6 Tips for Building a High-Converting Sales Funnel

If you want to attract your target audience and turn them into loyal customers, you need a good sales funnel.

Put simply, a sales funnel is the journey a user takes from the moment they discover your brand until after they make a purchase. Your goal as a business owner is to capture their attention and hold it through these steps so you can win them over, but that's sometimes easier said than done.

So today, I'm going to show you the four main stages of every sales funnel, and then I'll share 6 actionable strategies you can use to optimize your sales funnels.

Let's dive in!

4 Stages of Sales Funnels

Before we start looking at the tips, I think it's important to understand the 4 main parts of every single funnel. Here's a visual breakdown:

Now, let's talk about each step in detail so you can better understand what they are and your digital marketing strategy.

• Awareness - Everyone starts at the top of the funnel, which is awareness. This occurs when someone learns about your business for the first time, whether through social media, search, word-of-mouth, paid advertising, or something else.

• Interest - Prospects now know you exist and are curious about their product. At this stage, users like learning about a potential solution and comparing their options but have not committed. They're likely interested in reading blog posts and engaging with your business in other ways, such as by joining your email list.

• Decision - At this phase of the tunnel, the customer has decided that they are ready to make a purchase. They've narrowed down their options to a small handful of businesses. A small incentive, like a discount or loyalty program, is just the thing to get them to take action.

• Action - The bottom of the funnel is action, and it occurs when a customer moves to make a purchase. This is where good customer service teams and onboarding programs come in handy.

How to Build a High-Converting Funnel

Once you understand the main parts of a sales funnel, you can start thinking about specific strategies that you can use during each phase. Here are some of the ways we've made this happen.

Publish High-Quality Content

If you want to win over your audience across all stages of your sales funnel, your best bet is to publish high-quality content across all of your marketing channels.

My advice is to start by publishing more blog posts. We found that over 77% of internet users read blog posts, and that number has remained relatively unchanged over the past several years.

Make sure your content aligns with your overall business goals and what your target customers want. Whether you're creating a video or blog post, be sure to discuss readers' pain points, interests, and questions, and you can be sure they'll find value in your content.

Continue to meet their needs, and they'll move through different types of content alongside your sales funnel. Once they get to the end, they'll become customers and still regularly check out your posts and other recent uploads.

Offer Relevant Lead Magnets

Every sales funnel needs to capture leads. This could mean convincing a visitor to join your email list, follow you on social media, or register for an upcoming event.

What you need is a lead magnet, which falls under the interest and demand phases of a sales funnel. People have started to notice you, and now they want to know if engaging with your brand is worth their time.

So, start thinking of ways to add more value to your readers' lives in exchange for their contact info.

Magnets that have worked exceptionally well for us are exclusive discounts, infographics, eBooks, and ultimate guides. When you're making these offers, you'll want to use popups or lead magnet landing pages so visitors can see why your content is relevant and worth their time.

After someone downloads your lead magnet, send a welcome email right away so you can start building a positive relationship. Believe it or not, these types of emails have an open rate of 94%, which makes them the most open messages you can send. Use this opportunity to build rapport and guide them to the next phase of your funnel.

Nurture Leads Across Their Journey

Now that people are signing up, subscribing, and interacting with your brand, it's time to nurture them by continuing to demonstrate value and building trust.

You can do this in many different ways. I suggest starting by creating email campaigns since 60% of people say they prefer to be contacted by email over other outreach methods like calling.

During this step, you'll want to segment your list based on where each lead is in the funnel. For example, top-of-funnel prospects would benefit most from blog post roundups, free event invitations, and other resources. On the other hand, mid-funnel subscribers might appreciate a free trial since trying your product risk-free could help them decide if it's the right choice.

I also believe it's important to nurture leads on social media. Nearly 5 billion people use sites like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to engage with their peers and businesses. Don't miss out on opportunities to build rapport with your target audience so they'll be more likely to consider your brand when it's time to make a purchase.

With the right lead nurturing strategy, you'll build trust and accelerate leads through your funnel. Staying engaged and providing value at every touchpoint will turn more prospects into loyal customers.

Optimize Your Landing Pages

There's no question that landing pages are one of the best ways to move people through your funnel. This is where visitors land after clicking an ad or email link, hoping to get what you promised them. If your landing page meets or exceeds their expectations, there's a good chance they'll continue engaging with your business.

Here are a few rapid-fire tips to keep in mind when designing conversion-worthy landing pages for your website:

• Make sure you use clear headlines. Visitors should be able to see at a glance what your page is about and why they should continue reading.

• Focus on benefit-driven content. Instead of talking up all the features your product offers, discuss your audience and how they can benefit from what your product can do. If they understand how your product or service will improve their lives, they're more likely to stick around.

• Add relevant visuals throughout the page. This could mean including still shots of your product or full-fledged videos of your product in action. Most people want to see what they're buying before they even dream of pulling out their debit card, so don't skip this step!

• If possible, remove distractions like banners, menus, and advertisements. Keep your audiences' attention while they're on your landing page, and they may follow through on your request.

• Use a clear call to action. At the end of your landing page, tell users what you want them to do. If your goal is to get them to sign up for an event, make your CTA 'save my seat,' for example.

Use Retargeting to Secure Lost Sales

Retargeting allows you to reconnect with people who have visited your site but left without buying anything. They may have added an item to their cart or simply browsed a few product pages. Either way, you can use their initial interaction to build rapport and win them back later.

Setting up a retargeting strategy is easier than you might think, too. You just need to add a small bit of code to your site that tracks visitors. Then, the retargeting service will show your ads to those visitors who browse other sites. The key is to use compelling ads that remind people why they were interested in the first place.

For example, if someone viewed a product page for a new laptop, show them an ad featuring that same laptop along with a special discount. The familiarity may convince them to come back and complete the purchase. Not only that, but 80% of people say they're more likely to buy from a company that personalizes their offers and content.

It's also important to remember that you can create retargeting campaigns based on how far visitors progressed in your sales funnel. Those who only viewed your homepage might see more general ads for your brand or products. Visitors who click through to product pages are primed to buy, so it's better to target them with hyper-specific ads.

When done right, retargeting can be an extremely effective way to turn lost visitors into customers, so don't skip this step if you can help it!

Listen to Feedback

Finally, if you want to improve your sales funnel across the board, pay attention to what people are saying to you and about you. Gathering feedback from your audience across all funnel stages can help you get inside their minds and learn more about their wants, needs, and interests.

One strategy that's worked well for me is adding a simple survey with our lead magnets so we can lead about subscribers before they even consider making a purchase. This little bit of extra insight helps us make each person's experience better and also have a greater understanding of our audience as a whole.

We also regularly reach out to new customers so we can make sure their experience is top-notch. I've managed to improve our funnel by talking to customers and learning where we succeeded and where we left a lot to be desired.

Continually gathering feedback over time is one of the best, most consistent ways to optimize your sales funnel since you're listening to the people you want to attract. If you give them a chance, your subscribers and customers will tell you everything you need to know about moving them through your funnel. Make sure you stop and listen.

Final Thoughts

So there you have it - six tips to take your sales funnel to the next level. I know there's a lot to take in, so start with one or two tips at a time and branch out. Before you know it, you'll have a high-converting sales funnel that allows you to educate and nurture subscribers and eventually turn them into happy customers.