What strategies work best in each of the phases of the funnel so that the client goes to the next level, from the moment they know the brand until they end up buying, becoming loyal and recommending your products and services.
The sales funnel is a roadmap designed by the company to direct its potential customers towards a specific objective , generally closing a sale or getting a lead to launch future marketing campaigns.
In this journey, most differentiate between four basic phases: “Attention , which is getting people who don’t know you to discover you. Interest , when that potential client already comes into contact with your brand. I wish , that would be one more step towards closing the sale. The user falls in love with the product and wants to buy it. And finally, the sale itself”, explains José Carlos Cortizo , CMO and partner of Growth Hackers .
To this basic journey, the post-sale phases can also be added: loyalty , the customer knows us and buys on a recurring basis, and recommendation of our products by the customer.
The question here is how this conversion funnel is designed and how it is adapted according to the results and information that we are collecting from clients. Because it should never be considered as a static tool, you must work your strategy with trial-error actions. Measure the objectives achieved and their cost in each of the phases of the funnel based on the tools we use and optimize each phase to achieve a better result at the end of the funnel.Table of Contents
- Identify your buyer persona
- ACTIONS FOR EACH OF THE PHASES
- ATTENTION PHASE
- Combine SEM and SEO
- Podcasts and other open content
- Copywriting for all phases of the funnel
- Product test and personalized tests
- Contests and content on networks
- Label the origin of the users
- INTEREST PHASE
- user experience
- service funnel
- DESIRE PHASE
- BUYS
- RECURRENCE, LOYALTY AND RECOMMENDATION
- A multidimensional funnel
- Technology to improve the funnel
Identify your buyer persona
The journey begins by defining the profile of the client or buyer person to whom we are going to address. Being clear that generally you will not have a single customer profile, but several. Like most businesses.
To define it or define them, Andrés from Spain , founder of 3dids.com , recommends “ identifying the tensions of the defined potential buyers . The things that happen to you on a day-to-day basis that have to do with my product, with my sector, with my brand, with the brands that surround you or with products that surround you that are similar to mine. It is about extracting insights or trends that have to do with the day to day of that person. A list is made with all of them and is ordered by priority.
“Of all those problems that they tell you about, there are some that are most relevant to him . For example, it is not the same for someone to tell you that they are afraid to leave their child in the crib because the mattress is not breathable or that the crib bars could injure them than simply saying that the wheels are a problem when transporting the crib”, adds Andrés from Spain.
This order of priorities is key to defining the different phases of the funnel . “In the attention phase you must attract their attention with the most powerful of all the insights or problems that we are going to solve and in the recommendation phase with the least powerful one”, comments Andrés from Spain.
And he points out another key for this first phase of the process: “You have to design different angles for each of the phases of the conversion funnel. That is, ways to solve that specific problem from at least three different perspectives , to provide information to the AI algorithms that learn from consumer behavior. Three different creatives for the SEO phase, three different angles in each of the channels (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram…). It is a highly creative process. If you manage to find these elements that ultimately have to do with how your potential client uses the product on a day-to-day basis, what problems they have, or what things attract their attention, you really manage to make that person go through that process”.see more
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ACTIONS FOR EACH OF THE PHASES
Once we have defined who we want to impact and with what messages, it is time to design how we are going to reach them in each of the phases.
ATTENTION PHASE
It is the entry phase of the conversion funnel and refers to the moment in which the client still does not know about your products and services . In this phase you have to go looking for customers outside your website. And “you have two options: paid media (advertising) and organic media (content on social networks, blog posts, Google positioning (SEO), email marketing, influencer marketing, landing pages, blogs, an interview that they have done in a podcast… and from there traffic arrives, who knows you and goes through your website, subscribes and enters the funnel”, explains Luis Garau , from the Copydeincognito brand .
In this phase the challenge is to attract the client to the web and get them to register with the minimum resources . Today, in ecommerce it has been standardized to offer customers a 10% discount in exchange for leaving their email, but the idea is to look for more creative formulas to avoid entering a cycle of continuous discounts so that they buy from us.
