What is a sales funnelThe sales funnel represents the customer journey, serving as a guide for your marketing strategy. It shows the path your customer takes, from the first contact with your company to completing the sale. In digital marketing, sales funnel is the name given to the combination of techniques used to encourage users of digital platforms to become customers.The stages of the sales funnel help you better understand where the potential customer is in the process. This helps the company develop actions so they move forward in the funnel and close the deal.More than that, it is important to think of the sales pipeline as a source of guidance, to work toward customer success. The goal is not to complete the purchase at any cost, but to offer what the persona needs to actually solve the problem they are facing.Stages in a buying journeyBefore we can talk about the sales funnel, we must first understand the stages in a buying journey. The first time a buying journey was mapped, the acronym AIDA was developed: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.Stages in a buying journeyAttentionAt this stage of the purchase, the customer does not yet know your product or service. In this case, you cannot present your solution; after all, a solution to what if there is no problem? We must make the customer understand that there is a problem!Example: is makeup for men necessary? Perhaps making it clearer how bad skin can affect your life would be ideal, or even showing famous actors with ideal skin could be interesting for the customer to understand how their life can improve.InterestOnce the customer understands that there is a problem, they start looking to understand the subject. At this point, we must push the customer to the next stage by explaining the importance of this problem and how it should take priority over others in their life.The conversation here is extremely important. They know their life can improve with makeup, but is it necessary to prioritize this? We have many other problems, so why spend money on it?DesireAt this point, they already know the purchase will be made, but they still do not know which product is best. Here, we must show expertise on the subject and can use more sophisticated terms.If we know the customer will buy the makeup, we must explain why ours is the best makeup. What is special about our production?ActionNow is the time to make the purchase request, offer the promotion, or provide free shipping so the customer actually decides to buy.The buying stages and the sales funnelThe sales funnel is built precisely with the buying stages in mind. We always want to push the customer to the next stage and never lose sight of them.Stages of the sales funnelThe sales funnel can consist of several stages, but we generally divide it into three: top of the funnel (visitors and leads), middle of the funnel (opportunities), and bottom of the funnel (sales).Stages of a sales funnelTop of the funnelThe top of your funnel is the stage where your marketing efforts are aimed at a potential customer who does not know your business, service, or brand.That is why your work should focus on presenting what you offer. This is done in several ways:advertising on social media or websites your target customer may visit;sponsoring local events;branding campaigns, and more.All of these are common methods of introducing someone to your brand. At this stage, it is also worth considering that your target customer, or persona, often does not even know they have a problem. Therefore, it is interesting for your message to be based on these needs.Let's imagine your business is time management software. You should communicate with your top-of-funnel customers using content such as:1. “Do you work and work, but still have no money?”2. “Do you never have time for anything?”Here, the goal is to identify a problem that your product or service can solve and show your potential customer that they have exactly that problem. It may seem incredible, but many people do not even know they have a problem or think it is so normal that they do not even look for a solution.Middle of the funnelIn the middle of the funnel, the goal is to take the potential customer to your destination page, or landing page, and then convince them to fill out a form sharing some data with your company in exchange for quality content or an offer. Examples you can offer:EbookFree consulting;Free course;Live session talking with your customersParticipation in a communityInformation about promotional productsThis turns a user into a lead. At this stage, the use of marketing automation software is essential to nurture the captured lead.Among the useful tools for this stage are:content marketing;social media;automated email marketing;SMS marketing;chatbot marketing.When you introduce a potential customer to your free content, you show what you can offer. This takes them to the bottom of the funnel, where leads are converted into sales.Bottom of the funnelThis is where a potential customer decides to do business with you. This is called a sales conversion. In most cases, conversions are how you measure the success of your funnel.Basically, customers who are already at the bottom-of-funnel stage need one final motivation to complete the purchase.For example, in an e-commerce store, this is the customer who created a shopping cart and abandoned it, or who clicked several times on your ad for the same product but did not complete the purchase. In theory, this customer has already gotten this far knowing exactly what they need.It is time to give that little push and offer free shipping, a discount coupon, or any other incentive that makes them close the deal.
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