Turning prospects into customers often don’t happen automatically. It can take time, and it involves moving them through your sales funnel. These are the different stages that a person has to go through before spending money with your business.
Let’s look at the different #methods you can employ to move #customers through your #sales funnel successfully. Click To TweetUse Strong Calls-to-Action on Your Product or Service Pages
A call-to-action is a prompt you can use to encourage website visitors to take a particular action on your website. When people come across your company, they might not know what to do next or how to contact you. However, with clear CTAs, you can give them some direction.
To create a strong CTA, you want to make sure you use command verbs to tell readers exactly what to do. So, for instance, you could use phrases like “Get Started” or “Sign Up Now.” It would help if you also tried to make sure that your CTAs are designed with bright colors that will draw attention.
This means you should pay attention to the color scheme of your website and try to ensure your CTA buttons contrast against it.
Here are some examples of businesses that have added strong CTAs to their service pages. These should provide you with some inspiration when it comes to creating yours.
Our first example comes from Loganix’s SEO copywriting service page.
At the very top of this page, you’ll find CTA buttons that tell a visitor to “get started.” Further, this is great for people who already know they need help with their copywriting and have decided that Loganix is their provider. It shows that people can hire the company with ease.
That will make people think about how much they could achieve with the help of this digital marketing company.
However, this isn’t the only CTA on this page, though. If you scroll down the page, you’ll also see calls to action that urge visitors to “see more testimonials” and “learn more.” These provide something for people who still want to learn more about this service before making a financial commitment.
This mix of CTAs will catch people at different stages of the buyer journey and help to move them through the funnel. Plus, they’re all presented on bright purple buttons, which allows them to stand out and grab people’s attention.
Our second example is from RMIT Online, an online school that offers various post-secondary programs and degrees. Their Online Master of Marketing page also has several different CTAs to move people through their sales funnel.
For instance, from this one spot on their site, people can download a brochure, ask a question, or enquire now. These target people who might still be in the decision stage when choosing whether they wish to pursue further education or where they would like to do it.
Also, this is an excellent way for the business to accommodate different people who might be at various stages in their journey.
If you would like to replicate this for your business’s website, consider what stage people might be at when they land on your website.
Are they typically ready to make a purchase? Or are there some people that will also need more information about your products or company as a whole? Make a list of the types of people you’ll need to accommodate, and then start creating CTAs to suit them.
Make It Easy for Customers to Get in Touch With You
If prospective customers have a question or concern, they’ll want to get in touch. And, if it’s challenging to do this, they’re likely to leave without making a purchase. Also, this is why you need to provide several contact options for your audience. You could have people contact you by email, phone, or even through a live messaging feature on your website.
Are you currently struggling to handle all of the queries you receive? It might be worth outsourcing your customer service to a company specializing in this area. But, whether you keep everything in-house or decide to enlist the help of specialists.
You should ensure that everyone knows which customer service channels you would like to provide and how to use them most effectively.
Let’s take some inspiration for a couple of businesses that do a great job of providing suitable contact options for their customers and prospective clients.
For instance, Bay Property Management Group helps its clients to manage their rental properties. And, on their Manassas location page, they have provided a contact form where people can send the company any relevant information about a query or problem they have.
Alternatively, for people who need help as soon as possible or who prefer to talk to someone in person, they’ve published their address and phone number too.
Something you can take away from this example is the importance of creating multiple contact options for customers. Since there will always be people who have questions or concerns, some will be more urgent than others. Providing multiple options is suitable for ensuring their customers never feel abandoned while going through the sales funnel.
Let’s also take a look at Wine.com, an online wine retailer. On their contact page, they display the various ways people can get in touch.
Customers can get in touch with the business over the phone. They have an email address dedicated explicitly to handling customers’ questions. There’s even a live chat option that allows people to speak to a company representative in real-time.
The business has also managed customers’ expectations by outlining when these customer service channels are monitored and how long it will take to reply.
You can replicate this for your business by providing multiple contact options and making these very clear on your website. To avoid disappointing your customers, you should also take a leaf out of Wine.com’s book and explain exactly when you’ll get back to them and when it’s best to contact you.
Also, this will make it much easier for you to keep people happy and move them towards making a purchase.
Stay Active on Social Media
You want to ensure that your company, products, or services stay on the mind of your prospective customers. One way to do this effectively is by staying active on social media and posting announcements or any updates your customers will find interesting.
