Introduction to the Sales Funnel
Tons of small businesses spend a lot of time and effort putting out marketing content. However, they can’t seem to translate any leads or views from that content into sales and customers. Despite spending all of this time and effort on making content to catch attention, there isn’t a return on the investment. In short, they’re not using marketing that closes sales.
Does this sound like your business? If so, stop throwing money and time into the wind on content and read this guide!
The most common culprit in this case is businesses only putting out “attraction” content followed by asking for a sale. This skips many steps of the sales cycle and usually leads to businesses missing out on sales and customers.
Let’s take an analogy here. Let’s say you’ve met someone at an event after talking about your shared interest in travel. Would you immediately ask that person to marry you? Of course not! So why are small businesses doing this with their potential customers?
Rather than immediately asking for marriage, you would spend a lot of time with that person getting to know them and building your relationship. After enough trust and understanding has been built, that relationship might finally be ready for the big question.
Businesses need to do the same thing with their targeted customers. After they have attracted initial attention, they need to ensure they have content and strategy that builds trust and fosters a strong relationship before arriving at a sale.
This process from attraction to closing the sale is often called the sales journey, and the content and strategy that a business uses to guide a customer along that journey is called their Sales Funnel. Proper use of the Sales Funnel will produce marketing that closes sales.
What is a Sales Funnel?
The Sales Funnel is a framework that helps businesses guide their customers from initial impression to sales (and beyond). A customer has different needs at each stage in the sales journey, and the Sales Funnel aligns those needs with a business’s marketing content and strategy. The funnel contains multiple layers that have different focuses depending on where the customer is at in their sales journey.
The number of layers in the funnel varies depending on many factors, but most small businesses should focus on four key layers: Top of Funnel (TOFU), Middle of Funnel (MOFU), Bottom of Funnel (BOFU), and Retention. Each layer has a different goal that is described below. These layers align with your customer’s interaction with your business. You can more generally think of it like this:
- Your customer becomes aware of you (TOFU)
- Your customer learns more about your offering (MOFU)
- Your customer decides what they want to purchase (BOFU)
- Your customer continues engagement with you after their purchase (Retention)
The shape of the funnel also shows you how people drop off at each stage. You can expect more people being aware of your business than those making purchases.
Top of Funnel: Attraction
Goal: Make your customer aware of your business
The top of your sales funnel is the attraction layer. This is where you want potential customers to become aware of your business and offering in a way that attracts them to it.
Keep in mind that this is your first impression, and you have about 3 seconds or less to make this impression before your customer decides whether they want to learn more about you [1].
So keep this content simple and easy to understand, yet impactful. Your content needs to make an appeal to your customer’s problems, interests, and desires. At the same time you need to make sure your business is introduced. Do not try to sell at the TOFU stage! Your goal here is to introduce your business, not to make the sale
The fictional example below does just that; it makes an emotional connection by stirring up a strong feeling that many homeowners have felt, while also giving awareness to the business. All of that in a clean, simple image.
Some other content ideas for small business TOFU include:
- Social media posts
- Reel style videos
- Flyers/posters/signs
- Branded Merchandise (shirts, bottles, bags, etc)
One final point to remember about TOFU content is that it should point towards the MOFU content. This comes in the form of links, QR codes, or other ways of getting to your business’s website.
Middle of Funnel: Engagement
Goal: Build trust and credibility with your customers
Use of only TOFU content won’t give you marketing that closes sales. Your business will need to continue engaging the customer after grabbing their attention. Otherwise you will have leads that go nowhere.
At this point the customer is aware of your business and sees that you recognize their problem. Content in the MOFU layer should show your customer that they can trust you to solve whatever problem they are facing.
At this stage of marketing, you should be demonstrating why your particular solution is the best option to solve their problem. On top of that, show the customer how their situation will improve with your solution.
It is important to provide plenty of evidence to back up your claims at this stage. For example, simply stating you have the best BBQ in the country probably won’t convince anyone. However, if you show several BBQ awards and accolades, this will convince many people that your claim is true.
A simple way to say this is “show, don’t tell“. Conclusions that your reader comes to on their own after reviewing evidence will be much more influential compared to statements that you make about your business or offering [2].
