Top 5 Sales Funnel Mistakes – Maximizing Sales Conversions
A well-designed sales funnel is the backbone of any successful website or business. If you have a strong sales funnel, you’ll be able to maximize the amount of sales you make per visitor. This allows you to funnel money into future products, advertising, staff, etc.
Having a good lead generation system that leads your opt-ins through a sales process has an exponential effect on the rest of your business and can dramatically increase the value of each lead.
Yet business owners often disregard the important of a properly optimized sales funnel and that mistake can cost them a lot of money. Here are five of the most common mistakes and how it you can avoid them.
==> Mistake #1: Not Split Testing Email Opt-Ins
Your email capture page is the first step in your sales funnel. That means it’s the highest leverage step and the most important because it is responsible for converting cold traffic from your marketing efforts into prospects or buyers that you can cultivate and build relationships with.
Any lead that does not opt-in to your mailing list, is a lost lead. An increase from a 10% opt-in rate to 13% opt-in, is a 30% increase in not just opt-ins… but for your entire business across the board. That means that you will will make 30% more sales if you have 30% more people to follow up with.
Even if you split test nothing else in your funnel, you should absolutely be split testing your opt-in page all the time.
==> Mistake #2: Introducing Yourself with a Sales Pitch
Marketers often make the mistake of coming out with guns blazing, selling and selling and selling right off the bat. This makes quite a bad impression and does not help build trust in consumers.
In the beginning, new subscribers have no idea who you are. They don’t trust you yet and you have no credibility yet. If you come out the door selling hardcore, they’re going to assume that that’s all you’re about and they will quickly start to ignore you and build up their defenses.
Instead of doing this, offer value, offer great content, and be yourself. Learn to build trust and credibility first, before going for the hard sell. It’s okay to sell a little bit in the beginning, but don’t go overboard.
==> Mistake #3: Assuming Leads Are Worthless If They Don’t Buy
If someone doesn’t buy your $47 product today, doesn’t mean they won’t buy your $2,500 workshop a year from now. Leads don’t always convert linearly and some people just need more time to develop a buying relationship with you.
Don’t discount your leads simply because they don’t buy right off the bat. What if your lower end products are not what the consumer is looking for or the timing is not yet right? If the person is on your list, and they stay on it, then they are always a potential buyer.
==> Mistake #4: Wasting “Buying Mode” Cross Sells
The best time to up-sell and cross-sell is when someone has already bought a product. Right after someone buys something, they’re much more likely to impulsively buy another item.
Your standard conversion rate on your $297 product might be 1%. But if you offer a $40 discount to people who just bought your $47 product, a good 30% of them might take you up on it. That’s a conversion rate you’ll never see anywhere else.
Make sure you’re taking full advantage of the “buying mode” phenomenon by adding cross-sells and up-sells to the “Thank You” pages people see after making a purchase.
==> Mistake #5: Not Covering the Whole Spectrum of Prices
Don’t just have low end price tags. There are people in your market who’ll gladly pay $2,000 or even $5,000 for a product, if only you offered it.
Give people the opportunity to spend money with you. Start your business by producing the low price point products, but make sure to eventually graduate to high price point products.
If you are looking for a system to help you build the perfect sales funnel, please see our recommendations.
Originally posted 2014-09-09 03:12:00.
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Hello Team,
Could you recommend a tool that help to avoid those 5 issues? It’s very easy to get touched by them. Really do you think that people will invest $2k in product specially online unless it’s coaching program?
Nowadays information is free and may be it’s all about how we present or package it.
People are using now Fb group/messenger instead of conventionnal autoresponders for email marketing, what’s your thought please. I heared the first is converting like crazy, specially if we give away free step by step information.
Have a great guys and expecting to here from you.
Talk soon
– Jesisco
There is never one perfect tool… but Clickfunnels is pretty close. http://www.requestedhelp.com/offer/clickfunnels/ But a lot of your statements or assumptions are not correct. For instance… people do buy 2k courses, products, and services all the time. Day in and day out. It is about value… and everything is in the marketing. Yes those higher ticket items may require a different approach, and the cost of acquition is more, but it depends on your funnel. Webinars are a great way to sell high ticket items… and they convert just as well as cheaper products and services. It’s all about the targeting and unerstanding the pain points of your target demopgraphic and speaking to that.
Nowadays information is free… but a lot of it is just plain wrong, confusing, old, or not helpful enough to guide you through what you are trying to accomplish. Buying a 2K course is a greater gurantee that you are getting something complete and better than a $50 course or some YouTube videos. There is no secret to marketing. But there are a lot of distractions.. asnd most people do not implement becasue they are lazy and want everything for free.
The truth is, until I spent money on my business my success was mediocre at best. But whatever you choose, you need to know that beyond the hype there is work involved, and a lot of moving parts if you want to do things properly…but sometimes the simplest approach is the most effective and easiest. Focus on one thing and master it before trying others and getting lured in… but just to correct you… there is no such thing as free. Most all free menthods cost a lot more money time and effort wise… than just launching something and running less than $100 of ads to it to see if it converts. Then you optimize, rinse and repeat until you are profitable, and scale. If it is not profitable then something is wrong.
FB Groups do work… but it is not 100% the same as the same as building an e-mail list. You have less control and less direct access to the people and they do NOT replace autoresponders at all. They just provide an interactive forum that helps you build a customer base by building trust. That is a big difference. The fact is that there are millions of ways to make money online… millions of way to market, promote, or drive traffic… you need to decide what you are willing to invest time into and run with that.
FB messenger is converting well… but still nothing beats getting someones email address. One does not replace another… rather it helps and allows you to target people differently in different ways… much like texting… which is even better as people accnot avoide their phones… but it is more intrusive and annoying.
Just to be clear to all readers… FB messenger bots are NOT a replacement for traditional email autoresponders. They are different and have a different purpose and are very useful for pre-selling people on your offers. However, if you don;t capture their personal information how will you ever remarket to them later? If Facebook shuts you down… you could lose all the leads, all your followers, and all your traffic in one day. A funnel is incomplete without gathering a persons email… either by getting them to attend or download something for free, or if they buy something. Then they are gold as they have taken that extra step. That is the only way to build a business is to have an active buyers list. Messenger bots can’t do that for you… but they certainly help.
The mistakes that you pinpoint are incredibly right. So what is your reverse tips to overcome those who have made those mistakes you’ve mentioned? I and my friends are not having a lot of positive leads and I’m thinking if its because of not well-designed sales funnel or not well designed website. How do we know which is which?
You need to look at the metrics in all points of your funnel. For example… if the entry point is an ad, if that converts well, but from the ladning page no one is signing up… then your ad is good but your landing page may have issues. Remember, congruency is very important as well. Getting clicks on an ad doesn’t mean they will sign up. You need to keep testing.