The best sale funnels for e-commerce

Introduction

You might have heard the term "sales funnel" or "conversion funnel" before, but what exactly is it and why is it important? A sales funnel is a set of steps that leads visitors to your website or landing page into becoming customers. The conversion rate of each step in this process should be as high as possible, otherwise you'll lose potential customers who just don't know how to proceed with their purchase(s). In other words: If a visitor doesn't know what to do next, then he'll leave your website without buying anything. So let's dive deeper into different types of funnels and how they work!

Why do you need defined sales funnels?

• Define the problem
• Set goals before you start
• Don’t worry about what other people’s goals are. Be ambitious, but stay realistic.

There are basically three reasons why we recommend to have a defined sales funnel:

• You can optimize the conversion-rates of your landing pages by testing various versions.
• You can see which step of your funnel is problematic/underperforming and optimize this specific step (e.g., if you have an email list but there are no purchases coming from it).
• You can measure your overall marketing performance against actual revenues

1. You can optimize the conversion-rates of your landing pages by testing various versions.

• See what offers, landing pages and traffic sources perform best in your funnel.
• Optimize your offer to the right audience.
• Make sure your landing page is optimized for the right traffic source.

2. You can see which step of your funnel is problematic/underperforming and optimize this specific step.

The best part about split testing is that you can see which step of your funnel is problematic/underperforming and optimize this specific step.

For example, if you have a high bounce rate on your landing page then it’s clear that something needs to be improved. The same goes for other steps in the process: if you have low cart abandonment rates, but low conversion rates after checkout then obviously something needs to be improved at checkout.

3. You can measure your overall marketing performance against actual revenues.

With a marketing funnel, you can measure your overall marketing performance against actual revenues. This is important because it gives you a clear picture of where your sales come from, which lets you understand exactly how much revenue each part of the funnel generates for you—and which parts might be problematic and in need of optimization.

What you need to know about the four conversion steps of a sales funnel

• The first step is the most important, but it’s also the step that gets the least attention. It’s called the “exploring phase,” and it occurs when a visitor to your website has never been there before. They have no idea who you are or what your brand stands for.
• The second stage is where customers become more educated about your product or service and start looking at options in a more serious manner. They know who you are now, they know what differentiates you from competitors, and they may even have decided on exactly what they want from you—but they haven't purchased anything yet!
• The third stage is where customers commit to buying something from you—either by creating an account with their personal information or making an actual purchase through ecommerce checkout forms like Stripe Checkout (for example). This can be either an impulse buy or one made after careful consideration of various factors such as price point versus quality; risk vs reward; etcetera

First step of the conversion funnel - Landing page for targeted traffic source

The landing page is the first step of your conversion funnel. It needs to be targeted to your audience and have a clear call to action (i.e., "Buy Now"). The best way to do this is by using Google Analytics data on what keywords people are searching for when they come across your site. Next, optimize the landing page for conversions by including relevant information about your product or service that will attract people who want what you're selling.

Finally, test and optimize! Try different headlines and images until you get better results from each visitor who comes through the door.

Second step of the conversion funnel - Shopping cart/checkout process

The second step in the conversion funnel is the shopping cart/checkout process. This is where shoppers add items to their cart and get ready to check out. It’s important for you to optimize this step because it can affect whether or not someone completes their purchase.

What should I test?

• Test different layouts and designs for your product pages, e.g., try a slideshow versus a carousel of thumbnails with descriptions below, or compare how different columns affect conversions on desktop vs mobile devices.
• Try different methods of showing prices: show them right away (as in this example), hide them until users click Next Step, or wait until they enter their payment information before revealing total costs on an “Order Review” page—or even after people have completed checkout! These experiments will help you figure out what works best for your customers at each stage of the sales funnel so that they don't get overwhelmed by too many options at once while still feeling confident that they're getting a good deal on their purchase without having to do too much math themselves!

Third step of the conversion funnel - Order confirmation page (Thank you-page)

The third step of the conversion funnel is a page where you can address and reassure your customers that their purchase was successful. You should include a thank you message, or at least an acknowledgement that they've now bought something from you. The thank you page is also a good place to provide links to customer service, return policy, privacy policy etc.

Fourth step of the conversion funnel - email marketing and customer retention

Email marketing is an effective way to stay in touch with your customers. You can use it to promote your products, services and sales. In addition, you can also encourage customers to buy more from you by sending them discount coupons or offer codes via email. It’s also a great channel for collecting customer feedback so that you know what they like about your brand and what needs improvement.

Having a well defined sales funnel ensures great results if you keep optimizing its components!

A well-defined sales funnel is the key to success. But what exactly is a sales funnel? A sales funnel is a step by step process that leads you from prospect to sale. It includes the following elements:

• Landing page
• Lead generation form
• Email nurturing sequence (also known as drip campaign)
• Product or service offering

Conclusion

In this article, we have shown you how important it is to have a well defined sales funnel for your business. The more targeted traffic you are able to attract, the better conversion rates you will get. We also showed how you can optimize each of the four conversion steps of your funnel: Landing page, shopping cart/checkout process, order confirmation page (Thank you-page) and email marketing campaigns.