Here are some content ideas that small businesses can use for MOFU:
- Medium and long duration video
- Customer testimonials
- Case studies
- Blog posts
- Newsletters
MOFU content is often placed on a business’s website, but can also be sent directly to leads via email. The content should be readily available for your customer so that when they are ready to learn more about your business, the content is easy to find and access.
Want some MOFU examples? Check out the video and writing sections of our Portfolio page.
Bottom of Funnel: Closing
Goal: Motivate action and close the sale
After gaining the trust of your customer, it’s time to close the sale. At the BOFU layer of the funnel, you must call your customer to action and provide them with a clear and easy path towards purchase.
Some customers need motivation to complete the sale. This motivation is part of the BOFU layer. Giving the customer an extra push at this stage can often close the final sale. Here are some examples of BOFU motivators:
- Limited time offers
- Special introductory pricing
- Discounts/coupons
- Free trials or samples
In addition to motivators, the BOFU layer needs a clear path closing the sale. This could include some of these options:
- Checkout page on a website
- Simple contract with e-signatures
- Call or text with representative who can complete the sale
BOFU content is often found on a business’s website. It may also be presented via email, text, or directly from a sales representative. One thing to consider is that different audiences will have different needs at the point of closing the sale. Ensure that your intended audience has the motivators and closing tools they require.
Retention
Goal: Keep your customers coming back
An often overlooked part of the sales funnel is the retention layer. This focuses on keeping your existing customers engaged with your business after purchase. It also creates advocates for your business.
Retention strategies for small businesses need to offer some value to the customer post-purchase. Here are some ways small businesses can do that:
- Offer a rewards/loyalty program
- Create customer spotlight content
- Send value-added content after purchase
- Directly ask customers for feedback
In addition to maintaining long-term sales, the retention layer can also create advocates out of some customers. This involves certain customers promoting, supporting, and defending your business without necessarily being paid to do so.
A classic example would be automotive brands. Certain auto brands have strong advocates that wear their merchandise, write about their cars on forums, and provide word of mouth promotion about the vehicles whenever possible.
Small businesses can create advocates in the following ways:
- Give out free branded merchandise such as shirts, cups, and stickers
- Create communities on social media
- Offer a referral program
- Host “bring a friend” events
Practical Guide to Creating a Sales Funnel
Small businesses can follow the steps below to outline their sales funnel. Once outlined, the content, tools, and strategies need to be implemented at each layer.
- Describe who your typical customer is
- Write down what customer problem or desire you are trying to solve
- Write down what your business offers to solve that problem or desire
- Answer this question for TOFU: what would catch my attention if I were facing the same problem or desire?
- Answer this question for MOFU: what would it take to convince me that I should trust this solution?
- Answer these questions for BOFU: What pushes me to the point of buying the solution? How would I go about buying the solution?
- Answer this question for retention: What would make me return to buy the solution again?
Once this outline is complete, a business can start filling in their sales funnel with content and strategy. Most small businesses don’t have the time and resources to fill the entire funnel in at once, so its best to build up over time.
Sales Funnel Example
To help tie these concepts together, here is a simple sales funnel outline example that could be used for a home cleaning company:
- Typical Customer: Busy professionals and parents that don’t have the time and energy to clean their homes.
- Problem: The customer’s home has built up a lot of mess and grime over time that is overwhelming them. They don’t have time to clean everything.
- Solution: On-demand cleaning services that restore homes back to a clean and tidy state.
- TOFU: A social media post that shows an overwhelmed parent looking at someone cleaning their dirty kitchen while they attend to their toddler.
- MOFU: A blog post that describes an easy to follow cleaning schedule to prevent grime buildup around the house
- BOFU: A scheduling tool on the website that allows customers to order their cleaning service directly at the time of their choosing.
- Retention: A 15% discount offer on every 5th cleaning service
Getting Started
The best place to start is creating an outline as described above. Once that is complete, start filling in the funnel with content. This will lead to marketing that closes sales, all with much less time and effort spent by you.
Want help setting up the outline? Or maybe you’d like some exceptional content produced for each layer of the funnel?
Arwing Creative can be your partner in building up the sales funnel, both in content and strategy. Contact us today to start setting up your sales funnel and effectively marketing from lead to closing.
References
[2] https://cebma.org/assets/Uploads/Armstrong-Evidence-based-advertising.pdf