart because they are unable to find an answer to their questions. They might be reading your content and want to know more about specific portions. Alternatively, they may be looking at your pricing page and have some queries about the purchasing procedure.
They will depart in search of an alternative solution if they cannot find an answer to these questions.
And Live Chat could be the best answer to this. It makes no difference where the prospect is in your sales funnel. You can address any pressing questions via live chat while gently directing them to the next step.
You can choose to retarget the audiences like before.
These are three tools that will provide you with qualitative data to aid conversions along the marketing funnel:
Session recordings record website visitors' actions, such as mouse movements, clicks, taps, and scrolling, allowing you to see how real users interact with your website from page to page.
Insight from recordings can help you uncover roadblocks or pain points people encounter on your site, such as broken elements, website problems, or a confusing design, which can explain why users abandon your site.
How to use Session recording?
It is an example of MOFU or Middle Of the Funnel: Find recordings of pages that are part of your MOFU strategy using session recording segments and filters, such as category and product pages, guides and how-tos, case studies, and comparisons.
Consider the following scenario: You want users to add a product to their shopping cart from your product comparison page, but the page has a high exit rate and few conversions. Users are angrily clicking on a non-clickable element and departing out of annoyance, according to a session recording. In that instance, you may try deleting or making the element clickable to make the page more intuitive to how real people interact with it.
Watch session recordings again after you've fixed the page to determine if the update improved the user experience (UX).
Heatmaps display the most popular (red) and least popular (blue) places and items on your page, as well as how visitors move around and interact with it in general. Analyze website heatmaps to see which page components are (or aren't) effective in driving visitors through your funnel.
You can focus on making changes that will have an impact if you have insight into how users are behaving on important pages of your site.
How to use Heatmaps?
Heatmaps are the top of the funnel (TOFU). Heatmaps should be examined on pages that are part of your TOFU strategy, such as your blog and landing pages.
Let's imagine you want them to click on a call to action (CTA) at the bottom of your landing page. A scroll heatmap may reveal that just 20% of your visitors make it to the bottom of the page, implying that the other 80% aren't even viewing your CTA. In such a situation, you may try shifting the CTA to the middle or top of the page (or adding another CTA). Look at heatmaps again after you've optimized the page to see if the adjustment affected your conversions.
Surveys could be considered to be one of the fastest ways to get easy feedback from the visitors who have been visiting your site. Also, this is one of the direct methods to know your visitors. By this, you can quickly find out the reasons which are stopping them from conversions. You can even choose to conduct surveys on users or visitors who have not converted to know what did not work well for them.
This also gives a chance for engagement with more visitors. This can be planned at each step in the marketing funnel. Overall, this can help you with improved conversions.
How to use Surveys?
Surveys are the part of BOFU or bottom of the funnel. On pages that are part of your BOFU strategy, such as how-to or demo pages, category and product pages, and shopping cart or checkout pages, use on-site surveys.
Customer happiness is measured via NPS and post-purchase surveys, which allow you to learn from customers who have previously converted. Assume a customer has just made a purchase on your website. You can ask them to rate their experience on a scale before they leave, and then follow up with another open-ended inquiry based on their response. A good score, for example, would prompt the query, “What did you enjoy the most about the experience?” whereas a bad score might prompt the question, “How can we enhance your experience in the future?”
Additionally, you can also invite visitors to take part in an external link survey, which allows you to ask more in-depth, insightful questions and gain even more insight from them.
Marketing funnels assist you in guiding prospects through each stage of the buying process. The traditional marketing funnel can be approached in a variety of ways, but the key to a successful funnel is understanding your clients.
Using the tools and methods we covered above to combine quantitative and qualitative information can help you construct a better funnel that speaks to your customers' unique requirements and increase conversions.
In case you do not have a marketing funnel strategy or the one you have has not shown any good results, you need to reconsider these. You can start looking for loopholes and make sure you come up with something more reliable. You can even connect with our team to help you understand what is marketing funnel strategy is in context to your business specifically.
Want to Create A Marketing Funnel Strategy?
M
Earlier I had no idea about the marketing funnel, thanks to this blog now I understand its importance.
M
My website is struggling through high bounce rates, hope this funnel will help to resolve that issue.
P
All these concepts are a bit difficult to understand but the way you explained them is amazing.
D
Good for learning! Must-read content for those learning marketing skills.
R
Well written content with nice explanations!
F
Earlier I was confused What Marketing funnel means but now your article has cleared all my doubts. Thanks!
B
Hi! Your article is good and informative, Thanks for the details.