Combine SEM and SEO
In this phase, SEO is essential so as not to focus everything on attracting advertising. “It is convenient to invest part of the resources in generating highly SEO-oriented content to position key terms that my users can search for. SEO is a long-term strategy. If you work it well, one day you will have a machine to attract new users without investing more time and money”, comments José Carlos Cortizo.
Podcasts and other open content
A common way to get qualified leads without large investments is open content about something specialized. Chus Naharro , a specialist in creating newsletters, uses this form of cold recruiting to reach his potential customers: companies and entrepreneurs who want to create their own newsletters, a subscription-based podcast and training on newsletters.
“At the top of my funnel are open content, open podcasts where I talk to newsletter creators . It is a very niche podcast within the services that I provide. The idea is to create a gateway to tell the listener: ‘if you want to know more about how to create a newsletter, you can subscribe to my newsletter’, to take them to the next phase of the funnel. Another hook that I use in this part of the funnel is an annual newsletter study that generates a lot of interest in my target audience: people who already have their own newsletter or who are thinking of creating one. With the study, the message is the same: ‘If you want to learn how to write newsletters, subscribe’ with the aim of getting the lead to be able to send them communications with the newsletter”, he comments.Chus Naharro .
This type of strategy, in which “ the user is warmed up with valuable content , is key in the sale of consulting services in which the decision-making process is very long. In our case, for example, the average to close the sale is 9 months. Sometimes people even come who have known us for three or four years and had not bought from us yet. In our case, our podcast plays a key role, which plays a role similar to SEO. I attract people who I don’t know exactly when they are going to make their purchase decision. We sell an expensive service. Our average project is between 50,000 and 200,000 euros a year”, says Cortizo.
“And we have another problem and that is that the people who need our service do not do a direct search on Google looking for growth hacking companies. What many do is that when they have a growth problem they think: who do I know who can help me? And they think of us because they’ve listened to the podcast. It is simply planting the seed that Product Hacker is a growth agency that helps them grow so that the day they have any need related to what we can offer, they come to us”, adds José Carlos Cortizo.
Copywriting for all phases of the funnel
Copywriting is also key , which will be present in all phases of the funnel . “The type of messages that we are going to launch is present in the content of the advertising that the consumer clicks on when you capture their attention, in the capture landing page that you take them to when clicking to download a free resource (a live masterclass , a recorded webinar or whatever) and leave you his email. It is present in the sequence of emails and other actions that try to generate trust and security to close the sale. And in the sale, where you have to convince him that he wants this product and is willing to pay for it”, explains Luis Garau.
And he adds: “The key for all this to work is to remove the focus from yourself , from your company, from these typical messages that are repeated ad nauseam of ‘we offer solutions adapted to each of our clients’ or ‘we have 25 years of experience’. You must take the focus off of yourself to put it on the client. The client is interested in the results that you are going to offer him and how you can help him. You have to get people to understand that you understand what their problem is, that you have a solution to that problem, that you can help them and that you are the best solution”, adds Garau.
Product test and personalized tests
In the attraction phase, it also works very well to offer your tool openly for testing (if you have a Saas or something similar) or launch a test to offer the client personalized information that they will receive by email.
“ Personalized diet apps, for example, do it to capture an audience . They tell you tell me what your problem is, your weight and your goals and I’ll send you a personalized program. It works very well because you go very quickly from advertising to the lead in exchange for something useful for him . It is important that the client understands why he should leave the email. It is about offering them something of great value to him and then you warm him up in the following phases. Until now, advertising-based banners have been abused a lot, because advertising was cheap, but today it is a very saturated resource and it is time to be very creative”, comments José Carlos Cortizo.
Contests and content on networks
“Another example is contests on social networks. For example, the founders of Blue Banana use them so that people share them among their contacts and thus multiply the reach by paying little. At a time when acquisition costs are increasing, being able to generate dynamics where your users help you reach a new audience and lower these acquisition costs are key so that the entire funnel makes sense later.
“In an ecommerce, for every hundred users you are going to sell to two or three. In a B2B consulting service like ours, out of every thousand you sell to one. If you spend a lot on the entry of the funnel, taking into account that the conversion rate in the end will be small, you will not be able to make it profitable . That thought, reaching the user as cheaply as possible looking for a certain virality and generating a good excuse to have the email, is the basis for the funnel to work well later ”, continues José Carlos Cortizo.
