Looking for the best marketing funnel for your Singapore website? The first thing you need to note is that customers lead, marketers follow. That’s the trend. As marketers, we’re only playing catch up. That’s to say; customers come with their own set of instructions that guide our marketing strategies every step of the way until we’re able to get them to take action.
The market belongs to the customer. They dictate what’s effective and what’s not in the world of marketing. And as customers change and evolve, so are the marketing strategies that work on them.
The traditional sales funnels aren’t an exception in all this. Divided into three main stages, the top, the middle, and the bottom; these funnels are designed such that your leads enter the funnel from the top as the number gradually decreases the more you descend to the bottom.
And as you’re soon to find out, as your leads move through the marketing funnel, they develop a different understanding of their problems and the solutions availed to them. That’s means; you have to keep on altering the information you feed to them to influence their decision.
Prospects have two options: i) to descend to the next stage of your sales funnel whenever their interest shoots up or ii) to exit the funnel whenever their interest drops. In which case, only a few of the leads that enter the funnel end up purchasing your product; and over the long haul, even fewer of them turn into loyal customers.
So expect the marketing funnel to be much wider at the top and narrower as you approach the bottom.
So Why is a Marketing Funnel so Important
There are three main reasons marketing funnels are highly regarded in the marketing spheres, and that includes:
By understanding marketing funnels, you can easily tell if you’re losing your customers; and at what exact point. At every stage of the funnel, marketers can come up with a percentage figure of the number of customers that are dropping out.
Funnels make it possible to implement growth tactics into your marketing campaign. All you have to do is figure out how you can widen the funnel at the various stages, and you’re good to go.
A quality marketing funnel is the main driving force of a cost-efficient marketing strategy and higher ROI.
Tested Strategies to Improve Your Marketing Funnel
Lay down the Objectives for each Stage
Don’t look at the stages as a whole. Instead, take your time to analyse each one of them, and lay down their objectives, one by one. Make sure you understand all the objectives clearly.
Take your eyes off the main structure of your marketing funnel for once and focus on dividing each stage into a series of smaller stages based on the analysis you came up with. Keep in mind that you’re not only analysing your product but your consumers as well.
A typical funnel has the three main stages, but it’s possible to divide your funnel phases further so you end up with 6 or 7 phases. That’s the tricky part, and the only reason marketers are still in business. But if the standard funnel worked all the time for every consumer, then there would be no job left for marketers.
Set KPIs
In addition to laying down your objectives, it’s also crucial that you set KPIs for each stage. You can start by laying down a conversion strategy for individual stages. One common mistake marketers make all the time is to channel all their focus on the conversion that’s happening at the lowest funnel.
But if the other stages aren’t pushing down as many converts as possible, then the number of prospects arriving at the lower stage will be too small to bring in any meaningful impact.
There’s only one way around this: and that is, to focus on establishing the key metrics for each stage or phase, which will be measuring it for effectiveness.
Your focus should be on the number of prospects dropping off. Come to think about it; each drops off hints a glitch in the communication that’s happening in the corresponding phase.
Pay Extra Attention to the Middle Stage of the Funnel
Marketers hardly pay any attention to the middle stage of their funnel – a huge mistake on their part.
What remains unknown to many CMOs is that the middle funnel plays a key role in helping you modify the other funnels for enhanced effectiveness. It’s what you turn to when you want to improve the conversion rate of lower funnels.
If done right, the middle funnel could also lower your budget allocation for the upper stages of the funnel.
To fix the huge gap that exists between the top and lower funnels, consider investing in conversion optimisation, lead nurturing, and A/B Testing.
Create a Meaningful Journey instead of Phases
The best approach to creating a high-quality funnel is to view everything as a journey, not a combination of phases. You’re simply taking your customers to a journey, and your point is to make it meaningful for them to the end.
There has to be a flow between the stages or some connection as the customers move from one phase to another, and that’s the main reason you’re advised to focus on the journey as a whole, NOT the different phases.
First, remember that your clients do not follow the same logic as you. There has to be a meaning attached in the journey they make, every step of the way.
So in whatever you do, it’s crucial that you avoid making it appear like they’re jumping from one phase to another. Rather, focus on creating a flow, such that they can even predict what comes next after completing any of the stages in the marketing funnel.
The Objective you set must be Consumer-focused, and NOT brand focused.
The funnel you’re creating is a journey for the consumer, not your products or brand. So it’s important that you set your objectives around them.
As a marketer, you’re part of the funnel journey, and your role is to show them the way, not leave signposts all over. It’s your job to ensure that every single one of your consumer will have an easy time driving through your funnel as smooth and organic as it’s humanly possible.
So in whatever you do, it’s crucial that you resist the urge to advertise. If anything, if a customer ends up making a purchase, you want to make it appear like it’s a decision they made naturally without any form of interference or nudging from you.
A simple approach would be to resist any urge to convince and instead focus on creating more value. In this way, you’ll be enhancing the quality of your sales funnel, thus making it easy for the consumer to decide to go through with a purchase on their accord.
Different Channels have Different roles to Play in the Stages
Not all marketing channels are created equal. Each one of them operates differently, with a different role to play in your funnel.
You have to begin by understanding the impact each of the channels has on every single one of the stages. For instance, while content marketing has a lower impact on the upper section of your channel, they have proven to be more effective in the middle funnel.
A simple approach would be to try and connect the dots between the funnel and the marketing channels at your disposal. Take your time to formulate an empowering strategy that’s backed up with better acquisition tactics, and you’d be halfway there.
Give your Funnel time to Grow
Don’t be too hasty in building your insights. Instead, let your funnel grow naturally as you gradually work on improving them.
You can’t grow an effective marketing funnel all at once. Even after building it up, you have to give yourself time to analyse everything more effectively and make necessary adjustments to the various stages.
Results don’t manifest in a day or two. The impact generated by the changes you make in the funnel won’t show up the following day. You have to be very strategic right from the stage where you’re implementing the changes to the stage where you’re monitoring the impact generated and making necessary calibrations.
Results take even longer to trickle in the bigger your customer base. In other words, learn to exercise patience and let everything grow as your funnel matures until it’s finally able to generate the desired results.
The Takeaway
While developing your marketing funnel and making necessary improvements at the various stages, it’s important that you figure out how to integrate it with your email marketing strategy. In doing so, you’ll be able to convert more of your prospects into active customers and fans, hence more sales and money for your business. Yay!
If you have anything you’d love to share or are looking for help in optimising your sales funnel, talk to the marketing proficient at MediaOne Marketing today by either emailing us or live-chatting one of our customer reps.
