Hello! If you are here you are probably interested in learning about sales funnels and how they can help your business. At DragonTech, we have worked with a variety of different companies, several of which have successfully used sales funnels and landing pages to promote their businesses online.

 

Attention, Interest, Desire and Action!

 

Before we dive into the wonderful world of sales funnels, it would be best to explain the AIDA model… The AIDA model has stood up to the test of time and is one of the longest serving advertising models in existence. So how does it function?

 

Attention: The customer’s attention is drawn in. They develop an awareness of your brand. This can be achieved by a well placed advertisement! 

Interest: The customer begins to develop an interest in your product.

Desire: The customer begins to favour your brand.

Action: The customer purchases your product or forms a purchase intention.

 

The Sales Funnel takes the customer through the AIDA model online and builds upon it, grabbing their attention with an advertisement, usually placed on either Facebook or Google. If the browser has an interest in your company or the services provided, they will click on the advert which will take them to a Landing Page where a service will be promoted to them beginning the process which will take them from being a browser to a customer. A well designed Landing Page will have a higher conversion rate, meaning that more people will become interested in buying the product. 

 

So What Exactly Is A Sales Funnel?

 

A Sales Funnel is the process wherein a business will lead their customer through a series of phases when it comes to the customer purchasing products or services. These can differ wildly depending on your sales model and business. The aim is to attract the attention of a prospective customer and turn them into a paying customer.

 

Example Of A Sales Funnel

 

A long time ago, I was interested in magic and found myself watching a YouTube video of a magician who showed me how to make a handkerchief appear and disappear into thin air. It was a fantastic little trick which I really enjoyed and the magician directed me to a link in the video’s description. This link took me to a landing page where he offered to send me a gimmick so I could also perform the trick for just the cost of the shipping. Now, having grown older, I realise that this was a loss leader, which is something sold at a loss in order to entice a customer. It was also a brilliant example of an early sales funnel.

 

What I also didn’t know as a younger, less experienced internet user, was that I had signed up to an emailing list where the magician would send me a video showing a different trick each week, each trick using a magic gimmick that I could buy cheaply from him. Over time I ordered maybe six or seven items from this magician, and some of the purchases were quite expensive! Having grown up, I very much appreciate the magical craft still, but what’s more, I admire the way he set up the sales funnel!

 

The loss leader would have cost him each time he sent out the initial product, but it had major advantages over a lot of landing pages that just attempt to get your email for a free PDF which will teach you something or a voucher which will give you value off of a product. His sales funnel was brilliant because it not only delivered you a high quality product cheaply, which built trust with him and offered exceptional value, but it also got me through the hardest step of any sales funnel – paying for the first time. As the cost of the gimmick wasn’t high and the quality was good, I saw immediate value from the magician, and ended up being a repeat customer when it came to a lot of the tricks he emailed me with in his follow up emails. 

 

So How Did This Funnel Work?

 

I was a warm lead that came through a YouTube tutorial video. What I didn’t realise was that the tutorial video was a cleverly disguised advertisement. The magician directed me to a landing page where I subscribed to an emailing list and purchased an item. The follow up emails led to more sales.

 

Advert > Landing Page > Subscribe > Purchase > Follow Up Emails > More Purchases

 

There are also Capture Funnels or Opt-Ins which are designed to get people to subscribe to a mailing list so that you can market out to customers to subscribe by sending follow up emails to them with offers and discounts, these are especially useful for restaurants who might want to use them for new promotions!

 

Example of a Capture Funnel

 

A while back our company designed a Capture Funnel in order to run an email campaign where we could put exclusive restaurant offers out to the people. We ran a like and share campaign on Facebook as a competition for people to win a grand prize of a free meal for two people. This ran as an advert for the restaurant in question and it got great coverage and interaction, but part of the competition was for people to go to a landing page wherein they would agree to the terms and conditions of the competition which also involved them subscribing to our email list.

 

Once people were subscribed, we could then send them offers exclusive to them having signed up with the competition. As a quick note, it is always important in every follow up email that you send to allow the customer the option to unsubscribe from your mailing list. This is important for legal reasons with GDPR and anti spam rules coming into effect! 

 

Advert > Landing Page > Subscribe > Follow Up Emails > Purchases

 

The Capture Funnel or Opt-In page presents the customer the option to subscribe to an emailing list which will allow you to send them emails and offers. It is important to never spam customers with useless information because you will generally put the customers off your business if you continually harass them. It’s always good to send out one deal a month to your customers so that they won’t feel spammed or forgotten.

 

So Why Do I Need A Sales Funnel?

 

A Sales Funnel is an integral part of selling your business online. There are so many fantastic tried and tested funnels which deal with many different businesses and niches, allowing you to gain a rapport over time with returning customers and promote your business as never before. Sales Funnels allow you to nurture your customers over time and re-sell to them which can result in massive profits if done correctly. 

 

When it comes to customers buying an item, if they don’t know about your business or your products, the chances are that they will probably never show an interest in you or your products. With a Sales Funnel you are grabbing their attention immediately, bringing an offer to their attention and giving them the option to receive other offers. 

 

The Sales Funnel offers the chance to build trust online. There are many ways to get people to return to businesses such as offering points rewards systems, but with a well set up email campaign, you can guarantee that there will be some returning customers just because of your targeted emails. Every successful online business has some form of email campaign to keep consumers interested in their products, and if you’re subscribed to any of their emailing lists you will notice the way they tempt you back to buying with them with offers. Returning customers will generally spend around 3 times the amount that an average online shopper will spend, which is a great reason to keep them coming back for more!