The stages of the sales funnel
Webmecanik helps you define your sales funnel
Sales funnel: definition
The sales funnel can be defined as a complete mapping of your sales process. It lays out the triggering elements in the decision-making process of your prospects and customers. It is necessary because it helps identify what stage a prospect is at and what actions the company must take to support them throughout their buying journey.
The benefits of a sales funnel
A sales funnel has several benefits, for example :.
- Structure and optimize your sales process
- Know customer friction points, and at what moment they stop the sale
- What is the touchpoint between your brand and your prospect
- What is the final objective?
The stages of the sales funnel
Attract?
This is the starting point of any sales funnel; the idea here is to set up lead magnets, ideal for capitalizing on your resources and knowledge. The objective here is to strengthen your visibility and introduce your prospects to your offers through several means:
- optimization of your website for SEO and your social media
- use of SEA and Social Ads
- Creation of rich resources (white paper, case studies, etc.)
After that, the qualification process can begin. ?
Qualify ✨
The qualification stage is used to determine whether the prospect is a cold lead or a hot lead. Here, it is about prioritizing your leads in order to focus only on the most important ones.. By qualifying prospects, you increase your chances of converting them into customers and achieving your goals.
Quick reminder:
- Cold lead ? : this is a prospect who has shown little interest in your product or service. They do not yet know it well or are not yet ready to buy. This type of person needs more attention to become interested.
- Hot lead ? : this is a potential customer who is very interested in your product or service. This prospect knows the company well and is ready to buy or commit.
Your goal during this stage (for your cold leads) is to nurture them with relevant content, based on their preferences. they have a need, it is up to you to meet it with your tools. Your hot leads are sent to your sales team.
?Our tip : Communication between your marketing and sales teams is essential. Marketing tools exist to facilitate communication between your marketing and sales teams so that information flows easily.
Sell?
The sales stage marks the moment when a prospect decides to buy your product or service. This is the final phase where your objective is to turn a hot lead into a customer.
Analyze all your sales strategies to optimize the effectiveness of your marketing and sales actions. ✨. Take this opportunity to establish a relationship of trust between you and your future customer, essential for the last stage of the sales funnel …
Retain
The retention stage is just as important as the sale itself. A loyal customer is valuable because they contribute to the growth of your business. You no longer need to convince them because they already know you. This customer has already done business with you and understands what your company offers. By building loyalty, you must guide them toward renewing their purchases when the need arises.
?Our tip : You can set up an ambassador program to encourage your customers to recommend your brand ?
If you want to understand all aspects of your sales funnel, we also recommend reading our article on analyzing the stages of the customer journey.
Examples of sales funnels
Sales funnel for an online store
1. Attract: advertising on social media
You have set up ads on social media to highlight a special offer and capture the attention of your potential customers.
2. Qualify: product page
The prospect clicks on the ad and lands on the product page, where they get more details about the product. If they are interested, they then move on to the next stage (add to cart ?), which makes them a hot lead.
3. Sell: add to cart and checkout page
Once the product is in the cart, the lead moves to the checkout page to finalize their purchase. This is where the sale is completed. (Good job ?)
4. Retain: follow-up after purchase
Your mission now is to ensure follow-up, that is to say, send a thank-you email, for example, or offer complementary products. You can even include future promotions to encourage the customer to come back. Your objective is to create a lasting relationship and retain the customer for repeat purchases.
Sales funnel for a SaaS
1. Attract: SEO
The prospect discovers your service via a search engine (thank you SEO ?), which attracts their attention and leads them to visit your site.
2. Qualify: homepage with free trial offer + sign-up form
Your lead arrives on the homepage and is encouraged to sign up for a 14-day free trial. By filling out the sign-up form, they show a first level of interest, which qualifies them as a lead. The more steps the prospect completes, the more they show that they are a qualified lead.
3. Sell: reminder before the end of the trial + payment page
To be sure to successfully carry out your mission, you must send an email before the end of the free trial. The purpose of this email is to encourage the prospect to move to a paid subscription. The prospect is then directed to the payment page, where they subscribe, thus completing the act of purchase. ?
4. Retain: follow-up after purchase
After subscribing, the customer receives emails to help them use your service properly. To retain your customer in the long term, you can offer them personalized advice or additional offers.
Webmecanik helps you define your sales funnel
We analyze your current strategies in order to understand your sales funnel.
Attract leads : We advise you on the actions to implement according to your objective and the capabilities of our tool. ?
Qualify your leads ? : We help you integrate forms on your website in order to qualify your prospects.
Nurture your leads ? : Thanks to Webmecanik Automation, you can launch marketing campaigns and use scoring to properly target your hot leads. ?
Retain your leads ? : We guide you on the best practices for retaining your customers and encouraging them to come back.
