Has this ever happened in your business before?
You grab someone’s attention and pull them in with your awesome marketing. They stop, they ponder the offer over in their mind. But then they leave without pulling the trigger.
You know the feeling, right?
Try not to lose sleep over this because its normal, EVERY business, without exception, goes through this. And it doesn’t matter what you’re selling either, it can be savings bonds, the latest digital devices or gutter cleaning services.
In fact, even if you can get them all the way to the checkout page, many will still leave.
Frustrating, I know.
But according to a study conducted by the Baynard Institute on E-Commerce Checkout Usability, 68% of all e-commerce visitors abandon their shopping cart.
Yes… most will bail, right at the end. (Oh, so close to the finish line too.)
But, this number doesn’t include all the potential buyers that could have agreed with your marketing message clicked over to your website, watched a your hangout or amazing video series content – but never made it to the shopping cart.
Now image if it is a higher ticket price, this number could be more like 90%-95%. So what do you do with the huge percentage of people that show interest, but don’t buy. That figures out to 1 in 10 or possibly as few as 1 in 20 who come across your message and will actually take the action to buy something.
Now imagine if you were able to capture an additional one or two percent and stop then from leaving your website forever. How much could that add up t in your pocket – hundreds, thousands.
Here are two ways to start capturing your interested shoppers and turn them into buyers quickly.
Number 1. Use a lead capture device to compile names and contact info into a database. This way you can follow-up with the 90%-95% who leave before buying. If you don’t have this in place you are throwing leads out the window, and leaving a potential STACK of money sitting on the table, for your competition to come along and swoop it up.
Let’s say you’ve captured names and contact info. Now what are you supposed to do?
Number 2. Send them into a pre-designed sales process called a funnel.
The beauty of funnels is they help increase sales. Many successful multi-million business have created funnels to effortlessly multiply every dollar customers spend by four…five…even six times.
But now you don’t have a million dollar development budget to create a profitable sales funnel. A simple sales funnel can be designed to help you get more people through the check-out and to get them to buy and spend even more with you. When designed correctly, your funnel can do a lot more than just make a sale.
Many or the savviest business owners use funnels can help you segment your list to see where you should concentrate your marketing dollars and which customers deserve more attention from you. And a funnel can be designed to keep prospects interested and on the hook until they are ready to buy. Funnels can also give you a whole lot of information about everyone who raises their hand and you can quickly learn more about your customer.
For instance, typically, the faster you can cause a customer to make a sale, the greater the connection they have with you and the higher the investment commitment they’ll make with you over the course of your relationship.
I am often asked, what should a funnel look like for my business?
My answer is it depends on what you are trying to do. A funnel should be designed to create a certain action, therefore, you must think about it for a moment and then ask yourself the following questions.
Do you want it to …
• Find out fast who your buyers are and who is more interested in collecting free stuff?
• Build the overall value of each new member or purchaser?
• Pre-qualify people before they are introduced to your sales team to determine who are truly interested and qualify for the high-priced items or programs?
• Determine which ones are hyperactive, eager buyers?
• Speed up the sales cycle and acquire a customer faster?
One you decide what you want your funnel to accomplish first. This will help to give you clear direction on what type of funnel you should use and what steps you’ll must take your prospects through.
All of these questions, and a whole lot more, are covered in the Money Funnel Blueprint program.
To get you mind spinning, here are some of concepts to think about while developing your funnels.
Sales Funnel Timing: The best time to make a sale is right after the first sale, it is recommended that you always offer an up sell (or two) in your funnel to offer the most value to the customer quickly.
Create an Alternate Route: Remember that 80%-90% of your prospects won’t go down the path you give them. Just like you, your customers have their own mind and their own way of doing things. We all navigate the world differently, so if they don’t take you up on one offer, try creating alternative paths in your funnel to the same purchases.
For example, if we make our strategy session offer at the end of a blog post and a person doesn’t take us up on it, fine he can find it again in a free video series. Why, because some people are readers and others may prefer to watch a video training, but by putting it in both places we can give given people and alternative route to getting to our powerful Money Funnel Blueprint Session.
The numbers tell us that it’s better to ask for a credit card up front, before you ask them to provide other information. I have no logical idea as to why this works, but it does.
Use Reality-based Reasons to Prompt Quick Cash: If you have leads that are inactive, use a quick cash funnel. This is a way to justify your sale without, appearing to lower your prices. Here is how it works, if you want to find out if there are really potential buyers, on you list or just freebie seekers, here is what you can do. Take a commonly sold product and set up a reality based reason to liquidate it. Examples cold be a moving sale, “I’m moving and I don’t want to move this entire stash of products, so I’m holding a four-day moving sale.” “my birthday is coming up and am offering a $37 dollar sale on a $97 dollar product because I want you to celebrate with me.” etc. The key is tying the sale to a reason, rational or irrational.
We have talked about the many advantages of creating funnels for your business. They can provide regular intervals of income for you systematically. They helps you to locate and segment prospects based on behavior, so you can better predict future behavior and you’ll stand out above your peers because few small businesses are using funnels. Plus you will be automating your sales process to grow your business and your bank account, even when you’re out-of-town with the in-laws or building sandcastles on the beach.
P.S. – Grab the “Discover the 10 Website Mistakes Businesses Commonly Make that cause them to lose sales Report and Audio Training for FREE.
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