To ensure you are consistently engaging with your target customers on social media, you should respond to comments that people leave. Also, create contests or challenges that will cause more people to notice and engage with you, and try to publish posts consistently.
Consistently posting on social media can be very time-consuming, though, so it’s often best to bulk schedule a lot of content in one go. There are a lot of tools out there that can help you to manage this effectively.
Many of these platforms will also allow you to manage multiple social media profiles simultaneously, keeping everything organized and in one place. And, if you would like some help in this area, SocialPilot has a great round-up of the best Facebook publishing tools that will point you in the right direction.
Simply staying active on social media can help move people through your sales funnel. However, people will be reminded of you more often and feel closer to your business if they’re frequently engaging with the content you put out.
Create Content That Helps Customers With Their Purchasing Decisions
It can be difficult for consumers to decide what to buy when so many different options exist. So, to increase the chances of people buying from you and ensure they have a great shopping experience, you should create content that will help them make an informed purchase.
For instance, you could create buying guides that give people detailed information about what they should be looking for in a particular product or service. Competitor comparison pieces are also great for highlighting the difference between similar products so customers can choose which one is best for them.
Also, you could publish case studies that show how your previous clients have benefited from using your products or services. Further, this will make it easier for people to work out whether you can help them.
Let’s look at two businesses that do a fantastic job of publishing content that helps people make the best decisions to suit their needs.
For instance, Best Nursing Programs is a website that specializes in helping aspiring healthcare workers to choose the next step in their education or career.
They publish a lot of content to help with this, and a great example is their round-up of the best-accelerated nursing programs. They list 88 schools and rank them based on graduation rates, tuition costs, and location.
For anyone looking to attend a nursing school, this post will be very instrumental in helping them make a decision.
To create this kind of helpful content for your business’s website, choose a type of service or product you would like to focus on. Further, research which options are out there. Compare and contrast them, providing all of the details and specifications a prospective customer might need to make an informed decision.
Also, it would help if you kept all of your content informational rather than promotional, as people won’t want to feel like they’re being sold. However, this can be very effective at moving people through your sales funnel, as prospective clients will feel like you care more about their needs than making a sale.
You can also create buying guides that help people purchase the best physical products to suit their needs. For example, John Lewis & Partners has created a refrigerator and freezer buying guide to help their customers buy the right appliances for their homes.
The guide contains details like the different types of refrigerators and freezers available, the ideal sizes, and other features to look out for.
This buying guide is an excellent example of content that can serve customers. They also include images of the types of refrigerators they offer to give users an idea of how they will look in their homes.
But, we have to take in the consideration stage to evaluate the best options available to them. It could also be enough to move them towards the decision stage of the funnel.
If you sell physical products, you can replicate this for your business. Round up all of your similar products, then compare and contrast them so your customers can choose the one that’s right for them.
If someone feels like they have all of the information they need to make an informed decision, they’ll be far more likely to spend their money with you.
Follow Up With Customers Who Were Close to Making a Purchase
You must follow up with people who were previously very close to making a purchase. For instance, you could send a reminder email to those who have abandoned their carts. Even call back a prospective customer you were previously in talks with to remind them of what you do.
Here are some tips that can help you follow up with potential customers to move them through your sales funnel:
- When sending a reminder email, try to refresh their memory with a picture of the product they abandoned
- Don’t let too much time pass before following up
- You could also politely ask if they have a reason for not completing the purchase
- Try not to be too pushy, as this may scare customers away
- Always ask for a convenient time to follow up during your initial meeting
If someone still doesn’t want to spend their money with you, politely thank them for their time and let them get on with their day. But, if you get a sense that someone is on the fence, employ your best sales tactics to try and get them across the line.
Summary
So many businesses lose out on customers because they don’t know how to move them through the sales funnel effectively.
To avoid this, you want to use strong calls-to-action on your product or service pages. Make it easy for customers to contact you, stay active on social media. Also, ensure you follow up with customers who started making a purchase but stopped before they could complete it. It won’t be long before you’re seeing more sales rolling in.
Author Bio
Adam Steele is the COO at Loganix, an SEO fulfillment partner for agencies and marketers. We build easy-to-use SEO services that help businesses scale. If you liked this article, please check out our SEO guides and templates on the Loganix blog.