The goal of a sales funnel is to maximise the number of people moving from one stage to the next and ultimately maximise conversions.
Sales funnels generally consist of 4 stages but should consider a vital 5th stage:
Awareness
Interest
Decision
Action
5. Repeat Business
Increasing the number of people moving from one stage to the next can massively increase conversion rates, but, often sales funnel’s rely on quantitative analytics which tells you the what and not the why.
This article looks into the five different stages of the sales funnel and the importance of personalisation.
Personalisation can move E-Commerce stores away from wide casted sales funnels and create more niche sales funnels which have a higher likelihood of moving consumers from one stage to the next.
Read below to see how personalisation can be leveraged at each stage of the sales funnel.
Awareness Stage
In the awareness stage you are providing information and content to potential customers. The type of information you are presenting at this stage is of particular importance as you may be identifying a problem that your potential customer faces.The purpose of this content is to:
Identify your target audience
Introduce your brand identity
Offer solutions
In the awareness stage you want to inform your audience and not sell to them. You want to be providing valuable information focussed on educating your audience on the benefits of your products and services.
Although you are not selling your product (yet), this stage is crucial in gaining trust from your potential customers.
The problem that faces most E-Commerce stores is they do not have a thorough understanding of their target audience and often follow a broad and shallow marketing strategy. This is a strategy in which a wide variety of content/information is spread across a large audience with the aim of hoping something sticks. Using this method during the awareness stage limits the impact your material is having on your audience.
You want to understand your target audience as thoroughly as possible and then introduce your brand identity and offer solutions in the most relevant manner.
This should be done by segmenting your target audience and pushing relevant information to the relevant segment.
Building awareness is usually achieved through SEO, social media advertising, and email blasts. Making sure you understand what type of content your audience is looking for and how they prefer to receive it, is crucial for getting targeted awareness. This will not only inform, but also build trust with your target audience.
The Interest Stage
So now you have built awareness about your business, it is time to convert that awareness to interest.
Interest from your audience can take shape in many form. Your audience may like your social media page, subscribe to your newsletter or download a piece of material you have created.
In this stage you are still not directly pushing your customer to make a purchase, but you are driving engagement. You want to peak their interest some more by offering your audience something that benefits them. Providing a discount code, asking them to subscribe to a newsletter or offering them a download of a free EBook are examples of ways to convert your audience to interested.
Converting a user from the awareness stage to the interested stage is a vital step in the sales funnel. This is why the awareness stage is so important. The way in which a consumer becomes aware of your store and the first impression they have around your brand, what your store offers and ultimately the trust they have with your store all ties into whether they transition from awareness to interest.
Again, personalisation plays an important role here. Being able to segment your customers based on what interests them can impact the strategy you implement to convert users from awareness to interest.
Using a Bazar Survey, you may want to ask your target audience what is important for them when coming across an E-Commerce store for the first time.
For example, older women may be more interested in finding out the latest trends in the industry you are in, whereas younger women may be more interested in getting a discount in order to try a brand.
Using this information you can then personalise your sales funnel.
Using the example above, when an older woman arrives on a website for the first time it may be beneficial to offer a pop up asking them to subscribe to your newsletter - where they will find all the latest information about your product category.
Whereas, when a younger woman arrives to a store for the first time it may be better to offer them a discount code on their first purchase by providing their email address.
Both methods transition the audience from the awareness stage to the interested stage.
Adapting the marketing strategy and adding personalisation to the sales funnel, increases the likelihood of each user segment transitioning from aware into interested.
The Decision Stage
Once a consumer is interested, they are likely to take action and search through your website. As a consumer is browsing through your store they will decide whether they want to buy from your store or not.
The goal here is to prove to the consumer the value and the benefits of your product and prove your initial claim.
To prove to your consumer that you are a trustworthy brand you can leverage the use of user reviews, case studies, social media content or word of mouth.
One popular survey question used by Bazar Surveys users is looking at the effectiveness of influencers in marketing strategies and seeing whether they add or reduce trust towards a brand.
Industries such as sports and nutrition and cosmetics see a particular positive impact around influencers. Using influencer testimonials on your website/particular product pages can be an interesting way to build that trust and help consumers in the decision stage.
Another important factor for E-Commerce stores to consider is the layout of the store. Your store should be easy to navigate, have a search function and importantly have clear pictures with informative descriptions to accompany any products.
The Action Stage
The action stage is where all the previous parts of the sales funnel come together. It is the part of the buying process where the customer actually follows through by making a purchase.
Having a smooth and easy checkout process is important in decreasing the likelihood of shopping cart abandonment.
You want to make sure that there is a good flow for customers making a purchase and the process is easy for them to navigate. Try not to have the checkout process span across too many different steps/pages.
You want to also have a sign up function which allows your customers to easily checkout, without refilling in their details, on any future purchases. However, don’t make this a requirement as having to sign up may deter some customers from purchasing.
The Repeat Business Stage
The last stage in the selling process is arguably the most important, although often neglected.
It happens after a customer makes a purchase and it is the ideal goal for an E-Commerce store - to have returning customers.
Customer retention is so important because these people can help drive further sales by being advocates for your brand, referring friends to your brand and also sharing their experiences for example on product reviews (remember this can be an important part of the action step) or social media posts.
These repeat customers are the ones you want to have a deep understanding of. Using Bazar Surveys you can find out more information about your customers to not only drive repeat business but also attract new customers who fit the same profile.
Having like minded people defined and segmented can help you build a community around these customer types and have a strong base of loyal customers to help drive further sales.
Conclusion
In conclusion every stage of the sales cycle should be considered important. The percentage of people moving from one stage to the next will have a big impact on conversion rates.
You want to make every stage of the sales funnel as relevant to your target customer as possible, making it as personal as possible.
You shouldn’t be casting a wide net with a large sales funnel and trying the numbers game.
Segmenting your target audience and creating niche sales funnels which increase the percentage of people moving from one stage to the next of the sales funnel will pay dividends compared to the time and effort it takes to create additional sales funnels.
If you want to find out some more about how Bazar can help you discover insights about your target audience and help segment your audience effectively, contact us here.