Label the origin of the users
“My strategy is based on building an audience on social networks to take them to my newsletter. Actions on Linkedin and Twitter exclusively, with different content on each social network that leads them to landing pages that are also different where they can subscribe to my newsletter. I make them different because that way the email marketing tool automatically puts a Linkedin tag or a Twitter tag. So I know where people come fromand I can offer you different content. I know that the people who follow me on Twitter are more interested in learning and buying my products than my services. And on Linkedin I have an audience that I work with that is more interested in my services. These tags allow you to filter people and design different fully automatic strategies so that those leads, those new subscribers, become customers”, says Luis Garau.
INTEREST PHASE
“If a person has entered the web, has seen a product and has entered its file … it is already in the phase of interest. Now I can use tools from inside and outside my website”, says Andrés from Spain.
In this phase, the key tools are product pages, evaluations on Google and social networks, personalized emails …
“In the product file you can already offer them some information that is based on one of their thoughts , for example, if it is a fashion item, a message like ‘it always looks good with red shoes’ or ‘ways to combine this product’. Or throw information that has to do with sizes, in case you have doubts about that. I can also work on the phase of interest from the outside. That person can come to my website, enter a product file and leave. In my funnel, both on the web and abroad, it is in the phase of interest and I have to launch advertising or messages abroad that are different from the initial ones, when they did not know me and wanted to capture their attention. Now I know what product he wants, or is interested in, and I can resort to product marketing”, says Andrés from Spain.
user experience
“In this phase, the user experience plays a key role . Understand how the web is distributed, how the products are, if the searches are easy, if they are not, if there are many barriers for the client when it comes to finding the information they are looking for, give the product measurements well if it is a physical product, all the descriptions… and that you know exactly how to pay and close the sale in as few clicks as possible”, says Marina Febles, from AtipicaMarketing .
He adds: “ Many things can be done to improve the user experience . From simplifying menus to understanding with heat maps where users are looking and where they are clicking or where they stop in the process. Also analyze what are the most common questions and see what we must change to improve that information… see where we are failing both in the structure of the web and in the customer journey to shorten the purchase process”.
service funnel
“In this second level in which there is already a greater degree of commitment, I send a weekly newsletter focused on informing about news in the sector, inspirational content on how others do it, how they monetize, etc. Different informative pills before introducing in the email the proposal that they sign up for my paid course to create their own newsletter or that I have this private podcast plus a community that they can access to continue improving their newsletter”, comments Chus Naharro. “It is about selflessly offering content to show the other things that you have in the funnel that I have set up: free content, newsletter and private podcast, and finally training and consulting that many ask for once they see your solvency in the content that has gone receiving”.
It is a process in which each one decides how much automation they want to introduce and what steps they prefer to do manually, let’s say. “In my case, when someone subscribes to the newsletter, I send them a welcome sequence , the next day I tell them about the benefits of having a newsletter and I give them information about my study, to introduce them to the study that I do every year. The next day I give him some tips to create his own list and I tell him that I have a course if he wants to learn more tips to grow. And the last automatic email is that of ‘hey, this is all very well but in the end you have to be constant, be inspired by others’, and then I’ll sell you my private podcast”, explains Chus Naharro.
DESIRE PHASE
“The customer is in the wish phase when he adds one or more products to the cart . Here the problems that may interest the client have to do with information on how to return the product, what is the total amount of the cart, how much does the transport cost, etc. When you are close to spending the money , we can also send you more emotional messages, such as those who have bought this, have also bought this other, or sending you discount codes if you buy within 24 hours or if there are few units left of this product… In the wish phase i can use more powerful items because it is closer to purchaseand that allows me to move forward so that he does not leave. Because even if you have added products to the cart, you can still check out”, points out Andrés from Spain.
In short, in this phase it is about implying the check out or closing of the sale and avoiding cart abandonment. If, even so, the customer abandons the purchase, it is common to resort to retargeting , to remind them of the articles they have been looking at or a newsletter with information about the products consulted, some additional discount if they buy in a certain period or things that may interest them. related to what has aroused your interest.
