WHAT IS A SALES FUNNEL?
Phase 1: First Introduction
1st Time Visitor Interaction
First impressions are lasting impressions. They make or break the entire customer experience. This is especially true for niche bloggers, and those crucial first 3 seconds of arriving to your landing page.
You have 3 seconds to capture the attention of a first time visitor. During that first 3 seconds, the prospect sees what is referred to as “above the fold,” a design term referring to the first half of the screen before they have to scroll down. – This is the a critical part of your landing page.
Two outcomes are possible from that first time interaction:
- Your design successfully attracted their attention. They continue reading, seeking a solution to their problem.
- They closed the window to your niche blog, for any number of reasons. Your design was unprofessional. You didn’t provide immediate information regarding their problem and how you can solve it. The mobile responsive design did not load properly, or the website took too long to load.
Hopefully, they continue to read your niche blog content, which brings you to the next design element of your WordPress niche blog sales funnel process. This element is called a “call-to-action,” and is exactly what it states; I am telling you to do something to get the solution to your problem.
This can be done a number of ways. You can follow up with a call-to-action statement, for example, “Use the opt-in form to submit your name and email, and I will be able to follow up with more details regarding your problem and the solutions I offer.”
"Let me help you solve your problem."
“Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but buy my stuff maybe.”
Awareness & Brand Recognition
On average, it takes a person 3 – 5 interactions with your niche blog before they can remember or recall your brand. That old saying, “Third time’s a charm” is a good way to consider the factors when introducing your brand. This is why it’s critical to capture the 1st time visitors information. Using an email opt-in form, such as Aweber, allows you to quickly collect their information. It’s highly recommended to offer something of value to your 1st time visitor. Offer them valuable information, a special savings offer, or a free download. You may simply wish to start off asking them to sign up for your email newsletter. Once they submit their contact information, that 1st time visitor moves onto the next phase of the niche blog sales funnel process; they become a warm lead.
Automated WordPress Sales Funnel Requirements
Hosting Providers
Building an Automated Sales Funnel
- A sales funnel is a highly detailed & dynamic process a first time visitor must go through in order to become a 1st-time customer, and eventually a loyal brand advocate (or customer for life).
- A sales funnel is not a sales pitch.
- A sales funnel isn’t a piece of software like Adobe Photoshop, however you can use Adobe Photoshop to develop elements of a sales funnel.
- Sales funnels are not limited to one platform (i.e. WordPress Sales Funnels), however there are sales funnels designed specifically for one platform.
- A sales funnel isn’t something you can purchase and expect it to work without setting it up and designing the sales process.
Phase 2: Lead Generation
Finding Leads
Now that you have successfully collected your customer’s contact information, the next step in your niche blog sales funnel is to build rapport and establish trust. During this phase, your reader will be considering a multitude of factors. They have not yet made an affiliate purchase through your niche blog, and are currently processing information in order to make the best purchasing decision.
- Is there any real benefit with purchasing a product through your publication, vs. your competitors?
- Am I learning more about the product or service via your channel, compared to other channels?
- Is there any type of discount for purchasing through your blog?
You have now interreacted with your potential customer on more than 1 occasion. The customer has established trust in your brand; you have provided value that has improved some aspect of their life. This value may have been in the form of presenting the answer to a question, advising them how to complete a certain task, entertaining your customer a number of times, etc.
Phase 3: Evaluate
During the Evaluation Phase, your warm lead is weighing the pros & cons of purchasing a product or service. This is the point in which they ultimately decide to continue and finalize the purchase (move to phase 4), or they decide to hold off on the purchase.
This phase may take just a few moments, several days, months, & in some cases, years or more.
Closing the sale can happen on the customer’s 1st visit, or it may take several months of follow-up emails, new posts, and social media interaction.
With this in mind, it’s best to map the paths your lead takes, step-by-step, for you to close the sale.
Why is the Consumer Spending Money?
Purchases are made because a person needs a product for survival and basic standard of living, or they want an item for entertainment or higher quality of living. Necessity or Desire. Understanding the reason why your consumer is spending money will help you develop optimized content. For example, you’re not going to write an article about “Affordable Housing in Georgia” with the same tone as you would if you were writing an article about “Top Video Game Systems of 2024.” Obviously, the key is to create informative content to educate consumers about a product or service they will find highly useful and beneficial to their health, wellbeing, or emotions.
Necessary for Survival
Purchases required for a person to survive on a day to day basis. People will purchase these products from you or from somebody else because they need them in order to survive.
Necessary for a Healthy Lifestyle
Necessary products to maintain current state of physical & mental wellbeing. This may include medicines, gym memberships, hygiene products, etc.
Financial Necessity
Products or services required for financial reasons – home & auto loans, continuing education costs, insurance.
Basic Wants
Products & services not required for basic survival, however they may be considered minor “needs,” due to their ability to increase happiness, comfort, and Enjoyment.
Desired Wants
Products & services that would require that average middle class American a few months of savings in order to be able to afford – not necessarily high ticket items,
Luxury Wants
Products & services in this category are available only for purchase by people with an income threshold above $100k annually. They are purchases that would require middle class working Americans several months – years worth of savings in order to be able to purchase them. These are often referred to as “big ticket” items. The commissions on these sales are going to be high, however you are not going to sell as many of them as you will the products in other categories.
