The terms sales funnel and marketing funnel have been interchangeably used online. However, the truth is that there is a fine line between the two.
This article delves into that distinction and how a sales funnel helps every business to the point that it is essential.
Marketing Funnel vs. Sales Funnel
A marketing funnel is a process that takes potential clients through the different stages of the market. It starts with the awareness phase, the consideration phase, the decision phase, and finally, the purchase phase.
On the other hand, a sales funnel is the process that helps you convert your leads into paying customers. Essentially, it is part of the marketing funnel that takes the customer to the final conversion, which is making a purchase.
Lead generation, lead nurturing, lead conversion, and lead ascension all occur within the sales funnel; thus, the terms.
How a Sales Funnel Works
A sales funnel, like the marketing funnel, has several steps. These steps are meant to capture, motivate, and move potential clients towards purchasing your product or service.
You can visualize the sales funnel as a funnel with a wide top and a narrow bottom. The wide part of the funnel is where you offer your services and products to the broadest number of people.
The bottom of the funnel is where you focus on high-value clients who are most likely to become your customers. After reaching the bottom of the funnel, potential clients will either stay to become your customers or drop out of the funnel.
The funnel works by taking your traffic through several stages. A client can pass through each of the stages based on their interest in your products. The stages are:
- Awareness stage
- Consideration stage
- Decision stage
- Purchase/Referral stage
The Benefits of a Sales Funnel
A sales funnel can help you in many ways, such as:
- Tighten up your sales process and focus on the essential and high-leverage activities and areas
- Get rid of the spray and pray approach to sales
- Increase landing page conversion rates
- Increase your website visitor engagement
- Increase conversion rates for your email marketing campaigns
- Drive more targeted visitors to your website
- Reduce sales and marketing costs
Why a Sales Funnel is a Must for a Company
A sales funnel is the most important element in marketing your services or products in today’s marketplace. There are several reasons for this.
For instance, competition in the market is extremely high. There are thousands of businesses offering similar products and services.
Competition is the reason why it is not easy to attract high-quality leads or make sales. It also means an increasing number of businesses are willing to pay big money to get new clients.
To make matters worse, “spray-and-pray” approaches to marketing are becoming less effective as businesses become more aggressive. This means that marketing channels that worked a couple of years ago may be less effective today.
Another possible reason is that the marketing funnel became a way to gain a competitive advantage for many businesses.
The funnel approach is a tried and tested method of narrowing down your audience and converting them into paying customers. It is a proven marketing strategy that businesses have used since the beginning of time.
Conclusion
A sales funnel is a unique marketing strategy that allows you to capture potential clients and get them to convert. Whether you have a brick-and-mortar store or operate a digital business, a sales funnel can help you get more visitors and convert them into paying customers.
Alexandria Taylor Cox is a marketing strategist who provides a clear plan to get new clients for health and wellness coaches so that they can feel empowered, gain clarity, and add hours back to their day. Led by Alexandria, we create detailed plans to help businesses convert more clients in less time by turning their vision into a simple, profitable system. If you’re looking to optimize sales funnels for your business, talk to us! We look forward to meeting you!
