What is Sales Funnel And How Can It Help You To Attract Leads?

If there’s one thing every business owner must know, it’s that the customers are the lifeblood of any business. As such, gaining new customers should be a top priority, as this is vital to business success and growth. Your ability to attract and engage potential customers and entice them towards their very first purchase is the key to success.

In a highly competitive market, your lead generation efforts can make a huge difference. This makes it important for businesses to pay attention and invest in this marketing aspect. It is not surprising why companies spend billions on digital lead generation. In fact, by 2023, digital lead generation spending in the US is expected to hit $3.24 billion.

Fortunately, technology has made it easier for businesses to turn leads into profitable customers. Social media platforms, digital marketing applications, automation software, and various other IT solutions can help guide prospects into a successful sales journey. Gone are the days when businesses are confined to traditional offline marketing tactics. Nowadays, businesses can fully maximize every customer engagement through a variety of lead generation strategies and techniques.

But while technology has provided tools that can help you boost your lead generation goals, it is vital to understand the sales funnel so you can effectively guide potential customers through it.

So, what exactly are the sales funnel?

As the name suggests, a sales funnel illustrates the journey of the customer from the moment they learn about a business down to their first transaction. Using this step-by-step process, you can guide a prospect or potential customer one step closer to your promotion, with the ultimate goal of making a transaction. The sales funnel involves a series of marketing campaigns such as landing pages, emails, newsletters, content, videos, and social media ads. Each of these steps plays a vital part in the funnel.

Sales funnels act as a virtual salesperson that continuously brings new customers to your business. They work 24/7, 365 days a year, and on auto-pilot. Most often, consumers are unaware that the sales funnel is already working. When deployed effectively, it can have amazing results in your business sales and revenue.

Businesses use unique sales funnel depending on the nature of their enterprise and its sales model. The typical sales funnel can be divided into a series of steps. Here are the five stages of a sales funnel.

1.       Awareness Stage

Prospects initially learn of the existence of a business.

2.       Interest Stage

Prospects demonstrate interest by exploring or conducting product research.

3.       Evaluation Stage

Prospects examine the business more intently as they make a final decision.

4.       Decision Stage

Prospects make a final decision of whether to buy, negotiate, or abandon.

5.       Purchase Stage

Prospects finally make a transaction.

Some businesses have an extended sales funnel with two additional stages:

6.       Re-evaluation Stage

Customers decide whether or not to make another transaction or look for a replacement.

7.       Repurchase Stage

Customers make a repeat purchase from the business.

Although each customer has a unique decision-making process, they all follow specific stages that culminate in a purchase – your ultimate goal. An in-depth understanding of the sales funnel stages, can help you create better marketing tactics and higher conversion rates. Likewise, the sales funnel is vital in improving customer experience.

Sales funnel can help businesses attract leads in many ways.

1.       The sales funnel guides you in choosing an appropriate marketing strategy.

The sales funnel helps you decide on the most ideal marketing strategies or business model in your present situation. For example, you might want to focus on prospects already in the Evaluation Stage. With a sales funnel, you can easily identify which marketing tactics you need to boost.

2.       Sales funnel improves customer engagement.

If you are capable of identifying which stage a prospect is at, you can make necessary adjustments to your marketing campaign more relatable or engaging to the prospect. For example, you can send more directed content or adjust the tone of your copy. This can help drive them further down the funnel.

3.       The sales funnel generates more sales.

As a result of a more effective marketing strategy, you can drive more leads into making a transaction. In the long run, a well-planned sales funnel can bring in more revenue to your business. The idea is to systematically get your leads to act.

4.       The sales funnel gives the business a direction.

If your marketing efforts lack a direction, it is doomed. The sales funnel provides your ideas with a framework that ensures better execution. By having this system, you get an edge against competitors that don’t have an intelligible system in place.

5.       The sales funnel helps business grow.

With a sales funnel, you can easily see areas that need to be addressed. For example, you might have poor content thereby losing leads in the Interest Stage. You can make necessary modifications to your content so that prospects will successfully arrive at your desired outcome.

The sales funnel principle is an indispensable concept in attracting leads and turning them into customers. It is all about building relationships with your target audience so that you can get them to buy or use your product or service.