A sales funnel is a multi-step process that guides website visitors through the sales process. Sales funnels include a variety of marketing tools and tactics to bring visitors to your website, make them aware of your offerings, and convince them to buy or otherwise convert. The point of a sales funnel is to drive conversions. This is different than a marketing or lead funnel, whose purpose is to drive opt-ins.

A marketing or lead funnel steps typically include: awareness, interest, consideration, ending as a qualified lead or prospect. Often the lead is captured by some form of free giveaway in exchange for an email address. A sales funnel picks up where a lead funnel ends.

A sales funnel starts with a landing page than contains no navigation other than the option to purchase a product or service, or simply close the page (and even then, you could add in an exit intent popup to keep them interested!). Often the initial landing page for the sales funnel will look like this:

The complete sales process often looks like this, where each segment of the funnel is a new page. The idea is to take a customer on a journey, where they purchase an upsell at each stage. If they choose not to purchase the upsell, a small text link is provided that says something like, “No thanks, I prefer to do this on my own and miss out on the great savings.” Again, there is no navigation on any subsequent pages other than to add the upsell to the purchase or to decline the offer.

So is there an advantage to a sales funnel over a shopping cart?

A dedicated sales funnel will improve your conversion rate and ensure that more visitors who come to your website become customers. Sales Funnels convert 3 to 4X better than shopping carts or websites. Not only conversions are improved, but you also see that the average cart value of a sales funnel is much better than a shopping cart. This implies that the same customer will pay you more per order when paying through the sales funnel. The reason why sales funnels tend to work is that they are selling a single product at a time. And you, as the sales person, are providing a laser-targeted sales presentation to the customer. A good funnel page will always have a demonstration video, which we have seen is critical the the sales process. A sales funnel also allows you to more easily upsell related products and services. By understanding exactly who your customer is, you are able to create a funnel that speaks directly to them.

While the video is the most important part of the sales process, the button is the critical piece to make the sales funnel function properly. In this case, we want to add the following link to the button:

https://yourdomain.com/upsell-page/?add-to-cart=prodID&quantity=1

When the button is clicked, this will take the customer to the upsell page and automatically add the product to the cart with the corresponding product ID. Once the customer gets to the upsell page, they are presented with another sales video and information with the opportunity to purchase a supporting product or service. After you have taken them through the complete funnel, the final page of the funnel takes them to the checkout page, which is similar to the link above:

https://yourdomain.com/checkout/?add-to-cart=prodID&quantity=1

This videos shows you the complete process…

Additional Features

Cart Abandonment

Exit-Intent Popups

An exit intent popup is an attention getting device used when someone is about to close the webpage without having completed the desired step, such as moving on the to next page. This popup can be highly effective, which is why they are widely used, and will often say something like, “Wait! If you leave now you’ll miss out on the great savings. Take an extra 10% off when you go to the next page.”

These popups can be created using a plugin like Popup Maker or Popups for Divi.

Analytics

If you use Google analytics, you already have access to some of the best funnel tracking analytics available. Google offers detailed instructions at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9327974 but here are the basic steps:

1. Create a Google Analytics account if you don’t have one and install the tracking code on your website. Sign in to Google Analytics.
2. On the left, select Explore. The Explorations workspace appears.

3. At the top of the screen, select the Funnel exploration template.
4. Configure your exploration using the options described below.

Funnels can be “open” or “closed,” which determines how users can enter the funnel:

• In an open funnel, users can enter the funnel in any step.
• In a closed funnel, users must enter the funnel in the first step.

Users are only counted in the steps they complete in the specified sequence. If the user misses a step, they fall out of the funnel and aren’t counted in any subsequent steps.

Steps

Steps define the user journey you want to measure. You can define up to 10 steps in the funnel.

To reorder the steps, in Tab Settings, drag the steps to a new position.

Edit funnel steps

To add or edit steps, click the edit pencil, then:

1. Give each step a distinctive name.
2. Add one or more conditions that your users must meet to be included in that step of the funnel journey.
3. To add more clauses to a condition, click AND or OR.
4. To add steps to the funnel, click Add step.
5. Select whether the previous step is indirectly followed by or is directly followed by the new step.
6. To set a time frame within which this step must follow, click Within and set the time frame.
7. Click APPLY.

Order Bumps and One-Click Upsells

An order bump is a last minute add-on to your order that occurs on the checkout page. A One-Click Upsell is a funnel that occurs after a product has been added to the shopping cart before you complete your checkout (VistaPrint is well known for this tactic with their free business cards). Both of these features can be added with plugins from https://wpswings.com/woocommerce-plugins/.

This is an example of an order bump offer on the cart checkout page:

Conclusion

When you combine all the features I’ve discussed in today’s article, you will get a funnel program that rivals, or even surpasses, the best funnel builder platforms out there. However, if you would rather have a program that bundles all these features into a simple package, check out CartFlows. The free version does not offer upsell pages, order bumps, or A/B split testing, but is a great way to get started with simple one-page funnels. Another option for a funnel platform using WordPress is OptimizePress. And if you are looking for a complete stand alone funnel builder, check out GrooveFunnels. Then of course, the king of funnel builders is Your First Funnel by ClickFunnels.

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GregJameson

Greg Jameson has been writing blog articles on ecommerce and internet marketing for over 10 years. Learn more about Greg at https://webstoresltd.com/about/