Sales Funnel Challenges: 6 Mistakes to Avoid

The sales funnel is a timeless cornerstone of marketing. But what exactly is it? What does it do? And why should you care about it??

This article will cover all of that and more. Here, we address the top 6 sales funnel challenges in modern marketing. Understanding these challenges is a key step in generating sales and growing your business.?

Let’s get right into it.?

If you wish to read the full blog, head on over to our website.

What is a sales funnel?

A sales funnel is a marketing model that refers to the journey prospective clients go through that will hopefully and ultimately lead to a final sale. The sales funnel represents each step that a person has to take in order to become your customer.?

The main purpose of a sales funnel is to guide your potential customers through a journey that optimizes their chances of?converting into a customer.

What are the components of a sales funnel?

In marketing, the main components of a sales funnel are easily described by the acronym AIDA.

Awareness?is the stage of using your marketing channels to target key audiences.

Interest?is gained by anticipating the needs and wants of your target audience.

Desire: the goal of this stage of the sales funnel is to convert your audience into prospective clients.

Action: You’re so close to sealing the deal! This stage is the final nudge to get your prospects from appreciating your product or service from afar to becoming a loving user.

Benefits of a sales funnel

Your sales funnel shows the path your prospective clients will take. The benefits of a sales funnel are innumerable, but here are a few to start:

• Understanding your audience?
• Productivity?
• Higher conversion rate

What are the biggest sales funnel challenges??

The most prominent sales funnel challenges will prevent your prospects from becoming clients.

So, what are the biggest sales funnel challenges? Let’s dive right in and uncover the 6 biggest difficulties people face when developing and using a sales funnel.

1. Generating enough leads and traffic

A lead generation funnel is one of the few different types of funnels. Generating enough leads and traffic using this method is among one of the most common sales funnel challenges.?

Essentially, it is the process of funneling your target audience through predetermined stages that will eventually (and hopefully!) lead to a sale.

But all of this is easier said than done.

Although your sales funnel may be efficient in converting leads, you may have difficulties bringing enough people into your funnel, aka generating enough traffic.

The first step to generating prospects and traffic is to understand your prospective client’s journey.

With the next step, you have to create relevant content that entices your audience.

Drive content?using an SEO strategy, splurge on paid ads, take advantage of your socials. Do what it takes to drive traffic.?

Now that you have the traffic, you want to keep your prospects at arm’s length. Do this by incentivizing free products or services in exchange for an email address.

Is your business e-commerce-oriented? Try offering a 10% discount in exchange for subscribing to a mailing list.

Once you have leads, you have just overcome one of the trickiest sales funnel challenges.??

Final step? Turn your leads into sales!?

2. Keeping your sales funnel short but sweet?

Keeping your sales funnel short is one of the most common sales funnel challenges. If it is too long, people will drop out of the funnel, leading to the loss of sales.?

Here are Cloud9’s tips to keep your sales funnel short but sweet! (And effective)?

• Simplify your campaigns
• Send prospects content related to their needs
• Find out which platforms your prospects are frequenting?
• Publish testimonials and success stories

3. Standing out amongst the competition?

The truth of the sales industry is that you have an immeasurable amount of competitors.

Standing out against the competition starts as early as the “Awareness” and “Interest” stages of the funnel. Utilize a strong marketing plan to ensure a wider reach.

And when you do reach your target audience, your content better be stellar!

In the end, great?branding is what’s going to make your company stand out?against the competition.??

4. Creating content that actually sells?

Creating content that sells will help you tackle the sales funnel challenges that are preventing prospects from turning into clients.

The aim of your content is to win people over; convert people to your brand; show them your personality, your creativity, and your goodness.?

Respect the 80/20 rule.

This rule states that 80% of your content should inform, educate, and entertain, while only 20% should promote your brand. Doing so creates a community-driven space that’s built on sharing useful content. That’s a selling point in itself.?

If you’re selling a service rather than a product, you can instead utilize the Instagram guide feature. Posting SEO related guides, for example, is genuinely helpful content that will be appreciated by your fellow SMM audience.

Appreciation leads to loyalty, and in turn, sales.?

5. Optimizing your customer journey

So you finally have the greatest content you’ve ever put out there. You’re generating traffic and leads, and even more sales than you’ve ever seen.?

But…

Your customer service isn’t hitting the mark.?

Long response times, rude customer support, late deliveries, sketchy/laggy websites, unreasonable return/exchange policies.

These are all things that will completely delegitimize all of the hard work you’ve put in prior to making the sale.

Be consistent with your overall functions and processes, even those that are unrelated to marketing.?

6. Conversion Optimization

Risk is inevitable in a sales funnel. At every stage, you risk your prospect leaving the funnel.

At what stage of the funnel do your prospects drop out?

Finding your bottleneck is a critical point in adapting your technique to convert prospects into clients. If you have a lot of leads but a below-average conversion, consider these 3 points:

1. Your industry benchmarks and averages aren’t quite adequate.
2. People have interest and desire but no action.
3. You haven’t motivated your target audience to buy. ?

Final thoughts?

If you’ve encountered any of these sales funnel challenges, know that you’re not alone. While it can seem somewhat perplexing, the sales funnel isn’t a total enigma.?

We wish you the best of luck on your sales funneling journey!

If you’ve been struggling with conversions and an overall customer journey, Cloud9 can help.?

If you wish to read the full blog, head on over to our website.