A sales funnel is a powerful marketing tool, particularly for online marketers who generally do not have the opportunity to have personal contact with their readers and customers, since everything is done online. The purpose of the sales funnel is to put a potential customer through a series of steps designed to guide them through a funnel so that, when they reach the end, they have no choice but to buy the offer that is marketed to them.
There are many different ways to create a sales funnel. A popular tactic when it comes to internet and affiliate marketing is to base your sales funnel around an autoresponder which is essentially a miniature sales funnel.
Let's take a look at this sales funnel analysis chart and the various components of the funnel:
Marketing
Marketing is the first step. Technically, you're marketing the entire funnel, but this is that initial contact where someone finds you online, whether it's through an article in an article directory, your Facebook page or other social network, or on your own website. This first contact should establish the problem the reader is having and then convince them to click on your compression page or somewhere where they can capture your email address. You can convince them by offering a solution to their problem that you stated on this page, but the only way they will get that solution is by clicking on their compression page.
Compression page
The compression page is step number two. Drive your traffic from that initial contact page from the first step to your compression page. The compression page is where you convey that the solution to the problem set out in step 1 is in the autoresponder.
Autoresponder
The autoresponder as I mentioned in the opening is like a miniature sales funnel; It is a set of prewritten emails that are automatically sent in linear order to each new subscriber on your list.
The purpose of setting up an autoresponder is threefold, to develop a relationship with your new subscriber so that the person becomes more familiar with you and your brand, to get used to expect emails / content from you in the future, and finally to sell. You can and should configure your autoresponder in the form of delivering a solution to your subscriber during that autoresponder.
The autoresponder can be configured as a training course, offering tips and tricks to overcome the problem while offering the complete and real solution: your product. In this way, there is a healthy combination of free value and sale. This barrage of sales pitches for your product will generally work for the seventh email. If not, you can go to optional step four.
Tracing
If your subscriber hasn't yet purchased your product after their long 7-10 autoresponder series (recommended), then they probably won't be persuaded by another email about it. That is why I recommend that you send a follow-up where you offer your product at a special discounted price.
Reduction
Hoorah! The sale has been made. Hopefully your product is high quality so all of that sale will be worth it and you will not see any refund. If you're tracking which email is linked to that purchase, you can place them in your existing customer segmented folder, as it's valuable to be able to differentiate customers who have made a purchase from you versus subscribers who haven't.