Hello and welcome,
For an online business owner, a sales funnel is probably the most important marketing tool you have. And yet many entrepreneurs (both new and established) don't have a clear understanding of what a funnel is or how it works.
So what the heck is a funnel, anyway?
As I'm sure you can imagine, not taking the time to fully understand this critical part of your business can and will lead to fewer sales, lower profits, and ultimately, an unstable business.
The Simple Sales Funnel
At its most basic, a sales funnel consists of free content, which typically requires nothing of your readers. Many sales funnels begin with blog posts, YouTube videos, Facebook content, and other information readers can access at no cost. This is the “top” of your funnel.
Next, you’ll have an attractive offer that requires a very small “payment” of sorts, typically an email address. You’ve seen this type of offer on websites all over the internet, and probably even signed up for some. Hint, there is one on the right side of this page 😉
Your offer can be anything of value to your website visitors like a free ebook, report, how-to guide, video series, checklist, workbook, or other content that's made available to them in exchange for “opting in” to your email list.
Once a new person joins your mailing list, you’ll then present them with the free gift as well as a series emails that include more information and low-cost offers. Perhaps you have a low-priced ebook or a trial membership.
Customers who purchase your low-priced product move further down the funnel, and are presented with more, higher priced products. As they continue to buy, they move closer and closer to your top-end offers, which make up the bottom of your funnel.
Don't worry this whole process can be automated, so you only have to set it up once and it will keep working for you as long as you want it to. If you want to know more about automated systems for your sales funnel check out this post. Its all about setting up an automated sales force.
How Your Funnel Works
If you imagine your funnel as looking like, well, a funnel, it’s easy to see that your free content at the top is consumed by the largest number of readers. Below that, your extreme low-cost item (available only for the cost of an email address) attracts a smaller subset of the true freebie seekers. Next, your low-priced products bring in yet a smaller group.
Finally, as you near the tip of the funnel, the loyalest fans and customers
will purchase your higher priced offers.
Your job, as the business owner, is to ensure that your funnel leads buyers naturally from the top, free offers all the way to the bottom. The more buyers you can keep in your funnel, the more money you'll make.
Most new and even established business owners can easily envision the top of the funnel, but if you truly want your business to grow, you must master the entire process, and that starts with understanding what a funnel really is and how it works.
Need a little help with your sales funnel?
Download this free Sales Funnel Checklist and use it to plan out your funnel.
If you want an easy to follow detailed plan for building out or plugging leaks in your sales funnel then I recommend this Sales Funnel Planner. You can print it out and use it yourself, use it with your clients and you can even sell it from inside your own sales funnel.
If you like this post please comment, share and fill out the short form on this page to subscribe to my list so I can send you even more tips, information and blog updates that will help you grow your business online!
Thank you for reading,
Don't forget to check out this weeks sponsor White Label Perks Your Source for High-Value White Label PLR Content.
Download your free pretty blog kit here:
http://lisamcope.com/pretty-blog-plan
Zip file - No strings - No sign up required!
Inside your pretty blog planning kit you'll get 21 tips for making your blog more visually appealing along with a printable worksheet, calendar and checklist that you can use to make your blog a customer converting machine.