A funnel drives your customers to the point of conversion and sale. It’s the journey you take your leads through to become customers. 

But to have a high-converting funnel, you must know exactly who your target audience is for the best conversion rates. 

The best way to do that? Market Research. But what happens AFTER market research? How do you actually begin to build your funnel when you’re certain of who you’re selling to?

The Entry into Your Funnel

Every successful funnel needs an entry point. How will your lead or potential buyer find you so you can begin the nurturing process? 

If you’re a service provider, a coach, or an e-commerce owner, how can you educate your audience, so they decide they want to know more about you?

Many business owners opt to use a lead magnet to educate, build authority, AND grow their email lists. 

Lead magnets are typically free resources you give out in exchange for contact details. The term is brilliantly named with the intention to create sales leads. 

There are many types of lead magnets that can vary depending on your audience, expertise, niche, etc. 

A few examples of lead magnets are: 

• Trial subscriptions 
• Discount codes or coupons
• Masterclasses or workshops
• Free consultations
• White papers
• Checklists 
• Samples 
• E-books

Your lead magnet is what brings your prospects to the top of your funnel (ToF). 

But how are you supposed to get people to opt into your lead magnet? With a landing page. 

A landing page is where people will land when you ask the first question: “Do you want this free lead magnet?” A landing page gives a brief overview of what your prospect can expect from the free resource and can showcase testimonials to build credibility. 

Your landing page should be short and to the point while piquing your prospect’s curiosity, so they input their name and email address.

Nurturing Your Lead

The next step in the conversion process is the building or nurturing phase. Now that they’re inside your funnel, how can you maximize your momentum?

When a prospect opts into your lead magnet, they are at their highest curiosity state, and according to Campaign Monitor, open rates for email can be well over 50%. 

Where a lot of business owners go wrong is neglecting new leads as soon as they walk in the door. It’s almost as if you walk into someone’s house and receive no greeting. 

By taking the time to welcome them into your home and building the know, like, and trust factors, you are more likely to take that lead and turn them into a client or customer. 

You can do this through social media content, emails, blog posts, workshops, and masterclasses. 

You have to give your audience a reason to care about what you have to offer before you decide to pitch your offer to them. 

Selling to Your Lead 

At this point, you have quite a few warm leads in your funnel, and you’re getting ready for the big ask: Will you buy my offer?

But in order to prep for selling an offer or launching a product, there are a few things you might want to have in place. 

Remember the landing page from earlier? The page where people opted into your lead magnet?

When you’re ready to actually sell your offer or product, having a sales page will help turn your warm leads into fiery, ready-to-buy leads. 

The purpose of a sales page is to educate your leads on WHAT the product or offer actually is and why it will help them in their lives or business, so they feel confident in buying. 

Once you have your sales page in place, the next step is ensuring eyes are getting on your page. You can do this by writing a sales sequence, FB ads, and social media posts to encourage people to click on your sales page. 

And the good news? You can repurpose information from your sales page into each form of content to accelerate the creation and minimize the amount of time you spend creating. 

One more thing… Here’s what many marketers won’t tell you: Have realistic expectations. 

If this is the first offer you’re launching and the first time you’re creating a funnel, then it may take you a few times before you get everything juuuuust right. That’s okay.

WordStream says the average sales page conversion rate is about 2.35%. This will vary per industry, but walking into your funnel and launching with realistic expectations will give you confidence in the results you can expect to see. 

Lead Becomes a Customer 

You’ve brought your lead to the point of sale; congrats! Now what?

It’s time to put on your best white gloves and ensure your customers experience exceptional customer service. 

Fun fact: You have a 60-70% chance of selling to an existing customer, so creating a great customer experience is vital. 

If you’d like to learn more about sales and landing pages, head to this blog to find out more.