For Marina Febles, “in this phase of the funnel you have to work with a lot of data . Use tools that give us information about whether the customer has opened the email, if they opened it but did not click on the products, or if they clicked on a category but did not buy… Also how long ago they looked and see ways to recover customers that we did not receive They have been buying for a long time. Here it is about making campaigns thinking only of those people who were hesitant, we know they want to buy but have not taken the plunge. We have to see carefully what images and products we are going to offer them so that it is as specific and personalized as possible. With this, conversions are greatly increased.”
BUYS
Once the customer has closed the purchase , “what I want is for them to be calm during the waiting and return process . I send him information about his order, how he is going to receive the product, if he has any problem where he has to call to find out the status of the order… And I don’t push him any further until the loyalty or recurrence phase”, says Andrés from Spain.
RECURRENCE, LOYALTY AND RECOMMENDATION
“In this phase , monitoring the sale is key . In the after-sales service , you can make email sequences with satisfaction surveys about the shipment, the reception of the product and if you are happy with it, invite them to give us a testimonial and publish it on social networks . That they publish on social networks, that they share it with people and put them in a rewards program. We can take advantage of that phase to increase our brand authority and continue to care for our customers. If it is a product that you are going to need on a recurring basis, offer you a subscription service…”, comments Marina Febles.
“And to get them to buy from you again, you must also work on the brand, so that they remember us when they need our products and/or services again,” adds Andrés from Spain.
In this objective, emails with new promotions and new products, as well as tips for using the products, can help us a lot.
A multidimensional funnel
It must be taken into account that, although we are talking about a funnel that is traditionally represented in a linear way, a closed process in which many people enter and convert very little, in reality this funnel works in a multidimensional way . “In depicting it, we need to take into account different dimensions at once. The dimension of needs, the dimension of advertising, the dimension of commercial arguments and the dimension of metrics and actions. Because? Because in reality the route that potential clients take is not like a slide, you go up, you go in and you go down, but rather it is more like an amusement park, there are entrances and exits from different places and a lot of connections”, he explains. Javier Echaleku , creator of Sales Funnel Canvas.
And he adds: “When we see it in a multidimensional way, we are taking into account the human mind, the human mind does not work in a linear way.. In a sales process there are situations of distance and approach. And the channels are going to take you from online to offline and they are going to take you back online… With advertising I can take you to an item that generates a need for you but you don’t buy it right away most of the time. Then I’ll still take you to a store to try the product or try to get you to buy it online through Instagram. Or maybe you come to me because you listen to a podcast and then you forget, but you see an ad that takes you to my article and you remember me again. All that tidal wave of things cannot be seen in a linear way. For this reason, the graphic way of representing it so linearly does not correspond to the reality of the user. If we try to represent it in a linear way instead of representing it in a multidimensional way, it will not work for me,
Technology to improve the funnel
“The objective of the sales funnel is to automate the customer’s steps towards closing the sale as much as possible. Scale the sale thanks to that automation. This can be done in any business, whether you sell products or services. With Google Analytics, for example, you can see where the visitors come from and what path they follow inside your website, what pages they visit, etc.”, comments Luis Garau.
In addition, in the market you will find email marketing tools that adapt very well to the main online commerce platforms to analyze the customer journey and design data-based funnel strategies.
“I use one called Mailerlite , but there are also other very typical ones such as Mailchimp , or ActiveCampaign , which allow you to do these automations. Many of them offer similar things. You have to value what each one offers you. For example, ActiveCampaign, one that a lot of people use, is the one with the most advanced automation options. In my case, I have chosen Mailerlite because its free planit’s fantastic; offers you up to a thousand subscribers and up to 12,000 monthly emails totally free, and that includes subscription forms that you can create, landing pages where you can take people without having to have your website and other automations that free tools generally do not offer you” , points out Luis Garau.
Andrés from Spain, for his part, recommends “ Connectif, which is a web automation and customization tool. Klavillo, an email marketing tool that allows you to send notifications, make pop ups, SMS, etc. and Augment , which simplifies the number of automatic actions they are supposed to do.
Chus Naharro highlights Funnelytics , a very useful tool to design the funnel visually.
And Javier Echaleku, Sales Funnel Canvas , the canvas that allows visualizing the multidimensional funnel. “It allows you to see in a single canvas, the entire marketing strategy completed in a project.”
