Sales Funnel Strategy: Examples and Tips to Build for eCommerce Business

In 2021, 570,000 websites used a minimum of one sales funnel-building technology. This number is expected to increase, and rightly so. A sales funnel strategy can help businesses of all sizes truly thrive.

So, how do you create a sales funnel for eCommerce? Let’s take a look in further detail:

What is a ‘sales funnel’?

A sales funnel is a marketing term that describes the journey potential customers go through on their way to making a sale. There are a number of different stages of the journey, which will discuss later in this post.

A good sales funnel can increase business growth. Despite this, 68 per cent of businesses have not measured a sales funnel. If you fall into this category, you’ll want to read on.

The importance of sales funnel in eCommerce business

A sales funnel helps you to truly understand what potential customers are doing and thinking at every stage of the buying journey. These insights give you the ability to invest in the best marketing channels and activities for your business, generate more relevant messaging throughout every stage, and turn more prospects into loyal, paying consumers.

The stages of a sales funnel

If you want to understand how to build a sales funnel, you need to understand the different stages:

Stage 1 - Awareness

If your prospects do not know who you are, you won’t be able to make a sale! The awareness stage is where your buyer discovers your business.

This can be achieved through a number of different avenues, including:

• Podcasts
• Social media
• Outbound campaigns
• Cold emails
• Cold calling
• Word of mouth

Stage 2 - Interest

Once a prospect shows interest, how you engage with them matters immensely. This sets the tone for your relationship going forward. You need to ensure this is a positive interaction.

Stage 3 - Evaluation

If a lead does not meet the criteria set for your best client, you should not process this through the qualification stage. No one wants to waste their time and resources on someone when they already know they are not going to be able to help them.

Stage 4 - Engagement

When a prospect is considering purchasing from you, it is imperative to do anything you can to keep your brand at the forefront of their mind without being overly aggressive.

One of the best approaches here is to send an email that contains something valuable, for example:

• Webinar snippets
• Pricing
• Case studies
• Ungated whitepapers

Stage 5 - Action

At this point of the sale funnel, your prospect has reached the top and made their decision. Congratulations, you have a new customer!

Stage 6 - Retention

Once you complete a sale, your hard work is not done. Retention is just as critical. Think about how you can ensure repeat business.

Effective eCommerce Sales Funnel example

To give you a better perspective, let’s take a look at some ecommerce sales funnel examples:

When selling products, a great approach is to highlight a certain product in a highly visible position on your landing page. If someone then purchases this product, an entire marketing effort is set off to entice the customer to make even bigger purchases.

1. A trial offer or low-price product

2. An email or pop-up that highlights a one-time product offer for a high-price product

3. An email or pop-up that highlights a one-time product offer for a medium-price product

4. A confirmation/thank you email and page

This example is a great option if you have a new company or you have just introduced a brand-new range of products.

Rather than selling a single product, this funnel will highlight a selection of products, focusing on cross-selling mid to high-priced items.

Steps to build a successful eCommerce Sales Funnel and how to optimise it

Let’s take a look at how eCommerce can improve sales with the right sales funnel strategy:

1. Get to know your target audience - Start off by understanding the people you are trying to convert. Ask questions such as: Where do they live? How much do they earn? What are their hobbies? What challenges do they face?
2. Identify your value ladder - A value ladder is a high-level outline of the order you anticipate a person to purchase your items, rising in both price and value.
3. Determine the best type of sales funnel for you - In the example above, we discussed a tripwire funnel. There are other options, though, such as a product launch funnel.
4. Optimise your offer - What can you offer your target market that they will not be able to refuse?
5. Write your content - This can be an overwhelming part of the process. Many people find it difficult to know what words to use. Start off by hooking them with an irresistible headline, follow with a story, and then present your offer.
6. Add social proof and urgency - Social proof is critical because people are more likely to believe what prior customers have had to say. Case studies and testimonials work well here. You can also use countdown timers to create a sense of urgency that gets people to purchase without overthinking it.
7. Test, learn, and make improvements - The best businesses do not remain stagnant. They are always improving.

Get your sales funnel strategy right and watch your business flourish

So there you have it: our sales funnel checklist. We hope that this has helped you to get a better understanding of how to build a sales funnel effectively. Once you have this mastered, you give your business a great foundation to thrive.