Answering Questions
Questions and answers are a good thing. It means your lead is interested in your product or service, however they do not have enough information to make their final decision. It’s also a good idea to write down any questions that previous clients / customers have had and put them in the FAQ section of your website or blog. This helps educate people about your product before they get to the point where they have to call or email in order to have their question answered.
- FAQ Section on your website or blog
- Product specifications
- Ingredients
- Materials
- Software
- Hardware
- Pricing sheet
- Pricing sheet
- Pricing comparison
- Amount of products sold during previous year
- Customer satisfaction
- Competitors products
- Safety specifications
- Government regulations
Always know the product or service you are selling. You want to know the answers to questions before they ask them. Answering a warm lead’s question with “I’m not sure – however I can get that information for you and follow up with an email…” isn’t always the best answer when you are not guaranteed a follow-up call. This isn’t always possible – there may be questions about very specific product or service details that are just not available.
When answering a question with “I will follow up with you via phone or email” is appropriate:
- Making an appointment
- Requesting a quote
- When services require multiple interactions
Phase 4: Making the Purchase
The Decision Phase of the sales process is the period of time the customer actually BUYS the product or service.
For simple sales funnels, the buying process may consist of as few as 3 pages: The sales page , The checkout page, & the product delivery page.
Call to Action
What is a call-to-action?
A call-to-action is exactly what it implies: You are telling the customer the next step they must take to purchase the product. A call to action text link would say, “To purchase this product, click here.”
Studies have shown that call-to-actions are more successful when visually appealing aesthetics, dynamic buttons, the use of arrow images showing where to sign up, and ease of functionality increase sales.
Payment Processing
For most WordPress niche blogs making money from affiliate sales, you will not have to focus much of your time on building the checkout page. This is commonly referred to as a “Payment Gateway,” or the “POS” – Point of Sale. Examples of Payment Gateways include PayPal, Authorize.Net, & Stripe. If you are selling your own product on your niche blog, and are required to build the Payment Gateway Process, please note: each page of sales funnel should consist of 1 Main Call-to-Action.
Checkout & Payment Processing: At this point, the first-time visitor is now referred to as a ‘warm lead.’ Warm leads are interested in your product. At this point, clearly define your call-to-actions with “BUY NOW” buttons or other actions that will get them to their final purchasing page.
The checkout process should be easy and simple to use. Make sure the checkout process works on all different types of devices and browsers. A lot of new online marketers who are attempting to create checkout options themselves may not realize that what works on Google Chrome Desktop version flawlessly will not load properly in with Safari on iPhone. It’s always best to check browser compatibility on a min. of 3 different devices – Desktop (3 browser) , iPhone (3 browsers), and Android (3 browsers). If you do not have access to all of these devices, this Firefox extension / Google Chrome Extension / Firebug – works perfectly to help you troubleshoot different issues with your checkout process using different devices and different browsers.
Mapping the Call-to-Action Path
When developing your sales funnel, explain the purpose of each page and identify the main call-to-action. Write down the actual path your customer must walk through and successfully complete to finalize the purchase.
Example
Landing Page Address: https://iblogmind.com/landing
CTA: Buy Item
CTA Strategy: Use a Buy Now Button & text link.
CTA Link: https://iblogmind.com/buy-item
Page 2 Address: https://iblogmind.com/buy-item
Call-to-action: Credit Card Details
CTA 2 Strategy: Use a Form with PayPal
CTA Link 2: http://paypal.com/buy-now-link
After the First Purchase
Delivering the Product / Service
The first few minutes after the first purchase is a critical memory point for your customers when it comes to customer service and how they perceive your business as a whole.
If you’re doing an automated sales funnel, the first event that should happen after the initial purchase:
- Send an email thanking the customer and providing them with sales details: i.e. shipping information, tracking information, product #, return information
- The first-time buyer’s email is automatically added to a new email list (buyers)
- Request a review of your product or service
Phase 5: Loyal Customer Advocacy
Congratulations, you’ve built a reputable brand and people have learned a lot from you. You’ve developed an audience that loves you. These customers become brand advocates for you. They will share your content online through social media, or with friends & family. They may even become an Affiliate, and you may wish to compensate them for sending you new leads or sales.
You’ve Achieved This:
- Your brand is trustworthy and carries itself with integrity
- You’ve got a proven track record of providing exceptional customer service to your target market, and they are confident in your ability to continue providing high quality products and services
- Your product / service really helps people in their daily lives
- You’ve provided exceptional value to your customer
Once a customer reaches this stage, you may continue to follow up with other products or services they may enjoy. You may also want to do the following:
- Loyalty Programs – allow them to earn a % back after they spend X amount of dollars.
- Affiliate Commissions – Your customer has become a brand advocate. Give them the ability to earn a commission off of recommending your product to others.
What's Next?
Now that your sales funnel is functional, and you have a clear step-by-step process that your customers can walk through, it’s time to start evaluating your sales funnel. To learn more about sales funnel split testing, and how to maximize leads and close more sales, check out this article on Site Performance & Analytics.
Thank you for reading!
Welcome to iblogmind.com – a WordPress resource all about niche blogging with WordPress. This site is designed specifically for beginners – novice internet marketers who are looking to build a WordPress niche blog.