Sales funnels allow you to understand what potential customers are thinking and doing throughout their purchasing journey. As a result, companies can invest in the right marketing activities and channels, develop the most relevant messaging during each stage, and convert more prospects into customers.
Successful businesses have a plan for qualifying and cultivating leads and converting them into paying customers. Sales funnels help companies understand how potential customers behave at each point in the buying process. Through these insights, companies are able to focus on the right marketing activities and channels, creating the best messaging through each stage and converting more prospects into paying customers.
Prospects pass through various stages of a sales funnel from the moment they hear about a product or service until they make a purchase. The path through your company's funnel may be different from one prospect to another, but ultimately, they’ll assess it based on their level of interest. Prospects will think about the pain they’re trying to solve for and do research to ensure your solution solves their specific problem.
Typically, companies will stage-gate at least three main phases of a sales funnel for new prospects, with a fourth upsell stage targeting existing customers:
- Awareness, where people first become aware of a product or service
- Interest, when a product is evaluated based on initial understanding of your product
- Decision, where educated prospects take action to understand details about pricing options before committing to a product
