When we speak about the customer journey or the buyer journey we always think of the end result in THE SALE or CONVERSION and yes, this is the ultimate goal. You could call it the final destination.
The reality of this is for every journey there will be bumps in the road and plus we also have to navigate the hills and the valleys, the twists and turns as well. Ask yourself what will make it easy to reach that final goal? There are a number of factors you should take into consideration. Try building a sales funnel or as some people call it a pipeline but they are two different processes.
Definition of a Sales Funnel:
The sales funnel (also known as a revenue funnel or sales process) refers to the buying process that companies lead customers through when purchasing products. The definition also refers to the process through which a company finds, qualifies, and sells its products to buyers. Ref Google
The key to this process is pre-determining the steps which your customer is going to take to reach their final outcome of the sale.
Top Level steps
Awareness
Evaluation
Decision
Purchase
Re-Marketing
Let’s take the steps you could use to sell the Red Jumper. (we are just using the red jumper as an example of a product or service)
AWARENESS:
Map out how you are going to attract the customer to the sale of this red jumper and how you are going to raise awareness. The power of social media is a golden opportunity to reach a much wider audience, giving you a host of different options to promote your product and start to direct them into the sales funnel.
EVALUATION:
Customers will evaluate your products or service on first impressions. Creating a first visual and textual piece of content is key to the progressive process. One of the best ways to do this is to make your graphics easy on the eye, take into account your background colours. Strong product image and short and snappy text copy and that are straight to the point and also includes the benefits and outcomes.
DECISION:
This step is key to the sales funnel. You now need to move the customer to take action. Make it simple for them to move to the next stage of the process. Direct them to a sales page on your website or landing page. One of the common mistakes businesses make is to direct the customer to the Home Page on their website and hope they will search for the product or service they have been attracted too.
This is where most people will fall off and we live in an On-Demand Lifestyle now, so ensure when they click on the link on your ad or post it brings them to the page with the RED Jumper and full details about the product and how they can order.
PURCHASE:
From this point, they should be no more than two clicks away from making the purchase.
First: Click size and style for products or level of intensity of service.
Second: Options to Pay.
From a backend, prospective include an Autoresponder Confirmation or Thank You page which can be triggered when the sale has been completed.
RE-MARKETING:
Now that the customer has gone through the sales funnel, this gives you the opportunity to keep them updated on any future products or services you have to offer. Give them an option to join your mailing list on your autoresponder page with a simple form to add their name and email address in a clickable box.
Some key tips with regard to sales funnels.
Ensure you measure the response from your social media content from your post or ad.
Create a sales funnel goal on Google Analytics to track drop-offs and conversions.
Build your Email Lists via Sales conversions.
Alan Hennessy is head of digital at Kompass Media and one of Ireland Leading Social Media Experts. He is also a Social Media Consultant and Trainer and speaks about Social Media & Digital Marketing all over Ireland and in the UK. The Social Media Talks podcast is among the top marketing podcasts in the world. Contact Alan to have him speak to your company event or conference soon.
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Contact Alan for more details Email: alan@kompassmedia.ie or Call 086 856 9960.
Visit our website for more details on Tailor-Made Training www.kompassmedia.ie/Tailormadetraining
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