How to Use a Marketing Funnel Template

How does your digital marketing team measure the success of a campaign? Impressions? Clicks?

While those metrics can be valuable indicators of a positive outcome, only one metric really matters — conversions.

For companies looking to increase their conversion rate, a marketing funnel can break down the sales process, helping businesses visualize how to take their customers from the initial awareness stage to purchase.

A model for the buyer journey, the typical marketing funnel template looks like an inverted pyramid. The top of the funnel is broad and represents a high volume of low-value prospects. As customers learn more about their challenges, potential solutions, and your business, they move through each stage of the buying process.

Source: Boomerang Social

Throughout the process, the pool of potential customers generally narrows, represented by the point at the bottom of the funnel. However, as the sales process continues, leads become more valuable because they’re more likely to convert.

All in all, you want as many people to make it to the purchase stage as possible.

By breaking down your sales process into a three-step template, you can quickly identify where customers are in your funnel, helping you to nurture leads them effectively and improve your conversion rate:

1. Awareness
2. Consideration
3. Decision-making

In this article, we break down what customers want to achieve at each stage of the buying process, how you can meet their goals, and ultimately, the best way to convert them into paying customers.

Engage Audiences During the Awareness Stage

During the first stage of the buyer journey, potential customers identify a problem and are trying to determine a solution. In this stage, they are likely conducting initial research and are looking for general information. They’re likely to become aware of your business with your business during their research.

Consequently, your company’s focus should be on creating brand awareness at this stage. To capture customer attention early on in the process, your company should build its online presence by:

• Advertising online
• Partnering with a logo design firm to build a memorable logo
• Building your social media presence
• Highlighting word-of-mouth recommendations
• Communicating with your audience through your blog or digital direct marketing such as your email newsletter.

To uncover how most of your customers learn about your company specifically, use Google Analytics to identify the sources of your site’s traffic. This will give you a better understanding of what is working, where you can improve your digital marketing efforts, and where you should focus your spending moving forward.

Remember, first impressions matter. Invest in developing your business’ image by hiring a digital marketing company that can help you build your online reputation.

Answer Common Questions to Help Customers Evaluate Your Business

In this stage, customers are researching ways to solve their particular problems. At the same time, they’re evaluating potential solutions, including your business’s offering. As they learn more about what your company does, they weigh your value proposition and compare it to your competitors.

To maintain your potential customers’ interest and keep them moving through the marketing funnel, your company should provide information that can help answer their questions.

At this point, editorial content can be extremely valuable. Rather than focusing on advertorial content, you should think carefully about your customers’ specific needs. You can address their questions by producing:

• Whitepapers
• Educational videos
• In-depth articles and expert content
• Webinars

Not sure what your potential customers want to know? Don’t worry — there are several ways to get a better understanding of their needs. Here are a few strategies to help you with topic ideation:

• Ask your leads directly what questions they have
• Look at your competitors’ ranking content
• Use tools like Ahrefs to identify keywords with high search volumes
• Check out the “People also ask” section that comes up on Google’s results page

Provide Proof of Value to Drive Customer Decision Making

At this point, prospects have identified their problem, conducted research, and have weighed their options. All that’s left is for them to make a decision to purchase your products or services.

To get your customers through that last step, you must build up their confidence in your business. You should focus on your company’s unique selling points. What does your business offer that no one else can? Back your statement up with data to persuade decision-makers.

When customers are in the final decision-making stage, case studies, trials, and demonstrations are a great way to demonstrate your value proposition and differentiate yourself from the rest of the market.

By showcasing how your product works or how your services have helped your business, you answer any lingering questions and help absolve their worries.

Nurture Leads Effectively with a Marketing Funnel Template

Customers require different things throughout the buying process. To market to them effectively, your company must address their specific needs.

Using a marketing funnel template, you can easily recognize which stage your customers are in and what content to provide them.

To reach customers early on in the process, focus on brand awareness. Determine how people normally discover your business and launch a campaign. Whether customers find your business through PPC ads, social media, or word-of-mouth, make sure your brand is memorable.

Once you get a prospect's attention, you want to position your company as an industry expert by answering all of the questions they have. Invest in developing various types of content that address how you can solve their problems.

Finally, convert sales by explaining your value proposition. Focus on making sure your customers are confident in your company and how you can help them.