A basic sales funnel consists of a landing page, an opt-in form, a thank you page, a lead magnet, and a series of automated emails that are sent to anyone who enters their name and email address in your opt-in form in exchange for something of value (your lead magnet).
This is one of the most useful tools you can add to your marketing toolkit to automatically follow up with leads, build your list and guide your website visitors closer to making a purchasing decision.
Creating a sales funnel is not rocket science as some people may lead you to believe. And it does not require expensive software to build one. But it helps to have a basic knowledge of the components of a sales funnel and the direct response copywriting strategies that make it work.
Why You Need A Sales Funnel
As with all your marketing, the main purpose of a sales funnel is to turn leads into paying customers and clients. It's a great way to build a deeper connection with your audience over a period of time. It generally takes at least 12 touchpoints before someone will make a purchasing decision. The price of your product, your current relationship with your prospect, where they are in the buying process and other factors can impact how long it takes for them to make a decision.
One of my clients I’ve been working with for over eight years received my emails for almost a year before deciding to contact me. He initially joined my list and started receiving my weekly emails by going to my landing page and downloading a free ebook prior to calling me. It took some time to create this sales funnel and 52 email sequence, but I didn't have to touch it again once it was in place. It worked for me 24/7 and generated thousands of dollars in additional business.
Do this first…
Before building your sales funnel, get very clear on the problem you are solving for your customers and clients. This will help you develop content for your landing page and emails. It will also help you decide what type lead magnet you will be offering in exchange for your visitor’s contact information.
Building Your Sales Funnel
Step 1 – Create a lead magnet. This is something of value you will give to anyone who enters their contact information in the opt-in form on your landing page. Free reports, guides, checklists and ebooks are a few examples of lead magnets that could be used.
Step 2 – Write your emails for your autoresponder series. You can create a five email sequence or you could schedule an email every week for a year depending on your business and how you want to engage with your potential customers and clients.
Step 3 – Set up an account with a professional email service provider, such as Constant Contact. You will set up your autoresponder and series of emails in your account.
The autoresponder is what you will use to schedule and automatically send the series of emails in your sales funnel. Even though there is more expensive software you can use, a basic professional email service provider account will suffice to get you started.
Even if you use more expensive software that claims to make the process of creating your sales funnel easier, you still have the task of writing the content. Creating the content is always the most challenging part of the process.
Step 4 – Build your landing page. Depending on your business goals, your landing page could be a one page website or a page on your existing website. There are many options for building a landing page from scratch. Leadpages is specifically designed to build landing pages. You can build a basic landing page using Constant Contact. You can also use WordPress, Squarespace or any number of similar tools.
Step 5 – Install the opt-in form on your landing page. This is the form you will use to collect visitor names and email addresses. Constant Contact makes it easy to install the opt-in form on your landing page or website.
Step 6 – Create your Thank You Page. This is the page they will see after they enter their contact information in your opt-in form and click the Submit button. The Thank You Page will have a link to download your lead magnet. You could also use this page to include an introductory video or an upsell depending on your business goals.
Driving Traffic To Your Landing Page
My intent in this section is to give you a high-level overview of six ways you can drive traffic to your landing page and sales funnel. This will at least let you know what your options are.
1. Facebook Ads
This is a way for you to target specific demographics in your chosen
market without spending a lot of money initially. You can start testing with a budget of $5.00 a day on Facebook Ads to see what works and what doesn’t before increasing your ad spend. It also gives you an opportunity to make changes to your sales funnel that may improve your conversion rates.
2. LinkedIn Ads
This is a good option if you are selling B2B although it can become expensive if the ads are not properly maintained or the ad is not well-written. But with the right ad management strategy and well-written ads, you can lower costs over time.
3. Google Ads
This is a great way to drive traffic to your website. It can be costly, but you could get good results and a good ROI if you do proper keyword research, set an appropriate budget, split test your ads, write great ads and monitor your ads regularly.
4. Organic Traffic
This is the best way to get traffic. It is also the one that will require the most effort. But the traffic you get organically will generally be a higher quality client. The best way to get organic traffic is to produce a lot of content via blogging, podcasting, making videos, newsletters, weekly emails, etc. to develop a certain level of authority.
5. Direct Mail
Many business owners discount direct mail and think it no longer works. But it will work if the content of your mailing is good, if you are mailing to the right people or using the correct sequence in your mailings.
6. Word of mouth
For those of you who go to in-person networking events, having a landing page to direct contacts to that allows them to download something of value that will help them in their business or personal life is a great way to start a relationship. If you continue to provide valuable information on a consistent basis, you will increase your chances of making a deeper connection with them. And they will tell others about you.
Final thoughts
Most business owners think just having a regular website is all they need in their business. And they are correct to a point. But if you want to build a relationship with your audience online, you need a sales funnel. Having a well-designed sales funnel will help you stay top of mind with your prospects, increase exposure, build your list, follow up more effectively, guide prospects closer to making a purchasing decision and give you a leg up on your competition.