Every business wants their sales process to run smoothly. To make sure that happens, it is imperative for every business to create an effective marketing funnel. The right marketing funnel will help in converting a visitor into a paying customer.
A lot of business owners are drifting away from the “marketing funnel”. It is a misconception to think that marketing funnel is way too mechanical. The funnel is a simple way to describe the lead nurturing sequence, to shift customers from awareness to purchase.
It is a useful way to describe a complicated process that offers startups and marketers with a good visual image. In this blog, we are going to breakdown the different steps to create an effective marketing funnel to boost your sales.
What is a marketing funnel?
A marketing funnel is a way to breakdown the customer journey all the way from the “awareness” stage to the “purchase” stage. The funnels can also include certain post-purchase steps that help in customer retention.
It is a compilation of all the steps that a buyer needs to go through before purchasing. There is no denying the fact that people buy all kinds of stuff at all times, whether they need it or not.
One of the primary reasons people buy stuff that they don’t need is because the top brands understand the consumer journey. Not only that, they know how to instigate demand among customers and guide them to buy something they don’t need.
What are the different types of marketing funnel models?
There are primarily four different types of marketing funnel models. They are as follows:
AIDA Funnel: This is also known as Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action funnel. It was developed in the late 19th century. It is the most popular and most preferred marketing funnel that comes in four stages including awareness, interest, desire, and action.
This marketing funnel identifies the varying cognitive stages of an individual while buying a product or a service. It is more of a communications model that enables companies to see opportunities on how and when to communicate during each stage since consumers use different platforms these days.
Inbound marketing flywheel: The inbound marketing funnel is focused on three specific stages, attract, engage, and delight. This method of marketing funnel focuses on developing relationships with the target audience. In this way, you increase credibility and trustworthiness. The inbound marketing flywheel is a great way to get your target audience to look more closely at the products and services.
Conversion funnel: The conversion funnel is a much more open-ended than the first three because it enhances the delight stage. Thus, it transforms the repeat customers to brand advocates and it brings referrals to the business.
Growth funnel: The growth funnel recently became one of the very popular marketing funnels that are used by startups. It is used by Airbnb, Uber, Dropbox, and other premium startups. It is also known as the pirate funnel because it comprises five stages including, acquisition, activation, retention, referrals, and revenue.
If you want to capture leads at every stage of the marketing funnel, it is imperative to assign action at every step. Here are the following steps to create an effective marketing funnel for startups.
Steps to create an effective marketing funnel for startups
1. Awareness: Getting the message out in the open
This is stage one of a marketing funnel for startups. It is important for your brand to get discovered by the right people. Here you have to make sure that you target the relevant audiences to bring traffic to your website who will buy your offer.
You can create awareness through SEO using high-ranking keywords and interesting content for your audience. You can reference the product or service in some way or subtly promote the requirement for something like them in content. Keep the sales talk to a minimum.
You can also build awareness with paid advertising. There are other low-intent keywords triggering Google Search. This is also a chance to increase awareness. It is a bit advanced PPC technique where you should have a paid search strategy and solid lead nurturing system in place.
Also, sometimes, low-intent traffic might not click n your ad. Thus, keep an eye on the metrics. Despite the risks, using a low-intent keyword in Google Ads is a good way. It will get your brand seen at the early stage of a consumer journey.
Also, using social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and more is a great way to build brand awareness.
2. Consideration: Establishing yourself as the most compelling option
This is the stage where you target people that show clear intent or desire to buy. It can be now or in the near future. The key to a successful remarketing strategy is to segment your campaign and target specific user interests.
Depending on the analytics setup, you can track specific user actions. Then create segmented remarketing lists with a specific message for every segment of audience. The actions indicate the extent of the user’s awareness and interest.
You can use this to create relevant campaigns for audiences. Use this similar tactic to target the leads at all stages of the marketing funnel. Also, capture email leads through email marketing for lead nurturing. Create email marketing campaigns to build an email list and get users to sign up.
3. Conversion: Turning leads into customers
The marketing goal is to convert leads, reduce conversion barriers, and turn consideration into action. Purchases are the most valuable types of conversions but there are others whom you can target with different campaigns. These include email signups, content downloads, free trials, account creations, demos, and more.
Creating organic and paid searches, SEO strategies, and Google Ad campaigns are the basics of conversion. Along with that, focus on optimizing the forms to maximize conversion. For every conversion, the user needs to complete a form. Thus, optimizing the form is important for conversions.
Next is, do the CRO in a smart way. There are 9 simple conversion rate optimization (CRO) fixes that influence conversion. These include lesser load times, single-column layouts, using ‘magic number’ technique, using ‘inverted pyramids’ for CTA’s, multi-step firms, remove the navigation from landing pages, testing the best CTA placement, testing secondary CTA’s, and exit-intent popups.
The attention should be on increasing incentives and removing barriers. Start with the most important aspect of the key pages and get them in order.
4. Loyalty: Turning customers into repeat buyers
The primary objective of a marketing funnel doesn’t end with a single purchase. That is just the beginning. You have to make your existing customers keep buying. Make sure that customer service is a top priority.
Regardless of how good your product/service is, customers will face problems of some kind. How you deal with your customers will become a major factor in customer retention. Create online guides, FAQ’s, Chatbots, contact management, and CRMs to help customers have the best experience.
This helps in filtering out cases. The most important aspect is to offer in-person support when needed. The support team should be ready to come in. it can be tricky if you have a large customer base but that is where a good CRM comes in.
Try to reward customers for their ongoing purchase. It works as an incentive, increases loyalty, and m0tivation to come back and buy more.
5. Advocacy: Availing new leads from existing customers
The final step is to turn happy customers into lead generators. How? Happy customers will continue to buy from you but they will also recommend you to others. 83% of the buyers state that recommendations from friends and family play a vital role in their purchasing decisions.
When you have a number of satisfied customers, create a profile of positive reviews. Also, get positive service stories or testimonials from your customers. Create referral campaigns by asking your customers to invite more of their friends and offering them incentives in doing so.
These are the steps that a startup needs to implement an effective marketing funnel. Are you looking to create an impeccable marketing funnel for your business? Get in touch with the certified professionals at Skyram Technologies here.
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