Sales Funnels - Basics You Should Know - part 1.

When you are new to affiliate marketing there is a learning curve that you have to get on top of to really progress forward. You start hearing about terms like WordPress, AIOSEO, keywords, Analytics, Pixels, CPC, all types of Links, pop-ups, solo ads, bots and much more. It’s like being dropped in Uzbekistan and being asked to speak Uzbek, the language. But like any new language, you can learn it. It just takes a little time.

One of the terms that you may have heard about is funnels.
Before we go any further, therefore, it would perhaps be useful to explain exactly what a sales funnel is and what you’ll be using it for.

What is a Sales Funnel?

I remember my mother using a funnel to bottle out Ponch de crème (also called eggnog in the US and cremas in Haiti) at Christmas time. You capture all the liquid at the top, for it to drain nicely through the funnel into typically a bottle, placed at the thinner bottom part of the funnel.

Essentially a sales funnel is the attempt, at the broad opening, to attract the attention of customers. As you go down the funnel your marketing strategies are aimed at building interest, increasing engagement, trust and then desire to the point where a customer will be primed and ready to take action to purchase.

So you might start with a simple advert pop-up, Pinterest pin, or a blog post to attract attention.

Let's say you are trying to sell a new social media magic program called SMAP.
So you start by trying to draw potential customers, or leads, in so that they are sufficiently interested in getting more information on SMAP. To do so customers have to leave their email address which you are able to entice them to do by offering a free report, say something like 10 hidden secrets on how to make money with Instagram.

With the customer’s email in hand, you can now send them an offer for a free upcoming SMAP webinar. During the webinar, you talk about how SMAP is one of the best systems ever and then you make an offer on a standard package for the SMAP product. You know to yourself that some customers are prepared to go further. At this point, you offer an upsell which might include a gold package, 1 to 1 coaching by Pat Flynn (guru), a free seat for a Mastermind summit with the top guys in affiliate marketing.

Do you see how the customer is enticed along the journey? How they click to accept the e-book, enter their email, reserve their seat at the webinar, select an offer and then opt-in for the upsell. The customer moves from a new lead along a journey to a loyal customer at the end,

Wealthy Affiliate - A Sales Funnel Example

Sales funnels are all over the web and even without you probably knowing it, you have been in several funnels already. Take Wealthy Affiliate for example

Step 1: You are looking for financial flexibility, passive income, or a change in your lifestyle. You see a post or YouTube video on Wealthy Affiliate which interests you.

Step 2: WA piques your interest and you click on the link

Step 3: You are directed to a sales page where all the benefits of WA are laid out for you.

Step 4 To get you to commit you are offered a free 7-day Premium trial. All you got to do is submit your email to sign up.

Step 5: Before the end of the 7 days you are offered a discount for the first month of membership of Premium

Step 6; You accept the offer and become a Premium member

Step 7: You are offered a discount for an annual plan which saves you over your monthly cost.

Conclusion

There’s a good chance you would have encountered different sales funnels in your travel around the web: and you may even have bought products from others through this method. You might have come across a blog and signed up to the mailing list for instance, and then been told to click on the link therein in order to see a free webinar.

You’ve gone from a ‘cold lead’ (someone on YouTube, targeted based on your video watching choices), to a ‘warm lead’ (someone who has demonstrated an interest) to eventually a ‘qualified lead’.

So the funnel formula works. It's an approach that you should consider to make sales. Just be authentic in your marketing strategy, understand the stages and try to appreciate the psychology of the customer in matching the best offers.

Are you using a sales funnel?

What’s been your experience as a customer going through a funnel?

Have a great day,

Hugh

P.S. In part 2 I will aim to discuss how you can get more out of your sales funnel.