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January 7, 2022
3 min
A sales funnel refers to the process or journey a potential customer goes through, from the initial stage of becoming aware of a product or service to finally completing a purchase. It is called a "funnel" because there are several steps for potential customers in the sales funnel, which decreases at each stage as the funnel narrows down. The marketing team runs various paid and organic campaigns.
A marketing funnel contains the potential customers who come through various marketing campaigns and ultimately become a sale. All businesses focus on making their sales funnel such that a minimum number of qualified leads falls out of the funnel without buying. An excellent sales funnel strategy can help to sort out these problems.
A B2B funnel is an entire pipeline that shows businesses how to interact and engage with other businesses. The B2B Sales funnel includes a series of steps they take to make a purchase or sale.
Check every tiny detail about a sales funnel, including meaning, stages, examples and strategies. shared below in the image explaining the steps involved in the buyers journey in a sales funnel from lead qualification to final buying.
The sales funnel stages are planned so that every next stage takes the prospect on step close to purchasing. These well-planned funnel stages actions to push prospects to the next stage, thus narrowing at the final stages, narrowing only real buyers are left. The stages of a sales funnel include:
Awareness is the initial stage where a potential customer becomes aware of your product or service. It includes the audience that first time visit your website, visit the social media post, see advertisements, and word of mouth.
For Example, In the initial stages of lead generation, a prospect can be in the awareness stage if the prospect is introduced to your business for the first time. This initial introduction can be through Organic and paid SEO campaigns, Social media, advertisements etc.
Here are ways to build awareness about your product are shared below:
Once the customer has completed the sales funnel awareness stage, they may develop an interest in it. Customers may visit your website or engage with your content to learn more.
The prospects' interest can be increased by content marketing describing your brands and services.
In this stage, the customers may subscribe to your newsletter, Email list or ask direct questions in messages.
Ways to Increase the Interest about your services
The potential customer is still actively deciding whether or not to buy. In this stage of the sales funnel, customers may compare your service or product with those of competitors. Consideration involves the customer reading reviews or asking for recommendations to help make a decision.
The potential customer has reached a decision point and is ready to make a purchase. They may proceed to buy directly or take specific actions, such as adding items to a shopping cart or contacting a sales representative.
The decision-taking stage, also known as the conversion stage, is an important phase in the sales funnel where potential customers make a final decision to purchase a product or service. At this stage, prospects have moved through the awareness and consideration stages and are actively evaluating their options
Here are some key aspects of the decision-taking stage in the sales funnel:
Read More: Inbound Call Centers: Benefits, Challenges, and Strategies
This is the final stage of the sales funnel where the potential customer converts into a paying customer by making a purchase. They complete the transaction and become an actual customer. The customer needs to be satisfied for for the services which customer has made the purschase.
Various companies across different industries implement numerous successful sales funnels. Here are three examples of effective sales funnels:
Upstox is available on mobile and web platforms and is India’s most trusted online stockbroker, offering an unmatchable online stock trading experience. Challenges Sales in a Fintech brokerage is majorly selling to a user who does not know what they are getting into.
When they start as a lead, they don't know the steps to take to make a transaction. The complexity of final conversion in stock trading sales funnel conversions involves converting the user into an active transacting customer.
How SquadStack Helped Upstox to Increase Activations by 40% Account Opening Campaigns.
SquadStack's sales experts assisted customers with opening a Demat & Trading Account. More than 740 highly-trained sales callers assisted with which were in the activation & reactivation stage of the sales funnel. These experts also helped to reactivate accounts that had been dormant, resulting in more revenue for each user.
Delhivery is India's leading player in the logistics sector. Delhivery found the Squadstack model to be beneficial. SquadStack has helped Delhivery manage its Sales funnels. Squadstack activated the newly onboarded clients and conducted surveys to help them make data-backed decisions.
SquadStack helped MoneyView to improve the submit rates of leads lying in the loan application funnel stage, which led to an increase of 40% in loan applications.
SquadStack provided Moneyview with a dashboard with all the essential metrics, customer feedback, and other information that allowed them to capture their pain points and what worked. They were able to improve their user experience and marketing messages.
To optimize each sales funnel stage. Book a demo with Squadstack.
A sales funnel is a step-by-step framework that guides potential customers from initial awareness to making a purchase decision. It helps businesses understand and optimize the customer journey, leading to higher conversion rates and sales.
A sales funnel focuses on the customer journey, from lead generation to conversion. It provides insights into conversion rates at each stage. A sales pipeline outlines the steps a sales team follows to turn prospects into customers. It also provides an overview of the sales process.
The top of the funnel (TOFU) is where leads enter the funnel and become aware of the products or services. The middle of the funnel (MOFU) is where leads are qualified and considered prospects. The bottom of the funnel (BOFU) is where they are converted into customers.
A sales pipeline improves sales efficiency by providing a clear roadmap of the steps needed to move prospects through the sales process. It helps sales teams prioritize their efforts, identify bottlenecks, and make informed decisions to increase conversions and close deals.
Regardless of specific tactics and strategies, the sales funnel applies to all industries and business niches. Its fundamental concept involves guiding potential customers through awareness, interest, and conversion stages. By customizing the funnel to suit your industry's unique characteristics, you can effectively map the buyer journey and optimize your sales process.
