Sales funnels for ecommerce stores

Sales funnels are a great way to connect with and nurture potential customers turning them into paying customers.
While sales funnels aren’t for every ecommerce store they can be very effective for niche products. And the best part is that they can be fully automated.

What is a Sales Funnel?

A sales funnel is just that, a funnel they leads website visitors through a few steps that engage with them and nurture them, encouraging them to make a purchase.

A sales funnel usually consists of:

1. a paid advert
2. that leads to a landing page specially designed collect email addresses of those that visit
3. a lead magnet is offered in exchange for the email address to encourage sign ups
4. people who sign up are then sent a nurturing email campaign where you offer a mix of value and gentle persuasion to get them to buy

Usually the funnel will begin with a paid advert. Facebook ads are particularly effective for use with sales funnels.

The advert is not overly ‘salesy’ to begin with.

Landing page

Instead of sending the visitor to a product page we create a special page to collect their email address.
Landing pages are uncluttered with a single offer and an email address sign up form.

The landing page should have similar subject, copy and imagery to the advert that the page visitor has just clicked to get there. If you are running ad campaigns for different products then you would create a separate landing page for each. The more relevant the page, the higher your email sign up rates will be.

The landing page should offer a gift in exchange for the visitors email address. We call that a lead magnet.

Your landing page should include:

1. A relevant headline
2. A short sales pitch of about 100-200 words. Describe the pain that your would-be customers feel and how their life will be better with your solution. Focus on benefits rather than product features.
3. An email opt-in form where they enter their email address.
4. A Call to Action above the form. The sign up button label should not be ’Submit’. Try something like ‘Get your free guide’
5. Include a few nice images. Rather than using a product image on its own, have one where a person is using the product. This helps people envisage how you can help them or improve their lives with what you are offering.
6. If you can include a few reviews or testimonials from happy customers.

Lead Magnets

Lead magnets don’t have to be actual gifts. Anything of value will do. Something that the page visitor will find valuable enough to exchange their email address for.

Some ideas are:

* Product giveaway or gift pack
* Discount coupons
* A how to guide or video
* An E-book

If you are using a guide, ebook or video it is a good idea to make it something related to your products. For example if I was selling camping supplies I could offer a guide to the best camping spots. An ecommerce store selling frying pans could have a short recipe book as a lead magnet.

You can have the email signup form re-direct the visitor to a page where they receive, watch or download the lead magnet or you can send it to them via email.

Page builder plugins can be great for making lead pages with a web developer. If you haven’t used a page builder before check out Beaver Builder and Elementor. Both have free versions of their plugins to try.

Email nurture campaign

The email campaign is different from the weekly emails you get from websites full of sales and products. It is a series of emails you send to your new warm leads to (hopefully) turn them into customers. They get sent out at regular intervals after the website visitor has signed up.

For this you will need an email service that offers automated or drip campaigns. Good services are MailChimp, Campaign Monitor and Active Campaign. All have plugins to help you add sign up forms to your WooCommerce website.

The email campaign should build on what the customer knows about you and the lead magnet you’ve sent them. Offer more value to the subscriber.

A simple 5 day email campaign will do.

1. Introduce your self and let them know what to expect from your emails
2. Talk about a problem.
3. Describe a product you offer that solves this problem.
4. Describe what life can look like for the reader once the problem is solved.
5. Call the customer to a direct action leading to a sale.

Encourage the subscriber to email you back if they have any questions. Your job here is to build trust with them. By the end they should know much more about you, your business and your products, allowing them to make an informed decision on whether to buy or not.

What happens if they don’t sign up or buy anything?

Advertising online can be a numbers game. It’s common to only get 2% of people to click an ad out of those who have seen it. And then only get a 5% email sign up rate on the lead page. But it’s still cheaper and more effective than magazine advertising.

If you have retargeting scripts on your page we can send more ads to the page visitor. They’ve been interested enough to click on your ad, so repeat exposure to your brand and products could get them back to either sign up or make a purchase.

After a subscriber has been through your email automation you can then add them to your general email list if you have one.

Remember that it often takes repeated exposure to get people to buy.

Once your funnel is up and running, monitor the conversions rates for each stage. You can then use that data to improve and refine your sales funnel.

If you need help setting up a sales funnel get in touch.