Sales funnels are integral to the success of your business. Even if you haven’t designed a funnel in its entirety, your customers will have taken a journey towards buying. A visitor may land on your site, often knowing nothing about your brand, before gradually learning more. When they are ready to make a purchase, they will have been educated about your products and company. The exact type of journey they take, though, can vary considerably, so it is essential to understand some of the most effective sales funnels you can implement.
Squeeze Page
A squeeze page is like a landing page. But while landing pages might be used to educate users on a specific product or service, squeeze pages are generally shorter and smaller, containing little to no images and very minimal text.
A squeeze page is a strategy used most commonly to collect email contacts. An effective squeeze page will remove distractions, focusing only on getting visitors to subscribe. You can experiment with long or short pages, adding a video, or just using text. From the squeeze page, subscribers can then receive multiple email messages that promote offers and help build a relationship.
Sales Letter
A sales letter is usually a simple funnel, attempting to make an immediate offer to a visitor. Sales letters are often found later on in a funnel when leads have become familiar with your brand. Cold traffic can sometimes convert well, though, with persuasive long-form copy drawing people into your message. The sales letter can promote your main product, but you could also add an upsell to increase the overall order value.
Video Sales Letter
A video sales letter follows a similar pattern to the traditional sales letter. A video, though, allows visitors to consume the content in a focused way. Many people will refuse to read the long-form content, so you risk losing their business. A video can get their full attention, particularly when the controls get removed. A video can offer exceptional content, leaving viewers wanting to take the next step and make a purchase.
Low-Cost Product
A low-cost product can be used to turn browsers into customers. Your main goal might be to sell a more expensive item, but the low-cost offer is a more natural first step. A short report, for example, can introduce some of the concepts found in a premium product, leaving the customer wanting more. You can get great results by introducing the more expensive product immediately after the sale, with the customer in a purchasing frame of mind.
Webinar
A webinar offers the chance to keep the attention of viewers for an hour or more. It may be trickier to convince people to watch an entire webinar, but the conversion rate should be extremely high for the audience you acquire. The first stage is convincing people to sign up for the webinar, so there needs to be a targeted and persuasive hook. The class can then be structured to develop a bond, offer incredible value, and then promote the product.
Live Event
A live event will be a more extended process, but the conversion rates for your offers can be high. You can promote the event online, with the process being more straightforward when you have an existing customer base. Attendees can then receive a great deal of value from the event before you promote another offer. Live events typically work best with more established clients who are willing to invest more with your company.
Seasonal Sale
Seasonal sales can be used for funnels, using discounts and time-sensitive offers to entice consumers. Halloween, Christmas, and Black Friday, for example, are times when audiences are primed to shop, anticipating that they will spend some money. You can develop a funnel based on discounted products, with future offers used to increase the lifetime value of the customer. Also, product bundles can be used to add more items to an individual order.
Product Demo
Product demos work well for software and apps that are trickier to explain. You can show people exactly how your product works, getting them used to the feel of the software. The demo may only last for a short time or include limited options, so consumers are encouraged to buy. Items like website templates also work well using a product demo sales funnel, with the ability to showcase how the design will work when applied to their brand.
There are numerous sales funnels you can create, varying considerably in their complexity. You may be able to introduce a product quickly, gaining some immediate sales. In other cases, though, the funnel will be longer, requiring a sequence that educates a visitor about your brand. The best sales funnels usually come about through a combination of imagination and testing. The marketing hook you create will grab the attention, but the journey a person goes on will move them closer to a sale. When you can develop a sales funnel that produces results, you can feel confident about investing more into your marketing budget.
